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nebroadweI must be the only reading geek on the planet who hasn't finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by now ... nor even started it. And I can't blame Otakon, either. No, it's because my copy is still winging its way across the Atlantic from the U.K.
I began acquiring the British editions when Scholastic was editing the American ones much more heavily -- not just "Philosopher's Stone" to "Sorcerer's Stone", but also "trainers" to "sneakers", "pitch" to "field", "jumper" to "sweater" and so forth. Pah. Nobody localized Boston, Cooper, Garner (well, except for the Fenrir/Maugrim thing, just like Lewis -- odd, that), Nesbit or any of the other British authors I devoured as a child, learning vocabulary as I read. Again, pah. That sort of editing seemed to cease with the initial publication of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but by then I was invested in having a nicely matched set of spines on the bookshelf. And, of course, in financing my retirement. Bloomsbury's bindings are glued, not sewn, making them rather fragile (particularly when the books are as thick as the later Potters). Even given the enormous print runs since Goblet of Fire, I suspect clean, tight U.K. first editions will not be thick on the ground twenty or thirty years from now -- most will perish from the ordinary stresses of reading by people who don't understand (or care) how to keep spines uncracked and pages and dust jackets intact. At the moment, unsigned, unmarred first editions of Bloomsbury's Goblet of Fire sell for about US$400; Order of the Phoenix for about US$300; and Half-Blood Prince for about US$150.
In similar fashion, I have American first editions of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy which right now are worth about US$700 all together, but those prices may get a boost if the films are successful and the trilogy is brought back to broad public notice. The first two volumes have glued bindings but the third has been sewn (you can usually tell the difference by checking the top of the spine -- you'll either see glue holding the gatherings of leaves together or what looks like a cloth strip, frequently in a checkerboard pattern, doing the same job). I buy books to read them, not to collect them, but when the two possibilities coincide I don't grudge the added value. :-)
I began acquiring the British editions when Scholastic was editing the American ones much more heavily -- not just "Philosopher's Stone" to "Sorcerer's Stone", but also "trainers" to "sneakers", "pitch" to "field", "jumper" to "sweater" and so forth. Pah. Nobody localized Boston, Cooper, Garner (well, except for the Fenrir/Maugrim thing, just like Lewis -- odd, that), Nesbit or any of the other British authors I devoured as a child, learning vocabulary as I read. Again, pah. That sort of editing seemed to cease with the initial publication of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but by then I was invested in having a nicely matched set of spines on the bookshelf. And, of course, in financing my retirement. Bloomsbury's bindings are glued, not sewn, making them rather fragile (particularly when the books are as thick as the later Potters). Even given the enormous print runs since Goblet of Fire, I suspect clean, tight U.K. first editions will not be thick on the ground twenty or thirty years from now -- most will perish from the ordinary stresses of reading by people who don't understand (or care) how to keep spines uncracked and pages and dust jackets intact. At the moment, unsigned, unmarred first editions of Bloomsbury's Goblet of Fire sell for about US$400; Order of the Phoenix for about US$300; and Half-Blood Prince for about US$150.
In similar fashion, I have American first editions of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy which right now are worth about US$700 all together, but those prices may get a boost if the films are successful and the trilogy is brought back to broad public notice. The first two volumes have glued bindings but the third has been sewn (you can usually tell the difference by checking the top of the spine -- you'll either see glue holding the gatherings of leaves together or what looks like a cloth strip, frequently in a checkerboard pattern, doing the same job). I buy books to read them, not to collect them, but when the two possibilities coincide I don't grudge the added value. :-)
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Date: 2007-07-24 02:04 am (UTC)My friends are not only not teasing me with spoilers; they're actively refusing to express any opinions in my presence, good, bad or indifferent. I'd like to be reassured that I've got a good ending to look forward to (not necessarily completely happy -- just good), but they're not saying. Argh!
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Date: 2007-07-24 03:16 am (UTC)