Childhood’s End - Arthur C. Clarke

From the July Newsletter:
"Childhood’s End is going through its last round of proofreading, then will go to press. This is a complex book with 5-color printing, foil stamping on the dustjacket, four-color stamping on the book cloth, and a 2-color stamped slipcase with a metal plate.

This title is on press and the slipcases are being made. We anticipate a ship date of mid to late September."

I already own an older copy of this from a different publisher but Centipede's version could be pretty interesting.

Sometimes you just need to end up with two nice copies of a book I guess :)

or 3 or 4 or . . .

According to today's newsletter it should be up for order in the next 2 weeks!

>4 SolerSystem:

"Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke: pre-orders will start soon. A few delays in this title, but it is back on track. Binding will start in about two weeks. We hope to have it up for order around September 15, with copies shipping by mid October. The book, with five color tip-in illustrations, tri-tone color endpapers, stamped slipcase lined with imported patterned paper and inlaid with a dye-infused aluminum print, Mohawk Superfine paper, embossed dustjacket, and other goodies, went over its budget and timeline a small amount. If you have already been asked to be notified ahead of time when this is available for pre-order, you are still on that list, so no worries there. Thank you for your support!"

From today's newsletter:

"Barring another unforseen delay, Childhood’s End is due to ship October 16 to our office, with copies shipping around October 23. Therefore, we will be taking pre-orders starting Sunday, October 6."

The book is up for pre-order for those interested. I never ordered a book from Centipede Press, but I put the book in the shopping cart to find out what shipping and handling would cost. It is a eye-watering $90 to where I live (The Netherlands, Europe). Is this the usual rate? If so, I would have to bite that particular bullet on Dune.

>7 NLNils:

Evidence that Jerad may be watching this newsgroup: the book is not linked to anything and cannot be pre-ordered.

>8 treereader:
The book was up for pre-ordering from Saturday as NLNils said. An email was sent to those who requested pre-notifiction but Jerad requested not to share the link before the Sunday newsletter was sent out. I hope you got your order in as of today (Monday), it seems like all signed copies are gone already and as for unsigned 'only a few remain'.

>7 NLNils:
$90 is pretty typical these days unfortunately. I've no idea why postage from the US is so eye-wateringly expensive. It's party that sellers don't want to take any risk with packages getting lost, hence you're not getting the cheapest option. But even so.

>7 NLNils:
That's weird I had to pay $125 for shipping (also to The Netherlands). Never paid so much for shipping for a single book (and hereby declare I will never do so again).

>10 Czernobog: I got that quote while doing a trial checkout, did it change for you or was it always quoted as being $125? Understandably not to be repeated, if left with a choice.

>9 Levin40: I find it to be extremely high. You can buy a real nice book for that money. It is far from loose change and it changes the whole proposition of the retail book price if you must add approximately 30% on top at checkout. The book is nevertheless already sold out, so in the end the market is there for this very limited print run and price point. It does mean that I will have a very narrow focus on books I want to own from Centipede Press.

>11 NLNils: I got that quote while doing a trial checkout, did it change for you or was it always quoted as being $125? Understandably not to be repeated, if left with a choice?

Unfortunately, I don't remember...

10: That's a lot, although to be fair CP always ships in large and heavy boxes. My guess is that may be the actual price if not close to it. Does that include VAT?

>10 Czernobog: >11 NLNils: I purchased the book and confirm I paid $90 shipping, also to Europe. That was the only option as far as I remember. I've no idea why it would have jumped to $125. That is strange.

>11 NLNils: These shipping costs are not unique to CP, but across the board for these small US publishers (Subterranean, Suntup etc). It is a shame and very much does cause a narrowing of the focus, as you say. I'd like to buy more of the CP lower cost items but >100% of the price of the book in shipping is a pill I will not swallow. One hint though: in my experience Jerad is quite flexible about things and if there's another book you'll be buying in the near future he's usually happy to send them both together at a later date with shipping combined. That makes it a bit more reasonable.

14: I have not shipped a book overseas in a long time, but I know it's not cheap. There is a service called m-bag, but it can take a couple of weeks. Also, I'm not sure if there is any insurance. My guess is that book publishers typically want insurance on expensive books, and that adds up

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-M-bag-Service

>13 astropi: "Does that include VAT?"

Wouldn't that be nice! No, VAT is added by customs. It just increased from 6 to 9 percent over the value of the book -plus- the shipping costs.

My receipt says "Priority International", maybe I chose a more expensive shipping method? Just to be sure I will contact Jerad. For around $100 you should be able to import 6 to 8 hardcovers packed together

How does one get the Centipede newsletter? I've been refreshing their webpage daily for two months now to make sure I don't miss this title and of course I didn't refresh it last three days and now it's sold out...

>17 filox: "How does one get the Centipede newsletter? "

Had the same problem (two years ago) and I actually emailed him with the request to be added -:)
Email address is on the website (contact tab). Or just buy a book I presume.

>17 filox:, >18 Czernobog:

I believe it starts automatically once you buy a book. Mine did that way.

>17 filox:
That's bad luck. However, I just received an email from Subterranean. If you're very, very quick, you may be able to pick up a copy from them instead:

https://subterraneanpress.com/childhoods-end

Yeah i managed to get a copy from sub press, very happy about that :) I do see it's already sold out there too, in less than an hour i think

I received my copy yesterday, and I am impressed. I think that this is one of the most beautifully done productions of Centipede Press that I own. I am happy that I decided to purchase the book in spite of my initial, but serious, hesitation regarding the cost.

My copy is due to arrive Tuesday. Look forward to seeing what Jerad has created!

>22 booksforreading: Good to hear! Looking forward to receiving my copy, I hope next week (I'm in Europe). It may have been pricey but given the speed it sold out in I seriously doubt it'll ever lose value on the secondary market. I see there's already a copy up on ebay for $685.

>24 Levin40:
It looks like there are three copies for sale on ebay now. One of these is offered for bidding from $450; the other two are $685 (as you said) and more.

I received my copy of Childhood's End today. It's bound in a black velvety material reminiscent of Folio Society's standard edition of Mort and Small Gods - very soft to the touch. The slipcase is sturdy with silver and red lettering and an aluminium inlay. Beautiful production all-around and I can't wait to read it. More details can be found on the Centipede Press website. Here's a few photos I took (they are not very good I need practice).

>26 Czernobog: Wow! Thank you for those. Still waiting for my copy but these look fantastic, even better than I'd imagined it would be. Your photos show a huge amount more than on the website (though to be fair this is one of the quirks I like about CP - the surprise factor). This looks like it'll become one sought-after book.

My appetite is now really, really whetted for Dune.