George Macy Imagery #6

Hi all,

The last thread was close to 200 posts, so it's about time for a new one. To kick it off, I've launched a new video series!
https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2020/11/08/video-series-1-my-very-first-...

This discusses how I got into collecting Heritage Press books, focusing on my Heritage and LEC copies of the Aeneid!

Good post Jerry! Although your blog is great, I enjoy hearing about your own personal connections to these books, which is particularly interesting to me, and is something I try to do in my posts here (at the risk of boring you readers). Looking forward to your next video!

I'm with you on the HP edition of the Aeneid. That embossed cover is one of the most arresting designs Macy ever did. Don Floyd once took umbrage with me when I said the same and that in comparison, the Limited Editions Club binding seemed stodgy--a poor choice of words in retrospect; what I really meant was that it was beautiful but uninspired, and failed to convey the majestic and monumental qualities of the poem.

By the way, the Sandglass which came with the original issue is marked 5H; let me know if you'd like a copy for comparison.

Thank you for creating the video. I always enjoy an opportunity to get a good look at an LEC that I don't own yet. Since I am pleased with my Folio Society LE of the Aeneid I don't see myself ever getting the LEC but it still seems to be a fine version, as is the Heritage. And I agree that the HP exterior is more interesting.

>3 Django6924: Thank you Robert! That's kind of what I want the videos to serve as; more personal takes on my collection versus the more detail-oriented blog posts. have to agree with your assessment of the LEC binding; pretty, but not really speaking much about the work itself. I would be interested to see the Sandglass; no rush though!

>4 AMindForeverVoyaging: Thank you! I'll have to look at the Folio Aeneid sometime; I'm not familiar with that one.

>5 WildcatJF: I was going to post a few pics but this video instead serves the purpose - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhvmtmSdUWk. The goatskin binding is the star of the show - it's wonderful texturally, the design is spot on and it was especially nice to have it used on such a relatively affordable LE. The other production details are good but nothing special. While the fresco images used to illustrate are lovely I still would prefer original illustrations. And the solander box is a grand if bulky finishing touch. All in all, a satisfying edition.

Indeed, the cover to the first HP Aeneid is stunning. I picked up my copy of that version some years ago for a pittance---lacking a slipcase, but no matter. I already had the later HP edition and it is not nearly as nice, so I really treasure this one.

>1 WildcatJF: Both your HP & LEC look to be in great condition!

Did only the original HP edition have the black embossed cover? Unfortunately, I have neither the HP or LEC, only the EP copy. I do have the FS LE edition translated by Fagles. Does anyone know of a nice edition with the Fitzgerald translation (I've only got a paperback)?

>8 kdweber: I'm not 100% sure. I've seen Connecticut Aeneid copies that fall into the very generic style they became in the 1970s (bright cloth with a printed design not reflective of the work at all), but I don't think I've seen a NY that differed from this design.

>8 kdweber:

I've got two HPs with the embossed cover: the original issue with Sandglass 5H and a later version which is the same as Jerry's. I believe that it was issued in 1966 with the Sandglass numbered XII:31. It was issued again by the Norwalk, CT-based operation and according to Michael Bussacco's Heritage Press Catalog and Checklist came with a Sandglass which had no date, so I believe the Sandglass in your copy actually is one from this later issue.

I gave away my cloth-covered Aeneid I received as a Heritage Club member back in the 1970s as soon as I ran across a copy of the embossed version at a book sale.

>1 WildcatJF: Every time I discover a new book that looks interesting I get a thrill of excitement that I might not only enjoy handling and reading it, but also that I can share it via my blog. Then I find that you have inevitably beaten me to it and I die inside. Now you're stealing all my YouTube subscribers!!1!

But seriously, that was a cool video. I find these LEC vs HP comparisons particularly interesting and I agree with >3 Django6924: that it's nice to hear about the journeys of other collectors.

>11 ubiquitousuk: haha I have been doing this for close to a decade at this point (December 9th is the 10 year anniversary, and yes, I'm planning something)! I'll have to check out your videos sometime; I already enjoy your posts!

>1 WildcatJF: I really like your cat videos :)
What video editing software do you use?

>13 astropi: Thanks! :) I've just been using the default Video Editor Microsoft includes with Windows 10. I do have Adobe Premiere but it's been fussing with my graphic card, and since I'm not aiming for super duper production values at this point it's been working out great.

Hi Jerry! I like the new video series. Keep it up!

I've updated my Canterbury Tales book coverage with the 1934 edition designed by George W. Jones, a lovely publication! I had time this afternoon to update the original post as well, so it's good to go!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2020/11/21/limited-editions-club-the-can...

This is a good initiative. More videos please.

>15 BuzzBuzzard:, >17 blue.eyes: - Thank you! The next one will be sometime in December! :) Thank you!

Being a big fan of Szyk, I have a very nice NF+ copy of his LEC edition with only the tiniest speck of wear on the top of the spine. My slipcase is in Fine condition but it does not have a label nor any trace of a label on the slipcase spine. Can others who have this LEC in the original slipcase tell me if their copy has a label? Thanks.

>19 kdweber: Mine is exactly as you described- no label or trace of one on the decorated slipcase.

>19 kdweber: Mine does not have label either, which I think makes sense due to the decorated nature of the case.

>17 blue.eyes:

Jerry, there is one additional Macy Chaucer, admittedly a most unexpected one given the nature of many of the Canterbury Tales: The Heritage Illustrated Bookshelf Tales From Chaucer. This slim volume uses the same binding as the HP version, the Szyk illustrations which in their reproduction are an exact match for the ones in the HP, but instead of the Hill translation, uses "selected tales told for young people by Charles Cowden Clarke." Clarke's retelling is in prose, includes the Prologue and nine of the tales. The Prologue is abridged to only describing the characters in the related tales, and the more ribald tales, the Miller's Tale and the Monk's Tale, for example, are excluded. Some of the byplay between the characters is also cleaned up; when the Pardoner finishes his tale in the unexpurgated version, he offers his holy relics to the other members of the party for "a grote," and to the Host first as he is the most sinful. He says he will let the Host kiss the holy relics and the Host replies:

Thou woldest make me kiss thyne olde breech,
And swere it were the relyk of a seint,
Though it were with thy fundament depeint!
But by the croys which that Seint Eleyne fond,
I wolde I hadde thy coillons in myn hond (testicles)
Lat kutte hem of...
They shul be shryned in an hogges toord!

In the Tales From Chaucer, the Host just introduces the next character.

>20 BionicJim:, >21 BuzzBuzzard: Thanks

>22 Django6924: Grote being a silver 4 pence piece?

>23 kdweber:

Yes! Most famous these day for the pamphlet by early Elizabethan playwright Robert Greene, "Greenes Groats-worth of Witte, bought with a million of Repentance" in which he makes a disparaging remark about Shakespeare.

>19 kdweber: No label on mine either. The leather spine of this book is notoriously fragile and prone to flecking. Congrats on having one in such nice condition.

>22 Django6924: I need to do a thorough review of the Heritage Illustrated Bookshelf sometime. Some real curios in there. I'll need to add this to my list of Heritage exclusives! Thank you!

>22 Django6924: Robert, a few years ago I was surprised to come across a Kindle edition of Tales From Chaucer, complete with its illustrations from the Arthur Szyk Canterbury Tales. It was published 10 years ago next January and is still listed - its ranking order in the overall master list of Kindle Store Best Sellers books is 3,139,060, and it is also ranked in three individual Kindle Store categories, appearing at 3,942 in Mythology, 2,167 in Folklore and 1,181 in Religious Fiction Classics.
It's the only Macy book that I've come across in a digital edition, but that's hardly surprising given that there are over 3 million kindle books. They could all have been digitised for all I know!

>27 featherwate:

Amazing! I had no idea either that any Macy editions had ever been available in a digital format. Now I will have to do some research to see if there are any others.

>28 Django6924: archive.org has digitized a few Heritage Press and Limited Editions Club titles. Users can check them out either as Adobe DRM PDFs or using a browser viewer (the only option for one hour borrowings). I believe the distinction has to do with how many copies the organization owns.

