The Old West

International editions

Five of the more popular titles saw separate latter-day British first print versions in the UK as a standard (non-padded) hardcover in a dust jacket book format,^[4] even though British customers could originally coach along with their US counterparts by ordering the US version of the series through their nearest Time Life Books subsidiary. These five UK-specific first editions of 2004/06, featuring British spelling, were published by the London-based Caxton Publishing Group under a full license from the European "Time-Life Books B.V." (the former "Time-Life International (Nederland) B.V." Amsterdam branch) as specified in the colophons of the UK volumes, which had managed to stay in business a few years longer after the American "Time Life Books, Inc." mother division had gone defunct in 2001 as a dedicated book publisher.^[5]

As an American-specific topic, this series was not widely translated into other languages, but two identically executed foreign-language editions were nonetheless released by the "Time-Life International (Nederland) B.V." Amsterdam branch themselves; the 1978-1980 German-language Der Wilde Westen edition, which was shy of six volumes (seven when counting the "Master Index"),^[6] and the 1978-1981 French-language Le Far West edition, equally shy of six (or seven) volumes.^[7] That the series was partially translated into these two languages was not only due to the historical ties both France and Germany had with the era in question,^[8] but also because the Western genre has never gone out of vogue in either country, particularly in Germany where the popularity of the genre has since the days of Karl May remained unabated, unlike in native USA. As with the American edition, several of the more popular volumes saw multiple reprint runs in West-Germany. Of the most popular one, volume 8 called "Die Revolverhelden" (="The Gunfighters"), is known that it has seen at least six German-language printings.^[9]

Aside from these editions released by Time Life themselves, there were at least three additional, but far more obscure licensed international series editions known, all of them truncated; the oldest of these concerned the 1974-1975 Yugoslavian Resnična zgodovina Divjega zahoda ("The true history of the Wild West"), which was licensed to Slovenian publisher Cankarjeva Založba. Being the most obscure of the three, the extent of this slightly differently executed hardcover edition is therefore not known.^[10] Like in France and Germany, the Western had been a popular genre in Yugoslavia, before the outbreak of the wars that spelt the end of that nation. A ten-volume Japanese-language Daiseibu monogatari ("Large Western Story") edition is known to have been released by Tokyo-based publisher Taimuraihubukkusu in 1976, identical in exterior to the American source publications, but with Japanese-language interior texts.^[11] The third edition concerned the Swedish-language ten-volume Wild West release, published in 1984-85 by Swedish publisher Bokorama and likewise greatly resembling the American source publication.^[12] As if to underscore the appeal of these two titles, "The Gunfighters" and "The Cowboys" are the only two volumes that saw printings in all six known international editions. "The Scouts" and the "Master Index" on the other hand, are the only two titles not to see a single foreign edition.

As in the UK, other language territory customers were offered the opportunity to acquire the original American version via mail through their nearest Time Life Books subsidiary, typically by series subscription.

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Volume titles of The Old West

Title	General consultant	Volume	Year published	ISBN[a]	Foreign edition[b]
					de	fr	jp	se	uk	yu
The Cowboys	William H. Forbis	01	1973	ISBN 0809414503
The Indians	Benjamin Capps	02	1973	ISBN 0809414554
The Trailblazers	Bil Gilbert	03	1973	ISBN 0809414589
The Soldiers	David Nevin	04	1973	ISBN 0809414643
The Railroaders	Keith Wheeler	05	1973	ISBN 080941466X
The Forty-Niners	William Weber Johnson	06	1974	ISBN 0809414708
The Pioneers	Huston Horn	07	1974	ISBN 0809414775
The Gunfighters	Paul Trachtman	08	1974	ISBN 0809414791
The Expressmen	David Nevin	09	1974	ISBN 0809414864
The Townsmen	Keith Wheeler	10	1975	ISBN 0809414899
The Great Chiefs	Benjamin Capps	11	1975	ISBN 0809414929
The Rivermen	Paul O'Neill	12	1975	ISBN 0809414961
The Texans	David Nevin	13	1975	ISBN 0809415003
The Loggers	Richard Williams	14	1976	ISBN 0809415259
The Chroniclers	Keith Wheeler	15	1976	ISBN 0809415291
The Spanish West	William H. Johnson	16	1976	ISBN 080941533X
The Miners	Robert Wallace	17	1976	ISBN 0809415372
The Canadians	Ogden Tanner	18	1977	ISBN 0809415410
The Frontiersmen	Paul O'Neill	19	1977	ISBN 0809415453
The Alaskans	Keith Wheeler	20	1977	ISBN 0809415062
The Ranchers	Ogden Tanner	21	1977	ISBN 0809415089
The Mexican War	David Nevin	22	1978	ISBN 0809423022
The Women	Joan Swallow Reiter	23	1978	ISBN 0809415143
The Scouts	Keith Wheeler	24	1978	ISBN 0809423065
The Gamblers	Robert Wallace	25	1978	ISBN 0809423081
The End and The Myth	Paul O'Neill	26	1979	ISBN 0809423146
Master Index	Gail Partoyan	27	1980	ISBN 0809423189[c]

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Slipcase

When the series was launched the publisher tried to entice customers to take out a subscription by offering a promotional gold-imprinted hardboard slipcase which held the volumes The Ranchers, The Gunfighters and The Trailblazers. This slipcase is very hard to come by on current used-book markets, as it as a promotional gimmick had not been offered for regular sale by the company.

