189 replies to this topic

[ArtDayne]

SacredMetalMichael, on 15 July 2011 - 12:54 PM, said:

Good news: Just got an answer from Harper Collins. Till December, all the books until "Feast..." will come out in such a slipcase edition with "A Dance..." being followed early 2012.
Hell YEAH!!

All books before December seems unlikely since they don't have any preorders up.  But I guess if the proofs are the same as the other UK editions, they really just need to go through the printing process and can skip proofing.

[Buster]

ArtDayne, on 15 July 2011 - 07:05 PM, said:

Good news: Just got an answer from Harper Collins. Till December, all the books until "Feast..." will come out in such a slipcase edition with "A Dance..." being followed early 2012.
Hell YEAH!!

I really, really hope that this is true!

Edited by Buster, 16 July 2011 - 03:24 AM.

[Eärendil]

I had preordered anyway; but the prospect of a full matching set is fantastic if true. As for the previous discussion about quality, the pictures I have seen do bare resemblance to the older Tolkien deluxe editions that have been released by Harper Collins in the past. But even if they are similar, the earlier price comparison is somewhat unwarranted. Even if you account for twenty years or more of inflation, those older deluxe editions were numbered and in some cases signed by J.R.R.'s son, Christopher Tolkien, who edited his father's works, The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. I happen to own one of those sets, and they are all of excellent quality/craftsmanship. Granted, we only have images of A Game of Thrones to go by; I would be pleasantly surprised if the quality was of the same mold. I have the Voyager numbered/signed collector's edition of A Feast for Crows that was released in 2006. The quality of that book is more like the recent Harper Collins Tolkien non-limited deluxe editions. Not sure of other special editions by other UK publishers, but none of these Harper Collins books are of poor quality.

The new slipcase edition of A Game of Thrones does not appear to be limited; however, the spine and slipcase looks nicer than that "one-off" limited by Voyager. As stated earlier in this thread, this edition could be quarterbound leather or faux leather, print on India paper and gilted. But the real appeal of this slipcase edition is the promise of a true matching set that has the aesthetic of more traditional classic deluxe binding. This is not to take anything away from the Sub/Meisha illustrated limited deluxe editions, which are vastly superior and are the book collector's dream to own, even if the bindings don't match.

Edited by Eärendil, 16 July 2011 - 08:05 PM.

[SacredMetalMichael]

As I wrote, I got a reply from someone at Harper Collins with the confirmation and the ISBN-Numbers for the following books...

[Justinian]

Share with the rest of the class!

[Buster]

Just emailed Harper Collins myself, I'll post again as soon as I get a reply.

[jellydonut]

That is fantastic news. I'm even happier with my preorder now.

Can I start dreaming about embossed sigils now?

A stag for ACOK. Sure, there's a War of Five Kings, but.. Two are true Baratheons, one claims the name Baratheon, and the battle in the end has the stag banner on both sides. The stag surely belongs here.

The Lannister lion for ASOS. Stannis abandons his war in the south for the Wall, Robb is killed and the northerners crushed, the Lannisters seem to be at the top of their game for most of the book.. Well, until the end, when the shortest one ends it all.

AFFC is a bit vague. Tyrell is rising here - perhaps a Tyrell rose would do? Or, with the return of Euron and his raids and all, a kraken? Sure, the Greyjoys are never the focus at any point of the entire series, but their sigil is a great deal cooler looking than a rose.

Spoiler

For ADWD I guess a lot of people would say the three-headed dragon of Targaryen, given the title. Personally, I would wait until one of the latter two volumes with this one, and put the horrible sigil of the family that had the largest emotional impact and the most compelling chapters of this book.. The flayed man of Bolton! I'm not sure if Harper Collins would put such a horrid thing on the cover of their book, though. Unfortunately.

Edited by jellydonut, 17 July 2011 - 11:15 AM.

[Buster]

I got tired of waiting for a reply, so I called Harper Collins this morning and the woman I spoke to told me that there was nothing on the system about a slipcase edition of A Clash of Kings, but it's likely that they will continue to make them. Although when someone replies to my email I might get a completely different answer.

[Eärendil]

Buster, on 18 July 2011 - 06:25 AM, said:

I got tired of waiting for a reply, so I called Harper Collins this morning and the woman I spoke to told me that there was nothing on the system about a slipcase edition of A Clash of Kings, but it's likely that they will continue to make them. Although when someone replies to my email I might get a completely different answer.

I've emailed them as well. No response yet.

[Buster]

http://www.facebook.com/VoyagerBooks
Harper Voyager: I can happily update that report -- we'll be doing them all from Clash to Feast in 2011 and then a Dance for 2012! (Exclusive new flash today).
http://img856.images...56/5387/hvf.png

Great news!

Edited by Buster, 19 July 2011 - 06:38 AM.

[Eärendil]

Buster, on 19 July 2011 - 06:33 AM, said:

http://www.facebook.com/VoyagerBooks
Harper Voyager: I can happily update that report -- we'll be doing them all from Clash to Feast in 2011 and then a Dance for 2012! (Exclusive new flash today).
http://img856.images...56/5387/hvf.png

Great news!

