Limited Editions
Club Collection
1988-2001
18 portfolios,
1 folder (124 prints)
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center,
The University of Texas at Austin
Limited Editions Club
The collection includes
eighteen signed artists' portfolios and one separate print, by seventeen
different artists. Fourteen of the artists are American, including eight
African Americans. Also included are portfolios by the French artists Balthus
and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and the Italian artist Francesco
Clemente.
Acquisition:
Purchases (R14122, R14350, R14826, R14873), 1998-2001, and
Gifts (G10730, G11162, G11244, G11453), 1996-1998
Access:
A minimum of twenty-four hours is required to pull art
materials to the Reading Room.
Processed by:
Helen Young, 2002
Company History
The Limited Editions Club - founded in 1929 by George Macy
(1900-1956) - published fine, illustrated books in limited numbers for member
subscribers. Designed and illustrated on fine paper by leading figures in the
graphic arts, most titles were classics, limited to 1500 copies. After Macy's
death in 1956, his wife continued the work of the firm until 1968 when son
Jonathan assumed leadership. The firm was sold to the Boise-Cascade Company in
1970. Sidney Shiff, the current owner, purchased the Limited Editions Club in
1979.
Shiff, whose background was in Wall Street investments,
transformed the Limited Editions Club by concentrating on livres d'artiste. He
purposefully commissioned renowned artists -- including many African-Americans
-- and commissioned master printers and fine presses to oversee a given book's
design; artistic inspiration prevailed. Targeting print connoisseurs and
contemporary collectors, Shiff raised the overall quality of the books and
offered Club members signed artists' portfolios. The book illustrations and
signed artists' prints are one and the same.
Sources:Grossman, Carol.
East Side Story: Two Faces of the
Limited Editions Club.
Biblio 4, no. 3 (March 1999)
30-39.
Fleming, Margaret W.
Limited Editions Club.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol.
46: American Literary Publishing Houses, 1900-1980: Trade and
Paperback. Ed. Peter Dzwonkoski. Detroit: Gale Research, 1986.
Scope and Contents
The Limited Editions Club Collection comprises eighteen
signed artists' portfolios of 123 prints, and one separate print, by seventeen
different artists. Fourteen of the artists are American, including eight
African Americans. The collection also has portfolios by the French artists
Balthus and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and the Italian artist Francesco
Clemente.
The works are listed alphabetically by artist. The
descriptions include titles of the corresponding book, and for those books held
in the Ransom Center's Library, the call number is listed. The date of the
prints is the same as the corresponding book unless otherwise noted.
Additional portfolios are expected.
The Art Collection also holds the George Macy Companies
Collection, including art files of works by over 100 artists executed for the
Limited Editions Club and the Heritage Press, ca. 1930-1967. The Ransom Center
has an additional five Limited Editions Club signed artists' portfolios in the
Photography Collection. The archives of the George Macy Company are available
in the Manuscripts Collection, as are numerous related published works in the
Library.
Limited Editions Club Collection--Detailed
Description
13 (7.308:22:04)
Balthus [Illustrations for Octavio Paz's
Sight and
Touch.]
1994.
5 items: t.p., colophon, 3
prints (woodcut, col.); 57.1 × 43.2 cm., in case 63.2 × 59.8 cm.
(accession no. 98.7.1-5)
Edition: 3/51.
(Book available as -f- PQ7297.P285 V57 1994
HRC)
10 (7.308:22:03)
Fifteen Lithographs for
Wuthering Heights [illustrations for Emily Brontë's
Wuthering
Heights.]
1993.
17 items: t.p., colophon, 15
prints (lithograph); 56.3 × 48.3 cm., in case 60.1 × 51.5 cm.
(accession no. 99.4.2.1-17)
Edition: 28/51.
(Book available as -f- PR4172.W7 1993 HRC)
11 (7.308:22:04)
The Sonnets to Orpheus,
Suite [illustrations for Rainer Maria Rilke's
The Sonnets to
Orpheus.]
1997.
5 items: t.p., 2 colophons, 2
prints (woodcut, col.); 40.3 × 40.3 cm., in case 44.5 × 43.5 cm.
(accession no. 99.4.1.1-5)
Edition: 42/60.
(Book available as f- PT2635.I65 S613 1997
HRC)
8 (7.308:22:03)
Beasley, Phoebe.
Phoebe Beasley: The
Langston Hughes Suite [illustrations for Langston Hughes'
Sunrise is Coming after
While.]
1998.
8 items: t.p., colophon, 6
prints (screen print, col.); 53.3 × 43.3 cm., in case 57.8 × 47.2
cm.
(accession no. 99.3.1-8)
Edition: 10/99.
6 (7.308:22:02)
Biggers, John. [Illustrations for Maya
Angelou's
Our
Grandmothers.]
1994.
7 items: t.p., colophon, 5
prints (lithograph); 61 × 45.8 cm., in case 63.8 × 48 cm.
(accession no. 97.10.1-7)
Edition: 10/60.
(Book available as -f- PS3551.N464 O97 1994
HRC)
12 (7.308:22:04)
Cartier-Bresson, Henri. [Illustrations for
Arthur Rimbaud's
Vowels.]
1996.
5 items: t.p., colophon, 3
prints (woodcut, col.); 46 × 46 cm., in case 48.3 × 48.8 cm.
(accession no. 99.4.5.1-5)
Edition: 4/60.
