Specific LEC Books

Some lucky soul can get ahold of the Arthur Szyk Canterbury Tales on ebay. I have one in better shape than this, but I have seen this go for $400 in the past so now's your chance!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350165008450&fromMake...

This thread is a little dormant, but I thought it an appropriate one to mention the original edition of Notre Dame de Paris, with the paperback binding that apparently caused quite the furor when it was shipped to subscribers, recently sold on eBay for the fairly reasonable price of $132. I was outbid in the last few moments, but would have liked to have this edition despite the fact I don't like Masereel's illustrations as well as the later LEC of this work illustrated by Lamotte.

2 - Wow, that would have been quite a grab! They're pretty rare in their original paperback binding, from what I hear.

Since this seems to be a "LEC deals" thread, here's one going on at ABEBooks. One of their sellers is having a 50% off sale, and they have a few LEC/Heritage titles as part of it. Here's the sale page that explains things; go to the Advanced Search to find the Publisher option to get more specific.

http://www.abebooks.com/books/sale/first-editions-signed-psychology-chess/cromwe...

I saw that Powell's has a copy of the LEC edition of Conrad's The Secret Sharer. Looks like it is from the period after the company was sold. That's one of my favorite Conrad stories. The one illustration I saw looked very appropriate to the story. Anyone seen this one?

I have it, and it is a gem! The printing and binding are luxurious, and the illustrations, as you remarked, are appropriate and splendidly atmospheric.

I had the Heritage Press edition of Les Miserables in my hand this weekend at a used bookstore in San Francisco. It would have come home with me except that I noticed the front hinge was cracked pretty badly. I've been on the lookout for a fine press edition but no luck so far.

Any one have an opinion on the Heritage Press edition vs. other out there like the LEC or Folio Society edition? I know the Folio Society is abridged both in the standard and limited editions. Were the LEC or Heritage abridged? I would prefer unabridged but don't mind if they move the usually abridged chapter(s) to the back like I believe some publishers have done.

I'm a little late on this thread but I also have the LEC Secret Sharer and it is fantastic. There are only a few illustrations, but they are exceptional. This is one of my favorite LECs.

>6 jveezer:
Sorry to be slow in responding to your post, but I am out of towN and replying by iPhone isn't easy for my slow fingers.

The HeritAge Press and the LEC versions are the Wraxelle translation, unabridged and personally approved by Hugo. The illustrations by Ward are very good, and I prefer them to the period ones in the Folio LE, but I am aware the older Folio with illustrations by Keeping has some fervent champions whose opinion I respect; I haven't see the Keeping ones myself.

I bib up to $150 US for an LEC LM on eBay last month but lost out. I have 2 very good 2 volume sets of the Heritage Press edition, and would be willing to part with one if you are interested. I would rate both as Near Fine.

Django: I would definitely be interested in Les Mis. Other than 5 volumes down to 2, what are the other differences between the LEC and the Heritage?

>9 jveezer:

OK, I am back in town and able to respond better than typing in laboriously on my iPhone.

The LEC edition is five quarto (7-1/4" x 10-1/2") volumes bound in black Irish linen with rust-colored, gilt-lettered cloth spine labels; the pages are set in linotype and the illustrations are printed directly from the woodcuts and in each volume the illustrations are printed with a different ink color;

The Heritage Press editions I have are 2 volume sets measuring 6 1/2" x 9 1/2" with printed paper sides with Ward's illustrations for the 5 original volumes reproduced in reduction, and with linen quarter binding on the spines (vol 1 is red linen which has slightly faded and Vol 2 has blue linen which is still pristine). The printing and illustrations are reproduced by photographic plates from the original LEC and printed via offset lithography, so there are no colors to the illustrations, but everything is a very crisp, dense black. Each of the volumes has its own black slipcase.

For those interested in a LEC Bibliography, I noticed Powells.com has a copy of:

Quarto-Millenary: The First 250 Publications and the First 25 Years 1929-1954 of The Limited Editions Club, Limited Edition

Anyone have a copy on this and can comment? Is this one of those books that keeps costing you money as you find yet another LEC book you can't live without?

...also one on eBay...

>11 jveezer:

I have it, and yes, it will lead you down the path of acquisitiveness with its full-page samples of past works, which have the same effect, but even more potently, than the Folio 60. It is quite a beautifully produced work, and I paid about $250 US for mine.