For example: one of the volumes of the 1942 LEC Diary of Samuel Pepys (I think all volumes are available, but show up as separate items). And from Heritage press: The Charterhouse of Parma and Christopher Marlowe: Four Plays.

The cataloging is often inexact (for example, Charterhouse above has Limited Editions Club in the metadata rather than Heritage), so it might be worth trying several different search queries.

Hello!

I'm beginning to plot out 2021's posts and videos, and I want to get the three Devotee picks for the summer sorted out so I can prep the rest of the year. So! Out of these volumes, which do you want to see me cover on the blog over the summer? Please select three with the one you want to see the most at the top, as I will rank these by preference.

Two Medieval Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson/C.B. Falls
Tartarin of Tarascon by Alphonse Daudet/W.A. Dwiggins
Fables of Jean de La Fontaine/Rudolph Ruzicka
Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm/Fritz Kredel (comparison with later Lucille Corcos Heritage)
The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne/Carl Strauss
The Cloister in the Hearth by Charles Reade/Lynd Ward
South Wind by Norman Douglas/Carlotta Petrina (comparison with Connecticut Heritage)
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra/Enric-Cristobal Ricart (compared to the later Legrand LEC/Heritage)
The Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel by Charles de Coster/Richard Floethe
The School of Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan/Rene ben Sussan
Imaginary Conversations by Walter Savage Landor
The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard by Anatole France/Sylvain Sauvage
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare/Hugo Steiner-Prag
Pericles, Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare/Stanislas Ostoja-Chrostowski
Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare/George Buday
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare/Nikolai Fyodorovitch Lapshin
Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters/Boardman Robinson
The Poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson/Richard and Doris Beer
The Book of Job, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
The Adventures of Hajji Baba in Ispahan by J.J. Morier/Honore Guilbeau
Penguin Island by Anatole France/Malcolm Cameron (comparison to Heritage and Sauvage exclusive Heritage)
Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley/Edward A. Wilson (comparison to Heritage)
Henry the Fifth by William Shakespeare/Fritz Kredel
Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs/Thomas Hart Benton
Camille by Alexandre Dumas fils/Bernard Lamotte
Poems of Heinrich Heine/Fritz Kredel
The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch/Joe Mugnaini
The Chronicles of England by Jean Froissart/Henry C. Pitz
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne/Edward A. Wilson
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe/Domenico Gnoli (comparison to Heritage)
Daisy Miller by Henry James/Gustave Nebel
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy/Agnes Miller Parker
Youth/Typhoon/The End of Tether by Joseph Conrad/Robert Shore
Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde/Tony Walton
The Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus by Johann von Grimmelshausen/Fritz Eichenberg
Oedipus by Friedrich Durrenmatt/Marie Cosindas

Voting will last until Saturday, December 5th. Thank you!

>30 WildcatJF:

Spoon River
Tartarin of Tarascon
Tyl Ulenspiegel
!

>30 WildcatJF:
Bonnard
Froissart
Westward Ho

Two Medieval Tales
Froissart
Plague Year

>30 WildcatJF:

Lady Windemere's Fan
Titus Andronicus
Sylvestre Bonnard

>30 WildcatJF: Wow, lots of choices!

Spoon River (don't have it, haven't read it, on my buy list)
Tyl Ulenspiegel (own the LEC but have never read it)

I own and have read the rest so my pick is for an LEC/HP comparison:
Westward Ho!

>30 WildcatJF:
Don Quixote
Emerson's Poems
A Journal of the Plague Year

One more day for votes! :)

>30 WildcatJF:

Henry V
Don Quixote
Jude the Obscure

>30 WildcatJF: The Marble Faun
Imaginary Conversations
Spoon River

Oedipus
The Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus
Two Medieval Tales

All right, I've calculated the votes! So I looked at everyone's first book as the top pick, so I assigned it 3 points. Second listed got 2, and the third 1. With that in mind, the three that earned the most points were:
Spoon River Anthology, with 7
Don Quixote, with 5
and a two way tie between Two Medieval Tales, and The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard with 4. Froissart's Chronicles also had 4 points, but did not have a #1 rank like these two did. However, I will cover it in January 2022 as is typically the case with books that just miss the cut for these.

So, I am pleased to announce the remainder of the 2021 calendar for the Imagery in terms of book posts.
January – Orations and Essays by Cicero
February – At the Sign of the Queen Pedauque
March – Far Away and Long Ago
April – The Book of Ruth (LEC, comparison to Heritage)
May – Vathek
June - Spoon River Anthology
July - Don Quixote (1st LEC, comparison to 2nd LEC/Heritage)
August - Two Medieval Tales
September - The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
October - Green Grow the Lilacs
November - Undine (I have plans to acquire this in 2021)
December - The Adventures of Hajji Baba in Ispahan

A solid mix of titles! Thank you for participating in this devotee's choice poll! :)

I will continue to do monthly video content in 2021, but those I haven't plotted out quite yet. Stay tuned!

ANOTHER book announcement? YES! I have just published my second book inspired by the artistic successes of the Limited Editions Club, "Zenobia".

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PK428F4

"Victorian working class poet Ruth Wills created a new image of the historical Queen of Palmyra, the venerable Zenobia, with her titular poem challenging the status quo of royalty and the Queen's downfall from grace. Critiquing the principles of slavery, Wills brings to life a powerful decrying of the practice through the subterfuge of a servant girl to collapse an empire. In this deluxe edition of the poem, Jerry Fieldsted provides visuals, design and commentary about both Wills and Zenobia, bringing this masterful poem the attention it has always deserved."

I'm really excited to share this with the world!

TEN YEARS. Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of the George Macy Imagery! Hard to believe. Here's the previously promised video for the anniversary:

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2020/12/10/video-series-2-man-and-superm...

As I say in the video, I want to personally thank all of you Devotees for this wonderful community. I've learned so much from you and have made my content that much better. :)

>43 WildcatJF:

Ten years???!!!

Where has it gone? Congratulations, Jerry--looking forward to your next video!

>44 Django6924: I can't believe it either!! Haha.

Got December's post up! Enjoy this look at the LEC edition of The Kasidah!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2020/12/28/limited-editions-club-the-kas...

>46 WildcatJF: Great post. Thanks WildcatJF!

>46 WildcatJF:

How odd for Angelo and the Limited Editions Club to have spent all this effort and talent on this particular bit of literary forgery. My copy lacks the slipcase and chemise, but from the evidence of my Limited Editions Club Vathek, these were not very durable.

>48 Django6924: It is a bit strange, yes. I wonder when the veil of Burton's fabrications was uncovered...perhaps in 1937 it wasn't well known. I'll have to see if the letter says anything (if it's on the group drive, at any rate). My Vathek's casing is busted up, so these are particularly fragile. Thankful at least this one is as solid as it is.

>47 Sport1963: Thank you!

>48 Django6924: Reviewing the letter on the Drive, Macy and Angelo did know about the fabrication. Angelo offered it to Macy as a companion to the Rubaiyat as the two often were associated at the time.

Here's this month's video! I focus on five of the seven titles the LEC and Heritage Press issued from the canon of Anatole France, one of my favorite authors!

https://youtu.be/eN_g9lGhS-Q

January's post is up on Cicero's Orations and Essays: https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/01/23/limited-editions-club-oration...

>51 WildcatJF: I am close to finishing Sylvestre Bonnard, my first Anatole France novel. It's been a pleasant read. The book production is underrated. It doesn't look like much on the outside but, besides the fine Sauvage illustrations, the paper is really top-notch, the letterpress has a pleasant bite and the type is very easy on the eyes. I also enjoy the large format. And the illustration of Bonnard's study with the bookcase near the large window made me chuckle now that I've come across so many sun-faded spines in my still young collecting career :)

>53 AMindForeverVoyaging: Glad you've been enjoying it! I think I want to read at least two of the three I have that I haven't read yet...Bonnard is quite likely :)

>52 WildcatJF: Such a lovely book! Is it letterpress? I am thinking about making it my first LEC book.

