Faber Library

Faber and Faber, Ltd. (London, UK)
Series dates: 1932-1942
Size: 5″ x 7″

The Porpoise Press (Edinburgh, UK)
Series dates: 1932
Size: 5″ x 7″

Faber and Faber’s The Faber Library started in 1932 with six titles and eventually expanded to 52 titles with series numbers up to #55. Two series numbers were not used and one title was announced but not published.


I can account for 52 titles actually published in the pre-WW2 Faber Library series. The series numbers run to #55. Series numbers are sometimes changed, probably because announced titles were postponed or canceled. #29 and #41 never seem to have been used for a published title. #29 is announced as Ding Dong Bell, Selected Poems by Auden, and Elizabethan Essays on different dust jackets, but all are eventually published using other series numbers. #23: Dwarf’s Blood, by Edith Oliver seems to have not been published and the number not used.

The list below contains titles and series numbers I’ve found on WorldCat or other sources – thus actual books published with particular series number. I’ve included the year of publication in the series. Years of publication don’t necessarily follow the series numbering.

1. Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, by Siegfried Sassoon (1932)
2. Memoirs of An Infantry Officer, by Siegfried Sassoon (1932)
3. The Beautiful Years, by Henry Williamson (1932)
4. Poems, 1909-1925, by T. S. Eliot (1932)
5. Memoirs of a Midget, by Walter De La Mare (1932)
6. Under The Red Ensign, by H. M. Tomlinson (1932)
7. Morning Tide, by Neil Gunn (1932) (this series title was published by the Porpoise Press, Edinburgh. Faber & Faber was a backer of this small Scottish press in the 1930s [source])
8. Disraeli and Gladstone, by D.C. Somervell  (1932)
9. Dandelion Days, by Henry Williamson (1932)
10. Adamastor: Poems, by Roy Campbell (1932)
11. On The Edge: Short Stories, by Walter De La Mare (1932)
12. Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War, by Deneys Reitz (1932)
13. The Meeting Place, by J.D. Beresford (1933)
14. The Dream of Fair Women, by Henry Williamson (1933)
15. Albert Grope, by F.O.Mann (1933)
16. The Pathway, by Henry Williamson (1933)
17. Selected Poems, by Ezra Pound (1933)
*18. Louder and Funnier, by P G Wodehouse (1932)
19. Farmer’s Glory, by A.G. Street (1934)
20. An Adventure, by C.A.E. Mollerly & E.F. Jourdain (1934)
21. Strawberry Roan, by A.G. Street (1934)
*22. The Seraphim Room, by Edith Olivier (1934)
* **23. Dwarf’s Blood, by Edith Oliver
24. Elizabethan Essays, by T.S. Eliot (1934)
25. Hedge-Trimmings, by A.G. Street (1935)
26. The Progress of a Ploughboy by William Cobbett (1933)
27. The Riddle, by Walter De La Mare (1938)
*28. Ur of the Chaldees, by Charles Leonard Woolley (1935)
*29. No title published
30. The Book of Joad, by C.E.M. Joad (1935)
31. Collected Poems, by Edward Thomas (1936)
32. Country Days, by A.G. Street (1936)
33. The English Eccentrics, by Edith Sitwell (1933)
34. Pornography and So On, by D.H. Lawrence (1936)
35. Thinking Aloud, by A.G. Street (1942)
36. The Country Child, by Alison Uttley (1936)
***37. The Daring Young Man …, by William Saroyan
38. Loved River, by H.R. Jukes (1938)
39. Selected Poems, by W.H. Auden (1938)
40. The Endless Furrow, by A.G. Street (1938)
*41. No title published
42. The Testament of Joad, by C.E.M. Joad (1937)
43. Ding Dong Bell, by Walter De La Mare (1936)
44. The Open Air, by Adrian Bell (1940)
45. Sherston’s Progress, by Siegfried Sassoon (1940)
46. Richard Jefferies, by Henry Williamson (1940)
47. Ambush of Young Days, by Alison Uttley (1940)
48. The Burning Cactus, by Stephen Spender (1936)
49. Little Children, by William Saroyan (1941)
50. Later Poems, by T.S. Elliot (1941)
*51. John Mistletoe, by Christopher Morley (1941)
52. Salar The Salmon, by Henry Williamson (1943)
53. Henry Brocken, by Walter De La Mare (1942)
54. The First Lover, by Kay Boyle (1942; London: Reiss)
*55. The Listeners and Other Poems, by Walter De la Mare (1942)

