
LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB
A-M
N-Z
Bibliophilic High Spots
Newman, Ralph Geoffrey, & Glen Norman Wiche. Great and good books: A bibliographical catalogue of the Limited Editions Club 1929–1985. Chicago: Ralph Geoffrey Newman, Inc., 1989. Folio. ix, [73] pp.; illus.
$95.00
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First edition, limited to 500 copies, of which this is numbered copy 226. The work is illustrated with examples of some of the most significant illustrations and colophons found in the LEC oeuvre; the colophon here is signed by Mortimer J. Adler, who provided the preface.
Publisher's blue-grey cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and LEC compass device, spine with gilt-stamped title. Slipcase lacking. Clean and fresh. (30010)

Life
Without
Pipe
Dreams?
O'Neill, Eugene. The iceman cometh. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1982. Folio. xv, [5], 153 pp.; 10 plts.
[SOLD]
This edition is limited to 2,000 copies and this copy is
signed on the colophon page by the illustrator, Leonard Baskin. Baskin both created the ten full-page drawings of the characters, one of them an original lithograph, and designed the book, choosing a Monotype Janson font, which was composed and bound at the Stinehour Press in Ludenburg, Vermont. Art historian Irma Jaffe analyzes the illustrations and traces the parallels in the art and lives of Baskin and O'Neill in her introductory essay, “O'Neill and Baskin: the iconography of a double exposure.”
The binding is full grey paper–covered boards with printed paper labels on the spine and front cover. It is rather bleak-looking — which is perfectly appropriate given the nihilistic theme of the play.
This offering includes the monthly newsletter.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 525. Binding as above. Fine, in a fine slipcase. (21758)

Conducting a
Classical Love Affair
Ovidius Naso, Publius. The art of love. New York: Limited Editions Club, 1971. 8vo. xii, 117, [3] pp.; 10 plts.
$100.00
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Ovid's famous Ars Amatoria, here translated by B.P. Moore and illustrated in Roman-inspired fashion by Eric Fraser with 10 full-page and numerous in-text pen-and-ink drawings (which do feature fetching maidens and muscular males but are generally fairly innocuous). The volume was designed by Robert L. Dothard, printed by A. Colish in Poliphilus and Blado italics on mould-made Arches paper, and bound by Tapley-Rutter in full vellum with a gilt-stamped cherub vignette.
This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 440. Binding as above, in publisher's glassine dust jacket and original metallic slipcase; volume all but pristine, jacket with a few tiny nicks but an unusually nice example of these impermanent wrappers, case with corners very slightly rubbed.
A clean, fresh copy; frankly, one wants to dare say, “could not be better.” (30130)
Prescott,
William Hickling. History of the conquest
of Peru, 1524–1550. Mexico City: Imprenta Nuevo Mundo for the members of
the Limited Editions Club, 1957. Folio (32 cm, 12.6"). xxxvi, 252 pp., [2] pp.;
illus.
$150.00
This Limited Editions Club edition of Prescott’s classic
account of the clash of empires in Peru and the destruction of that of the Inca
is limited to 1500 copies. It includes an introduction by Samuel Eliot Morison
and water-color illustrations by Everett Gee Jackson. The colophon is
signed
by the illustrator and by Harry Block, the printer. The book was designed and
issued to be a companion volume to the Club’s printing of Bernal Diaz
del Castillo’s Discovery and Conquest of Mexico (Mexico City, 1942).
The binding is full marbled sheep (pasta española) with gilt-stamped
red spine-labels and raised bands accented with gilt rules.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published
by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 275. Original red slipcase;
rubbed, chipped and splitting along edges, with some paper loss at corners;
case spine sunned. Spine leather a bit darkened, bottom of front joint starting.
A very good copy, in a good slipcase.
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Illustrations by Dulac
Pushkin, Alexander. The golden cockerel. New York: The Limited Editions Club, n.d. [1950]. Folio. [4], 41, [3] pp.; illus.
$200.00
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This eccentric Russian fairy-tale is retold here in prose by Edmund Dulac, the noted children's book illustrator, from the poem by Alexander Pushkin. Dulac, in the foreword, asserts that the meaning of the tale is not easily understood, seeing it as belonging to a “class of folk tales that start as clear and simple myths and . . . have other myths or incidents, often irrelevant, added to them from generation to generation in order to make them more entertaining.” However, it has usually been interpreted as a kind of political satire.
Edmund Dulac created the book's enchanting illustrations, consisting of 10 full-page and six in-text watercolors, a two-color decorative title-page, and decorative head- and tailpieces, and initials, also in two colors. Ernest Ingham designed the book using a monotype Poliphilus font.
The binding is full Russian-red cloth with a
polished brass design of a cockerel set in the front cover and a gilt-lettered title on the spine. This edition is limited to 1500 copies and this offering includes the monthly mailing notice.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 205. Binding as above. In a glassine wrapper with shallow edge tears and chips, contained within a chemise covered with Russian-red paper with gilt cockerel design with gilt-lettered spine; spine sunned and paper chipped. The whole in an unevenly sunned slipcase, with slight loss of paper to top edge at mouth and spine. A fine book, in a good+ slipcase. (22314)