>55 Lukas1990:
All Limited Editions Club books were printed letterpress.

For the fourth video for the George Macy Imagery Video Series, where I begin looking into the First Series of the Limited Editions Club. For this episode, I discuss Two Medieval Tales, Tartarin of Tarascon, and The Fables of Jean de la Fontaine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEXVRpIKtTw

Nice survey of three very important books in the Limited Editions Club canon that show the range of the books published by Macy. Your copy of the Stevenson book is the best I have seen: the covers on my copy are detached as the leather cracked at the hinges. I am more inclined to Macy's opinion of the book, as the type is rather unappealing to my eyes (personal taste).

Rudolph Ruzicka was better-known as a designer of type than an illustrator, and the Fables and his work for the limited edition of Walden published by the Lakeside Press are his magnum opera. I find his work, as did Macy, rather cold and formal.

Dwiggins' forte was book design and decoration. His work in Tartarin is very pleasant, but I wouldn't call it outstanding. I prefer the illustrations for the Heritage Press Droll Stories by Artzybasheff to the ones Dwiggins did for the LEC version. His best work as an illustrator for the Limited Editions Club is probably his work for Gargantua and Pantagruel which is exceedingly charming--but charming seems inappropriate for Rabelais; Lynd Ward's work for the HP Rabelais and the famous Doré illustrations are what I want them to be (personal taste, again).

I think Dwiggins' work as an illustrator for the LEC tends to be more decorative than illustrative; the one time he really worked more in the style I call "illustration" was his Scarlet Letter for the HP.

>58 Django6924: Thanks for watching Robert!

I was very impressed with my Medieval Tales' condition. In the first cut of the video that didn't save properly, I mentioned I saw a copy in a similar state to yours in Monterey, but I forgot to bring it up again. I don't hate the type but I don't think it was the best for that book's contents. Still, I like it a lot.

Dwiggins' art style isn't my favorite either, but I do like Tartarin's "drawings as journals" approach, as did Macy. I've yet to come across other books that feature his artwork over his design chops...

Got this month's book post up! Enjoy this look into Anatole France's At the Sign of the Queen Pedauque!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/02/22/limited-editions-club-at-the-...

>61 AMindForeverVoyaging: I enjoyed my first France read, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard, recently. I especially loved the paper. How would you say the paper in Pedauque compares?

>61 AMindForeverVoyaging: I'll take a look at the two a little later today and report back :)

>61 AMindForeverVoyaging:

I hope I'm not jumping in front of Jerry, but to put in my 2 cents: the paper in Pedauque is better than any paper you'll find in any but stratospherically-priced books today, but it doesn't equal the paper in Bonnard, which is a luxurious, hand-made, all-rag paper called "Gilio", made in Italy. The paper in Pedauque is made by the estimable Worthy paper company and is mostly rag but also with a small percentage of alpha cellulose (wood pulp). It's a beautiful paper, but not in the same class.

>63 Django6924: Thank you for the input. Yes, the Bonnard paper really made an impression on me, and Macy himself gushed over it (although he tended to gush). Given the physical similarities of Bonnard to Pedauque, but knowing the paper was different, I was curious if Pedauque was in the same league. Sounds like it's close enough for me to take the plunge, eventually :)

>63 Django6924: No worries Robert! Appreciate you providing an answer before I could :)

>64 AMindForeverVoyaging: I have both books and now will pay more attention to the paper difference. But aside from that, I would urge you to get Pedauque anyway for the design and the illustrations.

>66 laotzu225: And lastly the story that is better than Bonnard.

One of the most unique bindings in the LEC, Far Away and Long Ago: https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/03/06/limited-editions-club-far-awa...

Jerry, Green Mansions was indeed a Heritage exclusive and in fact the very first books from regular subscription, sandglass 1A. It is copyrighted 1936 by the Heritage Club. A top quality production!

>69 BuzzBuzzard: Appreciate the heads up! I'll update the post to be more accurate, thank you!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/03/16/video-series-5-notable-women-...

For the fifth video for the George Macy Imagery Video Series, I share some books illustrated by women for Women’s History Month. Covered in this episode are The Ballad of Reading Gaol (Heritage) illustrated by Zhenya Gay, South Wind (LEC) illustrated by Carlotta Petrina, Jude the Obscure (LEC) illustrated by Agnes Miller Parker, and The Adventures of Hajji Baba in Ispahan (LEC) illustrated by Honore Guilbeau!

Great idea Jerry! Although Macy was criticized for neglecting women authors, he certainly was a patron of women illustrators. I believe some he would have used even more often did they not prove "difficult" in their business dealings--I believe Zhenya Gay turned down some offers, and especially Mariette Lydis, who did not sign the Turn of the Screw LEC.

>72 Django6924: Thanks! Parker was definitely the most consistent of the women who illustrated for the Club. I didn't really want to get into the business side of things in this particular video but I am at least somewhat familiar with Gay and Lydis. If memory serves, Gay chose to focus more on children's illustration following her commission on Reading Gaol, and Lydis was living in Brazil around that time and thus was apparently unable to sign the LEC colophon sheets (per making a couple assumptions via my own post on the subject: https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/heritage-press-the-turn-of-th.... You might be more knowledgeable on the particulars :)

>73 WildcatJF:

Jerry, the story of Marietta Lydis is a complicated one; Macy saw a set of drawings she had done for Turn of the Screw for a very small private press in England and wanted to use those for the Limited Editions Club. She apparently insisted on re-doing all of them and since she was now in Brazil wasn't available to sign the colophon. At least this is what I have read. It's hard to find accurate information because either there was another artist in Brazil who could duplicate her unique style, or Lydis herself turned her hand to illustrating pornography--though not under her own name but much of the work seems to have been attributed to her. Very hard to find reliable resources on her later life.

As for Zhenya Gay, you are absolutely correct; her heart was in illustrating children's books with pictures of animals, and so moved from Manhattan to the Catskills and collaborated on children's books written by Jan Gay. (They weren't related: Zhenya's birth name was Eleanor Byrnes, and her lover and partner Jan was born Helen Reitman. In addition to collaborating on the books, they apparently founded a nudist colony in Highlands, New York.)

>71 WildcatJF: C'mon, couldn't you have worked in two of the more polarizing LECs - Looking Backward (Elise) and Brave New World (Mara McAfee)? :) I was only mildly put off by the BNW illustrations and in fact now think they go pretty well with the whole '70s-ishness of the production. And I think the Looking Backward illustrations are fine but also a major missed opportunity. It would have been very interesting to have an artist in 1941 representing the year 2000 through the lens of an 1888 book. Thanks as always for your videos!

I should also mention what might be my favorite woman-illustrated LEC so far and one which I'm currently reading - The Circus of Dr. Lao. Claire Van Vliet poured much whimsy and absurdity into her numerous relief etchings and ornaments. The typography and cover design she created are also spot-ony. As humorous as the story has been, Van Vliet's artwork has stolen the show for me.

>76 AMindForeverVoyaging:

I agree whole heartedly: Finney's story is an amusing satire/parable, but Ms. Van Vliet's illustrations raise it to a higher level of artistry. The original illustrator when the book was published was Boris Artzybasheff who did the HP exclusive Droll Stories. His illustrations were more surreal and are very accomplished but they seem somewhat childish when compared to Ms. Van Vliet's.

>75 AMindForeverVoyaging: If only I had both of those to cover! And The Circus! But my intention is to continue to grow my collection, so I'm sure I will eventually gather those titles :)

Appreciate the compliments!

Jerry, one more interesting tidbit on Zhenya Gay: before decamping to the Catskills and turning her talent to children's books, she did the illustrations for the Bodley Head The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard in her unique style.

>79 Django6924: I did know that, and I am looking for it, haha.

