Anyone tracked down the Waterstone's special editions yet?

[MrPharmacist]

Hi,

According to The Sunday Times yesterday, Waterstones are releasing two 10th anniversary editions of His Dark Materials Trilogy.
Not sure what the second (£38.97) of the anniversary editions contains, but the collector's edition (£90) contains a set of signed, numbered and slipcased collector's editions of the trilogy.
Exclusive to Waterstones and launched today. My local Waterstones said "no, we don't have it in stock, no, we're not sure if we will get any copies of it, no you cannot order a copy, but we do have it in paperback"
Has anyone seen a copy in the flesh? It looks rather nice in the newspaper photograph, and I'd rather buy one from Mr W's book emporium than some dodgy chap on Ebay.

Thanks

[Kathleen]

No, I've never heard of or seen it. And I can't believe those books are 10 years old

[Ian]

No, I've never heard of or seen it. And I can't believe those books are 10 years old

You have Waterstone's in Oz?!?!

[Kathleen]

Nope. Are they popular or something? (It's a bookstore right?)

[MrPharmacist]

Yes, they are a book chain in the United Kingdom.

[Enitharmon]

I saw them in the Waterstones branch in Broadd Street, Aldbrickham.

Frankly, I think they are a ploy to extort more money from fans. The book is the same book. They purport to contain facsimiles of letters from Lord Asriel, journal entries from John Parry (who seems to have been promoted from Major to Colonel for some reason) and so on.

You'd do better to get on with reading some of the thousands of other excellent books there are to be read - by no means all of them published in the last ten years - as life is so very short as it is!

[Soapy]

I imagine they'd be a good investment though.

Might be worth something eventually, if you keep them in good shape.

If I had any money I might buy them and only use my original copies for reading.

[Ian]

I imagine they'd be a good investment though.

Might be worth something eventually, if you keep them in good shape.

If I had any money I might buy them and only use my original copies for reading.

Shouldn't think so. I think we've missed the boat in terms of investment. Should have bought a first edition NL 10 years ago...

As for the signed bit, that's boring. I'd far rather have a book signed to me personally, that just cheat by buying in a shop. I have my battered 1998 paperback copy of NL signed to me personally by PP, which is of far more value to me than these so called special editions...

[Soapy]

As for personal value my battered-held-together-with-sellotape-first-edition-hardback copy of TAS is much more valuable than this lot.

Meh.

[MrPharmacist]

I imagine they'd be a good investment though.

Might be worth something eventually, if you keep them in good shape.

If I had any money I might buy them and only use my original copies for reading.

Shouldn't think so. I think we've missed the boat in terms of investment. Should have bought a first edition NL 10 years ago...

True, enough- some of the prices on Abebooks for signed first editions of the trilogy are well into five figures

I have them in very battered paperback, so I thought I'd replace them. Saying that, I'd be so worried of marking the pages in some way that I'd probably end up buying the special editions and another set of paperbacks to actually read!

[Kathleen]

I have my battered 1998 paperback copy of NL signed to me personally by PP, which is of far more value to me than these so called special editions...

Thats great, when did you meet him? I would love to have him sign my book personally, but I could settle with a general signature from him too.

[Stargirl]

They haven't got Waterstone's in the us either, here we've got Borders (blech) and Barnes & Noble.
I agree with hermit, the copy that I've read is more valuble to me, especially since I write in my bokks.... my copy of AS is falling apart, my GC has got broken binding, you can open it to any page and put it down and it just stays open.

hermit where did you get a first edition? i don't think you got it when you first came out ? did anyone hear actually read HDM right when it first came out?

[Soapy]

They haven't got Waterstone's in the US either, here we've got Borders (blech) and Barnes & Noble.
I agree with Hermit, the copy that I've read is more valuble to me, especially since I write in my books.... my copy of TAS is falling apart, my GC has got broken binding, you can open it to any page and put it down and it just stays open.

hermit where did you get a first edition? i don't think you got it when you first came out ? did anyone here actually read HDM right when it first came out?

I think it's a first edition. I read them in 2001, I think. I may have read them earlier than that but I was given the books for my Bat Mitzvah in 2001.

How can I find out if it's a first edition?

[Tomsy]

herit where did you get a first edition? i don't think you got it when you first came out ? did anyone hear actually read HDM right when it first came out?

I'm sure that lots of people bought TAS when it first came out. It was already a polular series by that point, so a first edition TAS wouldn't be particularly rare (I've got one).

[Stargirl]

thank you for correcting me hemit, the reason i didn't capitalize your name is because it's not capitalized, and the reason i didn't capitlize US, is because... welll.... um..... (don't tell the fbi!!) hermit where are you from? I can't tell if your british of not.... And you must be older than I thought if your Bat Mitzfah was in 2001, I thought you were atleast 2 years younger than that.....
(*hides**don't hit me!*)

and if you look on the page where the copyright info is, then it will have all the little numbers (there's a thread somewhere about that) and if it says 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (or something else) but as long as the last number is 1 and if it says first edition in it, then it's first edition.

[Soapy]

thank you for correcting me hemit, the reason i didn't capitalize your name is because it's not capitalized, and the reason i didn't capitlize US, is because... welll.... um..... (don't tell the fbi!!) hermit where are you from? I can't tell if your british of not.... And you must be older than I thought if your Bat Mitzfah was in 2001, I thought you were atleast 2 years younger than that.....
(*hides**don't hit me!*)

I'm 17. For some strange reason I had my Bat Mitzvah when I was 13 instead of 12. Well, the ceremony and party anyway.

I'm from London.

I don't mind the capital letter, but there is an R in hermit, you know.

So you thought I was 16?

[Stargirl]

no i actually thought you were 15 .wow you seem very old, I'm 15. sigh. your so lucky your from London. the us sucks.

[Soapy]

no i actually thought you were 15 .wow you seem very old, I'm 15. sigh. your so lucky your from London. the us sucks.

A) it's you're, not your because it is a contraction of 'you are'. Your is the possessive, and London is not mine.

B) you might get a slap from some of the more, er, mature sraffies for claiming that 17 is old.

*sighs*

[Stargirl]

lol. yes, well if your young I'm younger, and yes I know I suck at grammer, you think I'd be a genius at it from how much I read, but I suck at it because my frirst 8 years of school were nearly all spanish and this is the first year I have a real english class.

[Enitharmon]

no i actually thought you were 15 .wow you seem very old,

*coughs*

*splutters*