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92 volumes. Variously illustrated with maps, portraits and facsimiles. (12mo), original cloth gilt-lettered, top edges gilt.

Extensive collection of Lakeside Press Classics, a nearly complete run, from 1903-1995 (lacking 2 vols). These volumes were given as gifts to friends and employees of the Lakeside Press at Christmastime. Lakeside Press is exceptionally important in American printing history, being instrumental in the development of inexpensive paperbacks and of high speed printing. Their manifesto is printed in the introduction to the first volume in this series: "The entire production [of this book] type-setting, electrotyping, binding, and even ink-making--was made possible by the complete facilities of the plant," and asserts that machine-made books are not a crime against art, because they are useful and progressive. Fittingly, the first book in the series is The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. This set includes that 1903 first book, as well as most of the other early books in the series, such as histories of early Chicago, captivity narratives, frontier accounts, western exploration, etc. The series up to 1995 is complete with the exception of volumes from 1904 and 1906.