Hunchback Jack Collection - non-King

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

Those are great looking books.

I hate to say this, but I've never read anything by Barker that I liked, although admittedly I've not read much by him.

[Hunchback Jack]

I certainly like some of his work more than others. Imajica and Secret Show are very good; his other novels less so.

[peripheral]

Great adds. I really like most of what I’ve read from Barker, but his Books of Blood are his best achievement, IMO.

[Hunchback Jack]

The limited reissue edition of David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series:




This series has an unusual publication history. It was originally published in the 90s, and while Wingrove had conceived of it as a 9 book series, the publisher forced him to condense the last two volumes into one. The last volume is not that great, as a result.

Fast-forward 20 years, and a small U.K. Publishing house approached Wingrove to reissue the series, revising the entire story from beginning to end, expanding the final volume into its original intended length, splitting each original volume into two, and writing a new two-volume prelude story. The result was a 20 volume epic, to be published over 4-5 years - including a signed limited edition of each volume.

Sadly, the ambitious project failed after 8 volumes. This set is as complete as it will ever be.







The earlier limited volumes had a publication run of 250; the later volumes, just 50. The endpapers display the dust jacket illustrations of the trade editions, and contain two-color printing throughout. They are nice volumes.

As an investment, though, they were not a success. Just recently, a set sold on eBay for one third of what I paid for these. And what I paid was a pretty good price at the time. I'm still glad to have them, though.

[lotuz]

What a beautiful looking set! I love when a publisher can take a theme and stretch it out over a number of books without the aesthetic getting boring (the RA Lafferty series from Centipede Press is another good example of this). It's a real shame it won't be a 20 book set - that would be a very pretty shelf. As is, they are still a nice looking set of books, though!

[Lurker]

The limited reissue edition of David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series:

Those are nice. I kept thinking I knew that name and then saw he was the Myst writer. These look interesting so I downloaded the first one. Another something new everyday.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

Beautiful looking books.

I've read BILLION YEAR SPREE, but not TRILLION YEAR SPREE.

[Hunchback Jack]

The signed limited editions of the Matthew Corbett series by Robert McCammon, from River City and Subterranean Press:











I don't have a matching set from SubPress. If anyone has #226 of any of the volumes, I am willing to swap + cash. PM if you can help.

HBJ

[ym2000]

These are the best examples of limiteds - from binding to slipcase. They look as good as some of the lettered editions out there. I hope Cemetery Dance will keep the design - not sure if its possible at all.
We should start a petition to Brian.

The signed limited editions of the Matthew Corbett series by Robert McCammon, from River City and Subterranean Press:











I don't have a matching set from SubPress. If anyone has #226 of any of the volumes, I am willing to swap + cash. PM if you can help.

HBJ

[Father Cody]

Ah how did I miss those! They’re all beauties. Looking forward to what’s coming next!

[Hunchback Jack]

Agreed, Yegor. Quality and beauty in every respect.

ETA: and I must say that Victor Chong's illustrations capture the mood of the series exactly - especially his cover art. If CD are publishing the remainder of the series, it would be a real shame - to say the least - if they approached a different artist for the remaining volumes.

HBJ

[Brian861]

Beautiful stuff, Peter!

[Hunchback Jack]

What a beautiful looking set! I love when a publisher can take a theme and stretch it out over a number of books without the aesthetic getting boring (the RA Lafferty series from Centipede Press is another good example of this). It's a real shame it won't be a 20 book set - that would be a very pretty shelf. As is, they are still a nice looking set of books, though!

Thanks! I have to agree - the consistency of design elements was one of the main reasons I acquired this set, even though the series had already been cancelled. There a lots of little details to appreciate: for example, the printing on the covers and slipcase, and the bookmark ribbon colour, match the endpaper colour scheme for each volume.

Unfortunately, this is not *quite* a matching set. All volumes are #20 - *except* volume 3, which is #21. This was a publisher error - they sent the original owner the wrong number, and he didn't bother to correct it. Needless to say, I've very interested in finding #20 of volume 3!

Beautiful stuff, Peter!

Thanks, Brian! It's a great feeling to post these pics to a forum where people appreciate them!

HBJ

[Hunchback Jack]

Dan Simmons Lettered editions:
















All are PC copies, except The Terror, which is letter I.

[peripheral]

Oh man, they’re awesome. The Terror (one of my favourite books) looks amazing...

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

Very nice books, but another author I have yet to read.

[Hunchback Jack]

Oh man, they’re awesome. The Terror (one of my favourite books) looks amazing...

Thanks, peri. The Terror is very nice indeed, although the traycase marks or scuffs if you look at it twice. But the book is one of SubPress's best, in my opinion.

Very nice books, but another author I have yet to read.

Thanks! I like Simmons a lot. These are among his best non-SF works.

(I have two more lettered Simmons on the way, which I will post when I get them).

[Stockerlone]

Supersupernice books !!!

[ym2000]

Wow - super jealous! So cool because I haven"t even seen photos of a few ( including Terror) ever anywhere online. Thank you for sharing.
I just last month finally purchased The Summer Of Night lettered but looks like I have a lot more to find Please let me know if you ever get any tips as to sellers.

[Hunchback Jack]

Supersupernice books !!!

Thanks, Frank!

Wow - super jealous! So cool because I haven"t even seen photos of a few ( including Terror) ever anywhere online. Thank you for sharing.
I just last month finally purchased The Summer Of Night lettered but looks like I have a lot more to find Please let me know if you ever get any tips as to sellers.

Yegor, you've posted many pics of editions I've never seen before, so I'm glad I can return the favour. I don't have any scoop on sellers, but if I hear of any lettered editions for sale, I'll certainly send them your way.

My lettered collection is still very modest - I'm focusing almost exclusively on McCammon and Simmons SubPress editions, and I'm far from complete, as you can see. My two Grail of Grails at the moment are Drood (Simmons) and Mister Slaughter (McCammon). Although if a Zafon set ever materializes I will jump at it.

HBJ

[Brian861]

Very nice, Peter!

[Father Cody]

This entire thread amazes me. That Terror...

[Hunchback Jack]

Very nice, Peter!

Thanks, Brian.

This entire thread amazes me. That Terror...

Thanks, Adam! The Terror is one of my favourite Simmons novels, so I feel very fortunate to have found it. Still looking for a lettered Drood, though.

[Aronstg]

Thanks for sharing. Love those Simmons books!

[Hunchback Jack]

Some uncommon or signed Stephen Donaldson books:




These are U.K. Trade hardcover editions of the First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I'm not sure of the publishing history of them; i don't know which, if any, were published before the paperbacks, and which are hardcover reprints. I think the non-Collins editions might all be first editions, and quite hard to find.

I love the color illustrations on the First Chronicles books. They were done by an artist named Peter Goodfellow, and I'd love to get prints of them.





US and U.K. Hardcovers of the Last Chronicles. The US editions are all signed; volume 1 is inscribed to me. The U.K. Edition of The Last Dark is not a book club edition, despite its smaller size.




Gollancz signed limited editions of Runes of the Earth (shrinkwrapped) and Seventh Decimate. The former is not as rare - 1000 copies were published - while the latter was limited to 100 copies. No extras other than the signature and slipcase.

HBJ