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The Bibliophilia Thread

£2.5million rare books stolen in Ocean's Eleven-style heist from London are discovered hidden under floorboards in rural Romania

Detectives uncovered the stash - which includes tomes by Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton and Spanish painter Francisco Goya - underneath the concrete floor of a rural house in the northern county of Neamt on September 16.

romania-uk-italy-police-crime-literature_1569743_20200918191622.jpg


The books were hidden there by a Romanian crime family called the Clamparu, after being stolen in an Ocean's Eleven-style raid on a warehouse in Feltham in 2017.

The thieves broke in through the roof and abseiled down into the building, so as to avoid tripping sensors that would have set off the alarms.

Alessandro Meda Riquier said the stolen works included his 1566 second edition of Nicolaus Copernicus' De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, which was reportedly worth around £215,000 and was described as the "jewel" in the haul.

He said he had also lost important books by Galileo and very rare editions of Dante's Divine Comedy.

https://news.sky.com/story/historic...-found-buried-underground-in-romania-12074852

maximus otter
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I've been about as resolute as melted butter on the issue of not spending more money on books and I'm afraid I now have a small collection of these.

The samples are from the Tim Brown book. I'd say it's less 'obvious' and more of an acquired taste than the others, but something that I myself, with my propensity for nostalgia and pseudo-nostalgia, am pre-programmed to appreciate. A first glance might reveal only a very plain selection of old photographs with a very muted palette and a lot of urban decay, but a more thoughtful soul--perhaps I flatter myself here--will conjure up the complementary world beyond the frame--in this case one that I have lived through in its temporal entirety.

The first shot here sums up the collection: the juxtaposition of the old (that chap could plausibly have boarded the DLR from almost any decade from the the 1910s onward) and the new-but-not-yet-settled. The third shot is part of the set for Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and the second to last looks as if it's an illustration for a Dickens novel.

The pall of nostalgia hung heavy once I'd turned the final page; it feels to me that for all its grime and dilapidation the architecture depicted here was far more human than what came after--couldn't we have done it up rather than pulled it down?

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There's also another nice-looking volume in this series on the horizon:
https://hoxtonminipress.com/products/when-we-were-young
 
A great new acquisition I am very happy with. It's in smashing condition for a 1951 first edition and some of the cartoons are--as the title suggests--deliciously dark. They aren't all St Trinian's, but all of my favourites from the selection are.

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After a lot of searching, I've found a first edition of one of the remaining St Trinian's books I didn't have; pleasingly, it's in decent condition yet cost a lot less than usual.

This is the book that most heavily influenced the memorable 1954 film The Belles of St Trinian's with Alistair Sim, Joyce Grenfell and George Cole.

"At most schools, girls are sent out quite unprepared for a merciless world, but when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world which has to be prepared."

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I found a copy of Searles Cat boot in the book exchange (Mostly naff but sometimes you find something worth having)

The london books look interesting. I recall the docks of Newport, when you could still go in them, and the terraced houses leading up to the Transporter Bridge (And partialy hiding the huge edifice for a suprise) the secondhand car places and seedy urban pubs.

All gone with just the bridge a suprised survivor of a strange disaster.

It was rough and run down, but yes, there was a lot of life and interest, a very human space. Not empty parkland with a visitors centre trying to prevent a frightened bridge from running away from the sudden lack of industrial history. It was not beautiful, unless you class `useful` as beautiful.
 
The london books look interesting. I recall the docks of Newport, when you could still go in them, and the terraced houses leading up to the Transporter Bridge (And partialy hiding the huge edifice for a suprise) the secondhand car places and seedy urban pubs.

All gone with just the bridge a suprised survivor of a strange disaster.

It was rough and run down, but yes, there was a lot of life and interest, a very human space. Not empty parkland with a visitors centre trying to prevent a frightened bridge from running away from the sudden lack of industrial history. It was not beautiful, unless you class `useful` as beautiful.

Hoxton Mini Press is currently offering a 20% discount--and free postage within the UK, in case you're interested.

https://www.hoxtonminipress.com
 

My new Kawase Hasui book came through from Japan and, as hoped, it's a beauty.

The format is a little unusual: more like a tall magazine with a glossy dustjacket, but the content is stunning.

