Hello everyone! It's been a long time since I've been able to do a long-form book post, and boy have I missed it. It's not that there haven't been any worthy books - if anything, there have been too many to ever cover, even if I was more on the ball. Centipede Press just did their first leather-bound deluxe edition in probably five years ( The Haunting of Hill House ), Suntup has recently dropped the excellently received Blood Meridian (though with the lettered getting much less love than I think it deserves), and Sub Press continues to up its lettered game (including the upcoming finale of The Books of Babel ). It's a bountiful time to be a collector! And plenty in the pipeline, too: Arete Editions' Death & Honey , and the Lyra's and Amaranthine Dorian - both of whom sold out their lettered editions with little problem. And, of course, the soon-to-be-available-for-pre-order re-release of The First Law trilogy from Curious King. And indeed, it is Curious King that brings us all together right now, as we have recently been treated with the first publicly-released Curious King tome: Ready Player One . This first offering is an absolute gem, folks. I know that nobody doubts that! But this is one of those books where it's a shame that only 26 exist because a much higher fraction of the book collecting world deserves to see this one up close. But based on Ready Player One , I have a feeling that the upcoming Abercrombie and Jemisin trilogies (and the as-yet unannounced sci-fi series that I desperately hope is the Hyperion Cantos but will be something excellent I'm sure) are going to make some waves as well, and let a whole lot more people enjoy a numbered and standard version, to boot. Some quick background: this is the first official offering from Curious King, a new UK-based small press helmed by Anthony Kaye. Unusually, Ready Player One was not formatted or printed by Curious King, but rather is a rebound first edition. I would consider this a similar approach to presses that start with out-of-copyright works: a shortcut through the maze of rights and the associated costs. And it's an approach that provides big gains to the collecting community! Projects like this enable creative publishers to show us their most ambitious ideas, unconstrained by the whim of an author's agent. or estate (not that those whims can't be valid and reasonable, of course, just that they are a barrier between some great publishing ideas and a very receptive audience. The key here (says me, who has never published a book in his life) is using that as a stepping stone to a more diverse range of material. Rebinds don't let you have any say about the paper or interior designs. Out-of-copyright works are OLD because of our copyright system, and many of the great works already have multiple newer editions. To reinforce my metaphor and make me seem right at the same time: Curious King has pretty much leapt over that stepping stone and is pursuing quite an ambitious agenda! Before Ready Player One even shipped, CK was able to secure rights to Joe Abercrombie's much-loved The First Law trilogy and the award-smashing Broken Earth trilogy from NK Jemisin (First author to win three Hugos in a row! First series to win for all novels in a trilogy!). But back to talking about the context of the book (after which we will probably get around to talking about the book itself): As a rebound book, there are some inherent limitations here, namely all interior design choices, and the paper. These are both important parts of a limited edition! But here, we are lucky - while it would definitely be nice to have a completely upgraded interior, the binding and presentation of the book are a wonderful combination of clever and elegant and give us more than enough to enjoy before we even open the book. And when we do, there are indeed some fresh updates! One more note, before we start looking more closely at the book: as many or most are aware, these books were bound at Ludlow's, home of Rich Tong (and now Freya Scott, one of my very favorite marblers). Rich is of course the proprietor of Lyra's Books, but is also part of the crew at Arete (I bet you can guess which part), and works closely with several other presses as well. And, if you're lucky enough to find one, as they are getting scarcer and scarcer, he has done a number of wonderful rebinds over the last couple of years, including a small series of The Exorcist (which are amazing), and a number of Tolkein books. I can (and will) write plenty separately about Rich's work under his own imprint, but I wanted to make sure to mention his involvement here as it was an early sign that Curious King was not messing around! Alright, well - we're several hundred words in and haven't even yet started talking about The Book Itself, so thanks to everyone who has stuck around. But unlike Centipede or Sub Press or Suntup, Curious King is a brand new press whose first offering made it to less than 30 people, so I think some setup was in order. But now, let's dig into the book! As always, we'll start on the outside and work our way in. The Traycase I love an exotic traycase - sparingly. My shelves, not so much at all, but I do really appreciate when the design of the book takes such a clear influence over the traycase that it necessitates something other than covered book board (not knocking covered book board - there's a whole beautiful world of covered book board and it's what I prefer for 95% of my books). For books at this price point, we should expect things like matching or complementary materials and colors - that's the bar for these deluxe editions (this is a theme we'll come back to). And above that we have upgraded materials - more extensive leather and so-on - or