Disambiguation notice on a deluxe edition?

https://www.librarything.com/concepts#works
Special editions. The deluxe, illustrated edition of Alice in Wonderland is the same work as a humble Dover edition.

Should these be combined?

Batman: The Long Halloween
Absolute Batman: The Long Halloween : This is the Absolute Edition, which is an expensive slipcased hardcover containing a multitude of extras. Please do not combine with other editions of The Long Halloween.
Batman: The Long Halloween Deluxe Edition

Is being expensive and having "a multitude of extras" reason to keep separate?

>1 zetetic23: Is being expensive and having "a multitude of extras" reason to keep separate?

I suppose it depends on what the extras are. Personally, I don't think including things like preliminary sketches or a cover gallery are enough to justify separate works; the price of an item is definitely not a good reason.

Doing a search for "absolute edition," I can see that in most cases the community seems to have decided they belong separately, though there are a few instances where they have been lumped together. I think there's something of a social difference here (which is maybe what the notice is trying to get at by mentioning cost?), though I could be persuaded to go either way. Some feature a tremendous amount of extra content (the Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths, for example, is definitely a different work from the regular trade), but that doesn't seem to be the case for The Long Halloween. Overall, I think I would favor lumping in most cases, but I would be interested to hear an argument for splitting, and I don't feel so strongly about it that would go around doing a bunch of combinations... despite being lumper in general!

The deluxe edition of The Long Halloween should almost certainly be combined with the absolute based on what I can see on Amazon. I doubt it was anyone's decision to not do it; in this case it probably no one had noticed, and it's not a combination the system would make automatically.

When there's a part of an edition that's sought out and talked about as a separate work-- such as bonus art that's famous on its own* or a special edition pamphlet that changes a series' canon-- then I think the edition becomes a separate work.

When is that true for any version of Alice in Wonderland? I'm not sure. Same for The Long Halloween. My household has basic editions of these book titles, but I don't know how they compare to "expensive" options.

(* Thinking about this more, I lean toward combining when the question is about art that doesn't change a story so much it causes confusion for readers of different editions.)

Comics are often a gray area because while illustrations are not a fundamental part of the story of Alice in Wonderland, they are a fundamental part of the story of a comic.

I do notice that the book description for Batman: The Long Halloween Deluxe Edition says "This deluxe edition includes the original 13-issue series as well as Absolute Batman: The Long Halloween." which indicates to me that the original series of issues and the "Absolute edition" are not the same thing, and that the deluxe edition is the same as neither.

>5 norabelle414: I think that's a weird way of saying it collects the same bonus content that is in the Absolute Long Halloween, since the material originally appeared there. The Grand Comics Database lays out what it is: https://www.comics.org/issue/358516/#1344822 A picture of action figures, an interview, a copy of the series proposal, cover reprints. GCD also indicates everything in the absolute was reprinted in the deluxe.

From what I could see from looking at external sources the story content is identical, and only the extras differ. Even the original collected version had some extras.

Original 13 issue series:
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/batman-the-long-halloween/4050-6822/
Original collected work:
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/batman-the-long-halloween/4050-36359/
Absolute:
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/absolute-batman-the-long-halloween-1-absolute-bat...
Deluxe:
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/batman-the-long-halloween-deluxe-edition-1-hc/400...

I don't see any reason to keep them seperate when the database lets you title and cover your version as you want it. I am still learning however. Thanks for the conversation.