LEC Sherlock Holmes vs Heritage vs Easton Press

In the thread on Google Drive collection of Monthly Letters, I posted:
Although, as a long time Sherlockian, I have several annotated versions of the SH stories and a lot of other reference material, I never until recently had an interest in the LEC set. I considered it a fine printing of the Canon and that was all. Only recently did i realize the effort which went into making sure the best texts were used and that there were a number of essays by the leading Sherlockians of the time (of all time, in fact) interpolated. I had an e-mail exchange with the editor of The Baker Street Journal in which he informed me that the LEC texts were the authority for any canonical quotations appearing in the BSJ. And then there were the exclusive Steele illustrations done for the set along with reproductions of some of the other great artwork. So, I came to belatedly realize how important this publication project really was.
So I definitely intend to bring Macy's contribution to the attention of today's Sherlockian community.
Subsequently I've acquired The Adventures (1950)3 volumes , and The Later Adventures-3 vol. and The Final Adventures(1952)2 vol.. I had to buy from three different sellers. The reason they were published this way is that the Conan Doyle Estate stonewalled on even discussing printing the stories still under copyright so Macy published he first set which were out of copyright. Eventually the Estate gave in. Macy was investitured into The Baker Street Irregulars in 1951, certainly as a result of his efforts.
Each of the eight volumes has an introduction, as noted above by a leading Sherlockian. The Heritage Press reprint came out as three volumes, incorporating the three or two separate LEC volumes in each.
I believe that the Heritage set omitted the essays other than the overall introduction by Vincent Starrett and perhaps the Collation note by Edgar Smith. Does anyone have the Heritage Set and can confirm or deny this? A small point but its for a scholarly purpose.
Eventually The Easton Press came out with editions following the Heritage approach. One cleverly had separate bindings , one with magnifying glass, one with pipe, one with deerstalker. Later they went to a more conventional Easton binding. I also believe they did a Deluxe Edition of the stories. My next question is whether any of the Easton versions had the essays omitted from the Heritage set.
Any help or comments would be appreciated.

I have the complete Easton Press set, the HP 1st volume of the Adventures, and LEC's Later Adventures set and the Final Adventures set. I cannot compare the first LEC set ("Adventures") with the Heritage Press edition; however, I see that the second volume of the Easton Press set has Introduction by Elmer Davis and Fletcher Pratt's Introduction to the Hound of Baskervilles -- both at the beginning of the volume. The third EP volume has Rex Stout's Introduction to "His Last Bow", Antony Boucher's Introduction to "The Valley of Fear", and Christopher Morley's Introduction to the Casebook of Sherlock Holmes -- all three at the beginning of the volume.
Both HP and EP 1st volumes have general introduction by Vincent Starrett; however, HP edition has also Edgar W. Smith's "Notes on the Collation", which Easton Press Volume 1 seems to lack.

As a side note, reproductions of illustrations in EP set are noticeably inferior to HP and LEC versions.

>2 booksforreading: Thank you for that prompt response!
I've heard that about the EP-the poorer quality of the illustrations; which the LEC went to some special effort to reproduce well. Which binding does your EP set have?
. The LEC Adventures seems to be the hardest of the three LECs to find. Probably bought on second hand market without realizing there were more. My copy of that set is in worse condition than the other two and was hardest to find.

>3 laotzu225:
My EP set has just uniform decorations on the bindings - no pictures. I used to have the old first EP volume with a pictorial decoration on the cover, but I sold it.
I have never felt that I needed to buy the LEC versions, because I had the Easton Press set with the same exact text. I later got the HP version of the Adventures and LEC set of the Final Adventures for free. Several years later I accidentally saw a chance to acquire the LEC's Later Adventures set in perfect condition for a very low price on ebay, so I did it.
I don't know if I will ever get the 1st LEC set, as I cannot justify the expense or the need for it.

By the way, somebody somewhere on the librarything recommended the New Annotated Sherlock Holmes edited by Leslie Klinger. I purchased the complete 3-volume set, and I must say that I learned a lot, including history and English language, by reading this edition! I cannot recommend it enough to any fans of Sherlock Holmes.

