HC books 1- 15 sell on eBAy for a total of $1470.71

[go]

Dear Reader,
I have been watching a seller who just offered Usagi Yojimbo Hard Cover Limited books 1- 15 individually for sale on eBAy. The 15 books finally went for a total of $1470.71 ( not including shipping and insurance costs...).
FYI
Best wishes,
go

[jei61x]

Dear Reader,
I have been watching a seller who just offered Usagi Yojimbo Hard Cover Limited books 1- 15 individually for sale on eBAy. The 15 books finally went for a total of $1470.71 ( not including shipping and insurance costs...).
FYI
Best wishes,
go

Once again.

[Stan Sakai]

I'll have hardcover editions of all 18 (counting Travels w/ Jotaro) UY books and the Space Usagi book at San Diego.

This is probably the last time I'll have all the hc editions for sale, as I'm running quite low on a few of the books.

The Travels w/ Jotaro hc is an edition of only 300--the smallest run of all the hardcovers.

[Todd Shogun]

Why are the HC print runs diminishing? Do they not sell well? Just curious....

[Stan Sakai]

Why are the HC print runs diminishing? Do they not sell well? Just curious....

Publishing hardcovers are pretty expensive, and the publishers do not like to have to warehouse inventory. Dark Horse just published enough to cover initial orders, plus a bit more.

Besides the edition of 300, there are also 35 Artist Proofs and (I think) some Publisher Proofs. But the entire print run for the HC is well below 400.

[Guest]

Is there any chance that either Fantagraphics or Dark Horse could reprint the HCs? It doesn't necessarily have to be a numbered and signed edition, just a well crafted set of books that look beautiful and feel nice to read. I like my TPBs, but since I lend them a lot I'm afraid they might not be in the best conditions in a few years, and I'd like to keep a good-looking set in my personal library .

Off-topic: perhaps I'm just a snob, but I think that the Spanish UY TPBs aren't as good as they could be: the editing and covers are nice, but they're using a very bad quality recycled paper which sucks away the ink (or toner or whatever they print it with) and clogs up the art. The last book (Círculos - Circles) had some scenes drawn in black with white lines (like the sunset in "The bridge") that looked awful (half of the lines were covered in black, and there was almost no difference between the second and he third panel). Also, some books didn't have their (translated) introduction.

[ziritrion]

That last post was me .

[Todd Shogun]

Such is the way when publishers need to cut down costs to turn a profit. Print quality and print runs usually suffer first. Too bad the Spanish editions are printed on low-quality newsprint. My advice would be to take it up with the publisher themselves. Perhaps reprinted volumes could end up on better paper. But expect to pay more. Remember way back when Albedo was $2.00 per issue. That was an outrageous price to pay for a comic book back then, but look at the print quality -- it was unmatched. But then the print runs were limited so that would also raise the price of the books.

[Stan Sakai]

Is there any chance that either Fantagraphics or Dark Horse could reprint the HCs?

Off-topic: perhaps I'm just a snob, but I think that the Spanish UY TPBs aren't as good as they could be: the editing and covers are nice, but they're using a very bad quality recycled paper which sucks away the ink (or toner or whatever they print it with) and clogs up the art.
Also, some books didn't have their (translated) introduction.

The biggest complaint I receive from libraries is that the tradepaperbacks do not last very long. So Dark Horse is looking into publishing lower cost hardcovers. Library sales have become a big part of their business, and the publishers want to keep the libraries happy. I'll let the Dojo know if the library hardcover project will happen.

As for the quality of the Spanish editions, send a letter to the the publisher. That is something beyond my control.

[ziritrion]

As for the quality of the Spanish editions, send a letter to the the publisher. That is something beyond my control.

OK, I will. I still think it's weird, because the first books were very well printed. Maybe they didn't sell so well and they had to lower costs as Todd said .

[takematsu]

I can't suggest any better remedies to the quality of the paper, but if one wants a set of great-looking hard-bound books and can't get them any other way (out of print, hundreds of thousands of dollars (and quite rightly!) on e-bay), here's some notions.

1) Take up book-binding as a hobby. Once you've got the shop set up, it's not a HUGE exercise to convert the TPB into a high-class hard-cover. I'm getting close to the point where I'm willing to risk wrecking a less-rare copy or two to perfect the technique....
Expensive set-up, but if it's something you find you enjoy anyway, it's mostly non-comsumable items (workbench, press, knives).

2) Find someone local who already has started binding. I suspect that this is easier in Europe than North America. Of course, you have to see if they're any good, and since it's "just a comic" they might not care so much about the quality of their work. Depending on circumstance, this should cost somewhere between "somewhat less" and "gobs less" than option one, and if you DON'T feel like being a binder, likely the best bet.

3) Go to a small commercial bindery. These guys do things like bind a year's worth of periodicals into a single volume for libraries, or theses for grad students. If you're getting several TBP's bound at once, it's probably the least expensive option, but the results will show it-- unlike the previous two, this will use horribly modern techniques which result in less durable volumes. They also tend to produce less flexible spines, so it can be hard to read some of the material down by the spine (unless you overflex the book, damaging the glue, and engendering the problem with durability).

4) Be a wierdo and learn to do Japanese binding with presentation boxes (look for the book by Kojiro Ikegami called Japanese Book-Binding;it's got all the tricks). This doesn't produce a hard cover so much as a soft-cover in a nice box, but it's pretty appropriate to the material, and the equipment is a lot less expensive than for the "normal" kind of binding.

[Dranatha]

Stan,

How much do you sell the hard covers for? Are they at collecter prices on the old ones or are they still at regular price? Having recently finish my Usagi comic book collection , I am now collecting all your S&N hard covers.

Thanks,

Dranatha

[Stan Sakai]

Stan,

How much do you sell the hard covers for? Are they at collecter prices on the old ones or are they still at regular price? Having recently finish my Usagi comic book collection , I am now collecting all your S&N hard covers.

Thanks,

Dranatha

The Dark Horse books are cover price. I raised the prices of the Fantagraphics books so they are on par with the Dark Horse prices, but they are still generally lower than collectors' prices.