I have a copy that I'm looking to purge myself of if you are interested. Never been a big bibliography guy, but I won an auction out in California at PBA Galleries, and it was part of the lot.

Has anyone heard of the Ink and Blood Heritage Press signed by Szyk?
http://cgi.ebay.com/RAREST-HERITAGE-PRESS-Arthur-Szyk-Ink-and-Blood-signed_W0QQi...

I had never heard of this before

Yes--this is the rarest and far the most expensive of all Heritage Press books. It was strictly a Heritage Press release and the copies were signed by Szyk to the subscribers--the edition was limited to 1000. The edition had the letterpress type set and printed by the Aldus company, and the book was designed by Richard Ellis. The book featured full color illustrations and photogravure monochromes, and the book was bound by the Heritage Press's principal bindery, the Russell-Ruttter company. The illustrations are usually his most highly regarded works, as his style, often called "cartoonish" by critics, is totally apt for the purpose.

I've never seen a copy in decent condition sell for less than $1000 US, and fine editions fetch double or triple that.

14>
Yeah, I noticed that on ABEBooks a while ago. I had a feeling it was among the rarer of the Heritage line, but it's interesting to know it's the rarest. Very intriguing...

The history behind Szyk's relationship with George Macy is also intriguing. Szyk had an exhibition of his art at the Polish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair, which provided Macy's introduction to his work. The next year when Macy was in London, he went to an exhibition of Szyk's work at the Arlington Galleries, and was so impressed he went to a man seated at a desk in the Gallery and asked how it would be possible to get the address of Mr. Szyk. The man was, of course, Szyk himself, and his long association began with his Rubaiyat for the Heritage Press, still considered by many to be the creme de la creme of all Heritage Press editions.

Django,

How do you know all of this? Is there a good book on the history of Macy and LEC?

>18 chase.donaldson:

No, unfortunately there isn't, although I have intended for years to write one myself. This information came from a Heritage Sandglass.

Does anyone know who the translator was for the 1981 LEC edition of Rilke's poetry? Any comments on the book?

Wow! There's a Midsummer Night's Dream LEC on eBay right now with Rackham's illustrations. You should take a peek just to see the illustrations. Awesome.

> 21

Damn... those are stunning.

I've just checked on abebook, and there are just 3 copies offered, from $800 to $2200 (Chelsea Bindery re-bound with all the whistles). Is the $700-$900 range common for this? And were Rackham's illustrations reprinted in any other editions?

> 17

Django, as usually - very interesting info.
How is the HP Rubaiyat with Szyk's illustrations compared to Edmund Dulac's? I'm very fond of those and have recently purchased a (very affordable) 1977 facsimile edition by Weathervane Books of the 1909 Hodder & Stoughton edition, reproducing all 20 plates (as opposed to 12 in most editions from the 30's-50's). Now waiting to get it.
(Dulac's illustratsion can be seen here: http://spiritoftheages.com/Rubaiyat%20of%20Omar%20Khayyam%20(1909)%20-%20Edmund%... )

Edit: automatic linking doesn't work on the link above, because of the parentheses - copy and paste it in its entirety.

>20 jveezer:
The translation was by Rilke's best-known Englisher, C.F. MacIntyre--the same ones I read as an undergraduate. The translations are pretty good as translations--I can read Rilke in the original fairly well, and thankfully the original is on the facing page of each poem--though they do not possess the supreme achievement of being equally poetic in their own right. (By that I mean they don't succeed as great English poetry the way Fitzgerald's translations of Omar Khayyam do--even though Fitzgerald is not "faithful" in a literal sense, which MacIntyre certainly is.)

The book is remarkably unprepossessing for an LEC: plain black cloth spine and denim-blue paper sides. When I first saw it in the bookstore where I bought it, I thought it might have been a book from some university press. The printing is up to the LEC peerless standards, and there are some nicely atmospheric lithographs by Robert Kipniss which make me think of the misty photography of Carl Dreyer's "Vampyr," which seems right for the poetry. All poems are from "Das Buch der Bilder" and both parts of "Neue Gedichte,"--no "Duino Elegies" nor "Sonnets to Orpheus."

ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention size--the book is what would be termed a "small octavo."