Hi all,

Per request in another thread, I've made some slight adjustments to the 2021 schedule of posts:
April – Froissart's Chronicles
May – Vathek
June - Spoon River Anthology
July - Don Quixote (1st LEC, comparison to 2nd LEC/Heritage)
August - Two Medieval Tales
September - The Book of Ruth (LEC, comparison to Heritage)
October - Green Grow the Lilacs
November - Undine
December - The Adventures of Hajji Baba in Ispahan
January 2022 - The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

>81 WildcatJF: Woohoo!

My latest video series is up: this one continues my look on the first series of the Limited Editions Club!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE57kglyp40

Looking forward to watching this tomorrow, Jerry. Too late for this old-timer to start tonight.

Got April's post up on The Chronicles of Jean Froissart!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/limited-editions-club-the-chr...

>85 WildcatJF: This one will be in my hands any day now and I'm looking forward to it even more thanks to your post.

>85 WildcatJF: Thank you very much!

Here's May's video series, focusing on the two LEC Cyrano de Bergerac editions:
https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/05/15/george-macy-imagery-video-ser...

This month's book post is on Vathek by William Beckford, a rather interesting book with some history behind it:

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/05/29/limited-editions-club-vathek-...

>89 WildcatJF:
Enabled and ordered (US$40 + US$39 postage from Canada).

>89 WildcatJF: William Beckford was an interesting guy. He built a gothic manor made from heavy stone and designed by Wyatt called Fonthill Abbey. The foundation was inadequate and it fell down.

The Centpede Press also published an edition of Vathek but illustrated by David Whitman.

Ken, Beckford was, after the King and Queen, the richest person in England.

The Nonesuch Press did a beautiful edition of Vathek in 1929, limited to 1050 copies in England and 500 sold through Random House in the US. It was printed by John Johnson at the Oxford University Press. My copy is numbered 209.

The illustrations, printed at the Curwen Press, are very interesting: they are in an Art Deco/Oriental style by Marion Dorn, who is quite an interesting gal: born in Menlo Park, CA, she studied art at Stanford University, and ended up marrying her tutor, Henry Varnum Poor, who illustrated some well-regarded LECs. Dorn specialized in textile designs and when the couple moved to NY, she became known as a designer of batiks. She had movie-star beauty and attracted the attention of famed artist/illustrator/designer McKnight Kauffer and moved with him to London, where she did the illustrations for Vathek. She didn't do any other book illustrations to my knowledge, although featherwate might be able to correct my ignorance on this, but designed many gorgeous rugs and textiles, predominantly in the Art Deco style.

The Nonesuch Vathek is a very nice book, and I love the illustrations, but the Angelo designed Vathek, my very first LEC, is a jewel.

>92 Django6924:. And Beckford managed to blow almost the entire fortune in his lifetime. I heartily agree that the Angelo illustrated Vathek is an absolute jewel. I will keep my eye out for the Nonesuch edition.

>92 Django6924:, >93 kdweber: Add my vote for the LEC Vathek. Lovely little gem of a book.

Getting an early start this month; here's one of my favorite works of poetry, Spoon River Anthology!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/06/05/limited-editions-club-spoon-r...

I've also decided on what I want to write on for next year:
January 2022 – The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
February 2022 – Evergreen Tales Set #2 – Saint George and his Dragon, Beauty and the Beast, Dick Whittington and his Cat
March 2022 – The Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus
April 2022 – The Poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson
May 2022 – Oedipus (Durrenmatt)
June 2022 – Robinson Crusoe
July 2022 – Jude the Obscure
August 2022 – The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
September 2022 – The Book of Job
October 2022 thru January 2023 – Devotee’s Choice

As you can see, there's four slots for Devotee choices! And at the moment, I did my big shopping adventure earlier this year, so I don't anticipate major changes barring any lucky finds I come across in Monterey later this year or some other circumstances happening.

So...let's go ahead and open up the vote now! These are all LECs:
The Travels of Baron Munchausen by Rudolphe Raspe/John Held (comparison to 2nd LEC Heritage reprint)
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving/Frederic Goudy
Tartarin of Tarascon by Alphonse Daudet/W.A. Dwiggins
Fables of Jean de La Fontaine/Rudolph Ruzicka
Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm/Fritz Kredel (comparison to 2nd LEC Heritage reprint)
The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne/Carl Strauss
The Cloister in the Hearth by Charles Reade/Lynd Ward
South Wind by Norman Douglas/Carlotta Petrina (comparison to later Connecticut Heritage reprint)
The Lyrics of Francois Villon/Howard Simon
The Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel by Charles de Coster/Richard Floethe
The School of Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan/Rene ben Sussan
Imaginary Conversations by Walter Savage Landor
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare/Hugo Steiner-Prag
Pericles, Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare/Stanislas Ostoja-Chrostowski
Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare/George Buday
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare/Nikolai Fyodorovitch Lapshin
Penguin Island by Anatole France/Malcolm Cameron (comparison to both Heritage editions: original and LEC reprint)
Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley/Edward A. Wilson (comparison to Heritage)
Henry the Fifth by William Shakespeare/Fritz Kredel
Camille by Alexandre Dumas fils/Bernard Lamotte
Poems of Heinrich Heine/Fritz Kredel
The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch/Joe Mugnaini
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne/Edward A. Wilson
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe/Domenico Gnoli (comparison to Heritage reprint)
Daisy Miller by Henry James/Gustave Nebel
Youth/Typhoon/The End of Tether by Joseph Conrad/Robert Shore
Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde/Tony Walton

Voting will be open for the month of June. Please pick your top 3 books from this list in preferential order, as your first pick will earn more 3 points, second 2, and third 1. I'll announce the four highest scoring books in July.

Thank you for doing this, my vote is:

The Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel by Charles de Coster /Richard Floethe
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving/Frederic Goudy
Imaginary Conversations by Walter Savage Landor

>96 WildcatJF: My 3 are:
Westward Ho!
Fables
Camille

>96 WildcatJF:

Rip van Winkle, Penguin Island, Th Age of Fable.

This month's video is on two of the first books issued by the Heritage Press and their deluxe editions: The Song of Songs and Manon Lescault!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/06/26/george-macy-imagery-video-ser...

>100 WildcatJF: Thanks for the detailed comparisons. Very helpful. My edition of SoS matches the description of the first edition (red leather boards, thin paper), with the exception of the tipped in signature page. Maybe HP printed a larger run of the special editon, and just bound ~1500 with the signature page tipped in.

>101 DCBlack: That is indeed the case. You probably have one of the editions released to the general public from the first series, but it lacks the signature page that was opened to the LEC membership before being dispersed randomly to various booksellers. My goal with the video was to show people where to look, as it's not immediately as obvious.

Still a lovely book! Thanks for the comment! I appreciate it. :)

>102 WildcatJF: There apparently 3000 copies, in toto, of which 1500 were signed, IIRC.

This month's Video Series covers the First Series of the LEC once more, but with a twist! See Leaves of Grass and The Decameron and their later Heritage Press cousins here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnj5tKFFENw

This month's book post provides a look at the 1933 Don Quixote from the Limited Editions Club, alongside a comparison to the later 1950 LEC and 1951 Heritage Press edition!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/07/17/heritage-press-don-quixote-by...

>105 WildcatJF:

My first DQ was the HP edition which I got as a member of the Club back in the 60s. I gave it to my brother when I picked up the 1933 LEC version, but as much as I love the older version and the wood engravings, I always felt Legrand captured the soul of the Don better than anyone, and picked up the 1950 version when I found a Fine copy.

The decision to go with Ormsby's translation over Putnam's is an interesting one. I also have Putnam's translation, which definitely has merit, but on the whole, I think Macy was right. In his introduction to his own translation, Putnam ranks Ormsby's version as the most highly respected, and its major faults being a "striving for a minute verbal accuracy" at the expense of "style and sentence clarity." Despite this, Putnam concludes Ormsby is "so likely to choose the inevitable word or expression that a subsequent translator will be hard put to find a better one."

