Books Illustrated Inkheart

Pre orders are opening on the 17th of May (16th for those who ordered Night Circus and War House)
Details of the Collectors edition and Deluxe are as below

Pre-orders for inkheart are open for newsletter subscribers.

Mike from Books Illustrated just posted a video overview of the collectors edition. It really looks lovely. I hope more publishers will consider using animal free bindings in the future

The animal free binding is why I'm not opting for this, even though it had been on my list of books to look out for. I think they will need to see whether this strengthens or weakens demand, and then decide if this is a route they wish to pursue in the future

>6 DMulvee: Could I ask why? Are you worried that the binding won't hold up long term? Have these materials been used before? Genuinely curious. The collector's edition binding looks like Suede. I was contemplating getting the deluxe, but didn't feel the upgrade was worth double the price. I am also not familiar with the binding material -Alcantara. So in the end I opted for the collector's edition

>7 Praveenna_Nagaratnam: Yes, it is just how it lasts in the long term. I think I read that this was a request from the author rather than being an initial idea from the publisher, which also concerned me a little - if the publisher has a vision then that is fair enough, but if the author makes demands (which they are within their right to do) I do wonder if the buyer will suffer. Hopefully it works fantastically well

>5 Praveenna_Nagaratnam:

I also appreciate that they didn't use leather. I definitely prefer cloth for several reasons.

>6 DMulvee: I'll take a nice cloth and/or interesting board binding over leather any day. It feels and looks nicer to me, and is typically less prone to wear. Quite often, it's even a mark of higher quality over all the cheap full leather bindings that have flooded the market.

That said, I'm scratching my head at the use of a synthetic suede when there are so many nice book cloths readily available.

I’d have preferred leather myself. It just feels nicer to the touch, and I think it can often be a byproduct of the industry, so it has the added bonus of knowing there are delicious meals being facilitated as well.

Alcantara is a premium, Italian-made material that’s more durable than suede and for this reason it’s used in luxury cars like Maseratis.

>10 NathanOv: I'm partial to cloth as well. I don't even balk at bonded paper covers as long as they are done properly. Watered silk is pretty nice as well.

>10 NathanOv: Quite often, it's even a mark of higher quality over all the cheap full leather bindings that have flooded the market.

Makes me wonder if those are really leather or a leather composite or even perhaps a leather-grained cloth material. I've seen people fooled by the latter into thinking a book was bound in leather. And composite leather is a leather product which can be touted as being leather even if somewhat mis-leading.

>14 Glacierman: I think some people just over estimate the cost of the material vs. the cost of quality binding work.

For example, Easton Press is able to afford full-leather bindings with all their little flourishes because they skimp on manufacturing costs, and all those Etsy sellers are able to offer full Morocco or calf-skin bindings at suspiciously low costs.

All that's without even getting too deep into the range of quality for genuine leather bindings.

>15 NathanOv: Talas sells 4 square feet of 1st-quality Harmatan goatskin for $170. That's probably enough for two full-leather bindings of octavo-sized volumes (without any acutal knowledge of how much wastage/off-cut is typical). So, not cheap, but the minor component of a time-and-materials breakdown of the cost of an expert binding job, I'd imagine.

>12 CTPress-Tony: That is interesting. I think Mike did mention that they contemplated few options before choosing these materials. I just saw the video of the deluxe edition as well and it is bigger than the collector's edition. The solander box is lovely and there is a signed limited edition print inside the box. I wish they had upgraded the paper too for the deluxe. Then I might have strongly considered upgrading.

>17 Praveenna_Nagaratnam: Hello Praveena, We looked at many bonded materials that give a leather like feel, however we were not convinced that they were better than the Suedel and Alcantara. We upgrade the deluxe with the binding, the signed print, solander box, gilding and tipped-in frontispiece. The Prestige edition has upgraded paper and so much more. And I really like Munken :)

>18 Books-Illustrated: Cheers to you for creating another beautiful series of books. The craftsmanship and overall theme are quite impressive! Unfortunately I missed out on the Collectors edition of Night Circus and while War Horse and Ink Heart look beautiful, I struggle to spend that much for a YA novel. Perhaps that's snobbish of me, but it seems like there are a great many novels out there with more depth to enjoy first. I'm looking forward to what your future offerings will be though!

>20 AlexBookshelfFrog: Suntup’s few letterpress Artist’s Editions have been similarly priced. I think a lot of people prefer the numbered Suntup’s because they’re often letterpress, but what you’re really paying extra for is the binding upgrade, improved paper and scarcity.

It's a bit generous to say the numbered are often letterpress, isn't it? I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it just doesn't feel accurate.

>23 AlexBookshelfFrog: I bought Night Circus a few weeks ago. It came with UPS.

>26 AlexBookshelfFrog: It is so beautiful. I keep mine vertically.

Just received the latest newletter with an announcement that the next book could possibly be The Starless Sea.
I really hope they go ahead with this one.

