1979 country of origin united states headquarters location new york city publication types books official website www.loa.org the library of america loa is a nonprofit publisher of classic american literature . contents 1 overview and history 2 research and scholarship 3 build and manufacture 4 subscription service 5 the library of america series 5.1 main series 5.2 special anthologies 5.3 american poets project 5.4 special publications 6 notes and references 7 bibliography 8 see also 9 external links overview and history edit founded in 1979 with seed money from the national endowment for the humanities and the ford foundation the loa has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from mark twain to philip roth nathaniel hawthorne to saul bellow including the selected writings of several u.s. presidents . 1 the biblioth que de la pl iade la pl iade series published in france provided the model for the loa which was long a dream of the critic edmund wilson . 2 the initial publishers included american academic daniel aaron 3 lawrence hughes helen honig meyer and roger w. straus jr. . the initial board of advisers included robert penn warren c. vann woodward r. w. b. lewis robert coles irving howe and eudora welty . officers included richard poirier jason epstein daniel aaron and cheryl hurley . 2 as of 2009 update hurley remains president of the library of america . 4 5 the first volumes were published in 1982 ten years after wilson s death . 2 besides the works of many individual writers the series includes anthologies like reporting world war ii and in a different format to the above illustration writing los angeles . the publisher aims to keep classics in print permanently to preserve america s literary heritage . although the loa sells more than a quarter million volumes annually the publisher depends on individual contributions to help meet the costs of preparing marketing and manufacturing its books . the current publisher of the library of america series is max rudin and geoffrey o brien is editor in chief . research and scholarship edit loa volumes are prepared and edited by recognized scholars on the subject . determined efforts are made to correct errors and omissions in previous editions and create a definitive version of the material . notes on the text are normally included and the source texts properly identified . for instance the loa text of richard wright s native son restored a number of passages that had been previously cut . the loa commissioned a new translation of alexis de tocqueville s democracy in america by arthur goldhammer for their edition of the text . each volume also includes a chronology of the author s career or significant incidents in the case of the anthology volumes . build and manufacture edit the books are designed to last generations . each volume in the series contains acid free thin but durable paper allowing books with a large number of pages to remain fairly compact . the paper meets the requirements for permanence set by the american national standards institute . the paper will not turn yellow or become brittle . the books are bound with the grain of the paper to ensure that they open easily and lie flat without crinkling or buckling . the binding cloth is durable woven rayon . the books are smyth sewn for permanence and flexibility and each includes a ribbon marker . each volume has an identical trim size based on the golden section which the ancient greeks considered to be the ideal proportion . each volume contains 700 to 1600 pages . the typeface used for each volume is galliard chosen for its readability and ease on the eyes . subscription service edit the library of america provides a subscription service . subscribers choose an introductory set from a predetermined selection either american literature novels short stories or poetry or american history letters memoirs biographies histories . subscribers determine how often they want to receive a new volume anywhere from every three weeks to every six months . subscription editions come without the distinctive black ribbon dust jackets . instead subscription edition volumes come in a cardboard slipcover and contain a paper insert summarizing the volume . the library of america series edit main series edit author title editor s year isbn 1 melville hermanherman melville typee omoo mardi tanselle g. thomasg . thomas tanselle 1982 978 0 940450 00 4 2 hawthorne nathanielnathaniel hawthorne tales and sketches pearce roy harveyroy harvey pearce 1982 978 0 940450 03 5 3 whitman waltwalt whitman poetry and prose kaplan justinjustin kaplan 1982 978 0 940450 02 8 4 beecher stowe harrietharriet beecher stowe three novels sklar kathryn kishkathryn kish sklar 1982 978 0 940450 01 1 5 twain markmark twain mississippi writings cardwell guyguy cardwell 1982 978 0 940450 07 3 6 london jackjack london novels and stories pizer donalddonald pizer 1982 978 0 940450 05 9 7 london jackjack london novels and social writings pizer donalddonald pizer 1982 978 0 940450 06 6 8 howells william deanwilliam dean howells novels 1875 1886 cady edwin m.edwin m. cady 1982 978 0 940450 04 2 9 melville hermanherman melville redburn white jacket moby dick tanselle g. thomasg . thomas tanselle 1983 978 0 940450 09 7 10 hawthorne nathanielnathaniel hawthorne collected novels bell millicentmillicent bell 1983 978 0 940450 08 0 11 parkman francisfrancis parkman france and england in north america vol . 1 levin daviddavid levin 1983 978 0 940450 10 3 12 parkman francisfrancis parkman france and england in north america vol . 