more artistic design. But on a whole different level, we have those enclosures that are significant extensions of the interior design (other good examples here are the typewriter case for the Suntup lettered Misery or the chess set from the Amaranthine Bandersnatch edition of Alice in Wonderland ). And this case, my friends, is indeed on an entirely different plane. At this point, if you've heard of Curious King it's very likely you heard about it in the context of this book, and if you heard about it in the context of this book you've probably heard about this case. It's a defining element of this release. Now, the all-important question: is it worth the shelf space? Yes! YES! This will cost you half a dozen books to display on your shelf (among other things), but I promise you won't miss those six books because you'll get to look at this one everyday. The outside looks perfect. There are some screws and hardware in the back of the console in order to get it to open, but they are well-positioned and match the rest of the case seamlessly. And the interior is so nice and soft! There is a well for the book with a ribbon to help remove it. The space is used very efficiently - the book fits in nicely and is well-protected, but the lid can still close completely to show off the console, which looks pretty much ready to be plugged in. There are two styles of case, also: an all-black "Vader" case from a limited edition console as well as the more standard Atari console with it's unironically stupendous wood grain: The Binding As much of a treat as the traycase is, the book inside is still surprisingly good! I don't mean that I didn't expect it to be good - I definitely had a high bar. But seeing the outside, the enclosure, it would be easy to think "this is where all the energy went, this is the most clever thing." And while it is such an iconic case, the design of the book itself is really something to behold. Again, at this price point the expectations are pretty high as far as materials go, and it does not disappoint in that regard with the use of very nice goatskin (Hewit or Harmatan, probably) for the boards. These leathers are just wonderful! Soft (but not quite as soft as calfskin, making them arguably a better material for stamping and tooling (caveat: not a bookmaker)), and with an excellent grain - even in both texture and tone, but still displaying the beautiful variation that we expect to see from a natural material. And here I don't mean "sometimes it has scars and you should be OK with that" (which is a debatable proposition) - what I mean is that the grain is very clearly not a stamped or mass produced pattern but has a pleasing regularity to it. But again - a leather like this? That's our baseline at this price point: it's not extraordinary, in and of itself, to use nice leather, what makes it extraordinary is what you do with it. And here we have just a beautifully designed and immaculately tooled foil scene - actually one of the climaxes of the book itself - of a Pac-man game. The foil-work here is very strong - clean and crisp and striking. The added element of the colored keys in the middle give a little pop of variety to the palette versus the primary blue, yellow, and white of the game. There is a pretty good-sized list of "things I'm a sucker for in small press books": hand-marbled paper (the one single thing I that this book doesn't have that I wish could have been included somehow), exotic traycases, anything Bradel, decorated page edges, and the punchline here: binding designs that wrap around the spine and boards. I love when a designer uses the whole binding as a canvas. This is not a very common feature! I'm not counting wraparound dustjackets, which are uncommon but still regularly used, but designs on the boards and spine themselves. In this case we have the delicate and realistic scene on the front, but with a side passage around the spine and leading to a literal easter egg on the back - a great nod to the book itself! Overall, this was an excellent idea, well executed. The fonts! The colors! The fact that Pac-Man has already started his journey...! The Page Edges Gilt! All three sides! What's especially interesting here is the style of gilding - it's of a matte gold, but with some sparkle, instead of a shiny gold. It fits the boards nicely, for sure; it's a little more subdued and it plays well with the vibrant colors of the foil. A more typical gold gilt might not mesh as well here, I don't think, though I'm not sure I would have realized that without seeing this style. Great move! The Bands Let me theorize something about head- and tail-bands: I feel like this is the thing that tells me if the designer was really paying attention. I'm sure most people know the tale(s) about Van Halen and the brown M&Ms - first as the "how ridiculous are these rock stars" expose and later as the "this was actually smart" realization (if not, long story short: Van Halen toured with a lot of complicated equipment that could be dangerous if not set up correctly. In their contracts with venues and promoters they would specify how to set everything up correctly, and also that they wanted M&M's (but no brown ones) backstage. If they got backstage and saw brown M&Ms, that was a good indication that the contract was not thoroughly read and they would recheck all the equipment before the show.). Well, head- and tail-bands are my book equivalent to brown M&Ms: if the press (concert promoter) is paying attention to the headbands (brown M&Ms), they are definitely paying attention to the rest of the book (the stage equipment). (That tortured metaphor was totaly worth it!) And these bands, they pass the test. They are matched to two of the predominant colors on