>29 AlexBookshelfFrog: Yes, I got the deluxe of The Night Circusg and the collector's edition of Inkheart. I only recently read Warhorse. The story was nice, and I really like Christian Birmingham's illustrations. Will likely get the collector's edition of that too.
If they really do Starless Sea, will definitely get the deluxe of that (If I can afford it, I would want to get a lettered)

>31 AlexBookshelfFrog: They all are

>33 AlexBookshelfFrog: Contrary to the narrative around some other publishers, there's nothing wrong with having available stock! It's often a sign of a fairly stable ad healthy business, and is the norm for larger publishers like Thornwillow and Arion.

The instant sellouts that get talked about so much are not the norm.

>35 AlexBookshelfFrog: Suntup is an anomaly. He is also a very good marketer and does more to engage with his clients than any publisher I'm aware of.

>30 Praveenna_Nagaratnam: I also recently read War Horse and I really loved it! I'd love to own a copy of the book and these seem to be the nicest editions. I was looking at the different states available and I love the marbled endpapers on the Prestige edition and I like that all of the illustrations are tipped in. I've also never seen a vellum binding before and imagine that it may look & feel really nice? That being said, I strongly dislike the behemoth solander box, the oddly sized drawers in it, the quote on the inside of the box with the odd spacing between each set of two lines, etc.

I doubt that I will have $3200 lying about any time soon - too many upcoming book releases to look forward to plus the question of whether the book by itself is worth this much to me - but I sometimes find myself thinking: how horrible of an idea would it be to get the Prestige edition and more or less throw out the box...? 🙈

Update on Inkheart: The pages have now been printed courtesy of Nomad Letterpress and are now in the skilled hands of Ludlow Bookbinders. We are still on schedule for a mailing of orders in November.....in time for Christmas. Details on the books can be found - www.booksillustrated.com/inkheart

>38 Books-Illustrated: Thanks for the update Mike

For fans of The Night Circus and Books Illustrated, looks like their next book is going to be The Starless Sea based on the latest short video Mike posted on instagram. I loved the book, so this is a definite deluxe edition buy for me. Can't wait to see what they have planned in terms of binding, design and illustrations

>40 Praveenna_Nagaratnam:
It will look wonderful I bet !

Just received an email for The Starless Sea production, and I was greatly disappointed to read that the printing for this is going to be offset while maintaining the same price point as their previous letterpress books — for the lettered editions at least.

I didnt got any Mail so far, which is very disappointing.

Not letterpress for the same price 🤯

>42 Objectr: Just received the same email for the deluxe edition. Such a shame that they aren't printing this letterpress; and yes I do wonder too why the price remains the same then. I rather forgo the signed art print in exchange for letterpress printing anytime. Does the lettered come with an original illustration then?

Just received a reply from Mike. They opted for ofset litho printing to maintain the price of the edition because if they chose letterpress printing, the price would have to be higher.

>44 Praveenna_Nagaratnam: per the website the lettered includes 17 signed prints, no original

$2,450 for a printed offset book is nearing the asinine Suntup lettered pricing of the same quality. Given the lackluster sales of the lettered Inkheart (17 remain available) I cannot imagine why lowering quality and maintaining price point would be a valid idea. I’d much rather forego presentation and signed prints in order to have a letterpress printed book, but that’s just me.

>42 Objectr: Disappointing - this was going to my first Books Illustrated purchase because I was looking forward to a letterpress edition of this particular title.

Given other presses can afford at least a basic letterpress text block on decent paper for less than $100 / copy, I can't imagine they're eking out a particularly big profit margin with this change.

I didn’t receive the email but the change to offset makes it a pass from me.

Its interesting that there is an standard Edition now.

Not sure an non letterpress lettered Edition will sell very well though.

Would 150 more pages printed letterpress make such an huge price difference to go for full offset printing instead?

>49 Ragnaroek: There could be an impact on timeframe - if you want letterpress maybe they had to wait an extra six months, but offset could be done immediately?

>50 DMulvee:
That's true . 👍
I in general have no problem with offset print, but I have to admit that I grew quite fond of letterpress, especially "the night circus " was a lovely work.
But beside that it had an wonderful smelling leather beautifully bound , with gorgeous Illustrations.
I will bite in the sour apple and buy it I think, we will see.

The fact that it is offset print does not worry me at all as they produce beautiful books and I have ordered a deluxe edition.

Is there a link for the starless sea preorder? I subscribe the their emails but I didn’t get any news on this.

>51 Ragnaroek: Same here. I really want a beautiful copy of this book, so I am still going to order the deluxe edition. Just really wish they had used letterpress printing

>53 RRCBS: The preorder is currently only open to those who ordered a lettered or deluxe copy of The Night Circus. The public preorders will be on Sept 30th

I hope the next publication will be 'Dracula', 😂 I miss on an beautiful copy of this book and the second Hand Amaranthine prices are just dumb.
Somewhere 2025 should come 'Life of Pi' if I remember correctly.

>55 Praveenna_Nagaratnam:

Thank you. I wondered, too, since I didn't get any email, but then I ordered a collector's edition of Night Circus, not the higher levels.

