The Second Apocalypse
Miscellaneous Chatter => General Misc. => Topic started by: Wilshire on January 03, 2015, 06:44:50 pm
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So, I have a problem, and it has led me to own several copies of TDTCB in various editions. I will be posting pictures of what appear to be shoddy printing errors. To me, it just looks like they did a terrible job. There are weird marks and issues that I have never seen before, and they look like the printer's fault.
Some of them are difficult to see since I don't make much of a camera but I'll summarize what is there.
The first several look like some residue got splashed onto the page. Mind you each one is from a different book, two of which are 1st edition 2nd print Hardcovers, and one isa 1st edition large print paperback. At first, I thought someone had just spilled something on the pages, but now that I have seen almost identical marks on nearly all of my copies, it seems likely that it was Overlook's fault. I got these books from different sellers, some brick-and-mortar places, some online (ebay, abe, etc.), and certainly all from different companies.
The next one, with the side of the books, show that about two-thirds of the way through the book, the pages no longer line up with the rest, and stick out a bit. Is it a lot? No, not really, but its noticeable, and again its not really something that I see in other hardcover books. Its in exactly the same place in all 4 copies, including my 1st/1st and my 1st/2nds (only 2 shown, would have been redundant).
The other two are difficult to see, but they are faint markings, similar in color to the above errors, but much fainter. They occur throughout the book, in every copy, and it really just makes them look sloppy. They are in every HC copy of TDTCB that I have.
Has anyone seen other books this poorly done? I haven't but that doesn't mean its not common. I was curious is anyone else had encountered similar marks
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3 splash mark
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Sides
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striation marks
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vertical striations.
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I don't have my hardcover books at hand but I remember having the same misaligned text in at least 1 (out of 3 of the PoN trilogy). Can't check the publisher but it was bought through amazon.co.uk when the books initially came out.
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These are not small mistakes to overlook. Some pollution begs the not the cloth...
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Glad someone else thinks so.
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At the risk of speculation, it is entirely possible that Overlook contracts out the physical production of their books and has no knowledge that whatever printer they hired for the job botched it like this. Physically printing the book is almost like the production of a commodity, far less demanding of individual attention than cover design, let alone editing.
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Either way they should have procedural policy which ensures quality checking on outsourced production. At the very least - they should (along with Bakker) receive some recompense if that was the case.
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Im sure that's true EkyannusIII, but it still has Overlook's name on it, and they should be responsible for quality control. I hope they at least no longer do business with them, since its not just one blemish in one book, its multiple repeated blemishes throughout at least 2 separate printings of the book... Though, if its true that they had no idea, I do feel a bit bad for them.
Still though, Morton Thiokol was responsible for the O-rings that blew up the Challenger, but that doesn't mean it wasn't still NASA's fault.
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Got some clarity on the this subject.
I talked to a bookbinder about this, and here is what I learned.
The paper that Overlook used is highly acidic, and is what has caused the marks that I have indicated. This will cause the pages to turn brown and yellow over time, and eventually fall apart. Its hard to find a publisher that uses paper this cheap.
I did a pH test on my 2nd prints of this book, and they came out as very acidic.
I did the same test on my 1st print book, and it came out as non-acidic, which is at least something. This likely means that most of the TDTCB originals will look like garbage as time goes on, except the very first printing.
For anyone interested, the 1st print contains a "1" in the numberline. Other 1st editions (First Edition is printed above the numberline) but non-1st editions, do not the 1. They will deteriorate overtime due to the piss-poor quality of the paper they are printed on.
Regarding the large marks, the binder said it looks like someone spilled a bunch of acid on the paper while it was in print and it soaked through to a bunch of different pages, which explains why I have identical marks on several different copies.
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First edition second printing, yup seeing all the above, pages pretty yellow too, more so than last time i looked
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btw, I've got 3 copies of TDTCB that are 1st edition 2nd printing that I am selling. I was going to use them for bookbinding but I don't want to waste the leather.
Let me know if anyone is interested (full disclosure of condition above :P ).
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Here it is:
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"scarclwy survive" - great job Overlook. :)