At the prospect of having this book
2 February 2014
We are very happy to announce that, as of yesterday afternoon, and with the exception of a few placeholders on the Copyright page and in the Colophon at the end, we have completed our work on the interior of our new edition of Little, Big — on what will soon be the book itself, in Lettered, Numbered, and Trade editions. All 808 pages of the Trade edition and all 828 pages of the Lettered and Numbered editions are now in final form.
It’s been a long haul. And there’s still plenty of work to do. But let me begin with a summary of the work completed since our last update.
On December 4, 2013, we finalized the Limited and Trade versions of 9.0, “The Art of Peter Milton”, with their index of and bibliographic citations for the editions’ 335 art reproductions.
On January 4, 2014, I finished the first extended revision of the print specifications for Little, Big in over three years, and sent it off to John D. Berry, who met with reps from a major printer on January 7th. We received an initial bid from them on January 28th and FedEx delivered a box of samples of their work on January 30th; they make an impressive case. Over the next couple of weeks, we anticipate seeking bids from three other printers as well, and will take the time necessary (probably no more than a few weeks) to evaluate the offerings of each, before hiring one to do a complex and challenging print production job.
We finalized 0.2, the front matter of the novel per se (including the four-page Table of Contents), on January 26th; the Limited and Trade versions of 10.0, “The 25th Anniversary Edition of Little, Big”, which serve as the Colophon containing information about the history and production of the Editions, details of its typography, design, physical specifications and manufacture, and the Editions’ credits and acknowledgments, on January 27th and 28th; the Limited and Trade versions of 0.1, the front matter of the volume as a whole, on January 28th; and the two four-page End Sheets, which include the Family Tree (set to appear on the inside front and back cover boards), on January 30th.
Next: creation of the dust jackets, followed by a month or so of printer negotiations and the preparation of financial documents and instruments.
We’re close!
We’re grateful to all those who made this moment possible.
Please: Stay tuned.
Best Wishes,
Ron Drummond
Publisher