>22 BorisG:

BorisG, the Rackham illustrations for the LEC A Midsummer's Night's Dream were never reprinted as a Heritage Press edition--nor in any other save for the Easton Press's reprint of the entire LEC Shakespeare. Rackham DID illustrate the play a few times before this edition, I remember seeing an edition of the play from the very early 1900s that must have had 40 illustrations by Rackham, but the ones for the LEC were exclusive to this version--and the next-to-last ones work Rackham did before his death. (In the LEC Commentary letter included with the play, it is stated that Rackham is currently working on illustrations for an LEC edition of The Wind in the Willows, but "he has been three years working on these illustrations; and his delay has been due to bad health. He has undergone a series of operations, has been much in hospital, and is under the constant care of a nurse." The WITW illustrations were Rackham's last and he died before he could sign the edition. The high price of the LEC "Midsummer's" is due to its exclusivity--the only available edition with these particular illustrations--and the superb quality. Again from the Commentary: "(Rackham) has usually insisted that his (watercolors) be reproduced by photoengraving...but (such a process) requires coated paper...and we refused to permit the inclusion of coated paper in our Shakespeare." The reproductions were made by pulling 4 lithographic plates in 3 colors plus black, and the prints from the stones were then sent to a "colorist named Beaufumé" who matched the coloring of Rackham's originals by applying color using the pochoir, or stencil, process to each print. The effect is very much like looking at original watercolors, rather than photographic prints of watercolors (as is the case with the Easton reprint of this edition).

As for the Szyk Rubaiyat, all I can say is that you have to like Szyk to be as impressed as I am by his illustrations in the Heritage edition. They seem idiomatic and right, even though I think Dulac's illustrations would appeal to the vast majority and are spectacularly beautiful in their own right. Some people think Szyk's work too cartoonish, and his people not beautiful enough. Again, I think Szyk's work very appropriate, but I would hang Dulac's illustrations on my wall to beautify my office--if only I could get my hands on the originals!

>20 jveezer:
Yes, it's C. F. MacIntyre.

I have the LEC you mention, plus the Modern Library versions of Stephen Mitchell's translations.

As we have so often talked about on LT, I am not qualified to discuss which would be more accurate. However, I can tell you that MacIntyre's translations work very well in bringing the poems to life. I might prefer Mitchell a little, but like them both.

The book itself is understated, but has simple, but effective illustrations. I'm very happy with it.

*I should have read the thread to the bottom. I notice I am late on this issue and my comments are mostly redundant to Django's.

I really like Stephen Mitchell's translations so I would usually choose him all other things being equal...Don't know if he his translations have found their way into fine press books much. The only one I am aware of is the out of print Arion Press edition of The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke from 1983.

>26 jveezer:

Mitchell's translation was the one used for the LEC's The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Bigge--a very fine edition.

Ah! Thanks, Django. I'll have to look for that one. Should be much more reasonable than the Arion Press edition. Does the LEC have the German en face? I had the pleasure of looking at the Arion Press edition in their library and it does have both the German and English, as I recall with the German in a very "Germanic" typeface...

>24 Django6924:

Thanks for the information, Django. Slightly annoying to understand there's no middle way out of this :) (I'm not a fan of photographic reproductions - I disliked the FS Paradise Lost because of those; though the ones in FS 'West of the Moon' are quite spectacular, so, not sure. Does anyone in the group have the Easton Press edition perhaps, or has seen it, and could post impressions?).

I think I will be getting the HP Rubaiyat as well - the edition with Dulac's illustrations used the second version of Fitzgerald's translation, and not the first. (i.e. - a convenient reason of getting another version...)

But I will post impressions of the book in any case, once it gets here.

P.S. A completely off-topic comment about photographic reproductions: I bought a cheap poster of Goya's Perro Semihundido when I last was at the Prado museum (I fell in love with that painting, for not-clearly-understood reasons). I chose a good dark-wood frame for it, with a matte glass (which takes away the cheap gloss), and I must say that to my non-professional eye, it looks like a good reproduction now. €6.50 for the poster, €40 for the frame and the glass - and it's quite a good effect.

I just looked at the illustrations for the LEC Antigone on eBay. I have to say they look really impressive. They are by Harry Bennett. I hope to welcome that one in my library some day.

>30 jveezer:

They are superb! And as a bonus the edition has the original Greek text on the facing page.

About Arthur Szyk, has anyone seen the Evergreen Tale, Joseph and His Brother, and what are the illustrations like?

Recently dug out the old Arabian Nights, wondering if they were...yes, the Heritage Press edition, 1955, love the details he put into a miniature painting but I see the production values aren't consistent, scenes vary from sharp to a bit blurry.

