Am I crazy? Heritage Press releases seem like high quality to me.

I'm still rather new to collecting and I just received my first Heritage Press in the mail. I paid $20 with shipping and tax included for the New York Heritage Press copy of Around the World in 80 Days. Lightly sunned spine is the only mark against it.

To me, the quality is as high or higher than anything I have from Folio Society.

And in comparison to the only LEC in my collection, I would say I can't see much difference between them. It does seem that the LEC has slightly thicker paper and is taller and wider. My LEC is The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. The LEC was $75.

I did read the article below which states that the books were printed with high quality but also in high quantities which reduced their value. And I also understand that the Connecticut books are not wanted due to the reduction in quality after George Macy sold the press.:
https://www.bookthink.com/0075/75herp.htm

I guess I'm still a bit surprised at how I perceive these New York Heritage Press books to be of higher quality than my Folio's which cost me a lot more.

>1 RickFlair:

HP books from the New York period only: better paper than Folio (usually rag paper and not alphacellulose); better printing (usually letterpress--from electroplates in the non-exclusive HPs, ie., the HPs which are reproductions of Limited Editions Club originals). In addition to the differences you mention which make LECs more expensive, add that the illustrations are often original art prints--woodcuts, lithographs, etchings, aquatints, and often hand-colored--and there is the limitation and the signature (usually of the artist). While some HPs, especially the HP exclusives, also use original art prints, the illustrations in most of the HPs which are reproductions of Limited Editions Club originals use photolithography to reproduce the illustrations.

If you find the first printings of the HP exclusives of works such as Gulliver's Travels and Crime and Punishment, both illustrated with original woodcuts by Eichenberg, or Beowulf, with Lynd Ward's original lithos from the stone, you will find books that for me are in the same class with the LECs and far superior to most Folio editions. Also, the first printings of HP exclusives of The Song of Songs, Salome, The Rubaiyat and the Sylvan Sauvage-illustrated Romeo and Juliet are a quality you won't find today except in limited editions selling for 3 figures and more.

(Incidentally, I don't want to bash the Folio Society who do amazing things given the current climate, and I have several hundred of their books. I do believe since the departure of Sue Bradbury the quality is less to my liking, the designs have gotten rather garish for my taste, I'm not usually a fan of the illustrations, and the publishing choices are aimed at a different type of buyer.)

I have noticed that a very large percentage of Heritage Press books have dulling, darkening or sunning to the spine. Why? I just asked this question to a bookstore owner and she wasn't sure either. She thinks that maybe it has something to do with the kind of glue that HP used. These are New York HP books that I am talking about. I don't even look at the Connecticut releases. The only LEC I own has no spine dulling or darkening at all and I don't usually see this problem with other LECs that are for sale online.

So what's up with all this spine dulling or darkening on HP?

>1 RickFlair: To add on to >2 Django6924: informative and comprehensive post, some HP illustrations were reproduced with fewer colors as well.

>3 RickFlair: I don't think it's the glue. I'd bet that since HP books are so much cheaper (in price as opposed to quality) that they weren't cared for as well. Also, there are plenty of LECs out there with sunned/toned spines. If one is careful, you can acquire most HPs and LECs with no or minimal sunning. The vast majority of my 50+ HPs are in Fine condition almost certainly a higher percentage than my 450+ LECs.

>3 RickFlair: Shelving books with the spine out will result in sunned spines if the sun strikes them throughout the day. Some light bulbs will do it as well as they also put out UV light which is detrimental to colors. They tend to fade with exposure to UV. Leather bindings are affected as well. Green leather turns brown, blue fades, etc. Some materials darken, some fade.

Basically, avoid direct sunlight and/or direct light sources in general. Diffused lighting is OK. To keep this from happening to your books, consider shelving them with the spine of the slipcase facing outward. LEC cases usually have a label or printing on the spine to ID the book within; HP slipcases do not. In the latter case, you can make your own labels and paste them on the spine of the s/c. Use a good paper, such as Southworth Antique Laid (from an office supply store) and a laser printer, and they'll look good on the shelf.

>1 RickFlair:

You're not crazy. No knock to Folio Society but LEC and Heritage Press are all-time publishing greats.

>2 Django6924:
A couple of other real gems: The first HP edition of Walden, with the Nason engravings, and their Romeo & Juliet, with the Sauvage illustrations.

Yes I just find it hard to believe that almost every HP owner let the sun effect their books. If you go to Abe Books and search for all HP books, you can see for yourself the unbelievably high percentage of sunning/dulling etc. Even if it isn't listed in the description, check the pictures carefully and it is basically guaranteed to be there.

Not every owner but most. Some of these books are 80 years old and it is likely they have changed ownership perhaps even more than once. But I guarantee you that all can be found in more or less fine condition with no discoloration.

>1 RickFlair: One thing to bear in mind is that the vast majority of books depreciate in value for most of their lifetime. Your HP book was cheap, but it's also about sixty years old. If you look at UK eBay listings for Folio Society books of the same era, which were also generally printed letterpress, you'll find they can often be bought in the sub-$10 range.

That said, I agree that "they don't make 'em like they used to" and the old NY HP books have been particularly nice examples of craftsmanship. One thing that strike me is that LEC and HP seemed to ahead of their time in the quality of their illustrations and the modernity of their book design. Many FS books from the 60s look very much of their era, whereas I have LECs of the same period that look like modern books.

As >2 Django6924: said, though, in studying the narrow gap between HP and FS we shouldn't loose sight of the veritable chasm that separates Folio's modern output from what most of the rest of the world understands by "book".

>8 RickFlair:

As a member of the Heritage Club from the early 1960s until the end, I can tell you that the glue has absolutely nothing to do with the fading of the spines. None of my NY HP books I received in the 1960s, 70s have faded spines, and of course none received during the Connecticut captivity show any signs of fading. I have well over a hundred HP books I acquired 2nd hand from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Some show fading on the spines ranging from rather extreme--the first HP issue (1941) of Two Years Before the Mast, illustrated by Dale Nichols, which has faded from Navy Blue to lavender on the spine (but the front and rear boards are still pristine,which they wouldn't be if the reason for fading was the glue used), to minor, the first HP (also 1941) of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, the cloth spine was also originally navy blue, to no perceptible fading at all, and this would include the majority of my pre-1960s Heritage books.

I started collecting these earlier HPs in the 1980s, and always sought Fine and Near Fine copies whenever possible, and I'm sure other HP collectors did as well, and the reason you may be seeing so few pristine spines is that collectors have pretty much got most of these in their libraries. I think the previous posts have provided the real reasons: frequent change of hands, indifferent storage conditions--and one other: the HP books tended to actually be read, and many LEC books sat unread on the owners' shelves. (Not that there aren't plenty of LECs out there with shabby spines, as Ken pointed out.)

One of our most knowledgeable Devotees, Jack (featherwate) has pointed out a very likely scenario why some HPs, especially those bound in navy blue bindings from the early 1940s, may have faded so badly--the US government requisitioned all the supplies of colorfast navy blue dye to use for the greatly increased U Navy during WWII.

This is a largely personal experience, but I suspect that not having the title printed on the back of the slipcase of an HP title results in the spine of the book and not the back of the slipcase (as is usually the case with LEC books) getting exposed to the sun. This makes for a colorful HP bookshelf. Much like one from an early HP ad that was posted not too long ago. I must say that I appreciate the look of those HP books a lot more than a much duller look of my LEC stacks :)