I am new here, and my main interest is in the books illustrated by Robert Lawson. I have collected his works for about forty years and I have been trying to track down information related to his Limited Editions Club titles and his one Heritage Press title. I looked at the "LEC, Heritage Press Master - Master list" spreadsheet that is linked to from the George Macy Imagery site and one entry has confused me. I looked at the entries for Aesop's Fables published by Heritage Press and I find an issue I am not familiar with. It is listed as 1941 Heritage Press and it mentions Olive cloth and a colorful slipcase. I have seen several different issues of this title, but never that one. I have never seen a copy in Olive cloth, the 1941 Heritage Press copy that I own in in a textured Brown cloth and it is in a yellowish-orange color plain paper slipcase. My copy has a fox on the front cover and has a Sandglass marked as 11D. I also have a copy of the Heritage Reprints edition from the mid 1940's that in a darker brown cloth and it has the Turtle and Rabbit on the front cover and it has a dust jacket that could be the same design as the 1941 Slipbox mentioned in the master list. It is a smaller book than the regular Heritage edition. And I also own a few copies of the Heritage Illustrated Bookshelf edition, bound in a cranberry cloth with the Turtle and Rabbit design on the cover. One copy has a Slipbox that is a similar design to the jacket used for the Heritage Reprints edition but with some slightly different text on the box, and the other is in a jacket that matches the Slipbox. My copy in the Slipbox also has thin orange and blue booklet laid in "The Monthly Magazine" that I assumed took the place of the Sandglass for the Illustrated Bookshelf editions? And I have seen some of the later printing done in the 1960's and later. One in Brown cloth with the fox and another in a yellow cloth. I have also seen a binding that is similar to the Brown cloth version with the fox, but the cloth is a different type of brown cloth, more of a glossy smooth material and the fox stamp is blurred to some degree.

So my question is about the Olive color edition. Is this a mistake or does it exist? Is my copy in the Brown textured cloth a variant of some type? I have to say that I have owned 3 or 4 copies of this issue over the years and I have never seen one in Olive cloth.

I have also been looking for the Monthly Letters for the two Robert Lawson illustrated Limited Editions Club titles "The Crock of Gold" and "Dick Whittington and His Cat" which was part the the 2nd Evergreen set from 1949. I own 3 or 4 copies of "The Crock of Gold" that I have bought over the years and one of the copies may have that Monthly letter, but if so that copy is packed away in a box somewhere. Most recently I bought a copy of the presentation edition 1 of 15 copies that is marked RL in place of a number. I have to assume this was Lawson's own copy, but I wondered if he may have had more than one such copy? I have seen an "Office Copy" for sale and one with other initials, I wondered who would normally get such copies, and how many?

I hoped someone from this group could help with some of my questions.

>107 Bernarrd: I can't help on the Heritage Press questions, but could maybe give some clarity on the LEC questions. I do have a copy of the Crock of Gold monthly letter (#146), I don't have duplicates, but could send photo's if you are after the content. I believe only the first set of evergreen tales got a monthly letter (#203), I have a single copy of this as well. In it they discuss the full collection of evergreen tales. Checking against the other monthly letters I have around this time, it is clear that the numbers skip all subsequent evergreen tale releases, so i'm quite sure these did not have dedicated letters.

It does seem like you do have Robert Lawson's copy, which is a great find if you specifically collect his work. There is quite likely only one of these out there. I had this same discussion with Carol Grossman (author of LEC history) and the extra copies are not actually a fixed known amount of 15. Macy did not release any advance copies and all copies will come in at the same time. Macy will often order 20 extra copies, but did not always adhere to this. He will also try and make sure there is no additional copies lying around at the printer. Individual copies with initials will be given to George Macy, Helen Macy and key people on staff as well as the artist and designer of the book. I think it is likely that there is probably less than 10 lettered copies for each release. There will also be 2-3 office copies for general use or showing people coming into the office, these are often stamped as office copies. The remainder will be unnumbered, so this could be anything from only a few copies to probably up to 7-8. These extra printed copies will also be used to replace any damaged copies returned by subscribers (presumably in postage?).

I do have around 7-8 lettered or unnumbered copies of various LEC books, some of these lettered copies I am still trying to connect with specific people.

>108 rocklands: Rocklands: I would love to get copies of the two Monthly Letters #146 and #203. Do I need to send an email address or how if the best way to get these copies? Although I would like original letters, copies would be great for the information until I can find them. And thanks for the information on the lettered copies. I have been trying to collect all of Lawson's illustrated books in First edition in dust jacket or slipbox where one was issued for many years. I think I have at least most of the books in First Editions although I am still missing a few dust jackets. Thank you for your help.

>109 Bernarrd: no problem send you a pm

>107 Bernarrd: Devotee SteveJohnson created the spreadsheet that is on my blog's main page, so he would be able to give more specifics about the book in question. I have only seen the Heritage Aesop's Fables once and my memory is that it was brown.

What I can tell you is that there are multitudes of reprints of most Heritage Press books over its tenure, so pinpointing the "original" can be difficult at times, especially when reprints replicate the original's design with little to no indication it's from a later date. The Sandglass can help with this, but only if you have a resource to sort them all out (Michael Bussacio's books are still the biggest resource on this, although he has seemingly stopped selling them) AND you have the Sandglass in the first place.

I know this isn't quite the answer you hoped for, but hopefully if you reach out to Steve he might be able to provide clarification.

>111 WildcatJF: I see a copy of the same edition of the Heritage Aesop's Fables that I have with the 11D Sandglass listed on EBay at a cheap price. But the box is not the best and it has no Sandglass. I send it mainly as an image of the edition I own. It is not an easy Heritage Press title to find unless you are happy with the later printings. I spent quite a bit of time looking for a copy with the Sandglass and in nice condition. I have sent a PM to Stevejohnson but I have not heard from him yet.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224563397596?hash=item34490583dc:g:scsAAOSwUN1g05GC

Sandglass 11D was the first issue April, 1941 of the HP Aesop. My copy is bound in brown cloth. When I was a member of the Heritage Club in the late 1969s, hey issued a reprint with yellow cloth binding, which I gave away when I find the 1941 issue.

The Heritage Illustrated Bookshelf edition had a paper dust jacket and slipcase which had a pattern of leaves and drawings of animals which was predominantly green-colored--perhaps this is what is meant by "olive"?

I have seen Heritage Illustrated Bookshelf copies in either a slipbox or a dust jacket but not both. I wondered if the slipbox copies had a glassine jacket originally besides the slipbox. And the jacket or slipbox I have seen has a red and grey looking design, but I guess the grey might have faded from some original color.

Hi friends,

Gonna be taking the month off from videos for the blog. I live in Northern California and the smoky air has made filming difficult, so I'm going to hope for some blue skies next month.

Thanks for understanding! I expect to have my next book post on Two Medieval Tales up next weekend.

This month's book post is on Two Medieval Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson, one of the books in the First Series!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/08/29/limited-editions-club-two-med...

This month's book post is on the beautiful The Book of Ruth, illustrated by legendary miniature painter Arthur Szyk! This features comparisons with the NY Heritage reprint!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/heritage-press-the-book-of-ru...

>117 WildcatJF: Thank you! Now if only the LEC had not bound it in sheepskin, luckily I managed to find a copy in NF condition.

>118 kdweber: Good point! I amended the post to note the material's tendency to erode, since the QM doesn't acknowledge the leather as sheepskin.

An update on my Video Series: https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/09/25/video-series-hiatus/

Hope things settle down for you soon. I can empathize as I have had my own issues which have kept me from being as active here as I would want to be.

Thank you Robert, I appreciate that. Hope things get better for you soon as well.

This month's book post is the lovely edition of Green Grows the Lilacs, the play that inspired the musical Oklahoma! Starring the talents of noted American painter and muralist Thomas Hart Benton!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/10/03/limited-editions-club-green-g...

>122 WildcatJF: Yet another fine installment - I was not aware of this play and it's relationship to "Oklahoma!"

>122 WildcatJF: I settled for the HP edition. Still, a nice book.

This month's post focuses on Undine, the tenth LEC (and my personal favorite from the First Series)!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/11/28/limited-editions-club-undine-...

>125 WildcatJF:
Thank you! Though it was not your intention I think you ended up convincing me I do not need this book. Still, I see why you like it!