the boards: blue and yellow. And actual matching shades of blue and yellow. Wonderful! Art Before we go inside the book, I want to take a minute here to talk about the art, including the Portfolio. A caveat here: art portfolios are not entirely my bag. Interior art in general is something I very much appreciate and would always prefer to have rather than not, but it's not super high up on my list of things I'm looking for in a limited edition. For a book like this, things like the binding and presentation are what I focus on. BUT I recognize that there are lots of different collectors and there is no wrong way to enjoy a collectible book, and it turns out that a lot of other limited edition collectors prioritize new art, in some cases above all else. I will say to those collectors: CK has your back! This is, I think, about the best delivery of new art that one could hope for in a rebound book: newly commissioned endpapers, new interior concept art (RP1 as an Atari cartridge), a remarque (in some volumes), and a whole damn portfolio. And not just an artist that the publisher likes (which is a fine way to choose an artist) or who has good interpretations of the work (another fine way, hopefully related to the first!), but several artists , each of whom played a part in creating the very world that Ready Player One simulates. And, lucky for me, this art portfolio is included in a separate, specially bound folder, so I get to talk about another binding, too :) We have roughly six new pieces of art here. The first three come in the separate art portfolio. The Art Portfolio binding I was very glad to see that the Art Portfolio book was given some good consideration on its own, and wasn't just an afterthought. We have a black leather spine (in what looks like the same goatskin as the book itself) over some nicely textured boards. These boards have a stoney feel - a really cool texture to achieve with what I'm pretty sure is paper. It's a great contrast to the smoothness of the leather. And we have another design element I like - a stamped label on the front board with the same font, white pellets, and little running man from the boards of the main book. I really appreciate continuity like this throughout a production - it really ties it together as a singular piece of art. Inside the folio are three prints: "Tempest", "Black Tiger", and "Adventure". I love the strong colors on "Adventure", but "Black Tiger" is my favorite - fantasy-style concept art that would have been included on an early video game package or manual. The Interior When we open the book we are treated with the fourth piece of original art: new endpapers! I'm very happy for the Art Enjoyers that this was another new piece of art for the book. And how that's especially important for a rebind. A little further in we have another piece of art - concept art for Ready Player One as an Atari game. This felt so natural for this book that I had to look up whether or not this was a new addition! It's perfect. Next, we have the limitation page, with the final piece of art (in some but not all copies) - a remarque. I'm not sure how many different pictures there are - at least two. They are very elegantly done and DAMN I love Hiro Kimura's signature in ink. Gorgeous! Finally, we have the author's "signature page" (in most but not all copies). I'm not sure how these are distributed between title page and front free endpaper and other potential locations. Not a bad sig! He's no Tolkein but he's no Malerman, ethier. The interior here was extremely successful at approximating the interior of a limited edition (if we ignore paper quality). It has enough perks and additions that it feels much more elevated compared to a trade edition. And all these parts contributed pretty equally - endpapers, concept art, limitation page, author's signature page. Very thoughtful. Final Thoughts Overall, this was an extraordinary debut! There are tons of things to say about this book, and I feel like I said a LOT of them. If I had to distill this all down - to pick three words that get my point across the best: ambitious, cohesive, elevated. This was a great goal, successfully achieved! And we are - as a community and as individual book owners - better off for it. I am so excited for the future of Curious King, especially the introduction of the numbered and standard lines. All signs suggest that this is going to be a great new press, and it's energizing as a collector to be able to share in that collective enjoyment. Until next time! -Tim

The last in the trilogy (we don't speak of Hannibal Rising). I can't overstate my joy when I saw Jason Mowry was asked to illustrate this latest Suntup Edition. Red Dragon introduced me to Mowry and I have been following this exceptional artist ever since. I was fortunate to acquire some original pieces and they are a sight to behold! I am especially looking forward to holding the artist editions with reversible jackets and displaying them with covers out. For the lettered I would have loved a return to the Strathmore Pastelle paper that was used in the lettered edition of Red Dragon. I will have an one on one with the lettered edition of Silence of the Lambs and my camera soon because this is also printed on Mohawk Via that will be used for Hannibal. Especially Mowry's art on the different papers will be fun to compare, but it will be hard to beat the texture of Strathmore Pastelle paper for me. I am not directly a fan of the color choice for the numbered edition, but the mock ups don't always represent the color of the final production. So time will tell. All in all I am very looking forward to this release. Hopefully this will grace our shelves before the holidays. Stay healthy and keep reading.

