Originally Posted by
Cutter
Don't be surprised if the Illustrated Masques has the same font, as it's a similar in style book.
My worst goes to Subterranean Press for any Ray Bradbury Lettered Edition that cost $750. It's the same book as the limited edition but with a fake leather binding and about an extra 5-10 pages of bonus content. I can honestly say I almost cried when I received the books after paying so much money and received so little of a difference between the Lettered and Limited. And then I did it again and bought another Bradbury Lettered for $750 and again it was a limited in fake leather but $700 more. Biggest rip offs in my book buying career. This is a prime example of publisher greed. Charge more because of the author but do not utilize that elevated cost in book materials - take the money and run
I love SubPress for their selection of books. No other small press publishes anything close to SP's selection for stuff I actually want to read. That and Bill has always taken care of me with excellent customer service, despite my often unusual requests.
That being said, their limiteds have gotten a bit formulaic of late and with the exception of the traycase, their lettereds are almost always identical to the numbered. Unfortunately, the prices are often based on the popularity of the author as well. As you mentioned, Bradbury. Also Gaiman, Stephenson and others.
But that, I suppose is not entirely surprising... higher demand = higher prices. Though as you mention, for $700 more, I'd expect a top of the line production.
On the
other third? hand, their volume growth has been incredible in the last years also. One can hardly call them small press any longer. I think I remember a newsletter saying that they had published somewhere around 100 books last year with more expected this year. It's hardly surprising they've gotten formulaic.