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Letters from Father Christmas Centenary edition published

26 Oct, 2020 (edited)
2020-10-26 6:35:01 PM UTC

The new edition arrived today. Ignore the dings which I will seek a replacement for.

The book is much larger than I expected, pleasantly so. The paper is matte, images look fabulous. End-papers are a montage of various images. Printed at Rotolito, Italy.

The pages follow as the deluxe (2019) until page 18 (letter) and 19 (envelope and text) where the 1924 letter to John is present in place of the 1924 letter, envelope and text to Michael. Page 20-1 are the same as deluxe. Page 22-3 contain Michael's letter, envelope and text. From there pages match until 64-5 when the images are switched correcting the error from deluxe. Pages 92 and 94 switch the envelopes. Page 136 on we see some textual corrections and a different envelope found on page 144 with the envelope from 137 (deluxe) found on page 149. Page 144 is now the letter alone without the envelope which is now found on page 136. Page 152 no longer has the envelope behind the letter, the letter is presented alone. Page 163 sees more textual corrections. Page 202 now shows the wax seal.

Printed text does not run exactly as in deluxe and there are some textual corrections with italics.

As always with HarperCollins there is something that stops it short from being a definitive edition. The 'Envelope to Michael verso with commercial Father Christmas seal' is still missing unless I am mistaken and the fold out from deluxe with the stamps has not been reproduced which is a shame, especially as there is a blank page at either end. The rear envelope with 3 wax stamps is still missing from this new edition.

Overall I think this is a very beautiful book and it is clear that HarperCollins have taken time to try and get it right.

4446_5f9715f469386.jpg 1897X2147 px

4446_5f9715f469c30.jpg 1770X2154 px

4446_5f9715f46a3f5.jpg 2628X1703 px

4446_5f9715f46b150.jpg 1984X3968 px

4446_5f9715f46bd3e.jpg 2939X1894 px

4446_5f9715f46c8c9.jpg 1984X2591 px

4446_5f9715f46d1ed.jpg 1970X2479 px

4446_5f9715f46dd79.jpg 550X3499 px
26 Oct, 2020
2020-10-26 7:03:08 PM UTC
Thanks for all the interesting info! It sound like many of the corrections and improvements have been applied, which makes the effort of documenting them all worthwhile. ?

Does the two page handwritten letter from Tolkien describing the history of the FCLs (p. 6-7 in the deluxe) still appear, and is there a transcription of it?

I will have to see a copy myself to follow all the small textual updates they decided to make, I have a master list of over two hundred that I discussed with HC (many of which they were quite rightly not interested in changing, I was just being overly thorough in documenting differences between transcriptions and original letters now that they are all reproduced).
26 Oct, 2020
2020-10-26 7:09:50 PM UTC

Urulókë wrote:

Thanks for all the interesting info! It sound like many of the corrections and improvements have been applied, which makes the effort of documenting them all worthwhile. ?

Does the two page handwritten letter from Tolkien describing the history of the FCLs (p. 6-7 in the deluxe) still appear, and is there a transcription of it?

I will have to see a copy myself to follow all the small textual updates they decided to make, I have a master list of over two hundred that I discussed with HC (many of which they were quite rightly not interested in changing, I was just being overly thorough in documenting differences between transcriptions and original letters now that they are all reproduced).

Yes they are present, no transcription though.

Feel free to post the master list if you would like me to go through it.
26 Oct, 2020
2020-10-26 7:19:54 PM UTC
I will find some time to post the list, sure. Will have to make another one for the 2020 edition as well at some point.

Very trivial question from your photos - is it just a camera artifact on the copyright page, or is there some blue ink in the middle? I've marked what I am talking about in bold:

ISBN 978 0 00 840684 4
Printed and bound in Italy by Rotolito S.P.A.

Also - is the cover the "puffy" paper (feels padded) or just stiff board?
26 Oct, 2020
2020-10-26 7:27:51 PM UTC
Here's the google doc I used in the effort to note all of the differences:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2 ... xeC45ea0LamAIQhkm061g/pub
26 Oct, 2020
2020-10-26 7:36:35 PM UTC

Urulókë wrote:

I will find some time to post the list, sure. Will have to make another one for the 2020 edition as well at some point.

Very trivial question from your photos - is it just a camera artifact on the copyright page, or is there some blue ink in the middle? I've marked what I am talking about in bold:

ISBN 978 0 00 840684 4
Printed and bound in Italy by Rotolito S.P.A.

Also - is the cover the "puffy" paper (feels padded) or just stiff board?

Oh how very strange is that! No, the copyright page is all black.

The cover is stiff board. Not flat though. There are raised texts.

Thank you for the list, I will check it out and report back when I have some more time.

EDIT: Having a brief look I can see that they have taken your list on board. Missing silly for instance.

Could you post the wax seal from the 1999 edition (page 155) so I can see exactly which was missing. I am little confused by that one.
26 Oct, 2020
2020-10-26 7:55:51 PM UTC

onthetrail wrote:

Could you post the wax seal from the 1999 edition (page 155) so I can see exactly which was missing. I am little confused by that one.

Here you go. You can tell this is the correct verso of the envelope due to the top edge (irregular tear pattern) matching.

1_5f9729c1b8881.jpeg 4032X3024 px
26 Oct, 2020
2020-10-26 8:13:53 PM UTC
Many thanks. That rear envelope is not included in the new edition.
26 Oct, 2020
2020-10-26 10:08:31 PM UTC
Urulókë do you have an editable version of your checklist?
26 Oct, 2020
2020-10-26 10:15:41 PM UTC

onthetrail wrote:

Urulókë do you have an editable version of your checklist?

I sent you a link in PM. Anyone else here that would like to edit as well, just let me know.
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