Stephen King Super Sneak

[stkmw02]

Jerome, I hope the package arrives safely. I wasn't sure why you wanted me to cast each breast separately instead of making a mold of them as a set... but now I see you're splitting them to give one to another collector. Should I have marked somewhere to indicate which was the left and which was the right?

[Merlin1958]

Jerome, I hope the package arrives safely. I wasn't sure why you wanted me to cast each breast separately instead of making a mold of them as a set... but now I see you're splitting them to give one to another collector. Should I have marked somewhere to indicate which was the left and which was the right?

[Randall Flagg]

Jerome, I hope the package arrives safely. I wasn't sure why you wanted me to cast each breast separately instead of making a mold of them as a set... but now I see you're splitting them to give one to another collector. Should I have marked somewhere to indicate which was the left and which was the right?

No. It's better to imagine. Once I have received the gift and fondled

Spoiler:

No. I can't go that far in this thread.....

"it", I'll post pics.

[Randall Flagg]

Rough draft, not the final tip-in page:

November, 2014

‘Salem’s Lot

Special Bound Edition

In 2004 a very small publishing house, known as Centipede Press, created one of the most treasured Stephen King limited editions published to date.

Betts Books and TheDarkTower.Org were fortunate enough to obtain the last two remaining sets of unbound pages from the 2004 Limited Edition publication. Using these last two sets, Betts Books, and TheDarkTower.Org have collaborated to create two remarkable pieces of craftsmanship.

This Book is One of The Only Two Specially Bound Sets

Both books were three-quarters bound in leather; one bound in black, and the other in red. Using fine hand binding and tooling techniques that have been passed down for generations, the books include the Jerry Uelsmann photographs, deleted scenes from the original manuscript, and the Stephen King afterword from the Pocket Books edition as published in the 2004 edition.

[stroppygoblin]

EDIT: and enclosed in a breast shaped slipcase - Awesome!

[Merlin1958]

Rough draft, not the final tip-in page:

November, 2014

‘Salem’s Lot

Special Bound Edition

In 2004 a very small publishing house, known as Centipede Press, created one of the most treasured Stephen King limited editions published to date.

Betts Books and TheDarkTower.Org were fortunate enough to obtain the last two remaining sets of unbound pages from the 2004 Limited Edition publication. Using these last two sets, Betts Books, and TheDarkTower.Org have collaborated to create two remarkable pieces of craftsmanship.

This Book is One of The Only Two Specially Bound Sets

Both books were three-quarters bound in leather; one bound in black, and the other in red. Using fine hand binding and tooling techniques that have been passed down for generations, the books include the Jerry Uelsmann photographs, deleted scenes from the original manuscript, and the Stephen King afterword from the Pocket Books edition as published in the 2004 edition.

I take it I'm not getting any cookies then? LOL









Awesome project, Jerome that is why you are TMIDITW!!!

[biomieg]

Sounds amazing! I'm sure I'll get a great Secret Santa gift but I would not be unhappy to receive one of these as well. You have my address, Jerome.

[herbertwest]

When will there be pictures? )

[burial]

WOW!!!
(speachless)

[Randall Flagg]

When will there be pictures? )

When I receive the books. The binders took pics of the process, but printed the pics and shipped them with the books.

[Ben Staad]

This sounds like it will be a great production. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished book.

[Randall Flagg]

This sounds like it will be a great production. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished book.

Books. There are two. Although complimentary to each other, they are different.

[racerx45]

Rough draft, not the final tip-in page:

November, 2014

‘Salem’s Lot

Special Bound Edition

In 2004 a very small publishing house, known as Centipede Press, created one of the most treasured Stephen King limited editions published to date.

Betts Books and TheDarkTower.Org were fortunate enough to obtain the last two remaining sets of unbound pages from the 2004 Limited Edition publication. Using these last two sets, Betts Books, and TheDarkTower.Org have collaborated to create two remarkable pieces of craftsmanship.

This Book is One of The Only Two Specially Bound Sets

Both books were three-quarters bound in leather; one bound in black, and the other in red. Using fine hand binding and tooling techniques that have been passed down for generations, the books include the Jerry Uelsmann photographs, deleted scenes from the original manuscript, and the Stephen King afterword from the Pocket Books edition as published in the 2004 edition.

Boy I sure am glad I passed up the common 1 of 30, now I just need to figure out how to be first in line for the 1 of 2

All joking aside is sounds great and I am looking forward to seeing photos.

[zelig]

Ditto that... Really looking forward to seeing pics... and wondering who the luck 2 will be!! I'm guessing Jerome will have one? Sounds very exciting...

[Randall Flagg]

David and I own them. They may, or may not be offered for sale.

[zelig]

David and I own them. They may, or may not be offered for sale.

Makes sense. Can't wait to see pics...

[Randall Flagg]

Advance Caveat-I do not have the books in hand, and have no pictures of the binding process. The books could arrive and be a complete failure.

A little background info:

~September 2014 I saw a rebound (actually a first bound) copy of 'Salem's Lot sell on ebay for a surprising amount. I already owned a red spine version. The thought came to me to track down all of the copies that Stu Tinker had bound; (as well as all other custom bound copies). There are numerous variations on what Stu had done (more to come later on that). I still am FAR from figuring out all of the iterations/permutations of the 15-20 copies Stu had bound. In addition, there are a few other page blocks that have been bound by others.
I contacted David at Betts to see if there were any remaining page blocks. In fact he had two. The quest began to find book binders and obtain pricing to see if doing a special 2 book set would be viable.

