Historical Note

The Limited Editions Club was founded by George Macy in 1929 to publish finely printed, illustrated, and bound editions of literary classics in editions limited to 1500 copies. The books were available on a subscription basis. The company continued to produce books through multiple changes in ownership, but has not released new books since 2010.

Scope and Contents

The earliest books in the collection date from 1930, and the latest is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail with illustrations by Faith Ringgold (2007). Notable editions in the collection also include Aristophanes's Lysistrata illustrated by Pablo Picasso (1934), and James Joyce's Ulysses illustrated by Henri Matisse (1935). The collection also includes newsletters, prospectuses, and other promotional materials. Special Collections currently holds 464 of the 589 books published by the Limited Editions Club.

Provenance

The collection was assembled through gifts and donations from various sources. Dr. Frederick W. Billerbeck and Mrs. Barbara Aust Billerbeck donated more than 200 Limited Editions Club titles to the University of Missouri Libraries between 1986 and 2006.