There's some overlap with the work in my earlier post, but not that much. And although a small number of works are presented in miniature, most are given a decent size.

There are sections of biographical writing to explain the various stages as well as a diagram that illustrates the multi-stage woodblock process, but I can only manage a surface understanding as it's all in Japanese. The most perceptive among you may notice that Korean subjects are also featured.

Some of the layered skies are stunning.

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Mrs Cycleboy has been doing some sorting in the loft, so some of my books are now coming out of hibernation (and before there's any criticism about Mrs C doing the hard work, I have knee issues that make kneeling down uncomfortable). I'm very happy to see the Kurt Vonnegut and John Wyndham books again and to get my three Millennium first editions on the shelf together for the first time.

And here's a pic of one of my bookshelves and its accompanying shelf of assorted bits and bobs. I do like the Montalbano books, and Camilleri is one of the authors who has not been culled. And being a voracious reader of crime fiction, I'd like to say that I started reading the books before the BBC adaptation.
 

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Mrs Cycleboy has been doing some sorting in the loft, so some of my books are now coming out of hibernation (and before there's any criticism about Mrs C doing the hard work, I have knee issues that make kneeling down uncomfortable). I'm very happy to see the Kurt Vonnegut and John Wyndham books again and to get my three Millennium first editions on the shelf together for the first time.

And here's a pic of one of my bookshelves and its accompanying shelf of assorted bits and bobs. I do like the Montalbano books, and Camilleri is one of the authors who has not been culled. And being a voracious reader of crime fiction, I'd like to say that I started reading the books before the BBC adaptation.
I've read all of those Wyndham books, but only 3 of the Vonnegut.
 
I've read all of those Wyndham books, but only 3 of the Vonnegut.
Vonnegut's great, and now they're back with me I feel they may get re-read again. I started reading Wyndham when I was a youngish teenager but I didn't read Kurt Vonnegut until I was 20 or so, since when I've read pretty much everything he wrote, though there may be a few pieces I missed out on.
 
No damn cat and no damn cradle?
That was loaned to a friend of mine – former editor of the world's biggest-selling science fiction magazine – and he hasn't yet returned it! We went to see a theatrical version of it and he thought he ought to read the original at some point. Well spotted, though!
 

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Mrs Cycleboy has been doing some sorting in the loft, so some of my books are now coming out of hibernation (and before there's any criticism about Mrs C doing the hard work, I have knee issues that make kneeling down uncomfortable). I'm very happy to see the Kurt Vonnegut and John Wyndham books again and to get my three Millennium first editions on the shelf together for the first time.

And here's a pic of one of my bookshelves and its accompanying shelf of assorted bits and bobs. I do like the Montalbano books, and Camilleri is one of the authors who has not been culled. And being a voracious reader of crime fiction, I'd like to say that I started reading the books before the BBC adaptation.
Love the Foss covers for the Wyndham books, they’re the editions I have.
 
That was loaned to a friend of mine – former editor of the world's biggest-selling science fiction magazine – and he hasn't yet returned it! We went to see a theatrical version of it and he thought he ought to read the original at some point. Well spotted, though!

The adaptation was nearly 12 years ago - that's a long time loan! Vonnegut is definitely worth re-reading. That goes for me too.
 
Nothing old nor rare this time, just a nice modern reprint of a classic book (Drawn & Quarterly, 2008).

The brief story is that of an honest but naïve lavatory attendant who dreams of bettering himself and making a new start, but whose efforts to do so are stymied at every turn by the various arms of that uniquely spirit-destroying officialdom that the British have perfected. It's ostensibly set in the late 70s or early 80s, but I fear that, mutatis mutandis, the same story could well reflect the state of today.

The publication itself is a hardboard--so more like a rigid softback than a genuine hardback--and the whole thing has been reduced in size by about a third, but even so, with a perceptive introduction, illustrated internal boards and a new cover (the original image now appears on the back), it is well worth the (low) cost in spite of the humble page-count (thirty-two).

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A new book takes readers into collector Edward Brooke-Hitching’s “madman’s library”

Louis Renard, an 18th-century book publisher who moonlighted as a British spy, had a somewhat tenuous relationship with the truth.

