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1Constantinopolitan
I visited Collinge and Clark's in London yesterday. They have an LEC copy of Flaubert's Salammbo for sale at £400. It includes several letters the illustrator Edward Bawden wrote (which goes someway to explain the price). I admire Bawden's work and have the Fleece Press's The Inward Laugh on Bawden and his circle. Anyway, reluctant to stump up £400, I checked online for a cheaper copy and saw the garish cover of an Easton Press version of Salammbo with the same Bawden illustrations.
I wouldn't have been surprised to see an HP edition, I am puzzled by an Easton Press one. Can anyone tell me what relationship Easton had with the LEC?
I wouldn't have been surprised to see an HP edition, I am puzzled by an Easton Press one. Can anyone tell me what relationship Easton had with the LEC?
2asburytr
Yes. After the Macy family sold both the LEC and the HP the HP was eventually bought by a company called BWI. They acquired with the Heritage Press rights to reproduce it's titles with the same illustrations, book design, etc. The Easton Press was born, fed upon this rich fodder and gradually expanding to various types of leather bound books. Many books they publish even today are reprints of HP works and thus carry some illustrations and material first published by the LEC.
3Django6924
>1 Constantinopolitan:
In addition to what asburytr has covered, there seems to be some further business dealings between MBI and the holders of the LEC rights. Originally, the EP only reprinted titles from the Heritage Press. LEC works which were never issued as Heritage Press titles (such as the first LEC, the King-illustrated Gulliver) were not part of the Easton Press offerings. Salammbo was one of these at first. Then, LEC exclusives began appearing as Easton Press titles, and concurrently (until MBI dropped the Heritage Press line altogether) as HP titles. One of the last HPs, in 1995, was an edition of Salammbo. Even the 37-volume LEC Shakespeare set became an EP offering (one-time only and not since re-offered). Another LEC exclusive which appeared first in their Science Fiction series and recently was offered as a limited EP edition was Fahrenheit 451. Will eventually all former LECs become Easton Press titles? I doubt the EP will ever reprint the Dwiggins-designed Gargantua and Pantagruel, the King-illustrated The Brothers Karamazov, the Mardersteig-designed The Betrothed and others, but one never knows.
In addition to what asburytr has covered, there seems to be some further business dealings between MBI and the holders of the LEC rights. Originally, the EP only reprinted titles from the Heritage Press. LEC works which were never issued as Heritage Press titles (such as the first LEC, the King-illustrated Gulliver) were not part of the Easton Press offerings. Salammbo was one of these at first. Then, LEC exclusives began appearing as Easton Press titles, and concurrently (until MBI dropped the Heritage Press line altogether) as HP titles. One of the last HPs, in 1995, was an edition of Salammbo. Even the 37-volume LEC Shakespeare set became an EP offering (one-time only and not since re-offered). Another LEC exclusive which appeared first in their Science Fiction series and recently was offered as a limited EP edition was Fahrenheit 451. Will eventually all former LECs become Easton Press titles? I doubt the EP will ever reprint the Dwiggins-designed Gargantua and Pantagruel, the King-illustrated The Brothers Karamazov, the Mardersteig-designed The Betrothed and others, but one never knows.
4Constantinopolitan
>2 asburytr: >3 Django6924: Thank you both very much for such full and interesting information. I've one or two very nice HP books and have followed the recent discussion on HP titles that are preferred to LECs with interest. Are any Easton Press works anything other than fairly mass market?
5Django6924
>4 Constantinopolitan:
Well, there are those who would say the Heritage Press was mass market, since it wasn't limited to a fairly low number of copies, so I don't like to judge a book by its intended marketing, but rather by the quality of design and production.
In this regard, the Easton Press is somewhat uneven, though the production values are certainly superior to most books from the large publishing companies. I am not a fan of leather as a binding material, which is one of Easton's major selling points, and I prefer an all-rag paper over the alpha cellulose (albeit archival) paper characteristically (perhaps exclusively) used by Easton. Likewise, I find silk moiré endpapers an affectation no matter which publisher uses them. On the plus side, the signature sewn bindings are very solid, the gilt page edges (though I would prefer marbled edges) do keep dust from infiltrating, and I wish more publishers would provide ribbon-silk page markers.
I do have several EP books as there is no comparable fine-quality edition of some of their offerings, and have no criticisms other than the subjective ones mentioned above. I actually think they have done a service to many booklovers by reissuing works which are virtually unobtainable these days (unless you have a hefty book-purchasing budget), such as the recent reissue of the N.C. Wyeth- illustrated Odyssey.
Well, there are those who would say the Heritage Press was mass market, since it wasn't limited to a fairly low number of copies, so I don't like to judge a book by its intended marketing, but rather by the quality of design and production.
In this regard, the Easton Press is somewhat uneven, though the production values are certainly superior to most books from the large publishing companies. I am not a fan of leather as a binding material, which is one of Easton's major selling points, and I prefer an all-rag paper over the alpha cellulose (albeit archival) paper characteristically (perhaps exclusively) used by Easton. Likewise, I find silk moiré endpapers an affectation no matter which publisher uses them. On the plus side, the signature sewn bindings are very solid, the gilt page edges (though I would prefer marbled edges) do keep dust from infiltrating, and I wish more publishers would provide ribbon-silk page markers.
I do have several EP books as there is no comparable fine-quality edition of some of their offerings, and have no criticisms other than the subjective ones mentioned above. I actually think they have done a service to many booklovers by reissuing works which are virtually unobtainable these days (unless you have a hefty book-purchasing budget), such as the recent reissue of the N.C. Wyeth- illustrated Odyssey.
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