I have the Heritage “The Later Adventures” and “The Final Adventures” and can confirm your belief that there are no essays or introductions in either of these two volumes with the exception of an Epilogue at the end of “Final” by Edgar W. Smith.

>5 BionicJim:
Wow! So you are saying that Easton Press that supposed to be a reprint of the Heritage Press volumes included the introductions, but Heritage Press did not?
How is this possible? It is quite amazing if this is the case!

>6 booksforreading: My understanding is Easton Press purchased the entire George Macy archive which included LEC and Heritage, giving them a choice.

>4 booksforreading: Thanks again. Yes, the Klinger New Annotated SH is an incredible resource and achievement (it built on William Baring-Gould's Annotated SH from 1967 which, as Klinger acknowledged, was done without the internet or any of the research tools developed since its date.)
Interestingly, when B-G tried to get approval for the Estate for copyright inclusions and use of certain information, he was pointedly threatened with rejection if the Heritage Press was going to be the publisher.
My current interest in the LEC version was sparked by how persistent Macy was in getting the project done and the extraordinary cooperation he got from Edgar Smith and the Baker Street Irregulars (in contrast to the Conan Doyle Estate).

>5 BionicJim: Thank you, Jim. A useful fact to know.
>6 booksforreading: My suspicion is that the initial EP set was a straight reprint of the Heritage set. Later, perhaps, EP did a Deluxe Edition SH and may have improved the illustration reproductions and added back the introductions of the LECs. Someone with more information about EP that I have would need to confirm. I do know they did a DE version.

>7 BionicJim:

The situation is a bit more complicated. MBI (the parent company of Easton Press) bought only the Heritage Club inventory in 1975 when Cardavon, who owned all the rights to both Clubs, sold it. This included all of the Limited Editions Club titles which had been reproduced as Heritage Press books, but not the Limited Editions Club exclusives. Later, some, but not all of the rights to the LEC exclusives were obtained by MBI (such as the 40+ volume Complete Shakespeare), but many of the LEC books from the early years before the Heritage Club was created have never been issued by Easton to my knowledge, though I don't claim to be an expert on the Easton Press.

Since I don't have either the LEC or HP editions of the Holmes books, I can't say why the special introductions and essays wouldn't have been in the HP editions except for copyright reasons. I believe if >1 laotzu225: is correct in saying the HP only included Starrett's introductions, the special material was restricted by copyright to the Limited Editions Club publication.

>10 Django6924: Salome and Troilus and Cressida are EP reprints of the LEC productions, dating from the late '30s. Would that qualify as as pre-Heritage?

>11 johnbean9:

The 2 volume Salome with illustrations by 1) Aubrey Beardsley and 2) Andre Derain from 1939 were Limited Editions Club exclusives and not reproduced by Heritage, which did its own exclusive edition illuminated by Valenti Angelo. I did not know Easton had done a reprint.

The LEC Troilus and Cressida by Geoffrey Chaucer, also 1939, and done as a companion volume to the 1934 Canterbury Tales is another Limited Editions Club exclusive never reprinted by the Heritage Press. Are you sure the Easton offering isn't Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida which was part of the LEC 40 volume Complete Shakespeare which MBI did obtain publishing rights to?

>12 Django6924: It is the Shakespeare. Thanks for the clarification.

Details on the Salome can be found here, for anyone interested - https://www.eastonpress.com/prod/5DF/3243/SALOME. And in case anyone was wondering, the other Easton repros of LEC works are The Dead Sea Scrolls and Lewis and Clark, as far as I can tell.

>13 johnbean9:

Thanks for the update!

Both The Dead Sea Scrolls and Lewis and Clark were reprinted by the Heritage Press, and I have both, purchased in the 1960s or 1970s when I was a member (before I could afford Limited Editions Club versions). Never felt the need to upgrade although when my wife's relative was selling a large collection of LECs, I was tempted by the Lewis and Clark.