|
Post by Christmas Chief on Mar 10, 2010 16:12:41 GMT -5
It was most likely an on-and-off project. Still, it should be interesting to read given that he's been working on it for quite a while; so, plenty of time to edit, revise, change, etc.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 12, 2010 12:02:57 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Christmas Chief on Mar 12, 2010 21:15:29 GMT -5
Huh. In honor of the new paperbacks, I'd presume?
|
|
|
Post by Liam R. Findlay on Mar 13, 2010 7:02:19 GMT -5
I saw the paper-backs in WH Smith last week and was rather suprised, and WH Smith has 'trading cards' in their copies - if only I had some money!
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 13, 2010 7:36:29 GMT -5
W-w-what?! Trading cards?! You are not telling me I am going to have to take a trip to the city centre just to investigate this. Pevalwen, if you learn more, please tell us! Ditto any other U.K.-dwelling members with access to WH Smith.
Edit: For some reason, I read "WH Smith" as "Waterstones." Probably because they've had exclusives before. I don't even know where to find a WH Smith in my city...
|
|
|
Post by Liam R. Findlay on Mar 15, 2010 11:58:55 GMT -5
From what I recall, the cards were exclusive to the shop, and I only found tading cards in two of the book titles. They're nothing amazing, just cards with pictures that are not anything new, and you can tear them out- they're those sort of tearable things... If I go back, I'll take a picture I think it's just a scheme to get people to buy them, obviously, but I want some and I'd say it's quite a collector's feature, especially being exclusive.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 15, 2010 12:19:40 GMT -5
I'm going to check out my nearest WH Smith on Thursday. I need the new TMM through TVV anyway. Thanks, Pevalwen.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 18, 2010 12:14:36 GMT -5
I'm going to check out my nearest WH Smith on Thursday.Make that Friday.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 19, 2010 5:41:15 GMT -5
To: [scribble] From: D. Sent: 19.03.10 CC: 667 Dark Avenue Arrived in the city of S. at around 9:00, disguised as D., an s. Shortly afterwards, entered the shop known as W.H.S., where I found L.S.'s fourth, fifth, seventh, and, after some searching, sixth books, hidden at the very back of the store. After ascertaining that they held the desired items, took them to the checkout and purchased them, benefiting from a T. for T. offer. Left city immediately via the nearest b. The remainder of this report written in the persona of D., so that any non-volunteers who read it will mistake it for a simple book review rather than a vital coded report. Okay, so here are the four new books in question. They look pretty classy, but who cares, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. See that pink label? That's what we're talking about here. Free Collector Cards, although strictly speaking they're not free as they require me to not only buy some books I already own several times over, they also require the cost of a trip into town. The 3 for 2 label? Comes off. The pink "collector's card" label? Printed on. Thanks for ruining the cover there, guys. Also, if you remove the 3 for 2 label, part of the cover gloss comes with it. Classy. Thus you get an idea of roughly what these cards are. Four cards per book, sixteen cards total, representing the first twelve books in the series and the four main characters. What happened to The End, and why the TEE images are horizontally flipped, I don't know. Also, whoever designed this should have their home burnt down. The edges are placed just so near to the spine of the book. Cutting these things out is tearsville city, as you can clearly see by the somewhat ragged edge. Putting all four of these card sets together reveals, on the reverse, an "exclusive Snicket picture." Can you tell what it is yet? Oh, okay, that is pretty exclusive, given that the BBRE was probably never reissued after its originaly 2003 release. If you want this image, you need either online scans, eBay, or to have bought The Bad Beginning Rare Edition when it came out, which, oh, I did. Which makes me feel okay about some of those raggedy edges. Actually, I approve of this. The U.K. never got the BBRE, and thus never got this image, and it's really gorgeous, one of Helquist's best. Good show, Egmont and WH Smith. Now, what are you going to do for the remaining six books?
|
|
|
Post by thedoctororwell on Mar 19, 2010 13:57:09 GMT -5
Actually I own The Complete Wreck and the poster's included in it. Which, by the way, was a very nice favour done to us by Harpercollins... Had it also contained LSUA, TBBRE's additional chapter and TBL, it really would have been the perfect, ultimate edition.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 19, 2010 15:00:47 GMT -5
Actually I own The Complete Wreck and the poster's included in it. Wha? I don't think my TCW had any such poster. And I'm not entirely sure that I can be bothered to dig it out of my shelves to check.
|
|
|
Post by Christmas Chief on Mar 19, 2010 15:55:32 GMT -5
Very nice. I haven't seen the illustration on TSS's card before, and the BB:RE was a good idea; perhaps this will encourage other stores to do the same. Thanks for posting these.
|
|
|
Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on Mar 19, 2010 18:53:44 GMT -5
My goodness, but these are incredible! And Dante, I, too, would have been stressing big time had I gone about the task of removing those cards from the books. Also, I'm in the US, and so I don't come across a lot of the depicted illustrations very often. I own TBBE as well, and so I'm familiar with the image the cards create. But seeing it in your post doesn't make it any less extraordinary. I know I speak for everyone when I say this, but it was very nice of you to post the scans. So thank you very, very much.
|
|
|
Post by cwm on Mar 24, 2010 13:48:06 GMT -5
Trading cards are on the whole unremarkable. Then again, I do have a bit of a thing about collectable cards and as a result expect very high standards.
I hate when books try to remarket old material as 'new' though. Even though the UK never got this picture, marketing it as 'exclusive' is a bit of a con. Artemis Fowl and Alex Rider have both tried it lately, although there they were recycling some old short stories, and in the former's case the book where the story was originally published was still in print, so I suppose there's a difference.
How big are the cards? I'm guessing not as big as the original poster?
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 24, 2010 14:55:20 GMT -5
Trading cards are on the whole unremarkable. Then again, I do have a bit of a thing about collectable cards and as a result expect very high standards. You can drop-kick your standards into the sewer, as calling these "collectable cards" at all is a con. The edges aren't even perforated. You have to use scissors, and as a result quality immediately dives to zero. I view it as blackmail, personally. These reissues of the books are aimed at people who didn't buy them the first time around, and that's fair enough. But then they include bonus content of some kind which can have no possible reason for existing except to try and force people who already own the product in question to buy it again. I'm a collector, so I'd have bought them again anyway, but it's still darn annoying. The cards are each slightly less than a quarter of the size of a page. As such, the full four by four image is actually bigger than the original Marvellous Marriage portrait, although I don't know if it would be bigger than the poster version thedoctororwell says came with The Complete Wreck - but not with my TCW, I just checked. thedoctororwell, if you read this, could you provide more information?
|
|