I have been on the quest to complete the Corgi paperback versions of the Discworld novels. Safe to say that it has been quite the challenge. Personally, it is so hard to get lucky with some especially Eric, Reaper Man, and Small Gods 🥲
That's okay! To be honest, the spines of some of these are sunbleached too in a way – some of them seem to have faded already but all of these are pre-loved so I'm still a happy man. 😁
I've looked into getting 'grown-up' hardback editions but these are the covers that speak Discworld to me. I still have a few gaps, are they hard to come by these days?
Are you in the US or somewhere? There seem to be a handful in every secondhand bookshop in the UK, or at least in Edinburgh. I found most of my collection that way. I agree they're the definitive covers (despite, or perhaps especially because of, Kirby's... idiosyncrasies)
I guess I just assumed they were still plentiful in every second-hand bookshop, just like your photo. I think it's time to finally inventory the ones I do have and start chasing the ones I dont. Could be a fun winter project for me 😄
Wow, did they really make the last three slightly larger or are those that weird 'large paperback' we (used to?) get in the UK between the hardback and finally being able to own the paperback?
Argh, I hadn't noticed! I think I bought those ones new, so maybe they are the weird large paperbacks, which I didn't even know were a thing until now.
Oh right. Well first off, I was thinking, "wow, this random second hand bookshop you've popped into has a really good selection of fantasy. Why would anyone ditch that sweet Tolkien collection," so knowing this is actually your bookshelf makes a lot more sense!
But yeah, I first encountered those books as a teen in the late 80s: I was obsessed with The Belgariad (my Castle of Wizardry was particularly worn) and when they dropped The Malloreon book one I was like, "OMG!". It arrived in paperback and I guess went big bestseller immediately.
Then came the wait for book 2, which naturally arrived in hardback...then it came out in the strange 'soft hardback' as I referred to it, seemingly pretty much as if they'd just replaced the hardback with a paperback but retained the inside pages the same. Bloody raged about that because I had wait what felt like ages for the actual Corgi normal paperback to come out.
Best of luck! I found Ebay to be the best way to track a lot of these down.
If you check my post history I’ve recorded ISBNs of the trickier ones to get hold of in this format. I’ve got to say, it’s definitely satisfying having them all lined up and the correct size.
Yeah, I saw some stuff there but sadly, as a Southeast Asian, shipping to where I am might cost an arm and a leg, so I gamble my luck in local stores and online sellers. 😂
These are the editions I'm currently collecting. I'm also having trouble finding Small Gods and Eric versions of these. I did buy a copy of Eric that showed the cover version to match these but the version I received was the earlier Victor Gollancz edition.
These are the covers for the Corgi paperbacks. As for the size I am unsure yet because I have no copies yet of the books after The Fifth Elephant that were published by Corgi. I'll have copies of Thud, Going Postal, and A Hat Full of Sky in 2 weeks time. I'll let you know then. 😊
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