As writer and rare-book collector Edward Brooke-Hitching notes in The Madman’s Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities From History, Renard “knew even less” about Indonesian wildlife than the average European of his day. Far from letting this obstacle stand in his way, however, the publisher leaned into his imagination, producing a fantastical compendium of fish from the opposite of the globe that featured illustrations of a mermaid, a four-legged “Running Fish” that trotted around like a dog and a host of other impossibly vivid-hued creatures.

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Renard’s Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs (1719) is one of hundreds of unusual titles featured in Brooke-Hitching’s latest book. From books that aren’t actually books—like 20 Slices of American Cheese, a 2018 volume with a name that conveys all one really needs to know—to books made out of flesh and blood to books of spectacular size, The Madman’s Library takes readers on a riveting tour of literary history’s most overlooked corners.

The author also shared insights on some of his favorite literary curiosities (see below):

“So when I had the story of Saddam Hussein’s blood Quran, [a copy of the Islamic holy text purportedly penned using the Iraqi dictator’s blood as ink,] the whole point was to think when you have a strange book like that, what would be on the shelf beside it?

That’s quite a challenge. But I remember talking to a London book dealer at Maggs Brothers, and she said, “Oh, yes, speaking of books written in blood, we have a copy of a journal from a shipwreck from the early 1800s, the wreck of the Blenden Hall.” And it was an extraordinary story, because the captain managed to make it to shore on this island [in the South Atlantic] called Inaccessible Island. He wanted to keep a journal of what had happened. He had a writing desk and sheets of newspaper that had washed up, but he didn’t have any ink. And so the subtitle of this journal is Fate of the Blenden Hall, written in the blood of a penguin.”

Etc.

The Madman's Library

This fascinating and bizarre collection compiles the most unusual, obscure books from the far reaches of the human imagination.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts...e-surprising-and-curious-creations-180977404/

maximus otter
 
After a lot of searching, I've found a first edition of one of the remaining St Trinian's books I didn't have; pleasingly, it's in decent condition yet cost a lot less than usual.

This is the book that most heavily influenced the memorable 1954 film The Belles of St Trinian's with Alistair Sim, Joyce Grenfell and George Cole.

"At most schools, girls are sent out quite unprepared for a merciless world, but when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world which has to be prepared."

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Why do publishers keep doing this? :glum:
There is the central page in each signature block. I'd rather see the sewing over the image than it ruined.
Yes, I know that many, if not most, books are glued and not sewn, but for these at least I can sort of fix the image when the pages start falling.
Or just publish it rotated, like it was done before.
It would be desirable to be able to buy prints of the book art, but no, fun is not allowed.
 
I started reading an e-book version of this rather famous book and enjoyed the first few scenes enough to stop and buy a real edition. Alas, I discovered that Dorothy L Sayers is horribly collectable, and even comparatively late editions command surprisingly high prices. Google, however, led me to Etsy, a site I'd mistakenly thought sold only handicrafts, home furnishings, decorations and the like, and there I found this: an odd volume from the 1978 collected edition--with a 20% discount no less. Pleasingly, it has the same general design as the first edition and looks rather sharp-edged.

No plot spoilers please!

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'When Book Collectors Move Home': an unpopular new series from the Discovery Channel.

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This is half of the total to be moved, and that total is half of the total number of books in the collection (the others are filling my parents' attic).

I'd better not let Greenpeace see the amount of bubble-wrap I'm using...
 
I'm still on my get-rid-of-as-much-stuff-as-possible kick at the moment and I'm hoping to dispose of a few of my collectable books, but which aren't esseantial to my collection or - as in the case of John Le Carré's The Mission Song - I have a better version of. I've tried eBay, which hasn't been as profitable as I'd hoped with books, so I emailed buyers of first editions yesterday to see if I can make any progress here...

A couple of them, notably the Tracey Chevalier and Adam Hall books, I picked up in charity shops but they're very rare; Girl with a Pearl Earring was unsigned when I bought it but Chevalier did a signing in Bath (very few were sold - when the spelling error was noticed most were pulped). No idea why the Quiller book is so rare, and usually on sale for around £300! I forgot to add Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy novel, The Grail Tree, another charity shop purchase that's very rare.