LEC Edition: Rilke's Semi-Autobiographical Novel
Rilke, Rainer Maria. The notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. New York: The Limited Editions Club, © 1987. 8vo. 218, [4] pp.
$175.00
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Rilke's only novel, translated by Stephen Mitchell. This edition was designed by Benjamin Shiff, printed on Cartiere Enrico Magnani paper, and bound by Recalcati in Milan; the present example is numbered copy 602 of 800 printed.
Publisher's white vellum, front cover with gilt-stamped title and spine with gilt-stamped author's name; white vellum only a touch short of pristine with interior perfectly fresh. In publisher's black cloth slipcase with lower edge very slightly rubbed, otherwise unworn.
An attractive, in fact lovely copy. (29939)
Serving the Cause of Bibliophily
Robert, Maurice, & Frederick Warde. A code for the collector of beautiful books. New York: Pr. by the Printing-Office of the Yale University Press for The Limited Editions Club, 1936. 8vo. xiii, [1], 55, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
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First edition: with a preface by Francis de Miomandre, the whole translated from the French by Jacques LeClercq. Musings on the nature of bibliophily and on the making of “a true book de luxe” — in effect, a mission statement for The Limited Editions Club. When Frederic Warde reworked the original text, first published as Code de la bibliophilie moderne, for this edition, he added a list of terms and definitions specifically for the American collector. Warde, whose design credits for Limited Editions Club books include Lewis Carroll’s two Alice books, also handled the design for this volume, which was printed in Bembo types and bound by the Russell-Rutter Company.
Not in Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985. Publisher's quarter blue cloth with tan and blue striped paper–covered sides, front cover with printed paper label, spine with stamped title; corners and edges rubbed, upper edges slightly darkened; glassine wrapper not present. Pages gently age-toned, else clean. A pleasing if not perfectly pristine copy of
A TOTALLY LOVABLE TEXT & PRODUCTION. (28331)

The
Face of
Battle
Sassoon,
Siegfried. Memoirs of an infantry officer. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1981. Small folio. xvii, 224, [4 (3 blank)] pp.; 8 plts.
$110.00
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Siegfried Sassoon was one of a celebrated group of soldier-poets who experienced firsthand the ghastly realities of life in the trenches and whose words form an important part of Britain's cultural memory of the Great War. Sassoon's Memoirs covers some of the war's most significant actions, including its single bloodiest day, when 60,000 British soldiers were killed on 1 July 1916, at the Battle of the Somme.
Paul Hogarth's eight full-page watercolors and over a dozen black-and-white vignettes vividly illustrate the bomb-churned landscape of no-man's land, the explosions of rifle and gunfire, and the irony of well-fed generals enjoying life behind the lines. Dennis J. Grastorf designed the book using a 12-point Baskerville font with two points leading space in between the lines. The binding is a natural-tone rough linen, stamped in black on each cover with a bugle design. David Daiches wrote the introduction.
This edition is limited to 2,000 copies and this offering includes the monthly newsletter. The colophon is signed by the artist.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 519. Binding as above; slipcase with two short scratches on back. Fine, in a fine slipcase. (22078)
Scott,
Walter. Ivanhoe. New York: Limited Editions Club, 1951. 8vo. 2 vols. I: xxvi, 232 pp.; illus. II: [4], 233-471, [3] pp.; illus .
$125.00

First edition of the second Limited Editions Club go-around for Ivanhoe: This version was illustrated in pen and dry-brush by Edward A. Wilson and hand-colored by Walter Fischer, printed by American Book-Stratford press, and bound by Russell-Rutter Co. in linen stamped in a crown and cross design. The present copy is no. 213 of 1500 printed, and is signed by Wilson at the colophon.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club 1929–1985, 211. Bindings as above; printed spine labels a bit rubbed, otherwise clean and unworn in the original slipcase, with inner edges of slipcase showing minor wear only.

Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne — Caesar & Cleo
Shaw, George Bernard. Two plays for Puritans. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1966. Folio. Frontis., [4], vii–xxxiv,
illus. page, [1 (blank)], 3–215, [4 (3 blank)] pp.; 12 plts.
$90.00
This edition (limited to 1500 copies) of Two Plays for Puritans by George Bernard Shaw — the two plays being The Devil's Disciple and Caesar and Cleopatra — bears both a long preface by the author and notes written by him for each play.
George Him both illustrated and designed the book, and also signed the colophon. The book is heavily illustrated with
a considerable number of black-and-white line-and-wash drawings and 14 full-page color illustrations which were hand-colored by the pochoir process at the studio of Walter Fischer. These drawings are both beautiful and witty. In one color plate, for example, we see a line of picketing Egyptian soldiers carrying placards reading, “Egypt for the Egyptians,” and “Caesar Go Home,” the latter appearing in “Egyptian Hieroglyphs”; in another plate, we are treated to a breathtaking scene of the library at Alexandria being consumed by fire; in yet another drawing,
we see an amusing little rendering of Belzanor's description of a seven-armed wife-eating Roman soldier!
Him chose a monotype Plantin font for the text which was printed in Bloomfield, Connecticut, at the Sign of the Stone Book. The binding is full bright red “vellum book-cloth” stamped on the front with a double-eagle (one American, one Roman) design in gold, and stamped on the spine in black and gold leaf with a design of a Roman legionary standard bearing the title and the author's initials. The endpapers are “nugget-gold” Tweedweave.
This offering does not include the monthly newsletter or the mailing notice.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 381. A fine copy with the slipcase, which is covered in “nugget-gold” paper and stamped in black and gold. Slipcase showing traces of rubbing at top and bottom.
A great treat for a Shaw-lover! (21756)

Nero Lives!
Sienkiewicz, Henryk. Quo vadis? Verona: Printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club, 1959. Small folio (27.3 cm, 10.75"). [4], v–xiii, [1], 3–595, [3] pp.; 35 plts.
$100.00
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Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel about the last years of the reign of Nero Caesar appeared in 1896. This work, along with his trilogy on the 17th-century wars between the Russians, Turks, Swedes, and his native Poland, was first translated into English by the multilingual Jeremiah Curtin, who first came across Siekiewicz's writings by peering over the shoulder of a man reading a Polish newspaper in a Washington streetcar; that translation appears here. Sienkiewicz won the Nobel Prize in 1905, and spent the remainder of his life aiding Poles who suffered during the German invasion in World War I. He died in 1916.
Harold Lamb wrote the introduction. Of the author's attention to the minutiae of daily life in the Rome of A.D. 63–66 he writes, “The city itself appears in exact historical detail. Praetorians idling at their posts pass the time with their favorite dice games; girl attendants at Petronius' bath finish their duties punctiliously and break away to their own diversions as soon as the door curtain falls behind the master. Sienkiewicz knows how the dishes, including blackbirds, were prepared for a nobleman's feast; he knows what the oriental dancers wore on their heads and what the priests of Cybele carried in their hands, and what you see when you round a corner of the Vicus Sceleratus.”
Salvatore Fiume created the 35 drawings which were reproduced in three-tone process and mounted by hand. Giovanni Madersteig designed this edition, which is limited to 1500 copies, choosing a monotype Old Face font; the composition and printing of the text and illustrations was done by Madersteing at the Officina Bodoni in Verona.
The binding is full natural linen printed, in grey-blue, with an overall pattern derived from an old wood engraving. The signatures of Salvatore Fiume and Giovanni Madersteig appear on the colophon.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 302. In the original slipcase, spine sunned with a long closed crack to paper and paper cracked/chipped; case good overall. Book with spine lightly faded and rear pastedown with small gold bookseller's label; volume in the original dust jacket (spine sunned to darker than sides are); near fine. (22293)