*Titles absent from an October 1942 edition of #20 An Adventure and thus not in print at that date.
**This title appears to have not been published.
***Thanks to Chris Garcia at Forever Saroyan for confirming the publication of this title in the series.

Two Tales of Shem and Shaun, by James Joyce (1932). This book is often listed as a Faber Library title but I believe it was not part of the series. Jackets for this book include an advertisement for the Faber Library on the back, but this title is not listed as one of the series there. I believe the series advertisement suggested that this title was part of the Faber Library when it was not.

Sweeney Agonistes, by T.S. Eliot (1932). As with Two Tales of Shem and Shaun, this 1932 title is sometimes listed as part of the Faber Library, probably due to an advertisement for the series listed on the jacket back. I’ve seen no evidence this title was ever part of the series.

The Dance of Death, by W.H. Auden (1935). Another title occasionally listed as part of the Faber Library, but probably a mistake due to Faber Library advertisements on the book’s dust jacket.

Words, Beasts & Fishes, by Marmaduke Dixey (1936). Another title occasionally listed as part of the Faber Library, but probably a mistake due to Faber Library advertisements on the book’s dust jacket.

The Flax of Dream, by. Henry Williamson Flax of Dream (1936). Another title occasionally listed as part of the Faber Library, but probably a mistake due to Faber Library advertisements on the book’s dust jacket.

Polite Essays, by Ezra Pound (1937). Another title occasionally listed as part of the Faber Library, but probably a mistake due to Faber Library advertisements on the book’s dust jacket.

Victoria of England, by Edith Sitwell (1943). Another title occasionally listed as part of the Faber Library, but probably a mistake due to Faber Library advertisements on the book’s dust jacket.


Between 1932 and 1940 the books jackets and bindings remained very similar, with only modifications in the list of titles on the back of the jacket. Author and title information is printed on commonly designed jackets. The books are described on the front flap, along with the price (3s./6d.). This copy of De La Mare’s Memoirs of a Midget is dated 1932.

faber_lib_djfront_1932

The back of the jacket has current titles in the series, in this case, the first six titles. You can contact Faber and Faber for a prospectus for the series, as well as other titles.

faber_lib_djback_1932

Bindings are consistently green with silver stamping and a blank front cover.

faber_lib_bind_1932

The series name and book serial number are included on the page before the title page.

faber_lib_pretitle_1932

The title page.

faber_lib_title_1932

Copyright and printing information on the reverse of the title page indicates printing information in the series. Reprints are indicated and dated.

faber_lib_copyright_1932

Two additional dust jacket paper colors, green and purple. Farmer’s Glory and Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man both have 1936 print dates.

faber_lib_2djcolors

A list of the first 39 titles in the series is on the jacket from the late 1930s.

faber_lib_catalog

In the early 1940s titles from the series were redesigned to meet wartime standards as indicated by information on the back of the title page of this 1942 copy of Williamson’s The Beautiful Years.

faber_lib_warstandards_1942

The jacket on this war economy standard book is simpler but has content similar to the earlier jackets. Both reprint and new titles were issued in this style.

faber_lib_djfront_1942

The back of the jacket lists 54 titles. At least one more title, Walter de la Mare’s The Listeners and Other Poems (#55) was published (in 1942).

faber_lib_djback_1942

Bindings remain the same, but the paper in the book is cheaper and more coarse than the paper in earlier books.

faber_lib_bind_1942

There do not seem to be new titles issued after 1942 although some books continued to be printed into the 1950s according to WorldCat records.

Faber revived the Faber Library series in 1995 and continued to issue new titles until about 1997.