This is one of those books I haven't read yet, but made it to the top of my TBR now that it is in hand. Elric of Melniboné by CP introduced me to Piotr Jablonski and I saw his art for this edition of Nova several years ago when looking for prints of the Elric art. Already then I knew this release was gonna be a home run for me. Especially the Lorq von Ray piece is very evocative and has captivated me ever since. Standing on a space station or spaceship, staring into the vastness of space through this huge window that dwarfs the character truly hit home with me. Might be the dreamer in me that would love to live in an era of human space exploration, but knows that will not be in our lifetimes. So I live that dream through Delany's science fiction and Jablonski's art. Can't wait to get started. It's one of those books that I will read by means of this limited edition to enhance the experience. The size Jerad uses for his top tier books accommodates this very well. I have to finish A Desolation Called Peace and The Tide Child trilogy before I dive into this, but I can hardly wait. Here is my take on the book with my camera. Enjoy. Stay healthy, keep reading.

I will admit that I have not read Ulysses yet. It's one of those books that exist in the periphery of my literary sphere of interest. Having enjoyed an education in Ancient Greek and Latin, and an avid devourer of those ancient tales, Ulysses has always piqued my interest though. When the Folio Society released their Centenary Edition, I immediately jumped on it. Since I did not own one of their previous releases of Ulysses, I was not hampered by this being their 2nd limited edition of this work, nor the fact that John Vernon already illustrated Ulysses for Folio Society in a non limited edition. And boy, am I glad I wasn't. The book is a behemoth, but is very supple when opened and easily handled in your lap. Dante is very easy on the eyes and the Munken Pure paper really breathes quality. The illustrations are incredibly sharp and really pop. I look forward to sitting in my library and try to tackle this literary giant in the summer. Enjoy. Stay healthy and keep reading.

Tolkien has a special place in my life. When Folio Society teased their new edition several weeks ago I made sure that I acquired a set. Enough has been said about the price. I am of the opinion these are not 1 but 3 limited edition books with high production values and worth the price tag. I was very interested in the presentation of the illustrations and chapter headings. While I prefer John Howe's style over Alan Lee's, one cannot deny that Alan's Tolkien art is iconic and shaped the world in the minds of many. So for a Tolkien collector this is essential stuff. It's a huge set, and comparable in height to other large FS limited editions like The Pilgrims Progress . The slipcase is covered in blue cloth and is illustrated on all 3 standing sides: outside and in. The outside is illustrated with a silver blocked design that runs continuously from side to side around the back. Like a mural showing important characters of the books. The inside boards are decorated with a colored illustration of a green dragon flying over rugged snow-capped mountains. On to the books! I like the burgundy leather, but it's very susceptible to chafing so be careful when you handle the books in and out of the slipcase. I advise to keep the protective papers that folio ships with the set. It's a minor disappointment in the quality of the leather that it happens so fast, but inevitable with any colored leather if the book is used often. The chafing aside, the spines look stunning. The silver foil matches the burgundy leather really well. The detailed blind stamped designs on the bottom of the spines are very nicely done and highlighted with symbols that refer to each book. Feanor's star is easily recognizable on Fellowship of the Ring. The cloth for the boards is deep dark blue and the front board is inset with an illustration of the iconic scene between Gandalf and the Balrog on the bridge of Khazad - dûm. The picture has an illustrated border which is foil blocked in silver with an intricate design. The cloth material attracts dust easily so when I unpacked the books I had to clean them with a soft cloth. The books are easy to handle in your lap and the pages are easy to turn. You open the book to the the new illustration for this edition by Alan Lee which was used for the endpapers. I have already lauded the Munken Pure paper in my post of Ulysses. It's thick with a fine texture and breathes quality. I also like the separator pages of which this is a picture which really showcase the paper. You can see the illustrated endpaper in the background and the thick textured paper that separates the endpaper and the title page. So we are off to a good start. The production details, limitation number and signature are done letterpress. I like the circular design which is continued on the next title page. These kind of design choices really pull me in and show the thought that went into creating this edition. On the verso of the title page we are presented with the frontispiece. The illustrations are tipped on plates according to fine press tradition. Bridges of Madison County from Suntup and Stardust from Lyra's Books were