A matching set of Sandman hardbacks. I think these are 2nd or 3rd prints for each of these books, but I love the dustcover design, and they look great on the shelf. Also, the other Sandman related books ("Endless Nights" and "The Dream Hunters") and the hardback collection of Marvel's "1602".
Back when Hill House Publishers was still doing okay, they made a deal with Gaiman to publish limited editions of his work. They advertised them as the Author's Preferred Editions, offering additional text that wasn't in the trade editions. Customers could sign up for subscriptions where they would have first opportunity for purchase and matching numbers, as well as some bonuses that wouldn't be offered to the general public. A great plan! (If only it could have lasted much longer) The first offering was a chapbook of an excised chapter from "American Gods". [As you can see I was #43, which I chose, being my birthday 4/3]
The first book was "American Gods", a great and fun read, and very nice edition. FYI, I just read that Neil is working on a script for an HBO series of American Gods, and planning a short story that takes place after the "Legends II" novella 'Monarch of the Glen', and also planning a sequel novel.
Hill House made some beautiful books. I also liked the windows on many of the slipcases.
For American Gods, they also gave the reader a paperback copy for true reading purposes. I think we talked about this Patrick's thread, but again it was a great idea and a nice book in its own right. And had my matching # too.
Along with the order of "American Gods", we were treated to "A Screenplay". I don't know if there were any rights issues going on that prevented the title being used, but it was an early draft by Neil of a script for "Good Omens" that never did get made.
Next came "Melinda"; essentially a children's story with illustrations by Dagmara Matuszak. Another nice production. The protective envelope even had a piece of art and was numbered. You can't tell from the last picture, but some of the pages had cardstock illustrations pasted onto the book page.
Next was the "Anansi Boys" book. This one was quite a project. Double slipcased with the book, and an additional notebook, both illustrated by Dagmara again.
The slipcase had a wooden inlay medallion with the 7 legged spider that represents Anansi. And it's almost impossible to see in my camera shot, but the endpaper has a shiny black spider in the upper left corner.
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