The full list is:
Ray Bradbury: R is for Rocket and S is for Space, both from the 2005 PS Publishing Ltd Ed of 500, as new/unread condition

Tracey Chevalier: Girl With a Pearl Earring, with the 'earing' misspelling
, signed without dedication when she visited Toppings in Bath

Agatha Christie: Third Girl, 1966 Collins Book Club, price clipped

Adam Hall: Quiller Meridian, 1993 Headline first edition, unclipped

John Irving: The Cider House Rules, 1985 UK first edition, unclipped
John Irving: The World According to Garp, 1978 UK first edition, unclipped

Dan Kavanagh: Duffy, 1980 first edition, price clipped

John Le Carre: A Small Town in Germany, 1968 first edition, unclipped

John Le Carre: The Mission Song, 2006 signed first edition from Toppings, as new/unread condition

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I have to show someone my new Searle acquisition because I've tried pushing it under my wife's nose and she isn't remotely interested.

The novel may or may not evoke mirth, but this was purchased for the wonderfully gothic illustrations (I include a selection).

The dustjacket has been restored, but the book is starchy and fresh (unread, I suspect).

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Another new book, in both senses of the word.

It's a lovely publication and not half as expensive as you might think from the high quality. The dustjacket, as you can see, is lovely.

The images are striking, sharply defined and often mysterious.

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I'm rather keen on Ravilious.
 
I found a Big hardback of docklands photography today, didnt bother looking.

Its for the Cultural Heritage Institute library, they have lots of books...and lots of space, so I think they need more...

Also one of those OS quizbooks and a big book with ARCHAEOLOGY on the spine. (I think they have several of these already; maybe not this edition)

£3 the lot from several jaded charity shops. I cant get them anything fancy but I pass on anything I may come by I think they might like
 
Reflections on high-street booksellers in South Korea:

I only had half a day's work today, so I met my wife and daughter and we drove back to Seoul together.

I'd watched Mark Kermode's review of Denis Villeneuve's new adaptation of Dune the night before and had decided to finally rectify the fact that despite being a big fan of David Lynch's 1984 version, I have never read Frank Herbert's novel.


Most bookshops of even modest size in South Korea have an English-language section, but, frankly, most of them are pathetic, stocking at best a comparable selection to an airport newsagent in Bogota. Now that I have become one of Seoul's 9.8 million residents, however, I need no longer suffer such indignities: we headed straight for Kyobo's flagship bookshop on Gwanghwamun, the capital's most famous thoroughfare. Kyobo is the Korean equivalent of Waterstones, and this place is a veritable Mecca for readers (video below).

With the political protests constantly humming outside (I love a good lunatic: mostly rabid right-wingers in attendance today, but they were all smiles) and an autumnal nip in the air, I confess that I was in a chirpy mood; autumn has always been my favourite season and it's been a long old week that I was glad to see the back of.


Notes
  • The video above is overlit; in reality, the place has the luminosity of a brasserie at dusk, and in the quieter corners it would not seem out of place to imagine the steam from coffee cups, especially now that the temperature outside has dropped. The reason: lamps and side-lighting everywhere. The kind of overhead 'white-light' that permeates South Korea (I hate it) has here been abandoned in favour of warmer hues from recessed bulbs. This militates against the impersonal cold that normally hangs over such large premises--this place is more like a homely Labyrinth!
  • Samples: all of the most popular titles are wrapped in a cellophane envelope; this includes all of the mainstream paperbacks that are presented lying flat on tables. They're stacked high with an unwrapped and invariably dog-eared sample copy for everybody to browse on top. This means that the copy you take home is almost always crisp and unmarked. And as to browsing, it's absolutely the norm, possibly for hours. People sit down at the tables and chairs provided and read a chapter or more before buying, and nobody minds; in fact, the staff like it. People who come and read books invariably buy books, and selling books is the goal!
  • Displays: some of these are wholly surprising. For example, there was a large corner given over to a brand-new translation of Plutarch's Lives. There's a giant cardboard cutout of the professor responsible along with several paragraphs explaining what he (and perhaps you) can get out of reading Plutarch. There are a variety of vintage English language editions of the same texts in a cabinet (selling you a ticket to the great academic adventure) as well as replicas of Greek statues. The point that I found surprising is that there's no tie-in TV series to promote and no vacuous celebrity enlisted--it's just so naïve that it might work: a businessman, a secretary and an art student might just pass through and go home with some Greek literature!
  • Discount: imported books were very similarly prices to the UK and the U.S., only a bit of a mark-up on the hardbacks. While I was busy making selections with my daughter, however, my wife had signed up for the Kyobo membership card, which no doubt means we'll be spammed with advertising and events, but it was free and offered a 25% discount on the day's purchases! That's really quite a bit considering we spent about ₩80,000 ($67/£49).
  • 'Book concierge': they have information desks manned by staff without cash registers. Their job is to advise you on your purchases, take orders for books not in stock and help you find what you want. Those in a hurry or with specific needs can be in and out (and out of the way) much more quickly, which keeps the considerable number of customers in store at any time down a little.
Returning to the point, I wanted a copy of Dune and was expecting to find an American paperback (there are many more U.S. editions imported than U.K.). The problem is, and I say this with no sense of chauvinism, many U.S. paperbacks are of poor quality manufacture: cheap paper (doubly so for children's books), weakly glued bindings, and (though I acknowledge this is a matter of taste) ugly cover designs. I'd braced myself for having to settle for a movie tie-in edition with a hideous shot from the film on the front, so you can imagine my relief when this met my eyes:

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I think that's rather nice. It reminds me of the stylishly airbrushed artwork they had on the old JG Ballard paperbacks: well done, Yanks, I thought to myself.

That relief, alas, was short-lived. Dune isn't a short book, and they've printed it in a very odd format that I don't think I've ever seen before: it was notably narrower than a standard paperback and, hence, much thicker than you would imagine. Now, you'd think that this would make the whole thing quite hefty and brick-like, but the paper it is printed on is horribly thin--not far off the stuff they used to use for Bibles. The result is that if you hold it (closed) at one side between thumb and forefinger, the other side droops down under its own weight and lack of rigidity, like the Yellow Pages...

Relief returns: I found this on the other side of the desk for W₩40,000.

The UK Golancz hardback edition: published last month and it's lovely.

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Details:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dune-major-director-Blade-Runner/dp/147323395X/ref=sr_1_13?crid=20GFY1YB8F4R5&dchild=1&keywords=frank+herbert+dune&qid=1634989332&sprefix=frank+herbert+d,aps,258&sr=8-13

It's lighter (and hence more modern feeling) than it looks (page weight has been reduced to keep the size of those 624 pages down), but at that Amazon price it's still an absolute steal. I love the cover art, the decorated boards and (possibly most of all) the slightly absurd spine inscription, and all of that plus the quotes has got me more excited about reading the story; Gollancz should be congratulated on knowing their business and producing such a nice edition at a fair price.
 
Reflections on high-street booksellers in South Korea:

I only had half a day's work today, so I met my wife and daughter and we drove back to Seoul together.

I'd watched Mark Kermode's review of Denis Villeneuve's new adaptation of Dune the night before and had decided to finally rectify the fact that despite being a big fan of David Lynch's 1984 version, I have never read Frank Herbert's novel.


Most bookshops of even modest size in South Korea have an English-language section, but, frankly, most of them are pathetic, stocking at best a comparable selection to an airport newsagent in Bogota. Now that I have become one of Seoul's 9.8 million residents, however, I no longer have to suffer such indignities: we headed straight for Kyobo's flagship bookshop on Gwanghwamun, the capital's most famous thoroughfare. Kyobo is the Korean equivalent of Waterstones, and this place is a veritable Mecca for readers (video below).

With the political protests constantly humming outside (I love a good lunatic: mostly rabid right-wingers in attendance today, but they were all smiles), and an autumn nip in the air, I confess that I was in a chirpy mood; autumn has always been my favourite season and it's been a long old week that I was glad to see the back of.