Hello Everyone,

I know that many publishers do not always respond to tricky questions but I think some very valid points have be made. I would like to give you the reasons why The Starless Sea is being published as we have announced.
The first point is we are very pro letterpress and have titles planned that will be printed this way. However, we get more emails from people who really want a finely bound signed book that is beautifully illustrated but they are finding that the costs are too hard for them to bear in these current times. We opened the Pre-order for The Night Circus on 17 January 2022. General inflation since then has been between 6-7% annually and in our industry many costs have also increased greatly. So we decided to assist people the best way we can by keeping prices affordable, but still produce a stunning edition we can be proud of. Printing letterpress is about 8-10% of the costs and as we have published many fine litho limited editions in the past we decided this one would be litho. We also are offering people the chance to purchase a securing voucher so as to spread out the cost.
Businesses have to take customers concerns seriously and make the best decisions they can. I know that this may not suit your particular view but we are like most publishers that publish letterpress and Litho.
Best regards to all you book lovers; we love being part of this wonderful business full of passionate beliefs.

Mike
Please feel free to ask me any questions and I will do my best to answer them, however we are thankfully very busy at the moment!

>58 Books-Illustrated:

Thank you for the explanations. To me it makes complete sense. I look forward to (hopefully) buying the Collectors Edition to match my Night Circus.

Offset printing is right after letterpress printing, so I can live with that. I just want to have an gorgeous and lovely smelling leather 😍😊

How is the technique called Ludlow uses for most of his books ? I dont know how to describe it tbh.

But the Deluxe Warhorse and Night Circus used an different kind of binding.

The Night Circus had the handbands neatly hidden with the spine.

Warhorse had it well visible... I hope someone gets what I mean 🤣😂

Don't know how to post pictures

Was any detail given on the cost for the standard edition?

>61 RRCBS:
The standard Hardback Edition with an Dustwrapper is 95£

If it has sewn pages and maybe is bound in some not so expensive cloth , this is an good thing

Starless Sea is going to be gorgeous! I'm happy to be able to get a matched number for Night Circus.

Inkheart is soon on its way.
Not sure it include only the standard state or standard and deluxe, though.

Iam happy and hope they do the whole trilogy. (A fourth book has joined this year , though )

>63 amysisson:
I opt out, because its not letterpress printed, but has the same price as Night Circus.
Yes, there is an explanation above somewhere , but people who weren't able to afford such an Book before, are not able now aswell... it has the exact same price ... I would have understand this, if it had been cheaper, but yes...
Someone that can afford an 300-700£ book wouldn't say no to a letterpress printed version for some money more I bet.

>64 BookMercenary: Have you read the book as an adult? It looks well made and I generally enjoy well done YA books, but have hesitated on this one due to some mixed reviews…

>65 RRCBS:
I read the book as adult and I still like it. Books about books are always nice.

Next week we will be visiting Ludlow Bookbinders and it will be great to see the INKHEART books as they are nearly ready for dispatch. I know you are as excited as we are to get them in your hands. It is a privilege to be able to publish the books we love. Not really like work at all... :)

>67 Books-Illustrated:
All states of Inkheart are going to get dispatched ?
Iam very excited for my copy.
I hope there will be the whole trilogy published one day 😊

Good news, the INKHEART Collectors Edition will be ready this Friday and so we will start couriering them early next week. I should have a few of them at the PBFA London Book Fair that we will be attending this coming Saturday, 2 Dec. I hope I get to meet some of you there:

London Christmas Book Fair
Holiday Inn London - Bloomsbury
Coram Street, London, WC1N 1HT
£2 entry 10am-4pm

Finally picked up my copy of Inkheart today (mistakenly had it delivered to my old address, so had to go get it), and it is absolutely beautiful! Was a bit apprehensive about the Alcantara, but I'm liking it a lot more than I expected.

Definitely the most I've ever spent on a book, but worth it for one of my favourite stories - I just wish I had matching editions of Inkspell and Inkdeath!

So grateful they let me pay in installments too, and I'm glad to see they made it an option for The Starless Sea from the start, considering going for that now too!

>70 Xandian97: It’s interesting that Books Illustrated could sell a 450 page, letterpress printed, well illustrated, nicely bound and slipcased book for 295 GBP for the collector’s edition but couldn’t match The Starless Sea to The Night Circus (deluxe edition) before dropping letterpress printing. Of note, the standard edition of The Starless Sea (lowest of 4 levels) is only 95 GBP. The collector’s edition is still 295 GBP.

>70 Xandian97: We are always very pleased to hear that books arrive safely, even if they take a little road trip! We love the deluxe edition too; and many people have commented that the book looks so much better than our photos. It has created a great response and additional sales.
We will continue to do our best with every book we publish as we love the creative aspect of this business.
Have a Merry Christmas, Mike

>71 kdweber: Holding the price was something we felt was important. The Starless Sea is more expensive to produce from a materials point of view.

>73 Books-Illustrated: I get it, just wished you waited one more book before dumping letterpress. I’m fine with your 95 GBP editions being offset and in simpler bindings and I’ll probable buy some in the future. You probably made the right business decision and I wish your press nothing but the best. I’m a part of a small niche market and there are plenty of tempting books in that market.