Subject: Re: Gene Wolfe - some spoilers

From: Kenn Barry <barry at ames.uucp>
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 1984 21:43:18 +0000

> ...  What's your opinion of Wolfe and Disch (among others)
>publishing unaffordable collectors editions that you'd be afraid to
>read for fear of damaging them, even if you could afford them...
>I'm not even talking about $18 hardbacks ( although those are bad
>enough ) .  I'm complaining about $100 books, and somewhat about
>Disch's booklets like _Ringtime_ for Toothpaste Press...  Opinions?

        Why would you want to complain? You're not required to buy
the expensive collector's editions. These books almost invariably
come out in large trade editions, as well, or in paperback. The only
ones that don't are those which wouldn't have a mass audience. In
such cases high prices are inevitable, since you're unable to
prorate the costs of publishing over a large print run.
        The main reasons these editions are expensive is that they
are limited editions, and they (usually) are better made than trade
editions.  The reason they're published at all is that there are
collectors who are willing to pay the high prices for them. I've
paid more than $100.00 for some books, and I have no complaints.
        Having roasted you adequately, let me back down a bit. I
*have* seen cases where there has been an unconscionably long delay
between the publishing of the collector's edition, and later
publishing of the trade edition. This seems to be an effort to boost
sales of the expensive version by withholding the affordable copies,
and I consider it a low practice.  Lest the libertarians flame me, I
should add that publishers have a right to do it; but I don't have
to like it.

-  From the Crow's Nest  -            Kenn Barry
                                      NASA-Ames Research Center
                                      Moffett Field, CA