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Limited Editions Club Collection

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 26 Oct 2007

Biographical History

The Limited Editions Club was founded in 1929 by George Macy (1900-1956). It published fine books, usually classics and illustrated by leading artists of the day, for its member/subscribers; membership was limited to 1500. After Macy's death, leadership of the company passed to Macy's wife (1956) and then to his son (1968). In 1970 the Limited Editions Club was purchased by the Boise-Cascade Company and then in 1979 by Sidney Shiff, a Wall Street investor. Shiff focused on enhancing the quality of book design, solicited work from a number of African-American artists, and expanded the firm's offerings to include signed artists' portfolios.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Limited Editions Club Collection consists of annual prospectuses, monthly letters and special items. Annual prospectuses are the descriptive catalogs distributed each year to members, describing that year's books. Monthly Letter contains more than 200 issues of the monthly newsletter sent to subscribers. Special items include the initial prospectus and description of the club (1929), a sample book from the sixth series (1934), a special wartime prospectus for the general public (1942), and the address by Sir Francis Meynell at the dedication of the George Macy Memorial Collection of books (1957).

Arrangement of the Collection

Items in both series are arranged in chronological order.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Subject Headings

Corporate Bodies

Limited Editions Club.

Associated Titles

Samples: a book containing fine illustrations and fine pages from the books to be published by the Limited Editions Club in its sixth series.
Ten years and William Shakespeare: a survey of the publishing activities of the Limited editions club from October 1929 to October 1940
The address by Sir Francis Meynell at the dedication of the George Macy Memorial Collection of books published by the Limited Editions Club, with a list of the titles, 14 May 1957.
The monthly letter of the Limited Editions Club.

Subjects

Bibliography -- Catalogs.
Bibliography -- Limited editions.
Privately printed books.
Publishers and publishing.

Genres and Forms

Catalogs (documents)
Checklists.
Prospectuses.
Sample books.

Occupations

Publishers.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Limited Editions Club Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Transfer from Rare Books.

Table of Contents

Annual prospectuses

Newsletter

Special items

Inventory