KURT VONNEGUT: THE MASTERPIECES DLE

Looks like another in the series of their cloth bound limited editions. Limited to 1000. Limited? Yes Deluxe? No, I don't see how a cloth bound book could be considered deluxe unless it's letter press but that's just my opinion.
$395 / 5x$79
http://www.eastonpress.com/prod/A65/KURT-VONNEGUT--THE-MASTERPIECES_3104

Yikes! Well the description does say it will "stand out on your bookshelves."

I like the design on the spine but not the covers. I think the spine design would work well on leather. A pricey cloth set. Leather prices must really be climbing with the FS cutting back drastically and even Easton trying more cloth editions.

This seems like the fifth or sixth Vonnegut set.

If they are moving to cloth, they should really do dust jackets. Would enhance the value.

Looks quite nice, and I think for the price it's good. Is it illustrated throughout, or just a frontispiece? Do keep in mind that EP has already released two Vonnegut DLEs that are signed with original illustrations. Their DLE Slaughterhouse-Five is unmatched

http://www.eastonpress.com/prod/C35/Kurt-Vonnegut--SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE_2719

As I have said before, I have no problem with clothbound books. Rather poor choice for a dust jacket in my opinion. However, I have never been a fan of dust jackets.

I find those covers cheap and cheesy. I know that EP continues to try new ideas to see if there is a market, but this is a bigger departure and I'm not sure if they are trying to appeal to any of their current customers with this set.

7: You do realize those covers are almost certainly just the dust jackets?

Definitely not my style 😏

>8 astropi:

Oh, my mistake.

>1 JuliusC:

In EP's case, I just think of them all as limited only.

For other publishers, I guess it depends on your price point and definition of deluxe. I would consider my two volume paper-bound elephant folio De fabrica humani corporis (Vesalius, Karger Publishers), printed by what I assume to offset lithography, to be more "deluxe" than most letterpress volumes I've seen.

>10 JustinTChan: There are exceptions ;). You're talking about a book that cost $1500 has been redesigned for more scholarly reading new translation etc. Unlike EP's edition which is a facsimile, Kargers edition is practically a new first edition. But I digress, let's just say there was a lot of work put in to this new edition.

FS impersonators.

>12 dumasfan: I'm starting to get the feeling that you don't care much for Easton Press.

>Eastoner, I will be the first person to praise them when they create something really beautiful with solid quality both in and out.

>14 dumasfan: I was being sarcastic, but I suppose I don't understand why you would come to an Easton Press collector's forum to only constantly talk negative about their products. If it is your opinion that there is nothing worthwhile about an Easton Press book to collect, then why spend any time here at all?

>Eastoner, well because I own lot's of DLE's and regular editions from EP. Much more than from FS, LEC as well as other fine book manufacturers, except Franklin Library. This is forum to discuss everything about EP and not just good things that unfortunately, I do not see at this time.

Why would you own so many Easton Press editions if they are so terrible? There must have been something about them that you liked/like to continue purchasing so many. Why wouldn't you return the inferior products for the full refund that EP offers?

>16 dumasfan: And I do agree that the forum should allow for discussion of the things people don't like about EP. For example, I think this Vonnegut set looks atrocious. But I'm not going to continue coming back to this thread to keep telling everyone how atrocious I think these books look. If someone likes the way they look I am happy for them. Life is too precious in my opinion to be wasted that way.

>Eastoner Good question. When I started buying EP books, right after I graduated from college in 2002, I did not know about FS or LEC secondary market, as well as other more expensive fine book companies. I put up with a lot of quality issues from EP thinking they were monopoly in producing fine leather editions, I kept a lot of them until I found out about FS LE's and others. Now, I own almost all of FS LE's except their 6-$8000 editions. Over the years, I returned a lot of books to EP, including their DLE editions. I still buy DLE's from EP and still return them, like Uncle's Sam Cabin and many others, which had horrible illustration and font reproduction. None of my FS DLE's have these problems and I think this is unacceptable for FS to make DLE's with EP like quality. They also don't make so many of them so they can concentrate more on design, production and quality. Above said, I really want EP to improve so I could say the same bout them.

What a pity, as I would have bought a leather-bound set immediately. But this? No.

20: I rather like the cloth. I don't like the dust jackets at all. I wish EP would ditch the dust jackets and just produce cloth editions with a slipcase. Or better yet, perhaps EP will start producing editions that are only quarter-bound in leather as is the case with the magnificent Froissart Chronicles!

>20 OrenUK: I feel the same. I wish they would have published all their cloth editions in leather--I would have bought all of them.

>22 bullylover: I would be all over this set if it was in leather. And if the design were different!

Agreed

Anyone got the set yet? And care to post some pics if so? Would love to see photos of the cloth bindings and page layouts.
Like >21 astropi: I like cloth but hate dust jackets, majority of which usually go to a designated box in the attic (and should really be tossed into recycling bin).

Just ordered this one I like the design and the quality of this one and glad easton is doing other than leather. And you can't go wrong with these titles the best of Vonnegut.