Notes
  • The video above is overlit; in reality, the place has the luminosity of a brasserie at dusk, and in the quieter corners it would not seem out of place to image the steam from coffee cups, especially now that the temperature outside has dropped. The reason: lamps and side-lighting everywhere. The kind of overhead 'white-light' that permeates South Korea (I hate it) has here been abandoned in favour of warmer hues from recessed bulbs. This militates against the impersonal cold that normally hangs over such large premises--this place is more like a homely Labyrinth!
  • Samples: all of the most popular titles are wrapped in a cellophane envelope; this included all of the mainstream paperbacks that are presented lying flat on tables. They're stacked high with an unwrapped and invariably dog-eared sample copy for everybody to browse on top. This means that the copy you take home is almost always crisp and unmarked. And as to browsing, it's absolutely the norm, possibly for hours. People sit down at the tables and chairs provided and read a chapter or more before buying, and nobody minds; in fact, the staff like it. People who come and read books invariably buy books and selling books is the goal!
  • Displays: some of these are wholly surprising. For example, there was a large corner given over to a brand-new translation of Plutarch's Lives. There's a giant cardboard cutout of the professor responsible, with several paragraphs explaining what he (and perhaps you) can get out of reading Plutarch. There are a variety of vintage English language editions of the same texts in a cabinet (selling you a ticket to the great academic adventure) as well as replicas of Greek statues. The point that I found surprising is that there's no tie-in TV series to promote and no vacuous celebrity enlisted, it's just so naïve that it might work: a businessman, a secretary and an art student might just pass through and go home with some Greek literature!
  • Discount: imported books were very similarly prices to the UK and the U.S., only a bit of a mark-up on the hardbacks. While I was busy making selections with my daughter, however, my wife has signed up for the Kyobo membership card, which no doubt means we'll be spammed with advertising and events, but was free and offered a 25% discount on the day's purchases! That's really quite a bit considering we spent about ₩,80,000 ($67/£49).
  • 'Book concierge': they have information desks manned by staff without cash registers. Their job is to advise you on your purchases, take orders for books not in stock and help you find what you want. Those in a hurry or with specific needs can be in and out (and out of the way much quicker, which keeps the considerable number of customers in store at any time down a little.
Returning to the point, I wanted a copy of Dune and was expecting to find an American paperback (there are many more U.S. editions imported than U.K.). The problem is, and I say this with no sense of chauvinism, many U.S. paperbacks are of poor quality manufacture--cheap paper (doubly so for children's books), weakly glued bindings, and (though I acknowledge this is a matter of taste) ugly cover designs. I'd braced myself for having to settle for a movie tie-in edition with a hideous shot from the film on the front, so you can imagine my relief when this met my eyes:

View attachment 47063

I think that's rather nice. It reminds me of the stylishly airbrushed artwork they had on the old JG Ballard paperbacks.

That relief, alas, was short-lived. Dune isn't a short book, and they've printed it in a very odd format that I don't think I've ever seen before: it was notably narrower than a standard paperback and, hence, much thicker than you would imagine. Now, you'd think that this would make the whole thing quite hefty and brick-like, but the paper it is printed on is horribly thin--not far off the stuff they used to use for Bibles. The result is that if you hold it (closed) at one side between thumb and forefinger, the other side droops down under its own weight and lack of rigidity, like the Yellow Pages...

Relief returns: I found this on the other side of the desk for W40,000.

The UK Golancz hardback edition: published last month and it's lovely.

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Details:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dune-major-director-Blade-Runner/dp/147323395X/ref=sr_1_13?crid=20GFY1YB8F4R5&dchild=1&keywords=frank+herbert+dune&qid=1634989332&sprefix=frank+herbert+d,aps,258&sr=8-13

It's lighter (and hence more modern feeling) than it looks (page weight has been reduced to keep the size of those 624 pages down), but at that Amazon price it's still an absolute steal. I love the cover art, the decorated boards and (possibly most of all) the slightly absurd spine inscription, and all of that plus the quotes has got me more excited about reading the story; Gollancz should be congratulated on knowing their business and producing such a nice edition at a fair price.
That hardback version looks nice. My favourite version is this:
dune.jpeg

I have actually seen the original artwork for that.
 
That hardback version looks nice. My favourite version is this:
dune.jpeg

I have actually seen the original artwork for that.

That's the classic NEL edition I have, though mine is from 1972 when it was priced at 75p. I had forgotten the print was so small.

I was in "The Works" today and they were selling the 2015 50th anniversary edition of Dune for £4. For anyone that doesn't already have a copy, or whose eyes are not longer up to reading the NEL edition.
 
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