Collection of 438 Foreign Language Editions of Updike's Works, mostly Inscribed and/or Signed

[Various places: various publishers, various dates]. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. A collection of 438 non-English language editions, presentation copies given by Updike to his friend, the collector and publisher of the Lord John Press, Herb Yellin. Of these 388 are Signed, with the majority of them Inscribed to Yellin. Mostly fine, scattered modest wear; these are unread copies that were sent to Updike by his various publishers.

Yellin founded the Lord John Press in Northridge, California in the late 1970s as a fine press producing nicely printed signed and limited editions, with the "John" in "Lord John" named in part after Updike. Clearly the relationship was productive and their friendship deepened, with the inscriptions often expressing affection and humor. Nearly a quarter of the titles show Updike expressing an opinion about the artwork: whether it's appropriate to the book, commenting on the aesthetics, and occasionally accessing the pulchritude, or lack thereof, of the various women, often scantily clad, displayed on the covers. Updike notes unusual editions, such as an "EAST German edition" and the lone Estonian-language volume which he annotates on the copyright page. He also apologizes for the small flaws on one jacket because the publisher had only sent him two copies (one of which, presumably, he retained for himself). There are a few scattered duplicates, usually in those cases, one of the volumes bears an inscription from Updike questioning himself on whether he had already sent Yellin a copy.

Although there are a number of books in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, the majority of the titles are published in Central and Southern European languages with the most plentiful being German, French, Spanish and Portuguese (both the latter in some South American editions), Dutch, and Italian. These are followed by Northern European languages - Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Danish, then Eastern European - Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Bosnian, Croatian (one title in two volumes), Bulgarian, Romanian, along with a few others, as well as a half dozen titles in Hebrew.

Presumably a concerted search and a fair amount of travel might turn up a modest number of these editions. Finding signed copies would be remarkably difficult, and it would be impossible to find this many inscribed or signed copies, especially with a significant association, and with meaningful commentary about the editions themselves.