Pre-owned — Collectible — Bought & Sold
Second-HandSOME BOOKS.com
We Have Select Limited Editions Club books
FOR SALE!
The Limited Editions Club was founded in 1929 by George Macy (1900-1956) to publish finely made and finely illustrated limited editions of the classics of literature - and of a few carefully selected contemporary titles, such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
Most of the books were beautifully illustrated with original artwork by leading book illustrators. In most cases, the illustrators handsigned each copy of the books that they illustrated for the LEC. Some books were published without that signature due to the unexpected death of the artist before publication, as happened with the The Arabian Nights illustrated by Arthur Szyk, Comus illustrated by Edmund Dulac, and the Arthur Rackham illustrated Wind In The Willows. ...
The above text is derived from (1) [Majure, Bill R., "A Brief History of the Limited EditionsClub", www.majure.net/
lechistory.htm. Accessed 19 February 2022] and (2) Wikipedia ["George Macy", www.en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/George_Macy].
By setting up a subscription service, Macy was able to work with a larger budget for subscribers. Artists contracted to illustrate books were given a lot of freedom and budget, [although Macy] sometimes lost his gambles. Books printed between 1925 and World War II were primarily designed by John Fass. The 1935 publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses was illustrated with line drawings by Henri Matisse, which are almost unrelated to the text, [Matisse being unfamiliar with it].
Some LEC books were signed not only by the artist, but also by famous book designers and by the authors, such as The Complete Poems of Robert Frost (1950), which was signed by the poet, Robert Frost; the book-designer, Bruce Rogers; and the artist/illustrator, Thomas Nason. And most copies of the books, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass, were signed by Alice Hargreaves, the original Alice, who inspired the story. ...
The LEC issued up to twelve books each year to a small group of subscribers. During ownership by the Macy family, LEC books were usually limited to 1500 copies, but with several exceptions. The original subscription price in 1929 of an LEC book was $10, discounted by 10% if the subscriber paid a year in advance. ...