the first books I owned that presented the illustrations like this. It is a real elegant way of showcasing the art. The 2 color printing in black and red should be familiar for Tolkien collectors. The burgundy red that is used in this edition for the titles and page numbers matches the quarter leather binding. The printing is sharp and I'm once again won over by Dante type. No wonder why Folio uses it for their premium limited editions. It's delicate and easy to read. The design that I cherish most in this edition are the chapter headings. Each chapter heading has a unique themed illustration that will be instantly familiar to Tolkien readers. The amount of detail alone that went into these, is enough for me to set this edition apart from all that came before. I photographed a selection for you to see here. The tops are finished in silver which looks really sharp. My satin ribbon had some glue residue as you can see in the picture. While I can understand the poor binders who had to bind 3000 of these books and probably got a bit sloppy at the end of long day, it's those minor details that probably don't happen in manually checked lower limitation editions. Finally, the print that comes in a Pergamenta metallic silver paper folder with a burgundy red ring design is an illustration of Minas Tirith . it complements the overall design very well. This is also true for the fold out map. I am really glad they did not make fold out maps in the books. I'm not a fan of fold out illustrations or maps in books so I am glad this is a complete separate piece and it's really well done. It's housed in a folder covered in burgundy red cloth with silver blocked type. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Folio Society did right by Lord of the Rings with this limited edition in my book. I hope you are 1 of the 999 others who own a set. You now own a piece of Lord the Rings history with Alan Lee's definitive edition. Now I can start a petition for Lyra's Press to make John Howe's definitive edition. Stay healthy and keep reading.

If you don't have books on your shelves published by Jonas Ploeger from Zagava Books , then it's time to start experiencing this wonderful small press from Duesseldorf, Germany. In his own words: "Zagava books transcend the boundaries of the weird, the supernatural, the decadent and mystical. Expect the Unexpected!". This is exactly the type of book that I received this weekend and have been eagerly waiting for since ordering the Artist Edition of which 10 were made: Archetypes by Florence Sunnen. An unknown writer to me, I was drawn to the art and concept of 21 character studies of mythological creatures. The book comes in Zagava's signature traycase with copper colored blocking on the spine and perspex window in the front board to reveal the illustrated cover of the book it is holding. I believe Jonas created this traycase for The Feathered Bough to display it's beautifully crafted front boards, and has been using it ever since for some of his lettered books. This artist edition comes with a unique drawing of 1 of the 21 creatures done by Dolorosa de la Cruz . Mine came with The Doll Once you lift the drawing and it's passe-partout you are treated to the book itself. It is bound in gorgeous thick white paper. I am inclined to guess this is Hahnemuehle stock as well since Zagava uses it alot. I'll inform with Jonas one of these days. It has a lovely rough texture and the white really make the reds of the art and text shine on the front panel and spine. All text block edges are stained bood red to accentuate this. Once you have read all chapters and the art of all 21 characters has soaked in the retinas of your eyes, you'll appreciate this cover art even more. The next treat comes immediately when you open the book: the endpapers. Hand marbled by Renato Crepaldi . These are a sight to behold. I really like to combination of the gold and purple. It's a real nice touch that this comes back in the traycase. Archetypes is a tall book, measuring 31cm (12.2 inches). This is strikingly apparent when you open up the book unto the title page. The Hahnemuehle paper is lovely. It's a beautiful off-white that holds the ink really well. The text is set in Minion Pro type and the titles in Roadway. As you can see, when the paper is top notch, it does not always have to be letterpress to be crisp and sharp and breath quality. The more I hold this book and leaf through it, the more I admire it and fall in love with it. The art is printed in black, white and silver colors on either blood red or black pages. This is done in a recurring pattern and feels like you are holding an art portfolio in book form. The drawings by Dolorosa are a matter of taste of course but totally up my alley. Each creature in this bestiarium is instantly recognizable and still retains a unique signature of the artist. I still have to read each chapter carefully but really look forward to doing so. It feels like a true nourishment to the senses. This book totally lived up to the hype of my own making. It's in the top 5 of books that own, which include Lyra's Stardust and Suntup's The Road in lettered states, so if you ever find one of the 10 in existence, don't hesitate to acquire it, you will have found a treasure for your book shelves.

