The Dragon Master & The Last Castle lettered edition

Description from Suntup Website

The Suntup edition of The Dragon Masters and The Last Castle by Jack Vance is presented in three states. The edition measures 6” x 9” and features ten color illustrations by award-winning illustrators Julie Bell and Ted Nasmith, a new introduction by John Vance and a new afterword by Michael Moorcock. The text is set in Amerigo and Swift with the Numbered and Lettered states printed letterpress on Neenah Cotton and mouldmade Arches Text papers by Scott Vile on a Heidelberg cylinder press in Buxton, Maine. Design and typography by award-winning designer Misha Beletsky.

This edition of The Dragon Masters and The Last Castle by Jack Vance pays homage to the classic Ace Double format in which these two novellas were first paired in the 1960s. Reviving the distinctive tête-bêche structure, this volume presents each story as a self-contained book with its own front cover. Readers begin with The Dragon Masters, then rotate the book 180 degrees to find The Last Castle beginning from the opposite end. This format preserves the mirrored, back-to-back presentation of the original Ace Doubles, where two works shared a spine but retained their own front matter and orientation. The shared design language—typography, title pages, and layout—unifies the volume while honoring the structural duality that defined this iconic paperback tradition.

The Lettered edition is limited to 26 copies and is presented in a dos-à-dos binding, a structure with deep historical roots. Dating back to the sixteenth century, dos-à-dos bindings (“back-to-back” in French) were traditionally used for devotional texts, allowing two works to be united in a single volume while each retained its own spine and title. This structure is uniquely suited to Vance’s paired novellas. Here, the traditional form is revisited by Ben Elbel, who has created a streamlined one-piece S-shaped cover complete with magnetic flaps covered in buffalo leather on each side.

By binding them dos-à-dos, the books mirror one another—distinct narratives that remain inseparably joined. To read one, the volume is held upright; to discover the other, the book is simply rotated. The book is housed in a handmade slipcase covered in custom made decorative papers, also used to cover the edition. The top edge is finished with a matted copper edge, giving the volume a warm metallic accent. The illustrations in the Lettered state are printed giclée and are tipped on.

The edition is printed letterpress on 120 gsm mouldmade Arches paper, with the title and chapter pages printed in two colors requiring two separate passes through the press, and is signed by John Vance, Michael Moorcock, Julie Bell, and Ted Nasmith.

Also check the other states of the book:

Artist edition - Numbered edition