Here is an actual eBay copy sealed if you want to pay more for this HB set. The pictures are quite different from the artist rendition on EP website. EB number:

282155495338

Personally, if I had the cash, I would rather spend the money on a couple of their fine DLEs of his masterpieces.

Pretty expensive for something that hasn't sold out yet I would think if you wanted to sell you would wait until it has sold out then hike the price up.

26: would love to see pics when you get it!

27: why not just include the entire link? It's easier that way.

>29 astropi: simply copy the number and put on eBay search. IPad eBay app does not give you a URL.

30: It doesn't? lame... but not surprised considering it's apple :/
No offense to all you apple users, but I think apple is WAY overpriced. Anyway, looking forward to seeing pics of this set.

Will post pics when I get it I should receive it by this weekend since I paid for faster shipping.

> 31

It's not even necessarily an issue of being overpriced...the decisions and assumptions Apple makes about how the end users should perceive and operate their devices, the installed apps, and the internet can range from annoying to extremely counterproductive.

I can't wait until they hold a release party like today's and announce the addition of arrow keys on the iOS virtual keyboard (and of course, act like they invented arrow keys and that we should be so grateful to them for spending their precious time on the idea).

Sorry about the rant...

But yeah, I agree with astropi (21) and elladan0891 (25): cloth is good, slipcases are good, dust jackets are less than desirable, and Froissart's DLE design is really nice.

I think it's more true to EP's character to create quarter-bound leather volumes than full cloth volumes, too. If I want something full cloth, I'll buy it from FS. Slipcases aside, I suspect they make cloth bindings better than EP since they've been at it longer.

was going to upload some pics but not sure how does anyone know how?

I first upload my photos to a website like Photobucket (photobucket.com). Doing that gives me internet addresses for my photos. Once you have the photo internet addresses, you can use html language to have each photo display in your post using this guide: http://www.librarything.com/topic/177029 (scroll down to the 7th and 8th items in the guide for directions on image posting)

Thanks for the info here's the link to the photos overall pretty good quality and Easton did a great job with this set. http://s50.photobucket.com/user/Carl_Hancock/media/image.jpg1_zpsdnegojfo.jpg.ht...

>36 Carl64: I prefer the photobucket approach over pasting....for many reasons.

But I have to admit this is a damn nice HB set though I might want to explore ways of protecting the nice dust cover design. Pricey but less than the new signed DLE of Slaughterhouse Five which I bought for my brother.

Yes I passed on the other deluxe Vonneguts because of the price for just one so when these came out as 5 books for about the same price as one it was a no brainer. And author signatures are not as that important to me as a good story and quality of book.

See, to me the author's signature is something special...
but, to each their own of course. If an author's signature is not that important to you, frankly you'll probably end up saving lots of money on limited editions by avoiding signatures :)
That said, I have to say the the DLE Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the most beautiful editions I have seen from EP. It's not just the signature, it also includes 8 specially commissioned illustrations you will only find in that edition. Although yes, it is pricey (but not terrible if you were fortunate enough to get it when available directly from EP).

I like authors signatures also but the ones I get are in just the regular main stream hard covers. I bet the slaughterhouse five deluxe is a nice one though. :)

Ended up putting all of my Vonnegut books in Mylar plastic dust covers in order to protect the dust jackets. Looks good and protects them from a spill or possible tear.

>41 Carl64: Good for you....how did you do it without taping the Mylar to the book? And where did you get the Mylar book covers? I am interested in protecting some of my books.

eBay and they are made so you can tape them without taping to the book or the dust jacket so easy to put together. http://www.ebay.com/itm/222245169579?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName...

I buy it by mylar covers for dust jackets by the 300 foot rolls from Brodart. I have 3 rolls of various sizes. They have lasted me years.

http://www.shopbrodart.com/Library-Supplies/Book-Jacket-Covers/Adjustable-Covers...

Yes that's what these are I purchased through eBay best Mylar covers you can get.

Didn't really want to resuscitate this thread, but found this link to the designer. Robert Cavanna

Boy really don’t like this set...that being said I didn’t care for the 2 Vonnegut DLEs: Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse 5 and i now own both 😁😁

47: I LOVE the Vonnegut DLEs!! I think they're something special, along with the Maya Angelou volume I so want to see more such books...

Easton has brought back the cloth Vonnegut set:

https://www.eastonpress.com/all-categories/deluxe-limited-editions/kurt-vonnegut...

Ugggh

Honestly, pretty sweet set, but I'm not a fan of dust jackets, and it really should include a slipcase...

>52 astropi: why would ep not make this set in leather.

>53 fancythings: perhaps they were branching out, who knows. Personally, I do NOT need every book in leather, and I would purchase EP books bound in cloth. I care about the overall quality, not the leather :)

>53 fancythings:

They've made a half dozen sets like these in recent years. Around the time I started buying EP books, they had a series called something like the Original Jackets Series, which was also non-leather. There's definitely a market for non-leather (ok, so the majority of the book market is non-leather) but within the EP customer base, there is a segment that enjoys the non-leather options. They've already done all these in leather before, anyway.