Charterhouse in English & Illustrated — With a Famous Introduction
Stendhal (i.e., Beyle, Marie-Henri). The charterhouse of Parma. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1955. Small folio (26.6 cm, 10.438"). [3], frontis., [2], vii–xx, 392, [2] pp.; 9 plts.
$75.00
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This edition of Stendhal's novel about political corruption set during the time of General Bonaparte's invasion of Italy was published in 1827. This edition is limited to 1500 copies, and carries the translation of Lady Mary Lloyd, revised by Robert Cantwell. Opening the volume is the long and thoughtful essay on Stendahl's work by his contemporary Honoré de Balzac that was first published in La Revue Parisienne on 25 September 1840 under the title, “A Study of M. Beyle.” Written for an audience which did not know the works of this then obscure novelist, this introduction is one of the most celebrated literary homages of one great writer by another.
Illustrator Rafaello Busoni created the book's numerous in-text and nine full-page lithographs in two colors, and signed the colophon. Designer George Macy chose a monotype Cochin font to be used at the Printing House of Leo Hart, and decreed a binding of imported cream linen stamped in brown, with French handmade marbled paper sides in various hues of brown.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 261. In original slipcase; some soiling and spots generally, with shelf-scrape marks; sturdy and on shelf satisfactory. Of the well-protected book, a near-fine copy, with the newsletter and retained half of the order form laid in. (29120)
Sterne,
Laurence. A sentimental journey
through France and Italy. New York: Pr. for the Limited Editions Club, 1936. 4to
(29.7cm, 11.7"). [4], vi, [5], 135, [1] pp.; illus.
$175.00
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the interior images for enlargements.
Illustrated with etchings by Denis Tegetmeier, this Limited Editions Club production was designed by Eric Gill (with a new typeface created by him), printed by Hague & Gill of England, and bound by the latter company in tan buckram stamped in blue and red, with a gilt-stamped spine title. This is copy no. 103 of 1500 printed, and is signed by both Gill and Tegetmeier at the colophon.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club 1929-1985, 81. Binding as above, upper edges and lower back corner lightly stained (not affecting interior), in original blue cloth-covered slipcase with printed paper label; slipcase spine and label sunned with label printing much faded. Pages clean; in fact, a good-looking copy.

A Scandinavian Epic — A Swedish Production — Contributions from Longfellow!
Tegnér, Esaias. Frithiof's saga. Stockholm: Pr. for the Limited Editions Club by the Royal Printing House, 1953. 8vo. 248, [4] pp.; illus.
$85.00
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One of the most beloved of all works in Swedish literature, Tegnér's Frithiof's Saga is an epic poem consisting of 24 cantos or ballads, each describing an event in the legendary hunter's life. The text of this edition was compiled by John T. Winterich from four English verse translations by William Lewery Blackley, Lucius Sherman, Thomas and Martha Holcomb, and, of all people, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1837, 12 years after the epic's original publication, Longfellow wrote a paper for the North American Review synopsizing each canto, interspersing selected lines of translation in English.
Longfellow's synopses, along with his contribution to the translation of Frithiof's Saga (225 lines in all), are happily here incorporated complete into one volume for the first time. Bayard Taylor wrote the general introduction.
The book is profusely illustrated with pen drawings by Eric Palmquist, who has signed the colophon; of these, some are full-page, and some are spread across two pages with the text printed beneath. Most are smaller in-text drawings, including an extensive series of decorative tailpieces.
This edition was prepared under the supervision of Ragnar Svanström at the Royal Printing House in Stockholm, Sweden, and is limited to 1500 copies. Designer Karl-Erik Forsberg used a hand-set Berling Roman font which he himself designed; Forsberg also drew uncial letters, printed in red ink, for use on the title-page and for the canto-opening initials.
The binding is half natural Swedish linen stamped on the spine in red and black; the sides are covered with Swedish paper hand-grained to look like wood, and bear a small gold-stamped design of a warship, the Norse drakkar.
This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; it was
signed by the illustrator. The relevant Club newsletter is laid in.
Binding: Quarter tan Swedish linen with streaked red paper–covered sides, front cover with gilt-stamped Viking ship, spine with decorative title in black and red, in the original matching slipcase with printed paper spine label.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 232. Binding as above, spine slightly sunned, slipcase with moderate shelfwear to edges and one edge opening.
A solid, attractive copy of a handsome book. (29946)

