THE FIRST COMPLETE RUN OF LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB PUBLICATIONS EVER OFFERED AT AUCTION.

589 works, comprising all of the primary publications listed in Limited Editions Club: A Collector’s Guide and Checklist 1929-2012 (Bill R. Majure, compiler). Various 8vo to folio sizes. Illustrated. Original publisher’s bindings; slipcases (some occasional light general wear). 

LIMITED EDITIONS, most one of 1,500 copies, including:

TOLSTOY, Leo (1828-1910). Anna Karenina.1933. SIGNED BY NIKOLAI PISKARIOV. GEORGE MACY’S COPY WITH HIS INITIALS ON THE LIMITATION PAGE.

ARISTOPHANES (446 BCE-386 BCE). Lysistrata. 1934. SIGNED BY PABLO PICASSO. (No. 1,010)

JOYCE, James (1882-1941). Ulysses. 1935. SIGNED BY HENRI MATISSE. (No. 1,010)

DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge (“Lewis Carroll”) (1832-1898). Through the Looking Glass. 1935. SIGNED BY “THE ORIGINAL ALICE,” ALICE HARGREAVES. (No. 941)

The King James Version of the Holy Bible. 1936. 5 volumes. GEORGE MACY’S COPY WITH HIS INITIALS ON THE LIMITATION PAGE.

CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne (“Mark Twain”) (1835-1910). Life on the Mississippi. 1944. SIGNED BY THOMAS HART BENTON. (No. 844)

FROST, Robert (1874-1963). The Complete Poems of Robert Frost. 1950. 2 volumes. SIGNED BY ROBERT FROST, THOMAS NASON, AND BRUCE ROGERS. (No. 824)

STOKER, Bram (1847-1912). Dracula. 1965. SIGNED BY FELIX HOFFMAN. (No. 1,354)

MARQUEZ, Gabriel Garcia (1927-2014). One Hundred Years of Solitude. 1983. SIGNED BY RAFAEL FERRER, GREGORY RABASSA, AND ALASTAIR REED. INCLUDES SEPARATE LITHOGRAPH BY FERRER. (No. 1,678)

PAZ, Octavio (1914-1998). Three Poems. 1988. SIGNED BY PAZ AND ROBERT MOTHERWELL. (No…)

O’HARA, Frank (1926-1966). Poems. 1988. SIGNED BY WILLEM DE KOONING. (No. 13)

The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis. 1989. SIGNED BY JACOB LAWRENCE. (No. 334)

CONRAD, Joseph (1857-1924). Heart of Darkness. 1992. SIGNED BY SEAN SCULLY. (No. 226)

HARRER, Heinrich (1912-2006). The White Spider. 1996. SIGNED BY HEINRICH HARRER. (No. 17)

HUGHES, Langston (1901-1967). Sunrise is Coming After While. 1988. SIGNED BY MAYA ANGELOU AND PHOEBE BEASLEY. (No. 261)

KING, Martin Luther, Jr. (1929-1968). Letter from Birmingham City Jail. 2007. SIGNED BY FAITH RINGGOLD. 

[With:] A large archive of supplemental materials related to the Limited Editions Club including a transcript of reminiscences given by Helen Macy to Columbia University Oral History Research Office in October 1978; an archive of letters exchanged between George and Helen Macy and Robert L. Dothard, designer and compiler of the first LEC bibliography Quarto-Millenary, as well as original drawings and punches used in its production and sample pages from various LEC publications reproduced within its pages.

[With:] A profusion of ephemera including pre-publication announcements, bibliographies, and original prospectuses which includes the very first ever printed, as well as the first application for membership with original return envelope.

The Limited Editions Club was founded in 1929 by George Macy, its purpose being to offer beautifully produced works of world literature with accompanying illustrations by some of the finest artists of the day. Each title was issued in numbers of 1,500 exactly and was sold to club members for an annual subscription fee of $10.00 (roughly $150.00 today). Throughout its early years, Macy commissioned original art by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Lynd Ward, Thomas Hart Benton, and Valenti Angelo, among others. Following Macy’s death in 1956 his wife Helen took over operations, and upon her retirement in 1968 handed the business over to their son Jonathan. Less than a decade later the company was sold to Sidney Schiff, whose love of modern art and literature breathed new life into Limited Editions Club publications. Works published during the Schiff era tended to focus more on modern authors and artists, with Schiff putting his own stamp on Macy's tradition of commissioning original artwork for LEC works by showcasing the works of Faith Ringgold, Robert Motherwell, Phoebe Beasley, Balthus, and others.