Physical aspects of the books

[Rodrik of Dorne]

I do not know if is it the right thread for this question, but I did not encountered any thread on physical aspects of the various editions of ASoIaF.

I'm about to buy this hardcover ed., and I would like to know what kind of paper is it made off, because I do not want that kind of "newspaper paper" books.

Thats the book I'm considering: http://www.amazon.co...tmm_hrd_title_0

So, anyone?

Thanks in advancement.

[Parris]

Your link does not function, so I'm not sure which edition you are considering. Generally, a major publisher will use a good quality paper stock, low-acid if not acid free, for their hardcover editions. Not true of all publishers or titles; there's one long time publisher that offers 'book club' editions that are often of an inferior quality in paper, binding and cover design.

Now, when you get into special limited editions you expect archival quality paper, high-end binding techniques, artwork that is not just on the cover but also illustrations in the book itself, and extras like a sewn-in bookmark, a casing of some sort for the book, things rarely seen outside the collectors markets.

But Random House should offer a pretty good 'standard' hardcover edition of DANCE for the mass-market, they usually do with their big name-titles.

[Rodrik of Dorne]

Thanks for your reply, and sorry for the link.

Thats another link: http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-Song-Fire-Book/dp/0553103547/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1306289366&sr=1-1

Where can I acquire special limited editions (archival quality paper)?

[Justinian]

You can get special limited editions of the previous volumes from eBay. The limiteds for AGoT and ACoK were printed by Meisha Merlin. The limiteds for ASoS and AFfC were printed by Subterranean Press. Future volumes will be printed by Subterranean Press. Subterranean Press apparently plans, in what strikes many as a breach of trust between publishers who make limited editions and collectors, to go back and reprint AGoT and ACoK so there may be two different versions of the AGoT and ACoK limiteds in a few years and you may be able to get some of those directly from Subterranean. But unless that happens you need to buy them from a private collector or bookshop.

As far as I can tell Bantam Press used acid-neutral paper in 1996. My copy isn't noticeably yellowing and Bantam signed something called the "Declaration of Book Preservation" in 1989 pledging to use acid-neutral paper on their hardcover titles, and I have no reason to believe they weren't doing so 7 years later. There is no statement on the copyright page but that doesn't mean anything.

I wouldn't be so sure that genre publishers are still using acid neutral paper these days, Parris. A lot of the British genre publishers never did and the cost of paper rising over the last decade I fear some of the American publishers may have switched to cheaper paper. For example, Tor Books is the largest publisher of SF&F by a pretty big margin and they removed the "This book was printed on acid free paper" statement from the copyright page a few years ago. I don't know why they would do that unless they were no longer printing on acid neutral paper but I haven't been able to get any kind of official word on what kind of paper they are using now.

[Justinian]

Oh, Rodrik, note that the page you linked to is for the 1996 Bantam first edition... but the cover image on that page is NOT from that edition but from a later reprint. I have no idea what kind of paper the reprint used because I don't have a copy to look at. It is the 1996 Bantam edition with the silver cover which appears to me to be printed on acid-neutral paper.

[Rodrik of Dorne]

Again, thanks for your help guys. I'll reply here when I receive the book.