John King Tarpinian says of Hannes Bok: A life in Illustration, “My copy arrived yesterday. Beautifully done. Anybody who loves the artwork from old pulps will love this beautiful book.”
The book features over 600 illustrations. The publisher, Centipede Press, avows:
Our color section features all of Bok’s known dustjackets and the largest collection of Bok paintings ever published, including many works that have never before been printed. Key works also feature detail views.
The 200-copy limited edition is signed by Joseph Wrzos, Stephen Fabian, Bob Eggleton, Jill Bauman, Jason Eckhardt and Stephen Hickman. There are also facsimle signatures by Ray Bradbury and Hannes Bok.
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The is a softcover edition also.
And the softcover edition costs how much? The book looks lovely, but the price is steep.
The trade paper is $75.00 – http://www.centipedepress.com/art/hannesbokppb.html .
Still a bit much; reviews on Amazon were not lauitory, indicating the coloration of some of the pieces were not as bright as the printed versions were.
I’ve found that the type of paper used and colors, in the limited, is true to the original artwork that I’ve seen over the years.
The trade paper is $90 via Amazon.
Well… being remembered by posterity always has meant being remembered by the rich, mainly. But that’s just being cynical. The problem is that small scale publication is too costly, and evidently nobody at Tor or Ballantyne thinks there’s a market for a book like this.
I’m grousing. Recent troubles have put a lot of material out of reach, and this is one of them.
Most such collectibles have been beyond my reach, Robert, for a long time. I had to be strict with my priorities. I could have a 2,000 year old silver coin, or a trade paperback with gaudy paintings by some genre artist only 50 years ago. It wasn’t hard to decide, really. After long practice, I’m at the point where I don’t even care that much about the bazillions of SF collector’s items I don’ t have.
I always wondered why a writer would have a lmited edition done–a few cases where there are exclusive content never to be reprinted. Why would someone keep stories from their fans out of reach? Is the story crappy?
In many instances, limited editions come about because no one else would publish the book. That I understand. But I gave up on a lot of grief by not buying items I could afford, mostly because signed limited editions are not to be read, but displayed. I suppose someone will give me grief for that statement.
Centipede Press did a book I would have liked, but I found out too late: Lee Brown Coye’s artwork Limited to 100 copies. Guess I’ll never see it. The price tag was steep, but just the same, I can do without.
There’s a less expensive Lee Brown Coye book available: “Arts Unknown: The Life & Art of Lee Brown Coye” from NonStop Press – isbn: 1933065044. No where near as complete as the Centipede one.
I have that one, and it is a fine production as well. I can’t have everything. I’d run out of space and be subject to an episode of hoarders.
Completeism is a dreaded illness.
A curse I used as a joke was “may you be condemmed to collect the entire output of the Greatful Dead”.