(Book available as -f- PQ2387.R5 V6 1996
HRC)
9 (7.308:22:03)
Catlett, Elizabeth. [Illustrations for
Margaret Walker's
For My
People.]
1992.
8 items: t.p., colophon, 6
prints (lithograph, col.); 57.9 × 47.3 cm., in case 60.2 × 49.1 cm.
(accession no. 98.6.5.1-8)
Edition: H/C III.
(Book available as -f- PS3545.A517 F6 1992
HRC)
17 (7.308:22:07)
Clemente, Francesco.
Cathay
[illustrations for Ezra Pound's translation of Li Po's poems,
Cathay: Poems after Li
Po.]
1992
9 items: t.p., colophon, 7
prints (woodcut, col.), on sheets with letterpress; 31.9 × 22.3 cm., in case 36
× 86.5 cm.
(accession no. 98.6.6.1-9)
Edition: Arch 1/2.
(Book available as -q- PL3277.E3 P6 1992
HRC)
5 (7.308:22:02)
Crite, Allan Rohan. [Illustrations for
The Revelation of Saint
John the Divine.]
[1995], 1994.
17 items: t.p., colophon, 15
prints (engraving, relief); 51.2 × 43.3 cm., in case 56.1 × 47 cm.
(accession no. 98.6.2.1-17)
Edition: 37/60.
(Book available as -f- BS2823 1995 HRC)
18 (7.308:22:07)
De Kooning, Willem. [Illustrations and
letterpress for Frank O'Hara's Poems.]
1988.
21 items: t.p., introduction,
colophon, box, 17 prints (lithograph), 61.2 × 96.6 cm., in case: 68 × 102.9
cm.
(accession no. 92.5.1-21)
Edition: VI/XII.
(Book available as: -f- PS3529.H28 A6 1988
HRC)
14 (7.308:22:05)
Freilicher, Jane. [Landscape with shrubs,
trees; illustration for John Ashbery's
Description of a
Masque.]
[1998], n.d.
1 item: print (woodcut,
col.), image 29.1 × 22.8 cm., on sheet 44.6 × 38.1 cm.
(accession no. 98.12.2)
Edition: 29/39.
1 (7.308:22:01)
Hejduk, John.
Eight Lithographs
[illustrations for Thomas Mann's
The Black
Swan.]
1990.
10 items: t.p., colophon, 8
prints (lithograph, col.), 33.2 × 24.2 cm., in case 35.3 × 26.1 cm.
(accession no. 98.6.4.1-10)
Edition: 18/25.
(Book available as: -q- PT2625.A44 B4713 1990
HRC)
7 (7.308:22:03)
Jones, Lois Mailou. [Illustrations for
Leopold Sedar Senghor's
Poems of Leopold Sedar
Senghor.]
1996.
8 items: t.p., colophon, 6
prints (screen prints, col.), 52.6 × 42.3 cm., in case 55.2 × 44.5
cm.
(accession no. 98.6.1.1-8)
Edition: Arch I/II.
(Book available as: -f- PQ3989.S47 P6 1996
HRC
19 (7.308:22:08)
Kelly, Ellsworth. [Illustrations for
Stéphan Mallarmé's
Un Coup de
Des.]
1992.
7 items: 2 t.p.s, colophon, 4
prints (lithograph, col.), 63.8 × 54.6 cm., in case 67.5 × 57.4 cm.
(accession no. 97.6.1-7)
Edition: Archive II.
(Book available as: -f- PQ2344.C6 1992
HRC)
15 (7.308:22:05)
Lawrence, Jacob.
Eight Passages
[illustrations for
The First Book of Moses,
called Genesis.]
1989.
10 items: t.p., colophon, 8
prints (screen prints, col.), 66 × 100.1 cm., in case 72.2 × 107.9
cm.
(accession no. 98.12.1.1-10)
Edition: 4/22.
(Book available as: -f- BS 1233 L397 1989
HRC)
2 (7.308:22:01)
Saar, Betye Saar. [Illustrations for Zora
Neale Hurston's
Bookmarks in the Pages of
Life.]
2000.
9 items: t.p., table,
colophon, 6 prints (screen prints, col.), 37.4 × 27.8 cm., in case 41.2 × 31
cm.
(accession no. 2001.2.1-9)
Edition: 29/75.
(Book available as: -f- PS3515.U789 B66 2000
HRC)
16 (7.308:22:06)
Scully, Sean. [Illustrations for Joseph
Conrad's
Heart of
Darkness.]
1992.
6 items: t.p., colophon, 4
prints (etching, col.), 58.3 × 96.5 cm., in case 63.3 × 101.6 cm.
(accession no. 97.8.1-6)
Edition: 9/12.
(Book available as: -q- PR6005.O4 H4 1992
HRC)
4 (7.308:22:02)
Welliver, Neil.
Two Etchings
[illustrations for William Faulkner's
Hunting
Stories.]
1988.
3 items: t.p./colophon, 2
prints (etching, col.), 48.5 × 37.9 cm., in case 51.1 × 40.3 cm.
(accession no. 98.6.3.1-3)
Edition: 59/75.
(Book available as: -q- PS3511.A86 H8 1988
HRC)
3 (7.308:22:01)
Wilson, John. [Illustrations for Richard
Wright's
Down by the
Riverside.]
2001.
9 items: t.p., table,
colophon, 6 prints (etching, col.), 30 × 40.3 cm., in case 32.6 × 44
cm.
(accession no. 2001.5.1-9)
Edition: 5/60.