|
Post by cwm on Jan 30, 2015 18:40:38 GMT -5
This is partly because I work in a library that's shortly to do an event about Victorian literature, and partly because I've been curious on this subject for a while and that just seemed a useful pretext to ask: is there any information - just a basic overview of what was new or changed - on the US faux penny dreadful reprints that only got as far as The Wide Window before being placed on indefinite hiatus due to lack of sales? The internet doesn't seem to have much guidance on them, which is hardly surprising given it's been a while since they came out and they didn't sell at all well.
Any help in this matter will be met with my undying if inherently meaningless love.
|
|
|
Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 30, 2015 19:53:37 GMT -5
Here is my attempt at cataloguing the changes, most of which are visual (no changes to the original text are made): - You probably already know about the titular modifications, and by extension those of the covers: Here are Orphans!, Murder!, and Disappearance!. - The most revered addition to the editions seems to be the interior, full-page illustrations for the odd numbered chapters. MisterM posted these for the first two installments in this thread some time ago, but nonconsecutively, so I'm afraid you'd have to scroll through for them (or do a search/ PM him). Illustrations for TWW are here. - However, this means that chapter illustrations are replaced by smaller, circular drawings (in a style similar to the Ex Libris portraits in the Egmont editions). In Orphans!, each chapter depicts a match in a further stage of burning (in the first chapter it's lit; in the seventh it's burned more than halfway; in the last it's burnt). In Murder!, stages of a snake slithering out of its portrait. In Disappearance!, a ship disintegrating in a storm. - "Dear Reader" letters are swapped for a "PLEASE READ SOMETHING ELSE" banner and somewhat different synopsis (see the Amazon preview for these). - End material featured in the back of each installment (a "serial supplement to A Series of Unfortunate Events") is collectively titled "The Cornucopian Cavalcade," and contains such whimsical pieces as these: - A Note From the Publisher introducing the material, in spirit of a "Dear Reader"
- In Orphans!, a page of faux advertisements for items like Hendersons Electric Socks and an informative brochure entitled "HOW TO LIVE WELL INSIDE A WHALE" (since, according to the caption, "literally dozens of people are swallowed by whales every year.")
- A Psychic Pstory of the Psupernatural by Stephen Leacock, an investigative mystery that concludes in Disappearance!
- A comic series by Michael Kupperman called The Spoily Brats, the entirety of which has since been posted online.
- An advice column entitled "What Shall I Do, Lemony Snicket?" (which you may have seen before)
- In Orphans!, instructions for constructing an origami hat/fan/accordion called "The Paper Magician."
I think that covers most changes, though I'm able to scan anything that intrigues you, since I'm not sure the descriptions accurately capture the penny dreadful feel of it (and it's difficult to go in depth when providing an overview).
|
|
|
Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Jan 30, 2015 23:57:20 GMT -5
Never seen such high quality pictures of the first two paperback's covers! Thanks for these. (And here's a better one for the 'TWW, Or Disappearance!' cover) EDIT: TBB (...) VII: Violet and Klaus selecting and reading law books. IX: Olaf looking sinister by night.XI: Violet and Klaus in Olaf's eye-clad tower room, with many of the pictures of eyes (...) TRR: (...) IX: Violet walking through Monty's mansion, with snakes everywhere.XI: Violet kneels over Olaf's trunk as the shadow of Stephano appears on the window. Notably, the trunk has a V.F.D. insignia on it. In an old thread I discovered Dante describing the paperback illustrations, but the two I marked in bold I didn't find among MisterM's uploads in the Re-Read thread. Here's where the first one should be but isn't - Isadora Is a Door, if you indeed missed these two, could you scan and upload them, too? I've never seen these two that Dante described.
|
|
|
Post by cwm on Jan 31, 2015 5:30:27 GMT -5
That's excellent - thanks very much to you both.
|
|
|
Post by Isadora Is a Door on Jan 31, 2015 6:12:43 GMT -5
i COULD scaan them, yes, if I find the time before someone else does
|
|
|
Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 31, 2015 9:10:06 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Jan 31, 2015 13:04:06 GMT -5
One last thing worth noting is that reprints for TMM and TAA were listed on online retail sites, with the subtitles Hypnotism! and Kidnapping!, so we know what they would have been called even if they never materialised. In addition, Pevalwen found cover art for Hypnotism buried in the depths of the Internet last year, which more or less confirms that quite a bit of material for the cancelled paperbacks had already been completed:
|
|
|
Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Feb 4, 2015 18:49:23 GMT -5
Oh, sorry, I forgot to respond - Thank you for these! I've seen the Olaf one before, actually, but I've never seen the one with Violet; intriguing!
|
|