I don't have Quarto-Millenary yet, would it give the details of each Evergreen Tale?

Thanks then!

>32 olepuppy:

I have it, and they are very nice, sharp and clear, with amazing color saturation--reproduced by photogravure, I suspect, as they are on coated stock and tipped in. I'll take some pictures this week and post them. And yes, the Q-M gives complete details on each Evergreen Tale.

I love the Heritage Arabian Nights Entertainments with Szyk's illustrations, however I too have noticed that some of them lack the crispness of detail I expect. It probably is due to the reproduction process (offset lithography?), but there is always a chance that the quality is inherent in the original art. Mostly I suspect the printing process--with the incredible riot of color and extremely fine detail, all it would take is for one color pass to be ever so slightly out of register for the loss of pin-sharp detail to be noticeable.

While surfing ebay and viaLibri allows me to see some photos of of various LEC's, I am discovering that I enjoy a good bibliography and that I must get a Q-M. I use Folio 60 and more recently the Westvaco 50 regularly.

Valenti Angelo, Author Illustrator Printer, BCoC 1976, lists his work in books and broadsides, and I find in reading down the list certain items strike my fancy and I then try to find out more about them. I didn't know of his specialty in capital letter illustration, the example from the 1948 LEC Sonnets from the Portuguese is beautiful.

I remember going to Oak Knoll 3 years ago to learn more about fine press and not being very excited about their specialty, bibliography, seemed pretty dry, but now I'm beginning to appreciate the handiness of having lists and descriptions of publications, especially after the unfinished and disjointed struggle of learning about Imprint Society books.

The 50 year LEC bibliography looks like a beautiful book, a work of the bookmaker's art, and I may have to save(hah) for one.

The LEC Sonnets from the Portuguese is one of the most gorgeous books I own--I'd say it ranks in the top 5 for sheer beauty (one of the LEC books Macy designed himself). Valenti's Sonnets of William Shakespeare for the Heritage Press is another jewel--and more reasonably priced.

I'd like to get the 50 year LEC bibliography, but right now it is very much out of my price range.

Yes, Django, hard to find a copy under $300, the similar Letters volume the same, beautiful books. I'd like to have a nice Q-M but I may have to be satisfied for now with a $40-60 copy. And thanks for your thoughts on both Sonnets.

I've been looking for Heritage Press editions of Sonnets from the Portuguese and Moby Dick. The samples I've seen online look fine, as usual the question is do they match up to the LEC editions. I want to see the Boardman Robinson illustrations and I see good-looking
copies for 20 with Sandglass. The Sonnets are bit harder to nail down, seems the first printing in the thirties does not have the illuminated and colored capital letter for each sonnet, and then there seem to be several later printings, is one more well done than another? I see a coupla good ones for 10-15. Any clues, anyone( Django:)?

>37 olepuppy:

The version to get--I haven't seen the one from the thirties--is the 1941 printing, Heritage Press, New York, with decorations by Valenti Angelo. The initial letters are not illuminated, but there is a header for each sonnet, with the number in Roman numerals, and an individual design in a framework around the sonnet number. The design is a typical Angelo illumination, with exquisitely drawn figures with curlicues and filigree in "three colors"--actually ochre, a pale blue, and dense black. The binding is cream colored linen with one of Mr. Angelo's designs in the same three-color scheme. Here is a link to an item on ABEbooks with a picture of the edition I'm talking about:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1307166641&searchurl=an%3DS...

Gorgeous book--I prefer it to the LEC Sonnets that was done in a style and binding to match the LEC Complete Shakespeare (the size is also more convenient--just right, I'd say). I also have the Folio Shakespeare Sonnets, the one with the purple crushed art silk binding with wood engravings by numerous artists, and I have to say I never open it--the illustrations may be very artistic and fraught with insight into the poems, but they give me the fantods. I prefer Angelo's purely decorative approach.

Thanks again for all the good info, Django- and also for the new word! I have some HP lines out for Moby Dick and the Sonnets Shakespeare and Portuguese, will see what I can reel in.

Django: There is another LEC Les Mis on eBay right now. It ends today and is already up over the $150 mark...Looks nice but only two pics to look at and a very brief description typical of this particular LEC seller.

>40 jveezer:
I've purchased books from him and he is very reputable. From his description and the pictures I'd say it's the equivalent of editions listed at twice that price on ABEbooks. Were it not for my uncertain job situation now, I'd be bidding on it.