Excerpt

A 432-page abridged excerpt hardcover variant edition with dust jacket, its chapter organization roughly following the series topics, was published in October 1990 by educational publisher Prentice Hall as "The Old West" (ISBN 0136311512). Though licensed to Prentice Hall, the book sported the Time Life logo on its spine. Old West historian Robert M. Utley (who had not contributed to the main series) provided the foreword for the excerpt edition.

Home market reprints

Until the mid-1980s, reprints were reissued in the same format as the original printing. A few of the more popular volumes were later printed (usually after their 5th-7th printing) as more traditional hardcover editions, with new cover art and where the 1997/1999 reprints are concerned with dust jackets, but all of them dispensing with the padded faux leather cover.^[13] Since only a handful of titles were reissued as such, they were hardly recognizable as series volumes, and could easily be considered/confused as standalone editions, especially because each of them was released irregularly. Additionally, these latter-day reprints were issued in comparatively small numbers, making them quite rare in comparison to the ubiquitous faux leather editions. Furthermore, many reprints were issued with new ISBNs, especially when it concerned a revised edition.

The following titles are known to have seen latter-day reprints in a different format,

• The Gunfighters (1986, 1999, ISBN 0809414813, 0783549040)
• The Gamblers (1997, ISBN 0783549032)
• The Cowboys (1999, ISBN 0783549024)

The prolific reprint runs has made the series one of the more easily obtainable Time Life book series in the used-book market, the original faux leather bound editions in particular.

Spin-offs

The success of the series has enticed Time-Life to delve somewhat deeper into the subject of the Old West with follow-up releases as companion series. The first of these concerned, Classics of the Old West (1980-84, 31 volumes, OCLC 751388477), deluxe reproductions of memoirs written by Old West contemporaries and eyewitnesses, which was started right upon the conclusion of the main series. Most of these works had actually already been used as primary reference sources for quotation/citation purposes in the main series. To further reinforce the connection between the two series, it was decided to execute the Classics in the same vein as the main series as faux leather bound volumes with embossed Old West symbology on the padded hardcover, without a cover illustration, but gilt-edged to emphasize the deluxe visual appeal of the series. This was followed by the much smaller, but very similar, from the Native American perspective related Native American Voices series. As one of Time-Life Books' most obscure series releases, only six series volumes are known to have been released in the 1991-93 time period.^[14] Time Life has repeated this formula fourfold more shortly afterwards, for their World War II, The Epic of Flight, The Civil War, and Mysteries of the Unknown series.

A third supplementary series was less heavy handed on the connections with the main series and concerned Time-Life Books own proprietary The American Indians series (1992–96, 24 volumes, re-titled to The Native Americans for reprinted volumes^[15]). The role of the Native Americans in the history of the Old West could not be covered as in-depth in the main series as their huge part in it warranted, due to the broad scope of the subject matter. The Time Life editors apparently felt likewise and decided to dedicate a separate series to the Native Americans, which not only covered their place in American history, but also paid ample attention to their culture. There was however one clear-cut connection; one volume, "Native Americans of the Old West" (1995, OCLC 1051097745), was actually a reprint of volume 2 of the main series, "The Indians" (essentially constituting its 7th printing),^[16] and was the only volume in the series to run for 240 pages instead of the standard 176 pages for the rest of the series, aside from lacking an ISBN as well.

Additionally, and beyond the aforementioned 1990 excerpt edition release, Time Life saw three further single titles releases dealing with the subject matter. Titles thus released concerned,

• "The Wild West" (March 1993, 368 pages, ISBN 0446517615); companion hardcover with dust jacket book to the hereafter mentioned television series and featuring a foreword by Old West historian Dee Brown; a deluxe embossed leather bound edition was also released prior to the retail version.^[17]
• "Settling the West" (December 1996, 192 pages, ISBN 0783562527); hardcover with dust jacket, part of the six-volume mini-series The American Story, that dealt with selected highlights of US history
• "The Wild West: True Tales And Amazing Legends" (August 2017, 96 pages, ISBN 9781683309031); softcover magazine-style paperback release by latter-day iteration Time Inc. Books, the print subsidiary of the publisher's former owner, Time Warner, who confusingly utilized the book logo of its former possession.

Three topic related volumes were released in Time Life's own 1996-97 educational six-volume The American Story mini series, and concerned "Settling the West" (1996, ISBN 0783562527, "Defiant Chiefs" (1997, ISBN 0783562543), and "The First Settlers" (1997, ISBN 0783562551). All six 192-page series volumes were authored by Sarah Brash and were specifically written for the older high-school youth and predominantly sold to (school) libraries.^[18]

Apart from the book titles, Time-Life has under its own "Time Life Video" imprint co-released in 1994 the aforementioned 1993 documentary television mini-series The Wild West from Rattlesnake Productions.^[19] as a 10-tape VHS set, featuring two episodes per tape. Warner Home Video was the co-producer of both the series proper as well as the derivative VHS set (OCLC 29342855). Time Life followed up with its own direct-to-DVD four-disc Cowboy country : the complete story of the wild west on DVD set in 2006.^[20]

An ancient, precursory publication on the topic had been the 1963 plain hardcover volume from the early The LIFE History of the United States series, the by American historian Margaret L. Coit authored volume 4 ("The Sweep Westward, 1829-1849", OCLC 5876270), endowed with a revised 1974 hardcover reprint edition, which was followed by a 1979 in faux burgundy red leatherette executed deluxe reprint edition (OCLC 3020923, 5472519 respectively).