2 levin daviddavid levin 1983 978 0 940450 11 0 13 james henryhenry james novels 1871 1880 stafford william t.william t. stafford 1983 978 0 940450 13 4 14 adams henryhenry adams novels mont saint michel the education samuels ernesternest samuels & & jayne n. samuels 1983 978 0 940450 12 7 15 emerson ralph waldoralph waldo emerson essays and lectures porte joeljoel porte 1983 978 0 940450 15 8 16 irving washingtonwashington irving history tales and sketches tuttleton james w.james w. tuttleton 1983 978 0 940450 14 1 17 jefferson thomasthomas jefferson writings peterson merrill d.merrill d. peterson 1984 978 0 940450 16 5 18 crane stephenstephen crane prose and poetry levenson j. c.j. c. levenson 1984 978 0 940450 17 2 19 poe edgar allanedgar allan poe poetry and tales quinn patrick f.patrick f. quinn 1984 978 0 940450 18 9 20 poe edgar allanedgar allan poe essays and reviews thompson g. r.g. r. thompson 1984 978 0 940450 19 6 21 twain markmark twain the innocents abroad & roughing it cardwell guyguy cardwell 1984 978 0 940450 25 7 22 james henryhenry james literary criticism essays american & english writers edel leonleon edel & mark wilson 1984 978 0 940450 22 6 23 james henryhenry james literary criticism european writers & the prefaces edel leonleon edel & mark wilson 1984 978 0 940450 23 3 24 melville hermanherman melville pierre israel potter the confidence man tales & billy budd hayford harrisonharrison hayford 1985 978 0 940450 24 0 25 faulkner williamwilliam faulkner novels 1930 1935 blotner josephjoseph blotner & noel polk 1985 978 0 940450 26 4 26 cooper james fenimorejames fenimore cooper the leatherstocking tales vol . 1 nevius blakeblake nevius 1985 978 0 940450 20 2 27 cooper james fenimorejames fenimore cooper the leatherstocking tales vol . 2 nevius blakeblake nevius 1985 978 0 940450 21 9 28 thoreau henry davidhenry david thoreau a week walden the maine woods cape cod sayre robert f.robert f. sayre 1985 978 0 940450 27 1 29 james henryhenry james novels 1881 1886 stafford william t.william t. stafford 1985 978 0 940450 30 1 30 wharton edithedith wharton novels lewis r. w. b.r. w. b. lewis 1986 978 0 940450 31 8 31 adams henryhenry adams history of the united states during the administrations of jefferson harbert earl n.earl n. harbert 1986 978 0 940450 34 9 32 adams henryhenry adams history of the united states during the administrations of madison harbert earl n.earl n. harbert 1986 978 0 940450 35 6 33 norris frankfrank norris novels and essays pizer donalddonald pizer 1986 978 0 940450 40 0 34 du bois w. e. b.w. e. b. du bois writings huggins nathan i.nathan i. huggins 1986 978 0 940450 33 2 35 cather willawilla cather early novels and stories o brien sharonsharon o brien 1987 978 0 940450 39 4 36 dreiser theodoretheodore dreiser sister carrie jennie gerhardt twelve men lehan richardrichard lehan 1987 978 0 940450 41 7 37a franklin benjaminbenjamin franklin silence dogood the busy body & early writings lemay j. a. leoj . a. leo lemay 1987 2005 978 1 931082 22 8 37b franklin benjaminbenjamin franklin autobiography poor richard & later writings lemay j. a. leoj . a. leo lemay 1987 2005 978 1 883011 53 6 38 james williamwilliam james writings 1902 1910 kuklick brucebruce kuklick 1987 978 0 940450 38 7 39 o connor flanneryflannery o connor collected works fitzgerald sallysally fitzgerald 1988 978 0 940450 37 0 40 o neill eugeneeugene o neill complete plays 1913 1920 bogard travistravis bogard 1988 978 0 940450 48 6 41 o neill eugeneeugene o neill complete plays 1920 1931 bogard travistravis bogard 1988 978 0 940450 49 3 42 o neill eugeneeugene o neill complete plays 1932 1943 bogard travistravis bogard 1988 978 0 940450 50 9 43 james henryhenry james novels 1886 1890 fogel daniel markdaniel mark fogel 1989 978 0 940450 56 1 44 howells william deanwilliam dean howells novels 1886 1888 cook don l.don l. cook 1989 978 0 940450 51 6 45 lincoln abrahamabraham lincoln speeches and writings 1832 1858 fehrenbacher don e.don e. fehrenbacher 1989 978 0 940450 43 1 46 lincoln abrahamabraham lincoln speeches and writings 1859 1865 fehrenbacher don e.don e. fehrenbacher 1989 978 0 940450 63 9 47 wharton edithedith wharton novellas and other writings wolff cynthia griffincynthia griffin wolff 1990 978 0 940450 53 0 48 faulkner williamwilliam faulkner novels 1936 1940 blotner josephjoseph blotner & noel polk 1990 978 0 940450 55 4 49 cather willawilla cather later novels o brien sharonsharon o brien 1990 978 0 940450 52 3 50 grant ulysses s.ulysses s. grant personal memoirs and selected letters mcfeeley mary drakemary drake mcfeeley & william s. mcfeeley 1990 978 0 940450 58 5 51 sherman william tecumsehwilliam tecumseh sherman memoirs royster charlescharles royster 1990 978 0 940450 65 3 52 irving washingtonwashington irving bracebridge hall tales of a traveller the alhambra myers andrewandrew myers 1991 978 0 940450 59 2 53 parkman francisfrancis parkman the oregon trail the conspiracy of pontiac taylor william r.william r. taylor 1991 978 0 940450 54 7 54 cooper james fenimorejames fenimore cooper sea tales the pilot the red rover house kay seymourkay seymour house & thomas philbrick 1991 978 0 940450 70 7 55 wright richardrichard wright early works rampersad arnoldarnold rampersad 1991 978 0 94045066 0 56 wright richardrichard wright later works rampersad arnoldarnold rampersad 1991 978 0 940450 67 7 57 cather willawilla cather stories poems and other writings o brien sharonsharon o brien 1991 978 0 940450 71 4 58 james williamwilliam james writings 1878 1899 myers geraldgerald myers 1992 978 0 940450 72 1 59 lewis sinclairsinclair lewis main street & babbitt hersey johnjohn hersey 1992 978 0 940450 61 5 60 twain markmark twain collected tales sketches speeches & essays 1852 1890 budd louis j.louis j. budd 1992 978 0 940450 36 3 61 twain markmark twain collected tales sketches speeches & essays 1891 1910 budd louis j.louis j. budd 1992 978 0 940450 73 8 62 various the debate on the constitution part one bailyn bernardbernard bailyn 1993 978 0 940450 42 4 63 various the debate on the constitution part two bailyn bernardbernard bailyn 1993 978 0 940450 64 6 64 james henryhenry james collected travel writings great britain & america