The LEC Goes to
Camelot among Other Places
Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron. The poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Cambridge: Limited Editions Club, 1974. 8vo. 285, [3] pp.; illus.
$130.00
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Selected and introduced by John D. Rosenberg for the British Poets series, here illustrated with
25 in-text, wood-engraved vignettes by Reynolds Stone. The volume was designed by John Dreyfus and printed at the Cambridge University Press in monotype Perpetua on English wove paper, and bound by Tapley-Rutter in quarter maroon goatskin with terra-cotta linen sides, the front cover bearing
a black leather oval medallion embossed with a portrait of the author and the spine a gilt-stamped leather title-label.
This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed, signed at the colophon by the illustrator; the appropriate LEC newsletter, in its (unstamped) envelope, is laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 483. Binding as above, in original glassine dust wrapper and publisher's slipcase; wrapper with spine darkened and torn with loss, front panel crumpled; book clean and fresh, one leaf not with damage but a natural paper flaw at edge; slipcase showing only minimal shelfwear. A very nice copy. (30124)
— THACKERAY —
A
Sad Story
Told in a
Handsome
Pair of Books
Thackeray, William Makepeace. The Newcomes. Cambridge, England: Printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club at the University Press, 1954. Small folio. 2 vols. I: [1 (blank)] p., [1 (blank)] f., [3 (2 blank)], frontis., [6 (1 blank)], ix–xxii, 352 pp., [1 (blank)] p.; 8 plts. II: [4 (3 blank)], frontis., [6 (1 blank)], 353–742, [3 (2 blank)] pp.; 11 plts.
$185.00
This two-volume Centenary Edition of The Newcomes was prepared in England by Brooke Crutchley, Printer to the University Press at Cambridge, and is limited to 1500 copies. John Dreyfus is the designer, and he chose a monotype Scotch Roman font. The illustrations were drawn by Edward Ardizzone and consist of 40 in-text black-and-white pen drawings and 21 full-page color drawings; the latter were hand-colored by the pochoir process in the studio of Maud Johnson in London. Bindings are quarter black binder's linen, stamped in gold on the spine, over white linen sides; the covers are printed with color lithographs both drawn by the artist. The introduction is by Angela Thirkell.



The monthly newsletter and mailing notice are included with this offering. In addition, a separate insert entitled "The Illustrated Illustrator" contains a number of playful sketches accompanied by excerpts from letters written by the artist to George Macy, commenting upon his daily progress in creating the illustrations for The Newcomes. Ardizzone has also signed the colophon.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 252. The plate leaves (only) are a bit cockled (which seems to be usual); a very good set. Slipcase included, label with a spot or two.

Turgenev
Love!
Turgenev, Ivan. The torrents of spring. Westport, Conn.: The Limited Editions Club, 1976. Tall 8vo. xiii, [3], 186, [3 (2 blank)] pp.; 8 plts.
$100.00
This Limited Editions Club edition of Turgenev's short story of romantic love is translated by Constance Garnett, carries an introduction by Alec Waugh, and is illustrated by Lajos Szalay with eight full-page illustrations in color and ten drawings in line within the text. This copy (number 1102 out of 2000 printed) is signed on the colophon by the illustrator. The newsletter and prospectus slip are included.
Binding: Publisher's green calf, done by the Tapley-Rutter Company, with marbled paper–covered sides, spine gilt extra, in original slipcase.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 502. Fine, in a near fine slipcase (paper cracked along a small portion of one edge, and carefully laid back down). (21808)

An LEC Evocation of the Celtic Revival
Yeats, William Butler. The poems of W.B. Yeats. New York: Pr. at the Thistle Press for the Limited Editions Club, 1970. Folio. xviii, 135, [3] pp.; 16 plts.
$100.00
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Poems selected, edited, and introduced by William York Tindall, decorated with 16 subtly and delicately hand-colored (pochoir) plates as well as in-text, black-and-white illustrations by Robin Jacques. The volume was designed by John Dreyfus and printed at the Thistle Press in Walbaum and Hammer Uncial types on Curtis paper.
Binding: Russell-Rutter Company binding of quarter dark green morocco with green linen–covered sides, front cover with embossed portrait in black.
This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed, signed by the illustrator at the colophon.
The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in, noting that this volume is part of the LEC's British poets series.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 425. Binding as above, in original glassine wrapper and black paper-covered slipcase with gold spine label; spine leather very slightly, almost unnoticeably sunned, book otherwise clean and fresh. Wrapper with spine darkened and torn, with loss; one side of slipcase with two faint scratches, overall showing only minimal wear. Book/slipcase as a whole in beautiful clean condition; book's pages crisp. (30088)
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