Difference between LEC and HP/EP facsimiles?

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Difference between LEC and HP/EP facsimiles?

1punkzip
Okt. 17, 2021, 7:50 am

What is the basic difference between the LEC volumes and the HP/EP facsimiles? Different binding and maybe paper, and the LEC is letterpress while the HP/EP are not?

2abysswalker
Bearbeitet: Okt. 17, 2021, 9:32 am

>1 punkzip: Heritage Press books published before some approximate cutoff date are also generally letterpress. I don't know exactly what that date is, but before 1970 is probably a good bet that it is letterpress.

The major difference is downgrade in materials quality on average. Cheaper paper etc. Still often nice and generally better than trade books. Some are remarkably nice (read the back archives of posts here to find recommendations). For example, I like the older Heritage Press Beowulf more than the LEC Beowulf.

I don't know much about how EP does their printing.

3abysswalker
Okt. 17, 2021, 12:32 pm

(Additionally, as a side note, I would not use the term facsimile to describe Heritage Press editions released by the Macy company. Generally, a facsimile attempts to stay as true to the original source as possible. Heritage Press editions started out with unique designs, and once economic imperative impelled the company to reuse design and illustration elements, if anything an attempt was made to differentiate the HP edition from the LEC, since the LEC brand depended on a degree of exclusivity and luxury which would be diluted by too close approximation.)

4BionicJim
Okt. 17, 2021, 3:15 pm

Also, I believe that Easton Press only had rights to reprint the Heritage Press editions, not the Limited Editions Club editions. This seems to have some exceptions, such as the reprint of the LEC Shakespeare, which never had an HP edition. For the most part, though, the EPs I’ve seen where I am familiar with both the LEC and HP differences, the EP is often a step down in quality from the HP- usually in number of colors used in the illustrations. The EP has the leather binding going for it, but I have found this is less compelling than the variety of bindings used for the HP/LEC editions.

5laotzu225
Bearbeitet: Nov. 3, 2021, 12:15 am

This is a good topic for discussion and valuable to new people. None of the differences between LECs and HPs are universal but some which one sees often are: smaller page size; on books with color illustrations, fewer colors (the extreme on this might be A Connecticut Yankee where the LEC used illuminated book-like colors for initial capitals and HP -at least Connecticut, which I have- went to a brownish-red display); less expensive paper; less imaginative bindings (sometimes an advantage for longevity!).
Jim rightly points out EPs are copies of HPs and are certainly offset. Their biggest shortcoming in my experience is color illustration reproduction. The few EPs I have which I consider satisfactory do not have multicolor illustrations.

6abysswalker
Okt. 23, 2021, 2:18 pm

>5 laotzu225: the binding variation can occasionally be a plus for the Heritage Press version, especially if a particular LEC approach does not accord with personal taste (there are a few of these for me).

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