I'm glad you finally discovered the books. I have query about the review source - are you sure it was the New York Times? There has been recently a review in Harpers which I think is the one you are referring to. If I am wrong, I would love to see a copy of the New York Times article/review.

As for the reprints, they actually are facsimiles of the original hard cover editions. As I have both the hard cover and the Old Earth Books reprints, I did a test tonight with a person who experiences difficulty reading owing to his age and asked him which edition of the books was more legible. He opted for the reprints - the black and white contrast was better. But forgive me, I do not know how your eyes may see text as you mention that you require assistance of some kind. No one can see out of another's eyes.

Anyway, I hope you can find the rest of the books in hard cover. Try ABE or Alibris on the Internet, but you may be surprised by the price - the last two volumes of the Jerusalem Quartet were only printed once in any form and are therefore quite rare.

It is however great that you enjoy the books and my best wishes go to you in your endeavours in finding the rest of the books at a good price.

And thanks for visiting - any Whittemore fan is welcome on this site.

Anne

--Previous Message--
: Where have these books been?? I read a New York
: Times review, occassioned by the reprints.
: I'm now finishing the second volume in
: hardcover, the only ones in the local
: library, and am gearing up to search for a
: set of reasonably priced hardcovers. To my
: 70-year-old already-assisted eyes, the
: reprints are not well printed--small,
: somewhat fuzzy type, narrow lines.
: But what an amazing mind! Wrapping together
: in an unpretentious, readable style a
: collection of fascinating characters,
: fantasy, humor, lessons of history and
: predictions of the Middle East's
: never-to-end religious conflicts.
: