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Alphabetical Listing | Chronological Listing | Rare Collector Sets
Rare Books
It was Scribner's editor
who once wrote to Rawlings, author of The Yearling, “The characterization of a great book is that it
is both juvenile and adult." Within a year of the first printing of
our Rare Collector books, we began to realize that we had indeed brought
back to life literature that was being enjoyed by both juvenile and adult.
From the onset it was our intent to feature books for a juvenile market,
but soon found that our books were appealing to all ages. The reason? Lamplighter
books are filled with real-life themes shrouded in mystery; although the
innocent suffer wrongfully, ultimately good triumphs over evil. These thematic
elements birth new hope to a culture burdened with fear and uncertainty.
For seven consecutive years we have experienced a steady growth in demand
that has far exceeded our expectations. Several of our best sellers are
now on their eighth, ninth, and twelfth printing. Currently, we have published seventy-three
books; 6 are illustrated children’s
books, 1 parenting book, 1 educational book (a 17th century work by Fenelon,
who was commissioned by King Louis XIV in 1802—this book was considered
the greatest treatise on education and parenting known to man one hundred
fifty years after his death), 65 hardcover Lamplighter Rare Collector books,
and 3 instrumental music CDs. Each book is beautifully crafted, embossed
in gold, silver, and black. Cover materials and designs range from hard
cover to genuine leather, detailed with art work inspired from the Nouveau,
Arts and Crafts, and Victorian periods. It is our intent to publish 10
to 12 books per year which includes one to two illustrated children’s
books. As we see society at large awakening to the need for literature that will
influence moral character, self-discipline, perseverance, and self-sacrifice,
we believe that the Lamplighter Rare Collection of literature will be a
new voice of conscience in a culture searching for direction. Arthur
W. Hunt, in his new book The Vanishing Word, shows how Christianity
and the written word have prospered together. He also shows what happens
when the habit of reading is lost and people orient themselves instead
to sensate images. Reading encourages thinking, reflecting, and the cultivation
of truth, but image cultures tend to be driven by subjectivism, superstition,
hedonism, and propaganda.
The great media critic Neil Postman—who died recently—pointed
out the ways that reading encourages certain habits of mind. Reading
teaches us to think in a logically connected way. It cultivates a sustained
attention
span. It conditions us to think in terms of abstract ideas, objective
truth, and sustained reflection. But television and other media that
depend on
images condition us to subjectivism. TV cultivates a short attention
span and a purely emotional response. It increases the demand for constant,
entertaining stimulation and undercuts the capacity for delayed gratification.
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