The Modern Library

The Modern Library is an American book series whose significance lies in joining affordability to literary and intellectual prestige. Founded in 1917, it became a staple of the American book trade, helped provide the basis for Random House, and later renewed its identity through a major redesign and a program of title selection.

Founding and Publishing Purpose

The Modern Library was established in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright. Its central aim was to provide readers with affordable hardbound editions of important works of literature and thought, bringing books of recognized cultural value into the ordinary trade rather than limiting them to costly or specialized editions. Over time, the series became a familiar and durable presence in American publishing.

Eight years after its founding, Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer acquired the series. It provided the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House, giving The Modern Library an institutional importance beyond its own list: the series was both a continuing publishing program and an origin point for a larger enterprise.

Redesign and Continuing Identity

For the series’ seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned The Modern Library. The anniversary program restored the running torchbearer emblem created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and renewed the books’ jackets, bindings, and typography. These changes refreshed the series’ physical appearance while reconnecting it to an established visual identity.

The anniversary also introduced a new program for selecting titles. The redesign therefore involved more than packaging: it renewed the series’ presentation and its editorial direction while preserving its commitment to making significant books accessible at affordable prices.

The Proust Edition

The Modern Library edition of Marcel Proust’s novel belongs to a later effort to establish a definitive text. The final volume of a new, definitive French text of À la recherche du temps perdu was published by the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade in 1989. For the authoritative English-language edition, D. J. Enright revised Terence Kilmartin’s acclaimed reworking of C. K. Scott Moncrieff’s translation to take account of the new French editions.

The edition’s publication history reflects the series’ role as a mediator between textual scholarship and a broad English-language readership. It presents a revised translation grounded in newer French editions within the accessible hardbound format associated with The Modern Library.