Great find, Buster. And yet, there was another interesting bit by Harper Voyager in that thread:

As far as I'm aware, the US are doing their own slipcase edition as well.

I've already emailed Random House.

[Buster]

A Game of Thrones [Slipcase Edition] 21st July 2011
A Clash of Kings [Slipcase Edition] 1st September 2011
A Storm of Swords [Slipcase Edition] 1st October 2011
A Feast for Crows [Slipcase Edition[ 1st November 2011
A Dance With Dragons [Slipcase Edition] 1st December 2011

Edited by Buster, 19 July 2011 - 01:44 PM.

[Eärendil]

Buster, on 19 July 2011 - 01:43 PM, said:

A Game of Thrones [Slipcase Edition] 21st July 2011
A Clash of Kings [Slipcase Edition] 1st September 2011
A Storm of Swords [Slipcase Edition] 1st October 2011
A Feast for Crows [Slipcase Edition[ 1st November 2011
A Dance With Dragons [Slipcase Edition] 1st December 2011

Nice to have those ISBNs:.
A Game of Thrones 978-0-00-744142-6
A Clash of Kings 978-0-00-745634-5
A Storm of Swords 978-0-00-745635-2
A Feast for Crows 978-0-00-745636-9
A Dance with Dragons 978-0-00-745637-6

As for similar editions being published in the US, I received this response from the US publisher, Random House, Inc.:

We do not have a confirmed (or even tentative) scheduled release date for a slipcased edition of the Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin.

Granted, that doesn't prove Random House doesn't have plans. But for now, at least, doesn't look like anything is on the horizon; therefore, the UK slipcase editions from Harper Collins Voyager appear to be it.

To add to this: I got to thinking about publishing rights among the major publishers on both sides of the pond. It is known that Random House has rights in US territories and Harper Collins has rights in the UK. Random House gave up rights to produce deluxe slipcase editions to Meisha Merlin, and those rights were taken over by Subterranean Press. But Harper Collins has rights to deluxe editions within the UK. Harper's science fiction/fantasy division, Voyager, already produced a "one-off" limited and signed slipcase edition of A Feast for Crows in 2007. It may be that Random House cannot produce any edition other than standard hard covers, paperbacks and mass market paperbacks in the US; not even can they produce an non-limited slipcase edition deluxe, where as Harper Collins has rights to do so now. It is quite possible that the person posting on Harper Voyager's facebook page was referring to Subterranean Press's plans to reissue a new slipcased deluxe edition of A Game of Thrones in the US.

Edited by Eärendil, 19 July 2011 - 06:42 PM.

[ArtDayne]

Pre-ordered.  Hopefully they drop in price to 25 or so like Game did.  Also hopefully Amazon UK can get them overseas without damage.  Also, speculation about North American versions may be accurate.  Not sure if slipcased but non-numbered editions would violate whatever agreement Sub Press has.  The statement from Random House is weird in that it doesn't say there are no plans, only no planned dates.  Very ambiguous.

[Eärendil]

Yesterday was the release date. Has anyone got a shipment notification?

Edit: Check that, Amazon UK still has this listed as a preorder. I suppose the release has been delayed.

Update: I received this information from Amazon UK:

We regret to inform you that your order will take longer to fulfill than originally estimated. Our supplier has notified us that there is a delay obtaining stock for the following items you ordered June 16 2011.

  George R. R. Martin "A Game of Thrones: Book 1 of A Song of Ice and Fire"
  http://www.amazon.co...duct/0007441428

We are awaiting a revised estimate from our supplier, and will email you as soon as we receive this information.

Edited by Eärendil, 22 July 2011 - 08:27 PM.

[Buster]

Yeah, I've got exactly the same message. I don't think the release has been delayed, Harper Collins have just not bothered to send any to Amazon yet. Oh well! This doesn't really affect me because I'm on holiday anyway, so as long as it's delivered by 1st August it won't make any difference to me.

["Blackfyre"]

Fantastic find!  Going to order mine right away.  Someone post pics when they get theirs.

[Eärendil]

Buster,

Since we now know Harper Collins is publishing a full matching set, maybe you could change the title post of this thread to read A Song of Ice and Fire [Slipcase Editions] and then put Harper Collins in the subtitle. You can do this by clicking "Edit" in the first post, then clicking "Full Editor." This might make it easier to search this thread for future discussions of these books if it doesn't end up stickied. Might be less confusing when Subterranean Press eventually reissues future US slipcased editions, limited or otherwise.

[Bird of the Canals]

If you pre-order the five books now @ amazon...

Order Summary
Items: £189.99
Postage & Packing: £18.94
Total before VAT: £208.93
VAT: £0.00
Order Total: £208.93

Promotions applied:
Pre-order Guarantee


This is to ship to the U.S. Of course you could probably slash 30 pounds off due to pre-order price guarantee at least. But with the currency exchange it's going to be pretty damn expensive. bookdepository.co.uk has free shipping world wide and deals in U.S. currency as well. Do you guys think that might be cheaper? The prices aren't up yet for the books, however.

[Justinian]

My copy of Thrones is reported to have shipped.