The Sidney Shiff Transitional LEC Books

As mentioned in the Conversation Tree Press thread (posts #752 and 754), the transitional LEC books published by Sidney Shiff after he assumed ownership of the LEC in 1978, often represent outstanding values. These books were published between 1980 - 1988 (roughly) before Shiff completed the LEC transition to giant folio-sized livre d'artiste books featuring world class artists and photographers. The best of these transitional LECs especially worth acquiring are (in chronological order):

1. The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
3. Poems and a Memoir by Seamus Heaney
4. Hiroshima by John Hersey
5. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
6. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
7. A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud
8. Dubliners by James Joyce

I would add -
Simplicissimus
A Streetcar Named Desire
Circus of Dr.Lao

Conrad’s “The Secret Sharer” is also a great example in this category.

>2 wcarter:
Good ones. I would add Diary of a Country Priest and The Secret Sharer - but that’s just, like, my opinion, man.

Edit:
>3 kermaier: Pipped to it!

The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge is my favourite not yet mentioned.

What's your opinion on LEC's take on "Metamorphosis" (and maybe other Kafka's works, albeit they weren't published under Sidney Shiff)?

>6 drizzled: Metamorphosis is good but not standout. In The Penal Colony is astounding.

>5 gmacaree: I love the Notebooks too. Amazing value for money!

>6 drizzled:

I feel a little bit differently from >7 gmacaree: about the Kafkas and slightly prefer the LEC Metamorphosis to Penal Colony. If the Metamorphosis illustrations appeal to you, I think it's a really nice book. The etchings are unusual, and more the variety on which to hang your own imagination, but the reproduction in the book is brilliant. The text is beautifully and crisply printed on lovely paper (mould-made Magnani). The quarter goatskin binding was done by Gray Parrot, so no surprise that it feels incredibly solid, especially for such a small book.

For a good price, you may need to accept some mild fading to the spine. Most of the copies I see have some degree of fading even if the seller doesn't mention it directly.

I agree with all that has been said by >1 dlphcoracl: and others on the merits and value of LECs from this era, and I am steadily collecting them whenever I can. Perhaps I diverge a little bit on One Hundred Years of Solitude though. No complaints about the production qualities, which are excellent, but I find that the artwork does very little for me. To my mind, it captures only some of the essence and the excellence of the novel.

I think the door is wide open for a definitive, profusely illustrated, fine press edition in a sympathetic binding. After all, it's been over 40 years since the last effort, and there could be another 300+ people ready to buy a new fine press edition. Not sure if it will be CTP - their hint could be any number of other books - but I'd welcome one of the modern fine presses taking another crack at this wonderful novel. Neither the LEC nor the FS edition have quite hit the mark for me, though there's no doubting the former's fine press credentials.

>8 GardenOfForkingPaths: regarding 100 years of solitude, centipede press mentioned they wanted to do it at some pont, but not sure how much that progressed.

>8 GardenOfForkingPaths: Thank you for the extensive and valuable comment

Great list. I will say The Sea Around Us is amazing, and amazingly inexpensive! To the point where it's almost ridiculously underpriced. That said, I do wish they had done Silent Spring instead, but hey, maybe another publisher today will do it :)

They've already been mentioned by others, but from those years, my favorites are Circus of Dr. Lao, Hiroshima, Ficciones, In the Penal Colony. I've never handled Simplicissimus, but it seems like a lot of fun.

I'd add the Paz/Motherwell Three Poems, but I don't really consider this one a transitional book from the Shiff era. It has a lot more in common with the LEC livres d-artises of the 1990s (and later).

>3 kermaier: Just got a copy of The Secret Sharer in the past couple weeks. Have never been the biggest Conrad fan but still really impressed with it.

The Kingdom of This World is a favorite of mine from this period too. Not the most popular novel but the production quality for the price is great. 750 copies, Magnani paper for the text, illustrations printed on Japanese paper and mounted onto Richard de Bas paper. Can't remember the details on the leather and cloth, but high quality. Available between $200-$250 in near fine/fine condition.

I think Hiroshima was just $100 when issued. Equal to $285 in today's money if you use CPI inflation calculator. Crazy stuff.

The Great Gatsby makes it in to this transitional era and I really like that book. It has, unfortunately, become a bit expensive--some might say too expensive for what it is. But I like the design vision inside and out, the quirky illustrations, and the slightly squarish format.