Penguins, Tattoos and Goldsboro: Feb Updates
Hello booklovers!
I’ve had a few queries checking if I’m still alive over here behind the screen, since it’s apparently been a couple of months since my last blog post. Never fear, I’m still regularly pottering around in the back end of my website, updating information for book collectors – but I thought it must be time to post a bit of an update and highlight what new things have been added over the past few weeks for the curious. I’m also changing some of the delivery settings for my newsletter since some of you reported not receiving the last one – it had a link to my annual roundup of the Most Beautiful Books of 2021 if you missed it – so hopefully this time is will escape those overzealous spambots!
New guides
I’ve recently added a few new complete illustrated guides to series that are of interest to collectors. (It’s worth noting these were all in response to reader requests, so drop a comment on the site if you have a burning need of your own!)
- Penguin Ink – a new illustrated guide to Penguin’s paperback series of contemporary fiction with covers designed by creative tattoo artists.
- The Penguin Clothbound Poetry selection – beautiful hardback poetry volumes that complement the Penguin Clothbound Classics series.
- And a new illustrated guide to Goldsboro’s Book of the Month Club – including a review of one of my favourite book subscription clubs, and a list of titles covering back issues from the club’s origins from 2006 to now.
Recently updated guides
I’ve also been updating several of the existing guides with upcoming publication data for anticipated 2022 volumes.
Guides updated in the past few weeks include:
- Penguin Deluxe Classics – a few new books are coming in 2022, full cover art added for 2021 titles, as well as updates on new books coming this year in the Puffin Clothbound and Penguin Vitae series.
- Barnes & Noble Collectible Classics – some of the planned titles for 2022 were cancelled (boo!), but there are replacements coming and I’ve added some new images for these.
- Chiltern Classics – the Chiltern guide is updated with new titles anticipated for 2022.
- Agatha Christie Special Editions – the list has been updated with a few new titles anticipated for 2022.
Available preorder offers
I update a page recording preorder offers and bookish campaign incentives page every week or so. There are currently 26 offers for March releases, which include bookplates, art prints, headbands, tarot cards, courses and more. Some of them are available for library requests so you don’t even need to purchase! A few of the popular titles that have recently been added are pictured below, but check out the current preorder offers page for the full list.
Upcoming special editions
I also maintain a page full of upcoming special editions that is I update several times every month – these include limited editions, first printings that have fancy features, non-book-club sprayed page edges, and more. Some of the recent additions are pictured below, but do check out the upcoming special editions page for the full list (there are more than 40 to check coming out in March alone).
And some other things I’m working on…
- I’ve had a request to continue my ‘most anticipated’ video series, which I’ll try to get to next weekend. There are some upcoming titles I think will be highly sought after so it would be good to let you know before they are released.
- I have a huge pile of fabulous illustrated non-fiction books for kids (and interested adults!) that I thought might be helpful for homeschoolers / anyone worried the pandemic has made their kids fall behind / and people who just love nature illustrations and the like! Planning on filming these too if there’s interest.
- I have another huge pile of my favourite myths & legends books that I pulled out to film. I’ve already done a couple of flip-throughs for some of my favourite series, which I might release beforehand so make the overview video a bit more manageable, haha.
- I’m getting close to release for my massive catalogue of books with removable letters and other paper ephemera (this is another request). I have the list itself mostly finished but am working on adding some illustrations before I publish, and of course I’d like to film a few of the best ones. These are such fun books to collect but it’s really hard to track them down because they don’t have a proper categorical descriptor, so they turn up in all sorts of odd places.
- I’ve almost finished a short collector’s guide and video for beautiful editions of Frank Herbert’s Dune, since the recent film inspired questions from a few new collectors.
- I have pencilled in that I should do an update of my Alice collection sometime – anyone interested in that?
- Finally, I’ve been meaning to add a forum to this site to help people connect in a more helpful way than my comments section for ages. I tried a few plugins but all were absolutely bombarded with spam. It’s on the list but managing spam is a big blocker.
Feel free to comment below if you have any priorities. (I just checked my “drafts” page and apparently I have over 40 illustrated collector’s guides in various stages that I need to finish and publish – so, that’s embarrassing… Clearly a bit less pottering, and a bit more focus is required!).
Hugs to all
xxx
2 Comments
Ava · 4 March 2022 at 12:55 am
Really looking forward to the removable letters and other paper ephemera post. I LOVE my Pride & Prejudice copy that I learned about from your page!
Daisy · 6 March 2022 at 4:51 pm
Oh this is great to hear – I promise you will find some new AMAZING removable letter editions – and I’m still working on the page 🙂