Revival Artwork Portfolio Updates:
As I reported last month, my local printer has completed the art prints for the oversized Deluxe Artwork Portfolio for Revival by Stephen King, and they turned out beautifully. The signature sheets from François Vaillancourt are also completed. The actual portfolios are running behind schedule, but my case maker has promised the Lettered Edition Portfolios will be here in approximately three weeks and the Limited Edition Portfolios will be here in September.
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20th Century Ghosts Limited Edition Update:
The signed and slipcased Limited Edition hardcover of 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill has been sent to the printer! They’re in pre-production now, which includes making a dummy book for the slipcase maker and they hope to have the dummy book completed this month. The dummy book is a hand-made blank book that uses the same materials as the real books, so the slipcase maker can get started sizing the slipcases without having to wait on the real, finished books.
Unfortunately, because Vincent Sammy lives in South Africa and their postal system was restricted to only medical supplies for the last few months, he wasn’t able to sign the signature sheets for the Limited Edition. We waited as long as we could, but it just wasn’t possible.
I had new sheets printed last month for Joe Hill and Christopher Golden to sign. Chris is already done and Joe is working on those now. They should be ready just in time for when the printer needs them. (In case anyone is wondering, the original sheets were headed to Vincent Sammy first since he is overseas and they had not been signed by anyone. I always start with the contributors who are outside the US first since there’s more chance of something going wrong in transit.)
A decision had to be made, whether to delay the book to 2021 or try to keep moving on our planned schedule, and I decided to stick to the schedule. Now we just have to see if the printer and slipcase maker are able to deliver on time since their scheduled production times are the longest I’ve ever received from them.
20th Century Ghosts Lettered Edition Update:
I have good news about the Lettered Edition, which is also starting at the printer this week.
Because I already knew the print run for this edition back in February, I went ahead and sent the signature sheets to Vincent Sammy in South Africa then and he signed them before the mail service situation changed. That means this edition will be signed by Joe Hill, Christopher Golden, and Vincent Sammy as planned.
Like with Revival last year, the printing and binding for 20th Century Ghosts will be handled by two different book printers and two different book binders. This means the Limited Edition and the Lettered Edition will be two completely separate printings, which allows me to publish this Lettered Edition in the same fashion as the Lettered Edition of Revival.
The Lettered Edition will be printed on a new FOUR-color printing press, and because the heavier paper stock we’re using for this edition can handle all the ink needed for the four-color interior artwork, we’re printing that interior artwork as part of the main book block with the rest of the pages instead of as separate tip-ins. This also allows us to include two additional pieces of artwork: the frontis from the Limited Edition and a bonus piece of interior artwork. This printing process turned out beautifully for Revival, and feedback from collectors was enthusiastic.
As planned, each of the 52 copies will feature an original piece of artwork by Vincent Sammy, which he completed earlier this year.
One other 20th Century Ghosts Update:
The Limited Edition and Lettered Edition of 20th Century Ghosts will have different page counts. The Lettered Edition is 512 pages since we’re printing the artwork as part of the page design, and the Limited Edition is 480 pages because the artwork tip-ins don’t count as pages in the design file.
Lots more news to come, including a really big change for LetterPress Publications that should help shape our future more clearly. Thank you, as always, for your continuing support!
Best,
Brian