>126 GusLogan: Hahaha it's all good! One of my intentions with my posts is to help people make those sorts of decisions either for or against picking up a book, so I'm still grateful you were able to come to that conclusion from my blog!

It's had the opposite effect on me. I love the presentation of this and I've been after an edition of Undine since discovering it in Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature.

"In this story of a water-spirit who married a mortal and gained a human soul there is a delicate fineness of craftsmanship which makes it notable in any department of literature, and an easy naturalness which places it close to the genuine folk-myth . . . Many passages and atmospheric touches in this tale reveal Fouqué as an accomplished artist in the field of the macabre."

This month's book post covers J.J. Morier's The Adventures of Hajji Baba in Ispahan!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2021/12/26/limited-editions-club-the-adv...

With 2022 on the horizon, I've just wrapped up my photo shoot for the majority of the blog's lineup for the year...save the Devotee choices!

As always, I open up a few months of the year to be books from my collection you, dear readers, choose for me to cover!

The rules are simple, pick two books from the below list AND your top choice for a LEC Shakespeare set volume I've not discussed yet. October and November will feature the leading volumes, and December the top Shakespeare.

The Travels of Baron Munchausen by Rudolphe Raspe/John Held (will have Heritage comparison for Kredel edition)
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving/Frederic Goudy
Tartarin of Tarascon by Alphonse Daudet/W.A. Dwiggins
Fables of Jean de La Fontaine/Rudolph Ruzicka
Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm/Fritz Kredel
The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne/Carl Strauss
The Cloister in the Hearth by Charles Reade/Lynd Ward
South Wind by Norman Douglas/Carlotta Petrina (CT Heritage comparison)
The Lyrics of Francois Villon/Howard Simon
The Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel by Charles de Coster/Richard Floethe
The School of Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan/Rene ben Sussan
Imaginary Conversations by Walter Savage Landor
Penguin Island by Anatole France/Malcolm Cameron (Heritage comparison)
Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley/Edward A. Wilson (Heritage comparison)
Henry the Fifth by William Shakespeare/Fritz Kredel (not part of the grand set)
Camille by Alexandre Dumas fils/Bernard Lamotte
Poems of Heinrich Heine/Fritz Kredel
The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch/Joe Mugnaini
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne/Edward A. Wilson (Heritage comparison)
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe/Domenico Gnoli (Heritage comparison)
Daisy Miller by Henry James/Gustave Nebel
Youth/Typhoon/The End of Tether by Joseph Conrad/Robert Shore
Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde/Tony Walton

LEC Shakespeare Set (December)
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare/Hugo Steiner-Prag
Pericles, Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare/Stanislas Ostoja-Chrostowski
Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare/George Buday
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare/Nikolai Fyodorovitch Lapshin

This will be up until January 11th. Thank you for helping me set the rest of the 2022 schedule!

>130 WildcatJF: Westward Ho!, Fables of Jean de la Fontaine, and Titus Andronicus

Thanks for another great year of the blog!

Penguin Island, Journal of the Plague Year, and Titus Andronicus

>130 WildcatJF: My requests are Penguin island and Around the world in eighty days.

>130 WildcatJF:
The Age of Fable
and
Imaginary Conversations
and
Titus Andronicus

Happy New Year and thanks for the blog!

Titus Andronicus is proving popular, haha.

One week left to vote!

>130 WildcatJF:

The Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel, Westward Ho!, and Pericles.

Thanks for your great work on the blog and Happy New Year!

Tyl Ulenspiegel would have been my third choice.

>137 blue.eyes2: Third choice can be one of the LEC Shakespeare volumes :) Unless you're not interested in the four I have, which is fair!

Also thanks everyone for the compliments!

>138 WildcatJF: i know i cheated sorry. i really don't know much about Shakespeare's works other than Julius Caesar and Macbeth which I had to study in high school. I was too young to appreciate them, particularly since both were tragedies. At some point of time I hope to read more of Shakespeare.

>139 blue.eyes2: All good! Just wanted to make sure. :)

How are folks voting in general—for titles they don't yet own and would like to preview?

>141 maisiedotes: I presume that's how people vote, but maybe people just want me to cover something they already have and love? Maybe a book is underrated in their view? However your heart decides is fair in this contest! :)

>141 maisiedotes:
Yup, in my case!

I choose The Baron of Munchausen, Lady Windermere/Importance of Being Earnest, and Pericles.

These artists are completely new to me, and I'd be happy to learn anything about them.
Stanislas Ostoja-Chrostowski
George Buday
Nikolai Fyodorovitch Lapshin

I just did an early tally, and currently the leaders are Penguin Island and Westward Ho! in the non-LEC front, with Titus Andronicus in front for the Shakespeare.

We still have four days to go!

I'm very thankful for your review of Froissart's Chronicles. I ordered this book but unfortunately it got lost en route...

My votes:

Imaginary Conversations by Walter Savage Landor, The Travels of Baron Munchausen by Rudolphe Raspe/John Held and Pericles, Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare/Stanislas Ostoja-Chrostowski.

>146 Lukas1990: Oh no sorry to hear that! I hope at least you got refunded for it...

Thanks for doing this.
My votes are are for: Fables of Jean de La Fontaine & The Lyrics of Francois Villon

>147 WildcatJF: Yes, I got a refund. It was a very afordable copy in near fine condition (which is pretty rare, usually there are some issues with the spine being faded or scuffed). Many booksellers refuse to ship this book to Lithuania because of its size or ask a huuuge amount for shipping (usually 110$).

>149 Lukas1990: My book-loving heart cries, "Keep my money! I just want my poor little lost booooook!"

>130 WildcatJF: Thanks again for doing this WildcatJF, my votes are:

Penguin Island by Anatole France
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Titus Andronicus

So I've tallied the votes and Penguin Island was the big winner, so that is a definite. Titus also won the Shakespeare spot, but I've found myself in a quandary. Pericles was the third most popular vote, but I don't want to assume people want to see that over some of the non Shakespeare titles which were split by two votes for like five books. Would the group be fine with Pericles taking the third slot, or shall I run a tiebreaker for the non Shakespeares?

>152 WildcatJF: I wanted to prolong the suspense, stir up a little excitement—but I’d be happy to read about the current winners.

It seems there isn't a big preference here, so I'll go ahead and do Pericles as well as Titus. :) Those will join Penguin Island as the devotee picks for 2022 for the last three months!

>154 WildcatJF: I'm looking forward to your 2022 blog posts!

Our first post of 2022 is up for Anatole France's The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard, starring the amazing Sylvain Sauvage!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/01/29/limited-editions-club-the-cri...

>156 WildcatJF: Thanks for the post. I own a few LEC and Heritage Press books by Anatole France and at some point I intend to start reading him. Could you suggest which book(s) of France would be appropriate to start off with?

>157 blue.eyes2: I read The Revolt of the Angels first, followed by Penguin Island. Both are later examples of his work, confident in their execution of complex and takedown of (at the time) controversial themes. I feel either is a fantastic starting point to really get to know his wit, artistry and creativity. I've found that his work was very influential and see its fingerprints in many other works of fiction nowadays, so I hope you enjoy him as much as I have!

>158 WildcatJF: Thank you.

>157 blue.eyes2: Suggestion: before reading Penguin Island, familiarize yourself with The Dreyfus Affair. Also, this book is a satire...and I thought funny as hell.

>160 Glacierman: Doing some preliminary reading about the Dreyfus Affair indicated to me the need for reading Emile Zola. I think one life is not enough to read all the books one would like to read.

>160 Glacierman: Yes, it is good to look at both Revolt and Penguin as satires. France is a master of it!

I got an early start this month and updated the Evergreen Tales post with Set #2! This set includes Saint George and his Dragon, Beauty and the Beast, Dick Whittington and his Cat.

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/02/05/limited-editions-club-the-eve...

I have not seen monthly letters for these sets, except for the first one. It has Monthly letter 203 and can be found on the Google Drive folder. From what I have heard there were not letters for all of the Evergreen sets.