It's already past my what I'm willing spend at this point as well...

The volumes themselves look to be in a similar external condition to my set, but the slip case looks to be much better than mine. I paid the equivalent of $160 (I think) including postage, so if this one doesn't go any higher then it seems like a pretty good buy.

I have bought from him as well - an Easton Leaves of Grass - and had no complaints at all about his description.

The LEC Les Mis went for $180. I would have bid higher than that if I hadn't just got my Spring Sale order(s) AND the new Arion Press Our Man in Havana. My wallet is hiding from me right now...

That was an excellent price--for the condition of that set, I'd say an exceptional price. If the last 6 months had been as usual for me workwise, I'd have easily gone $240

$50 per volume would have seemed like a good price to me as well. I queried the seller on any untoward odors and he responded that it had a slight dustiness expected from a 70+ year old book. I would have wished I could smell for myself but probably would still have bid it up to that point as it's one of the LEC's I've really been looking for...Oh well.

Missed out on another set of the LEC Les Mis recently on eBay but did score the LEC The Diary of Samuel Pepys for a song. The books are in excellent condition except for some minor fading; the slipcase has some cracked seams that I suspect may have actually happened during shipping as they did not pack them very well for a heavy set like this.

I saw the 1949 LEC The Brothers Karamazov first hand in a bookstore yesterday. It's so much nicer to actual see books on your wishlist instead of trusting to good internet karma. Anyway, I'm mulling it over but wanted to hear any opinions on the 1933 3 volume edition vs. this two volume edition. Fritz Eichenberg vs. Alexander King for the illustrations? What was it about the first edition that made Macy do a second?

48) I think it all depends on your preference of size and artist. The 3 volume King set is smaller than the standard LEC - exact measurements I do not have, since I've only seen them in a library...but it's a little larger than say a modern trade paperback. King's artwork is in color and, for lack of a better term, is more beautiful and clean than Eichenberg's, but that doesn't mean it's "better", if that makes any sense. Eichenberg used woodcuts to do his Karamazov (if my memory's correct), and they are up to his usual excellence, but have a rougher quality to them. Plus, the books are larger, probably why it's a two-volume set over the 1933 3-volume.

I hope that makes sense - I just woke up. XD If and when I get into university, I'll check out the King Karamazov to put it up on the blog, but that'll be a little while before I can do that (January 2012, unless I can check things out before I officially enroll).

Edit - The translations may be different, too, but I don't recall right now.

jveezer, both are fine, but for my money, King's illustrations are startlingly Dostoyevskian, and represent the best I've ever seen for this novel. Considering I did not like King's illustrations for Tom Jones at all, I'm rather surprised myself at this preference. Now King only provides portraits of the characters, and doesn't depict any events at all, whereas Eichenberg portrays characters and events (the latter rather more successfully than the former, I think--especially in the amazing illustration of Lise's dream!). Eichenberg's illustrations are lithographs rather than the wood engravings for which he is most famous, and I think the greater range of values works rather better for Karamazov than the starker black and whites which were so good for Crime and Punishment.

My suggestion? Buy both! (For reading, I agree with WildcatJF that the earlier LEC's smallish octavos are easier than the later largish quartos. I also am very partial to the three different marbled papers used to cover the boards in the earlier set.)

EDIT: I said marbled papers above: they are really paste papers; the effect is similar, but they are made with a very different process.

ALSO: the translation is identical for both versions: Constance Garnett's extensively revised by Yarmolinsky.

As to what it was that made Macy do a second version, I think it must have been the fact that he very much disliked D.B. Updike's choice of paper for the earlier version, and the fact that Updike's choice of font and size would have meant a complete resetting anyway, given that a Heritage Press reprint of the 3 volume first LEC version would have been economically unfeasible (plus the fact that Eichenberg's Crime and Punishment was a blockbuster for the Heritage Press a few years earlier, and he probably hoped to repeat that success.

> 35, Completely agree on The LEC Sonnets from the Portuguese, it is a great, beautiful book. This thread sure gets one thinking about some others....

I have both the Eichenburg and the King, and I would say unreservedly that the King illustrations are better. The books themselves also just have a much more polished feel to them, and I found easier to read as well with their smaller size. Just

50/52) Thanks Django and chase for further clarifying the differences. :) I was hoping you would, as I only have passing familiarity with both (neither are in my collection as of yet).