[Merlin1958]

Forget the "Linzer tarts" or any other cookies. I went elsewhere for those. I am nevertheless, deeply disappointed in your baking skills. What a gyp!!! LOL LOL LOL

[ICry4Oy]

I take it I'm not getting any cookies then? LOL

Where you want 'em?

[mattgreenbean]

Are they already being bound or are you going to have to wait a year to be fit in to a schedule?

Advance Caveat-I do not have the books in hand, and have no pictures of the binding process. The books could arrive and be a complete failure.

A little background info:

~September 2014 I saw a rebound (actually a first bound) copy of 'Salem's Lot sell on ebay for a surprising amount. I already owned a red spine version. The thought came to me to track down all of the copies that Stu Tinker had bound; (as well as all other custom bound copies). There are numerous variations on what Stu had done (more to come later on that). I still am FAR from figuring out all of the iterations/permutations of the 15-20 copies Stu had bound. In addition, there are a few other page blocks that have been bound by others.
I contacted David at Betts to see if there were any remaining page blocks. In fact he had two. The quest began to find book binders and obtain pricing to see if doing a special 2 book set would be viable.

[Merlin1958]

I take it I'm not getting any cookies then? LOL

Where you want 'em?

LOL LOL LOL

[Randall Flagg]

Advance Caveat-I do not have the books in hand, and have no pictures of the binding process. The books could arrive and be a complete failure.

I

~September 2014 I saw a rebound (actually a first bound) copy of 'Salem's Lot selling on ebay for a surprising amount. I already owned a burgundy spine version. The thought came to me to track down some if not all of the copies that Stu Tinker had bound; (as well as all other custom bound copies). There are numerous variations on what Stu had done (more to come later on that). I still am FAR from figuring out all of the iterations/permutations of the 24+1 copies Stu had bound. In addition, there are a few additional page blocks that have been bound by others.
I contacted David at Betts to see if there were any remaining page blocks. In fact he had two. The quest began to find book binders and obtain pricing to see if doing a special two book set would be viable.

II

A little history on the book blocks purchased by Stu Tinker (original owner of Betts Books):
Sometime in 2004 Stu Tinker purchased unbound page blocks from Jared Walters at Centipede Press. The blocks were from the Signed Limited version of Centipede’s ‘Salem’s Lot. Stu Tinker says he bought 29 page blocks from Centipede Press. One copy was bound by Gray Parrot of Bangor Maine. Three-quarter bound in leather with a marbled cover, the book did not have the original art in it. Although magnificent, Stu felt the cost to have all remaining copies done by Parrot would not be economically feasible. Parrot’s cost was 2-3 times what the eventual binder’s quote was. Stu does not recall who the binder was that bound the other 24 copies, nor the issue price. He “thinks” the books sold for $150. Stu says four unbound blocks were sold to David Williamson as part of David’s acquisition of Betts Books.
24 blocks were three-quarter bound in leather with fabric covers. 12 blocks had black leather spines and 12 had burgundy leather spines. It’s confirmed that at least two different colors were used for the fabric boards on the burgundy bound book, but unknown how many, if any, other colors were used. Marbled endpapers were intentionally used “randomly” so that few if any books would be exactly the same. Additionally, several different color slipcases were used (red, grey and light brown have been confirmed-there may be more). To make things even more interesting, Stu chose to intentionally have the original artwork inserted in the books in incorrect order.
According to noted Stephen King collector Bob Jackson:
“The Gray Parrot edition has no illustrations at all but definitely uses the S/L text block. The pages are 13" tall and the thickness of the text block is 2 and 1/2".

Both the black and the burgundy Betts editions use S/L pages BUT they have been trimmed to 11 and 1/2" tall. It is easy to see that the top and bottom margins on each page are less on the Betts bound editions. Both the black and burgundy Betts editions have illustrations but they seem to be all over the place and randomly placed in the book. The placement of the illustrations is the same on both my black and burgundy editions but the placement is not even remotely similar to the placement in the S/L.”
The combination of two different spine colors, multiple board colors, random marbled endpaper usage, different color slipcases, and artwork in incorrect order means that few IF any books are exactly the same!

III

I began obtaining quotes from book binders for our special product. Grey Parrot and others proved to be too expensive. I stumbled upon a Bible restoration, book binder located in Oil City, Louisiana. Their website was archaic and showed only two examples of their finished work, but after calling them and talking to the owner a bit, and receiving a price quote that was almost unbelievably low, I decided to give them a try. I sent them pictures of the burgundy and black books Stu had done. Design ideas were bounced back and forth, with a decision to make two books that not only complimented each other, but that would also be homage to the original 24 books done by Stu. Partially through the process, the binder informed me there was no artwork in the book blocks! David and I ended up sending our only complete sets of the artwork to the binder- One from David, one from me. I had to photograph the original art placement using my S/L Centipede book as an example, then send hard copies of the pictures to the binder to insure the art would be placed in the books in the correct place (the binder’s computer had failed so we were back to true old fashioned letters and printed photos).
The binder felt that simply tipping in the art would not be long lasting and decided to sew the pieces in. They suggested using gold gilt to mask the edges of the boards where the leather is pressed to connect to the fabric. Raised hubs were used on the spines. A limitation page printing on Mohawk Superfine paper was tipped in at the rear of the books.



To be continued....

[SystemCrashOverRide]

This is truly exciting. If your finished product is anything at all like the ones Stu had bound, I'm certainly they will be exceedingly lovely.

[zelig]

Thanks for sharing the story. I learned a few new things about the book's history that I didn't know before. Look forward to see pic of these two new productions.

[bdwyer19]

Very exciting project! Can't wait to hear more, and see the end result.