>164 Bernarrd: I believe they only did the one letter for all five sets, and it's nice someone uploaded it to the Drive! :)

>165 WildcatJF: ML #230 (May 1952) was also associated with the Evergreen Tales sets and corresponded to the final set: The Emperor's New Clothes; Pandora's Box; King Midas and His Golden Touch.

I’m trying to avoid looking at these books as I have sooooo many fairy tales already. Yet I’m bound to want these if I look at them.

This month's book post is on a German classic, The Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus by Johann Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, with stunning woodcut engravings by Fritz Eichenberg!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/03/19/limited-editions-club-the-adv...

>168 WildcatJF:
I’m glad I already have a copy now you’re driving demand up!

This month's post features the blog's first look at the Limited Editions Club's American Poet series, with Ralph Waldo Emerson's words and Richard and Doris Beer's watercolors!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/04/20/limited-editions-club-the-poe...

This month's post comes early! I have a look at 1989's Oedipus, an essay by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt:

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/05/01/limited-editions-club-oedipus...

This month's book post is Robinson Crusoe, the classic Daniel Defoe tale with delightful illustrations and quite the history in its publication!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/06/01/limited-editions-club-robinso...

>172 WildcatJF:
It is interesting how, in Macy's comments in the Quarto, he makes allowance for Grabhorn's behavior by mentioning the "disuasive" propaganda's effect, whereas in Grabhorn's recollections he is downright vitriolic about Macy, the Limited Editions Club and anyone connected with either of them. How interesting to compare Angelo's reminiscences--good job finding those.

I will say that while I do think Robinson Crusoe is a beautiful book from a design standpoint, there are aspects of it that I personally think merit Macy's comment that Grabhorn is not the best printer: the paper chosen, while pleasing to the touch end eye, was not a good choice for reproducing Wilson's illustrations which would have reproduced better on a paper with a smoother finish; also, while I like to see and feel a "bite" impession from letterpress printing, when it is so severe it deformed the opposite side of a page and is visible on that reverse. side, I think the impression is too heavy-handed and not what I like in good printing.

Lastly, I can understand Wilson's rancor over the way Grabhorn changed the title page design. As to whether a book designer can or should overrule an artist's design is debatable (although I think the artist should have been consulted and the reason for changing discussed), but a comparison with Wilson's design--as used in the HP--shows that Grabhorn's changes were not done with the greatest of delicacy.

>173 Django6924: Thank you for sharing a good shot of the Heritage title page Robert! I will amend the post with that. This was a fun post to research for, haha.

I agree with you that it's a little rough of a book in a lot of ways (which understanding Grabhorn's grumpiness towards Macy explains some of the more egregious choices that were made), but despite that it still has its charms.

Also, it's intriguing that the Heritage loses Ford Madox Ford's introduction for one from J. Cuthbert Hadden! I wonder what happened there.

>173 Django6924:
Wow, agreed on the lack of delicacy! I prefer the HP by some distance.

July's blog offering is the last of the Hardy novels produced by the LEC, Jude the Obscure! It so happens to also be Agnes Miller Parker's final commission: https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/07/08/limited-editions-club-jude-th...

>176 WildcatJF:
A lovely book - somehow strikes me as very solid.

>176 WildcatJF: You've just turned me into a fan of Agnes Miller Parker!

>177 GusLogan: It's a great one from the end of the Macy tenure for sure.

>178 maisiedotes: One of us, one of us, haha. She's incredible, arguably my third favorite illustrator in the LEC behind Eichenberg and Ward.

In other news! I've decided on the 2023 lineup for the first seven months for the blog. I'll include the rest of this year's lineup as well for reference:
August 2022 - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
September 2022 - The Book of Job
October 2022 - Penguin Island (LEC)
November 2022 - Titus Andronicus
December 2022 - Pericles
January 2023 - The Age of Fable
February 2023 - The Travels of Baron Munchhausen (Held, 1929)
March 2023 - Rip Van Winkle
April 2023 - Tartarin of Tarascon
May 2023 - Fables of Jean de La Fontaine
June 2023 - Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm (1931)
July 2023 - Gulliver's Travels (1929 LEC and 1940 Heritage)
August 2023 - December 2023 - TBD (Oct - Dec Devotee's Choice)

You'll notice that 2023 is mostly early books from the First and Second Series! I want to document the books I've been collecting lately, so I'll be putting those at the forefront. The Age of Fable is my birthday month book as I think it's super neat and folklore relates a bit to my research interests. I don't have the 1929 Gulliver yet, but I plan to within the year if all goes well. August and September I will likely wrap up the second series titles I have, but I may want to dive into some later stuff after covering six months of the earliest books in the LEC, so I'll be playing those by ear. And we'll do the Devotee Choice picks sometime in 2023 for October through December; I may have some more books then!

>178 maisiedotes: I admire her work greatly and feel that her illustrations for the LEC Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard are especially outstanding. The Heritage Press version can be had for a song and I've heard it's a worthy alternative to the LEC.

>180 AMindForeverVoyaging: Okay, now I feel silly. I own Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard (HP) and read it not so long ago. I did like Agnes Miller Parker's art in that book, yet totally forgot her name! Thanks for making the connection to Jude the Obscure. I brought out Elegy yesterday and re-read it. It's gratifying when poetry starts to become familiar and more understandable.

>181 maisiedotes:
When you are ready for a double shot of poetry and AMP, I highly recommend The Poems of William Shakespeare with what I consider some of her very finest work. The poems include the longer "Rape of Lucrece," "Venus and Adonis," "The lover's Complaint," plus the Sonnets.

The Limited Editions Club edition is somewhat pricy, but I am totally content with my Heritage edition I got as a Club member many years ago--an exceptionally fine Heritage edition, and usually available for around $20--25.

>182 Django6924: Begone, thou tempter!

I'll probably succumb sooner or later.

Jude the Obscure was the second Hardy novel that I read and it is his best! Trailed closely by Tess of the d'Urbervilles. I know Hardy is not to everyone's taste but do try. I couldn't stop and finished all five issued by the Macy companies.

This month's post covers the fifth LEC release, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym by Edgar Allan Poe with illustrations by advertising artist Rene Clarke:

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/08/07/limited-editions-club-the-nar...

This month's post is The Book of Job, with stunning miniature paintings from Arthur Szyk! The detail is incredible.

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/09/03/limited-editions-club-the-boo...

>186 WildcatJF: Thanks for this. Are you keeping a count of how many LEC and Heritage book reviews you have done so far?

>187 blue.eyes2: Thankfully Wordpress does that for me to some extent, haha.
Heritage Press (Connecticut) - 10
Heritage Press (NY) - 121 (I did lose count along the way but this is PRETTY close haha)
Limited Editions Club - 100
The Reader's Club - 1

This month brings a comparison post on the LEC Penguin Island by Anatole France (which is an updated post from 2012, wow, that covered the Heritage exclusive edition and the reprint of this LEC):

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/10/09/heritage-press-penguin-island...

>179 WildcatJF:
Looking forward to a number of these!

>190 GusLogan: That reminds me, I did update the upcoming book list with some of my new acquisitions:
November 2022 – Titus Andronicus
December 2022 – Pericles
January 2023 – The Age of Fable
February 2023 – The Travels of Baron Munchhausen (Held LEC, compared to later Kredel Heritage)
March 2023 – Rip Van Winkle
April 2023 – Tartarin of Tarascon
May 2023 – Fables of Jean de La Fontaine
June 2023 – Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm (Kredel, 1931, compared to later Corcos Heritage)
July 2023 – Gulliver’s Travels (1929 LEC and 1940 Heritage)
August 2023 – A Sentimental Journey Through France & Italy
September 2023 – Travels Of Marco Polo (LEC and Heritage comparison)
October – December 2023 – Devotee’s Choice (will happen in the summer)

I have decided to, in the first time in quite a while for this blog, take off a month of posting. I have a lot going on these next two weeks in other projects, so I'd like to focus on those. Don't worry, however; I will make it up in December or January, so you'll still get the same number of posts as originally scheduled.

