I didn't like the multiple editions of The Colorado Kid. Didn't we have to buy like 12 copies of the book to have them all? I thought that was overkill and a money grab. And their nomenclature drove me crazy. At times I really wasn't sure what I had ordered and what I hadn't. Or maybe I am just easily confused.
"Edition A" - was the trade edition 3,333 copies printed. Was that 3,333 copies of each of the three artists or 3,333 total copies. Anyone know? Anyone care?
"Edition B" - artist edition. 333 copies. Signed by the artists. So was that 333 copies total? 111 copies for each artist? Anyone know? Anyone care?
"Edition C" - signed, slipcased edition. Signed by King, Ardai and one of the artists. 150 copies.
"Edition D" - signed, traycased edition. Signed by King, Ardai and the artists. Supposedly 33 copies.
And the initial ordering confused the heck out of me. You could have one of either edition C or D (I think you had to pick one or the other) and pretty much as many of the other editions as you wanted. And you had to make sure you were ordering the proper artist so you would get one of each. After placing your order with PS Publishing then the rush was on to get an order from someone else, like the Overlook Connection or Camelot Books, and hope you were going to get one of the artist versions that you didn't already have. And, IIRC, there was no guarantee that you would get the artist version that you ordered anyway.
And then the flood gates opened and all of these "PS Publishing File Copy" variants started coming out. I think there were more File Copies for the traycased edition than the regular numbered edition (44 vs. 33) and it was never clear how many for each artist were done.
Heck, I am confused just typing this out. Years later I'm still not entirely certain what was going on.
I agree with you on this. The dust jackets always have that same shiny look and feel. And the bonded leather boards are pretty much always the same. Nothing really new going on.
I think Charnel House is setting the standard today for innovation, especially with their lettered books. They use real leather and try to incorporate some element of the story into the design of the book. The last Odd Thomas book was riddled with bullet holes! Always a surprise. Always very cool.
I totally agree with this.. I STILL DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO BUY... I do not think this was creative in any way... I think this was a way to make money. Yes they are in business to make money but have alienated me to a degree from being a loyal customer or even a customer at all
HELP ME FIND
Insomnia #459
ANY S/L #459
I understand that if you are a completist it was probably annoying (and perhaps felt like a money grab), but I really enjoyed having a slipcased set of three nice small books with very different and equally nice artwork. I thought and still think it was an interesting and creative idea.
And yes, the Charnel House books are without a doubt some of the most impressive books I've seen.
I also agree, Bob. Charnel House easily make the nicest Ltd Edition books on the market. Wish they'd do a SK soon.
I really like the prom invite slipcase on the PS gift edition of Carrie. I also like the size of the anniversary editions set. Every SK book from a small press doesn't really need to be HUGE!!
Correct me if I am wrong but weren't the slipcases made by someone other than PS Publishing? If so, doesn't that diminish the creativity aspect somewhat? skbooks or Analecta comes to mind but I can't remember now where I got the slipcases.
I do know that if you put brodart covers on the dj's of the three books they become damn near impossible to get out of the slipcase.
According to my notes, there were 10,000 copies of "Edition A" printed, with a third going to each artist.
"Edition B" was 1,000 copies, again with a third going to each artist.
There were a total of 450 copies of "Edition C", with 150 allocated to each artist.
I have no information on "Edition D".
John
The Catalog is your friend:
http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/...ase+Chadbourne
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
I'm kind of glad I missed the whole Colorado Kid thing. I also agree that the multiple variations on it seemed like nothing more than a way to maximize the potential income. I don't mind some creativity here and there but not when it results in an unnecessary expense to the collector. I would sooner pay a little extra for a single beautiful book (let's say like a Charnel House release) as opposed to a whole lot more on multiple versions of the same book.
So to confirm... to have a complete Colorado Kid signed PS set.. you need 122 books?
HELP ME FIND
Insomnia #459
ANY S/L #459
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
And the more I think about it (I probably should just let it go but......) the whole three individual artist thing seemed artificial. It's like they couldn't make up their mind between Potter and Miller and just said "Oh hell, let's just do both." And then "And Chadbourne too! We always use Glenn!"
My Stephen King collection
http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/...on-Stockerlone
Non-King collection
http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/...rlone-Non-King
But weren't the remarqued ones still in the lettered count, or were they outside that?
John