This is Centipede's Press ' first book that is printed entirely letterpress. I have to confess I am not familiar with T.E.D. Klein and his works. Since I fell down the rabbit hole of signed limited collectible books, I think I have only read 10-25% of the books I own. My score goes up a little if I rate by author, but I probably won't beat 50%. I collect on the basis of aesthetics and production values. Once I manage to catch up with a book and an author, I make my final decision between keeping a book or selling it. However, there are several that I keep just for the production or collecting value. Children of the Kingdom will be a keeper. I asked Jerad what paper he used and despite his insanely busy schedule he found the time to kindly reply to my question and said it was "Biblio" acquired from Atlantic Papers . Since Atlantic isn't a paper mill but an advisor and distributor of specialty papers, I'm assuming they set Jerad up with 1 of my favorite paper mills, the Germany based Hahnemühle and their signature Biblio paper. This often comes in deckled edges and is watermarked like this (picture from Suntup Editions Bridges of Madison County ). Children of the Kingdom has neither that I could find. I guess it's easy to cut that out if you wanted or it's a paper from a different mill that's called Biblio . I challenge you to find the Hahnemühle watermark so my theory can be confirmed. When it comes to texture it's easy to find the similarity between my pictures of Bridges of Madison County and Children of the Kingdom as pictured below. The top two are Suntup Bridges obviously and the bottom two are Centipede's Children of the Kingdom. I leave the final judgement up to you, but I put my money on Hahnemühle Biblio. Regardless of the true answer, it's a gorgeous paper stock: thick, lovely texture, and holds the impression of the letterpress really well. I love how the reverse effect was somehow created with a black background on the title page. The type pops out! Might the bibliophile in me, but that's bloody amazing. This is my first encounter with artist Vladimir Zimakov , but not the last. I should have given my copy of Centipede Press' Something Wicked This Way Comes some more love, because he did 6 plates for that as well and the capped slipcase design for that book should have drawn my attention sooner including the boards once you remove Matt Mahurin's dust-jacket . Zimakov's art is a perfect fit for signed limited edition books. His linocuts lend itself perfectly for letterpress printing. Jerad's layout for Children of the Kingdom really makes this edition and it's art shine. The pages where the page margins are fully printed with art stand out. I've seen comments on Facebook where people asked if the entire book is printed like this. It's isnt, most pages have large empty margins which I am glad for. It hearkens back to the classic fine press books and allows for admiration of the paper quality. If this book sets the standard for Centipede Press letterpress then the bar is raised high. Only 100 copies were made , mostly for subscribers and (early) supporters of the press, and I have no doubt this will be a much sought after edition in a few years down the line. It wasn't cheap and has already nearly doubled on the secondary market. All signature Centipede Press production values are top notch on this edition as well. From slipcase to ribbon marker to endpapers. All are really well executed to fit with the theme. If you, like me, collect signed limited editions, admire letterpress on mould made paper, and love outstanding art, then do not hesitate to acquire this book for your library. Stay healthy and keep reading.

This question comes up relatively often (and for good reason), and we thought it would be nice to have an explainer on the site to refer back to, so here it is: Deluxe Editions The first and longest-used application of Roman Numerals in Centipede Press has been to denote Deluxe Editions, these being editions of generally un-fixed quantities in the 10-30 range (unlike a 26-letter scheme, for example) that are upgraded from the Standard Edition in any number of different ways. These can include combinations of better paper stock, larger size, and upgraded materials (usually leather in some part or the whole), and a traycase. They were much more common at the beginning of the Press and especially during the run as Millipede Press (where I think almost every book had a Deluxe counterpart). "Standard vs. Deluxe Editions" is a post unto itself, for the future sometime. In terms of visibility across varieties of collectors, the most famous Deluxe Edition is probably the same as the most famous Standard Edition: Salem's Lot . Long hailed as one of the best treatments of any King novel, and a grail to many King collectors, though at different orders of magnitude: a Standard Edition (left, not to be confused with the less-expensive and unsigned Gift Edition) is in the $3k+ range and a Deluxe Edition (right) is in the $15k+ range. CBV on Salem's Lot Standard Edition: https://www.collectiblebookvault.com/centipede-press/salem's-lot CBV on Salem's Lot Deluxe Edition: https://www.collectiblebookvault.com/centipede-press/salem's-lot-black-roman-numeral Most Roman Numerals are black. However, as we have grown to love about Centipede Press, there is no rule that isn't broken at some point in its multi-decade