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"Collector's Giant Facsimile Editions" from Little Brown

george
Member
#1 · Posted: 22 Oct 2012 10:03
I suppose this subject's title covers it all, but does anyone have any clues what these are?

Red Rackham's Treasure: Collector's Giant Facsimile Edition
The Secret of the Unicorn: Collector's Giant Facsimile Edition

I can't work out exactly how large these items are supposed to be - at £37 they'd better be life-sized! The blurb on one entry states: "Perfect for collectors--this large format facsimile edition shows off Hergé's artwork as it was meant to be seen" but I'm not aware of there even being a French-version of such an item, let alone that an English-language one appears to be in the pipeline. The publisher's web-site is no help.

George
jock123
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 22 Oct 2012 11:43
Curious, isn’t it?

My guess is that this isn’t anything really new, but just Little Brown releasing a couple of the existing “facsimile” editions (i.e. matt paper, cloth spine, but not actually replicating the original edition, French, English or otherwise). I think some marketing-blurb writer has looked at the recent Young Reader paper-backs, decided that that format is the “regular” one, and come to the conclusion therefore that these must be “giant” versions.

Maybe including “Giant” in a title increases sales or something, and is a canny piece of advertising, but I’m inclined to think that this is just a case of a mistake…
Richard
UK Correspondent
#3 · Posted: 22 Oct 2012 18:40
There are French 'grand' editions of these (see here for the Amazon page for 'Licorne'). A quick scan of the reviews suggest they're 33cm x 42cm, which means - & I presume this is the point of them - that they're printed at the size Hergé drew them. I'd be curious to see them, but not sure how much I'd need one. I also have to draw issue with this 'facsimile' label now, as we've reached the point where it bears pretty much no relation to anything that ever actually happened...
jock123
Moderator
#4 · Posted: 22 Oct 2012 19:46
That’s interesting, Richard, and I’m glad to be proven wrong in this case!
I think I’d probably have liked a translation of the original black and white strips before another colour version, but beggars can’t be choosers. Let’s hope they manage to do the colouring justice!
george
Member
#5 · Posted: 22 Oct 2012 22:33
Hmmm... all very odd given the film came out, what, a year ago? And I'm not entirely sure who this is aimed at (outside of the three of us...) as it is very expensive and doesn't seem to offer up anything over an over-sized format. As we all know, size isn't everything...

There's a bit of a craze in the US at the moment for over-sized reprints shot from the original art, but unless this is somehow similarly sourced I think I'll wait to see it massively reduced (no pun intended...)

Here's an image I found on another forum: Rackham, Unicorn, and a snap of the interior

George
jock123
Moderator
#6 · Posted: 23 Oct 2012 17:59
george:
I'm not entirely sure who this is aimed at

People who wish to sit reading it to make people watching think that you have shrunk?

george:
it is very expensive and doesn't seem to offer up anything over an over-sized format.

I've got the giant archive verson of L'Ile Noir, which is always an awkward book to shelf, and which usually has to sit somewhere alone - this way, I'd have more giant books to find homes for, so it wouldn't be so solitary, perhaps...
luinivierge2010
Member
#7 · Posted: 29 Oct 2012 13:27
The books are well worth having - good quality large-format reprints - the colour reproduction is excellent and the sense of "reader immersion" is much stronger (in terms of scale, the adult reader in a sense becomes a child again...).

No introductory material however - that is a missed opportunity, as the illustrated essays in Casterman's similar large-format reprints of two of Jacques Martin's books were particularly informative - and accompanied by many previously unseen photographs.
gpathy
Member
#8 · Posted: 7 Jan 2013 12:12
I just got hold of these books.
Just love them! Almost twice the regular size - the biggest books I have ever seen or read in my entire life.
Great quality of binding, paper and print!
glashab
Member
#9 · Posted: 7 Jan 2016 21:58
Hi All,
I have been looking at the Casterman site in French and as you most probably know only two books are available in the large format: The Secret of The Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure.

Does anyone know if they plan on publishing any of the later editions or was that it and they were only brought out to coincide with the movie? Thanks for your time!
sachinwalia
Member
#10 · Posted: 9 Jul 2020 05:26
I recently came across giant format for Red Rackham's treasure and absolutely loved it. It was probably largest book I've ever read.
I see Secrets of The Unicorn available on Amazon in the same format as well. Does anyone know if there is any other Tintin book available in the giant format. Doesn't matter if it is in French.

Thanks.

Moderator Note: Hi! We've moved your post here to an existing thread about the large-format books; the series never went beyond these two titles, so the chances of more being forthcoming would seem to be slim after all this time.

The Happy Tintinologist Team

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