Books Illustrated - Interview with the Vampire

I did a search and didn't see a topic dedicated to this next project from Books Illustrated, even though it's been mentioned in the Starless Sea thread.

Are folks excited about "Interview with the Vampire"? I read this book only once, long ago, and of course saw the movie. I enjoyed both, but I'm not sure I would purchased a fine press copy .... except I had to because of the lovely Anne Yvonne Gilbert illustrations! I just reserved my copy, and will have matching numbers for all three of the AYG-illustrated titles from Books Illustrated so far (Night Circus, which I adore; Starless Sea, which I should receive soon; and now this!).

(Unrelated, I also received my first Thornwillow Dispatch -- it's a happy book day for me today!)

>1 amysisson:

Have they shared any illustrations beyond the one of the three main characters? It would be nice to have a better basis for ordering than is currently given with the invite to people who bought their previous book.

I haven't seen other illustrations for Vampire, but I felt comfortable enough with the one Vampire illustration since I know from it that the artist is very consistent in her style of illustration. Have you delved into the illustrations for for Night Circus and Starless Sea?

Do we know if the printing is offset vs letterpress?

>4 Nightcrawl: Going on what they have done with The Starless Sea, it will definitely be offset. The pricing of the Vampire editions all match the pricing of the Starless Sea editions. So, if they will do letterpress again, it will be further into the future...

>3 amysisson:

Yes, I know those, but it is a completely different kind of story so being able to see a bit more would have been helpful to me.

>1 amysisson: "I just reserved my copy"

You were able to reserve a copy of the upcoming Interview with the Vampire? How? I don't see a way to do that at this moment.

In answer to your question, this is pretty much an instant buy for me, though at one of the lower states if it will indeed be printed offset. The illustration style fits the work perfectly.

If anyone is interested, 22 copies of this “Interview” limited edition are still available from Easton Press. https://www.eastonpress.com/deluxe-editions/interview-with-the-vampire-3647.html

Unrelated to the production, curious if anyone has read the book and what are your thoughts? I saw the movie which was decent enough, but at the same time convinced me that I have no interest in reading Anne Rice.

>9 astropi: it’s been a very long time, but I recall thinking the book was much better than the movie. But the quality of the rest of the books in the series goes downhill fast.

>7 abysswalker:

People who bought their previous special edition can currently buy Interview before the public release.

>12 Pax_Romana:

There's almost no information. I really wish the purchase link would lead to a website with proper information and some images. As it is, I really haven't decided if I want to risk this yet. A friend also said that she would prefer to see the different editions before making a decision like this. Don't get me wrong, the purchase link ahead of time is a nice gesture, but I don't like buying blindly, least of all in this price range.

Strange.

I, uh, also have a book I’d like to sell if anyone’s interested? Pay now, details in a few weeks.

>14 What_What: Just tell me it's a popular novel and I'm in for the $8,000 deluxe lettered edition with the gold-plated bookmark. That is, of course, if I am one of the first 12 people to respond to the Instagram post when it's revealed.

Well, the Easton Press edition is NOT letterpress, but it is nice. And it's ready to ship for those that can't wait --

https://www.eastonpress.com/deluxe-editions/interview-with-the-vampire-3647.html

ps I found the EP edition by searching for "Books Illustrated - Interview with the Vampire" go figure :)

>15 DenimDan: You and about 25 other people are among the first 12, congratulations. I’ll reach out for payment soon.

I hope that, this time, they will show more than just exterior design. I'd like to see page design, chapter titles, the type and whether it’s going to be 10pt again...

>9 astropi: I like it. I've read it several times and will likely read it several more.

Interview is a richer book thematically than many of her other novels (the primary theme is about stasis, change, and renewal). Maybe not prose for the ages, but not bad.

Lestat (at least in Interview) is one of the finest-drawn antiheroes in all of literature as well.

The earlier movie does a pretty good job of capturing the story, though Antonio Banderas as Armand misses a lot of the nuance of that character. Most of the others are pitch perfect though.

One final point: a huge amount of popular culture (across many media) draws strongly on the contemporary mythology that Rice pioneered with Interview. Urban fantasy, most vampire stories (including True Blood, Twilight), Vampire: The Masquerade, etc., and many others that don't immediately come to mind. Whatever you think about the artistic quality of some or all of those offshoots, the influence is difficult to discount.

>19 abysswalker: Thank you, that makes the book sound much more appealing :)

Books Illustrated's four editions of Interview just went up for sale.

>22 emarshal: Thanks for the heads-up. Looks like this edition is printed offset. They also have an Artist Edition for $95 which seems like a great deal. Perhaps they are following Suntup's lead on that :)

$823 for a full leather offset book with almost 200 copies. That’s quite a lot compared to some other letterpress printed full leather books.

I just finished the Standard edition of The Starless Sea and really loved the design of the book and how it contributed to my reading experience. Now considering either Inkheart, though find it really expensive given that letterpress is irrelevant to me, or Interview, but unsure if it’s good enough a book to add to my ever growing/lacking space library.

I haven’t loved this artist’s illustrations for their other books, though for some reason I feel like they work better for this title. That said, they yet again decided to use a 10 point font for the text for some reason, and that is enough to stop me from picking up a copy.

Deleted post, thanks to >28 wcarter: catching the automatic currency conversion

>27 jsg1976:
Seems to show prices in local currency. Automatic conversion to Australian dollars for me.

>26 jsg1976: they yet again decided to use a 10 point font for the text for some reason, and that is enough to stop me from picking up a copy.

Ditto.

The lack of paper differentiation between the states is one the major aspects that makes me question the value proposition (according to the info pages, all states are printed on 120gsm Munken apart from the vellum bound lettered state that is printed on 148gsm Mohawk Superfine). I still went for the collector's edition though (the cloth bound one in a slipcase), because it's a book I like a lot with a curious dearth of quality editions.

The best option other than the Books Illustrated edition, oddly enough, is the earlier signed edition by Easton Press published in 2000, which of course is wildly "overpriced" (based just on build quality) due to Rice's signature and the large fanbase (though the signed limitation is 3000 copies!). But the Easton edition has an attractive design that is appropriate for the work (tasteful binding ornamentation and a good use of the Easton house style). (Also, thankfully, it does not blare "signed edition" on the spine.) (The less said about the Easton DLE, a totally different recent edition with in my opinion supremely ugly art, the better.) There is also the Cemetery Dance limited edition, but my understanding is that it is nothing remarkable beyond satisfying the bare minimum of acid-free paper and sewn binding.

In contrast, the art by Anne Yvonne Gilbert fits the work perfectly in mood and style, and though I'm not generally seduced by a binding alone, the Ludlow hand binding is a selling point (that you only get at the clothbound state and above).

Example of Gilbert's illustration:



Photo of earlier, more tasteful, Easton Press (publication date: 2000) edition for comparison:



And the cloth bound Book's Illustrated state that I ended up deciding was the best value for cost: