The History of the Limited Editions Club.
New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2017,
First Edition. quarto, pattern boards and cloth. xii, 276 pp. Oak Knoll Press, New. Item #26469
George Macy started the Limited Editions Club with backing from investors in the heyday of the stock market of 1929. After enlisting founding subscribers and collaborators and preparing the initial series of 12 titles, the first book shipped during the week of the stock market collapse. The story of how the Limited Editions Club survived as a combination book club and fine press/publishing house through more than 80 years of ups and downs is a fascinating one, and it has not been properly told until now. Macy worked closely with such designers and printers as W. A. Dwiggins, Frederic Warde, the Grabhorns, William Kittredge, Bruce Rogers, Hans Mardersteig, Francis Meynell, T. M. Cleland, Fredric Goudy, and D. B. Updike. Contributing to LEC books were the foremost illustrators of the day, as well as such artists as Picasso, Matisse, Rodin, George Grosz, Edward Steichen, and Edward Weston. Macy was eventually honored with exhibits at the British Museum and the Bibliothèque Nationale, and he was awarded the Medal of the Legion of Honor of France and the AIGA Gold Medal for lifetime achievement and service to the graphic arts. After George's death in 1956, his widow Helen continued to maintain the quality of the publications until she retired in 1971. After several changes of ownership and uncertain years, Wall Street financier Sid Shiff put the company back on its feet and revitalized the LEC output, producing some of the most handsome livres d'artistes of the 20th and 21st centuries. The History of the Limited Editions Club was designed by Jerry Kelly in the spirit of the LEC and is embellished with over 90 illustrations in color showing bindings, title and text page designs, artwork, sketches, notes, and ephemera. New.
Price: $125.00