history, and this is no exception. In fact, the Roman Numeral Salem's Lot was the first with two different colors of Roman Numeral - 15 black (public sale) and 10 red (presumably all or most to King for distribution. This was back in the very first few books where the limitation pages were hand-numbered and not printed (that changed shortly thereafter). I'm certain there are other cases. I could see red Roman Numerals as the designation for contributor's copies (effectively PC copies) for a Deluxe Edition. But there are probably other reasons, too. Standard Edition Contributor's Copies Speaking of contributor's copies: this is the other use for the Roman Numeral designation ! These are essentially the Centipede Press version of PC copies, in that they are for contributors and replacements and not generally for sale. Instead of a single designation ("PC") across all copies, copies are numbered with Roman Numerals from I-XX (or whatever). This is a much newer phenomenon than the Deluxe designation, which goes back to the beginning of the Press. But still, it's been going on since at least 2015, maybe even earlier in select cases. Additionally, they are made for most titles, unlike Deluxe Editions, and that of course heavily contributes to their presence in the marketplace. At this point any random Roman Numeral designated book is more likely to be a contributor copy (I can't even bring myself to refer to them as PC copies! It certainly doesn't affect the secondary market price like most other presses) than a Deluxe Edition, so obviously that's going to raise a lot of questions. How to Tell the Difference If you've found a book and you're not sure, the first thing you can do is look at the date. By 2015 Deluxe Editions had grown extremely rare and the use of the contributor's copy had picked up. A Roman Numeral designation pre-2014 would most likely be a Deluxe Edition and a Roman Numeral designation after 2015 could still be a Deluxe Edition but is much more likely to be a contributor's copy. The tell, though - always - is the construction of the book. Contributor's copies are identical to the Standard Edition of the book, in every way save the designation run. Deluxe Editions have extra design features, better materials, etc. Until the Deluxe Editions of the Elric books, they were always unjacketed, but that's not a good indicator on its own because prior to 2012 most books were unjacketed. At this point CBV has built up a pretty good reservoir of pics so you can get visual confirmation for many of them (and growing, with a complete list coming soon) by looking up the book in the bibliography. Well, I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion! There are almost certainly exceptions out there but I think this delineates the two general uses. Keep in mind that there are lots of variants early on in the press, and this by no means excludes the Deluxe Editions. There are also a few one-off editions out there done at the level of a Deluxe Editions (those are rare birds indeed!). If I forgot something dumb or if things change, I'll edit this post if possible. [Sometimes the caveats at the end of a technical CP post feel like side effect warnings in drug commercials: "maybe I'm wrong", "maybe it's a different variant", "maybe it's a one-off use", "don't listen to me", "well maybe do listen to me but be skeptical about it", etc.] Edit 1: The two photos of Salem's Lot are from the respective CBV pages. The cover image of "This is copy number XXX" is from a photograph of the deluxe Elric of Melnibone by Yegor Malinovskii.

The thing I love most about a press, is when they release limited editions that make me want to read a story I would have never ever have touched otherwise. Centipede Press has a "standard" format these days with full cloth bound smyth-sewn books and dustjackets of thick matte paper. They are priced anywhere between $65 and $125 and really give you one of the best values per page out there in the limited press world. This is The Jonah , which was almost simultaneously released with The Survivor , and was preceded by The Spear a few months ago. If you're a James Herbert fan, I can imagine your excitement. It's always a delight to remove Centipede Press dust jackets and discover what's beneath. Not all, but most recent releases have blind stamped front boards with more often than not some form of foil blocked details. In this case the eyes which nicely accentuate the overall blue theme in this release. In the case of The Jonah , $65 will get you a smyth-sewn full cloth binding, top-edge stain, ribbon marker and excellent original interior artwork, illustrated end-papers, a beautiful dust-jacket, and most importantly alot of extra essays and bonus stories. Mr. Walters really squeezes all the value he can get into these books. I dare you to find me a publisher who equals Centipede Press at this price range. I love the drawings Rodger Gerberding did for this edition. I am a sucker for black and white drawings so that was an easy win. Ben Baldwin's art isn't always my cup of tea but I really like the colour palette on these. Together with all the other details in the binding it makes it all click for me. I'm putting this on my pile to read just from this presentation which will be my first James Herbert experience. And that's what keeps me a Centipede Press devotee. Stay healthy and keep reading.