Do you ever wish...

... George Macy had picked a less naff name than the LEC? Obviously it does what it says on the tin to some extent, and one can see it might have been a draw in the 30s, 40s, and 50s - and perhaps beyond. I can also see why setting out, Macy didn’t want to use his own name (again), and it wasn’t a press so X Press wouldn’t have made sense. But the commercial focus on the limitation and the, well, clubbiness of ’club’ annoys me a little every time I write it out or mention the name to a friend (not, thankfully, every time I look at my shelves). So I suppose I feel for instance that the Folio Society is better named, though by now it no longer has a membership and the folio bit is perhaps questionable as well.

Am I bonkers? What would you have called it?

The name is utilitarian but still I mostly like it. It's factual and serves its purpose. And I like the "club" aspect of it - if I had been fortunate enough to be a member I would feel proud to say I was. Maybe that's what seems off-putting about it now - there is no longer a club so referencing one feels outdated. At any rate, I'm glad Macy didn't make it about himself - "Macy's" was already spoken for, after all :) - or give it a grandiose name. And I think there is something of a tradition in the fine press world to be understated. Still, I'm trying to think of a better name, and really can't :)

I'm sure Macy's decision for the name was motivated by the great success of the Book of the Month Club, which had been founded in 1926 and had proved to be a way of guaranteeing the sale of a certain number of books, by becoming a "brand." Just as the Book of the Month Club was able to sell to a broader audience the works of new authors, the Limited Editions Club was able to persuade a smaller, but pledged, number of buyers interested in the Art of the book to purchase a classic work.

>3 Django6924: good point. I think that's very logical, I'm curious if there's any historical evidence to back up that claim? Did anyone read Grossman's book? Did she discuss the origin of the name? Overall, like others, I think it's a great name, and you could probably create some sort of name using words such as "Press" or "Society"

Limited Editions Society (LES)

Sounds less welcoming than club so I think Macy did well :)

I shudder to think what an LEC today might be called in our slick and self-consciously hip era. Likely just a single word, like "Press" or "Gutenberg". So I think "Limited Editions Club" is just fine :)

I have no problems with the LEC as a name. It was descriptive and to the point.

>4 astropi:
Not so much a claim as a likely supposition; he might have also been influenced by the Grolier Club which had for several years been promoting the book arts to a very exclusive membership

Thank you for responding - and not being offended!

>2 AMindForeverVoyaging:

I, too, would have been a proud member, but somewhat in spite of the name - much like I balk at staying at a hotel that has ”Elite” in its name. Not to suggest I think you would have been proud _because_ of it, of course!

Edit: The Fine Editions Society?

>8 GusLogan: No, we're not offended. But I must confess that I am puzzled as why the name should bother anyone. It is what it is.

I would have gone with "The Insufficiently Published Club" myself.

>11 Django6924:

Perhaps you should amend that to "The Insufficiently Well-Published Club." Most of the early years of the Limited Editions Club featured books which had been frequently published. In fact when Macy brought out a title that had been infrequently published, like Batouala, he received pushback from many of the members.

Now we’re talking!

>11 Django6924:

Just a joke about the limitation. Sufficiently Published Club would be more marketable I guess and silence the more frugal critics who complain that anything over 1499 copies is unadulterated hubris and a disastrous depletion of national resources.

The very understatedness of the name is probably a practical boon to the current enthusiast. I’ve been relatively knowledgeable about books compared to the average hardcover buyer (a group which, by stats, is already a minority), but I wasn’t clued in to the value the LEC editions offered until I started to pay more attention to construction and the aesthetics of fine press printing a few years ago. Previously, I probably would have associated the LEC with other mail order clubs, which I learned to avoid due to poor binding, or with gilding publishers, such as Easton (no shade toward Easton, but not really my style).

>7 Django6924: Every time I visit New York City (about annually until this year), I visit the Grolier Club townhouse. They have rotating exhibits on book arts and do some publishing. About five years ago they did a show on Lynd Ward and produced a high quality paperback book on his work. it may still be available.
I recommend visiting the building (free) when travel again becomes feasible and the website.

>14 abysswalker: I have a few reprints by Easton Press of the Heritage Press books. It is important to note that they are not direct copies of the LECs since they didn't have those rights. Especially with respect to the artwork they just don't compare, generally even to the Heritage versions.
I sometimes buy an Easton version if cheap enough when the LEC is not available or prohibitively expensive-with the intention of someday getting the original.
Currently on ebay a seller liquidating an estate is offering the Easton The Birds/The Frogs by Aristophanes, which is a combination of two slim volumes of LEC originals with different artists (Marian Parry and John Austen, the latter of whom's work here I really like) . At a starting bid of $15., I think I'll try to acquire it until I find satisfactory copies of the originals.

>15 laotzu225:
Illustrated by Lynd Ward sounds highly desirable (if one likes his work), and was co-published by the Grolier Club and the unreassuringly-named Impermanent Press based in Vermont. There are two editions of the book: the paperback, and a letterpress hardback limited to 85 numbered copies, of which 75 were for sale. There are a couple of copies of the limited edition on Abe, priced at about USD600, and a handful of the paperback edition between USD70 and USD140.
The Impermanent Press has a varied output ranging from Verses from the center : a Buddhist vision of the sublime through Killer B's : The 237 Best Movies On Video You've (Probably) Never Seen, D Scott Apel's Mein Summer Kampf, and Philip K Dick's The Dream Connection, to Pissing in a Pan by Mary Ruskin.

>17 featherwate:

Judging from the output you've listed, I'd say the Press was most aptly named....

(Good to see your post, Jack--always amazingly informative and witty!)

>17 featherwate: I have the paperback, picked up at the premises of the Club a few years ago. Very high quality with a double thick cover. And, as one would hope, fine reproductions of his book illustrations.