The Heritage Press
Encyclopedia
The Heritage Press was an imprint of George Macy Companies, Ltd., from 1937 to 1982. The Heritage Press reprinted classic volumes previously printed by more exclusive Limited Editions Club.
Today, Heritage Press books can still be found at used bookstore
s.
, The Decameron
, Hans Christian Andersen
's Fairy Tales, and A Shropshire Lad
. He also authored The Collected Verses of George Jester and edited Heritage's A Sailor's Reader and A Soldier's Reader. These wartime volumes, published in August 1943, each contained "four hundred thousand words of literary entertainment" for members of the American armed services.
Macy was also associated with another press publishing limited editions; in 1936, he became managing director of Nonesuch Press
of London, founded by Francis Meynell
.
. Examples included editions of Bulfinch’s
Age of Fable, Jack London
’s The Call of the Wild
, Spenser’s
The Faerie Queen, and Jules Verne
’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A particularly large and ornate edition includes the complete scripts to all of Gilbert and Sullivan
’s opera
s, with an accompanying envelope containing facsimile memorabilia.
Today, Heritage Press books can still be found at used bookstore
Used bookstore
Used bookstores buy and sell used and out-of-print books. A range of titles are available in used bookstores, including in print and out of print books. Book collectors tend to frequent used book stores. Large online bookstores offer used books for sale, too...
s.
History
In 1929, George Macy founded the Limited Editions Club and began publishing illustrated books in limited numbers (1500 copies) for subscription members. In 1935, Macy extended his range, founding the Heritage Press for the creation and distribution of more affordable 'semi-luxe' books. Macy published editions under several imprints. Macy was involved in the work of the Press, designing many of its publications, including The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
, The Decameron
The Decameron
The Decameron, also called Prince Galehaut is a 14th-century medieval allegory by Giovanni Boccaccio, told as a frame story encompassing 100 tales by ten young people....
, Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
's Fairy Tales, and A Shropshire Lad
A Shropshire Lad
A Shropshire Lad is a cycle of sixty-three poems by the English poet Alfred Edward Housman . Some of the better-known poems in the book are "To an Athlete Dying Young", "Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now" and "When I Was One-and-Twenty".The collection was published in 1896...
. He also authored The Collected Verses of George Jester and edited Heritage's A Sailor's Reader and A Soldier's Reader. These wartime volumes, published in August 1943, each contained "four hundred thousand words of literary entertainment" for members of the American armed services.
Macy was also associated with another press publishing limited editions; in 1936, he became managing director of Nonesuch Press
Nonesuch Press
Nonesuch Press was a private press founded in 1922 in London by Francis Meynell, his wife Vera Mendel, and David Garnett.-History:Nonesuch Press's first book, a volume of John Donne's Love Poems was issued in May 1923. In total, the press produced more than 140 books. The press was at its peak in...
of London, founded by Francis Meynell
Francis Meynell
Sir Francis Meredith Wilfrid Meynell was a British poet and printer at The Nonesuch Press.He was son of the writer Alice Meynell, a suffragist and prominent Roman Catholic convert. Francis Meynell was brought in by George Lansbury to be business manager of the Daily Herald in 1913. He was...
.
Publications
Publications of the Heritage Press covered a broad range of topics, primarily within the Western canonWestern canon
The term Western canon denotes a canon of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit." Such a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism and the...
. Examples included editions of Bulfinch’s
Thomas Bulfinch
Thomas Bulfinch was an American writer, born in Newton, Massachusetts. Bulfinch belonged to a well educated Bostonian merchant family of modest means. His father was Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the Massachusetts State House in Boston and parts of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C....
Age of Fable, Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
’s The Call of the Wild
The Call of the Wild
The Call of the Wild is a novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously domesticated dog named Buck, whose primordial instincts return after a series of events leads to his serving as a sled dog in the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush, in which sled dogs...
, Spenser’s
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
The Faerie Queen, and Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A particularly large and ornate edition includes the complete scripts to all of Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
’s opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s, with an accompanying envelope containing facsimile memorabilia.
See also
- The Modern Library
- Everyman's LibraryEveryman's LibraryEveryman's Library is a series of reprinted classic literature currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent , who continue to publish Everyman Classics in paperback.J. M. Dent and Company began to publish the series in 1906...
- Folio SocietyFolio SocietyThe Folio Society is a book club based in London that produces new editions of classic books. Their books are notable for their high quality bindings and original illustrations...
- Easton PressEaston PressEaston Press, a division of MBI Inc., based in Norwalk, Connecticut, is a publisher specializing in high-quality leather-bound books. In addition to canonical classics, poetry and art books, they publish a large library of science fiction and popular literature as well.Some of Easton Press's...
- Franklin LibraryFranklin LibraryThe Franklin Library, the distributing arm of the publishing division The Franklin Press , was the United States' largest distributor of great 'classic title' books produced in fine bindings for collectors—similar to the mantle carried now by Easton Press—until the company permanently closed,...