Thank you for your understanding!

>192 WildcatJF: I’m sorry I haven’t expressed my appreciation more often, but your blog is a monthly treat.

>193 maisiedotes: Thank you! I appreciate hearing that very much.

My two posts for December focus on Shakespeare; the first is on Titus Andronicus!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/12/06/limited-editions-club-titus-a...

I'll have a second on Pericles later on this month.

A second Shakespeare LEC for December! As promised, here's Pericles!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/12/24/limited-editions-club-pericle...

This month's book post is on the very first book of the Limited Editions Club, along with a notable Heritage Press exclusive: The Travels of Lemuel Gulliver by Jonathan Swift!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2023/01/21/limited-editions-club-heritag...

>197 WildcatJF: enjoyed reading this. thanks. could you comment on the quality of the LEC books (in terms of production values) during the tenure of George and Helen Macy's son? I feel sad that he was unable to continue the business beyond about two years.

>198 blue.eyes2: At present, I have arguably four books that were issued under Jonathan's run, and I haven't covered all of them on the blog yet. The two I have are:

Ferdinand and Isabella by William H. Prescott/Lima de Freitas
https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2014/07/04/limited-editions-club-ferdina...
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy/Agnes Miller Parker
https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2022/07/08/limited-editions-club-jude-th...

The others are A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe/Domenico Gnoli and Daisy Miller by Henry James/Gustave Nebel.

In my opinion, the LEC under Helen and Jonathan Macy didn't reach the artistic or production value heights of George on the whole. I think Helen did a perfectly fine job in maintaining the Club after her husband's death, but I get the sense that she carried on more for him than for herself, if that makes any sense. The LEC and Heritage Press were George's magnum opus of his life, and most of his years were devoted to making it work. I imagine Helen carried on since that was the life she had grown to know being married to George, but it was more risk-averse and "traditional" than George's tenure. No Matisse or Picasso level moves, in other words. Jonathan, on the other hand, didn't seem to want the LEC as his legacy, and after a couple years of trying found it wasn't what he wanted to do. And his brief ownership likely carried on plans his mother had set in place more than anything he conjured on his own.

Those are my thoughts, but I'm sure there's some context I'm missing from Carol's book that might get into this in more detail. Someday I'll acquire that, haha. For me, there's a few more books from that period of the Club I'd like to get, but right now I'm incredibly focused on George's era (without spending enough to buy a book the same price as a used vehicle!).

>199 WildcatJF: thank you.

This month's post updates a 2012 blog on the Baron (Munchausen, that is) with the 1929 John Held, Jr. edition to compare to the later Fritz Kredel illustrated edition issued in 1952 (in its Heritage form)!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2023/02/14/heritage-press-the-singular-a...

>201 WildcatJF:
That green leather(ette?) Baron M is the only Connecticut HP I’ve kept around for its vividness, an early foray (my third, it seems, some four years ago) into Macy-land that’s led to many LECs.

This month's book post covers one of the iconic short stories of Americana - it's Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, issued in 1930!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/limited-editions-club-rip-van...

This month's post is on LEC #9, Tartarin of Tarascon by Alphonse Daudet! One more to go until the First Series has been entirely covered!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2023/04/04/limited-editions-club-tartari...

This month's post concludes the First Series with The Fables of Jean de La Fontaine!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2023/05/05/limited-editions-club-the-fab...

Please note that I will be taking a hiatus through August; there's multiple reasons for this, but one of them is an exciting bit of news I have for this community that I will be announcing in a little while!

Hello!

Posts will be picking back up in September with A Sentimental Journey Through France & Italy, followed in October with The Travels Of Marco Polo LEC (which I will compare with the Heritage). January will bring The Age of Fable, which got pushed due to my hiatus to work on the book.

HOWEVER! We will be doing our usual Devotee Choice feature for November and December, and here are the books I've yet to cover on the blog (* equals I'll do a Heritage reprint comparison too):
The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne/Carl Strauss
Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm/Fritz Kredel (I'd compare to the later complete Heritage)
The Cloister in the Hearth by Charles Reade/Lynd Ward
South Wind by Norman Douglas/Carlotta Petrina* (Conn.)
The Lyrics of Francois Villon/Howard Simon
Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club by Charles Dickens/John Austen (comparison to Heritage exclusive by Gordon Ross)
The Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel by Charles de Coster/Richard Floethe
The School of Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan/Rene ben Sussan
Imaginary Conversations by Walter Savage Landor
Lavengro by George Borrow/Barnett Freedman
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert/Gunter Bohmer (comparison to later Heritage)
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare/Hugo Steiner-Prag
Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare/George Buday
Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley/Edward A. Wilson*
Henry the Fifth by William Shakespeare/Fritz Kredel
Oedipus the King by Sophocles/Demetrios Galanis*
Camille by Alexandre Dumas fils/Bernard Lamotte
Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen/Per Krohg*
Poems of Heinrich Heine/Fritz Kredel
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne/Edward A. Wilson
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe/Domenico Gnoli*
Youth/Typhoon/The End of Tether by Joseph Conrad/Robert Shore
Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde/Tony Walton

Please pick three of the above you'd like to see me cover, and the two with the most votes will be selected as my November/December titles! If it's a tie, I'll add the extras after January. If you could let me know by the end of the month, I'd appreciate it! I'll announce winners Labor Day weekend :)

1. Pickwick Papers
2. Madame Bovary
3. Around the world in eighty days

>206 WildcatJF: My selections:

1. School for Scandal.
2. Pickwick Papers.
3. The Cloister and the Hearth

1. School for Scandal
2. Peer Gynt
3. The Marble Faun

>206 WildcatJF:
1. Pickwick Papers
2. The Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel
3. Journal of the Plague Year

>206 WildcatJF:

1. Lavengro
2. Westward Ho!
3. A School for Scandal

All LECs I don't own yet, but always happy to be enabled!

Hi there!

I'm a little late, but The Pickwick Papers and A School for Scandal both ended up with three votes each, so those will be this year's Devotee's Choices! Thank you for participating!

I am working on the September post and should be up sometime this week!

We're back with posts! This month is A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne - https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2023/09/28/limited-editions-club-a-senti...

I've determined the 2024 book blogging schedule! I'm giving myself June off as I tend to take vacation from work that time of year, and I have some potential projects I have in mind I hope to finish that month.

January - Lavengro
February - Peer Gynt
March - Oedipus the King
April - Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (1931)
May - South Wind
June - Off
July - Imaginary Conversations
August - Poems of Villon (1933)
September - Measure for Measure (LEC Shakespeare)
October - The Age of Fable
November - The Cloister in the Hearth
December - Devotee's Choice

I wanted to capture a few later LECs this year, as I've been focusing so much on the earlier period of the Club for a bit.

>214 WildcatJF: Peer Gynt is possibly my favorite LEC title! Between the book itself and the story behind the production, it’s quite something. I am looking forward to seeing your post on it!

This month's post returns to the Travels of Marco Polo post I did for the Heritage edition and compares it to the LEC original! This is a tough one to choose!
https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2023/10/25/heritage-press-the-travels-of...

This month's post is on The School of Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, an English theatre classic!
https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2023/11/10/limited-editions-club-the-sch...

This month's book post compares the Limited Editions Club and Heritage Press versions of Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers!
https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/heritage-press-the-pickwick-p...

I’m enjoying reading your write-ups as I have not yet acquired these last few LECs that you have reviewed. Thank you for your work on this!

>219 katy1584: Thank you! I appreciate that!

Our first post of 2024 is on George Borrow's Lavengro, with the talents of Barnett Freedman as illustrator!
https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2024/01/18/limited-editions-club-lavengr...

This month's book post is comparing the LEC and Heritage editions of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, which has a remarkable history behind its creation!
https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2024/02/12/heritage-press-peer-gynt-by-h...

This month brings a comparison between the LEC and Heritage editions of Oedipus the King, the book with the longest gestation cycle in the history of George Macy's tenure!

https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2024/03/07/heritage-press-oedipus-the-ki...