(If you haven't seen the introductory material at the "parent" page of this page, please read it at some point.)
There are at least two other original binding formats, quite similar to one another. Instances of these bindings appear from time to time... usually at much higher prices than the versions I describe elsewhere.
As the psalm says, "These things are too high for me". Copies of the Winnie-The-Pooh books in these superior bindings appear on the market at prices of $15,000 or more.
This page needs some editing... but the very special specials seem to have been....
I said two "special specials", because the large size, handmade paper, double signed, limited copies came in a vellum binding and/ or a cloth boards with a paper label. (I've seen one... they're nicer than that sounds. The printing of the text was done with the same plates as for the other bindings, by the way... hyou just get wider margins) "Japon" paper(?)... or is that "Japanese vellum"?... for the vellum binding, at least. The cloth bound copies had a dust jacket.
In the image above, from left to right, we have the vellum bound large format limited version, the cloth bound, handmade paper, large format limited version (in its dustjacket), and an ordinary trade binding, in its dustjacket. (The color may be poorly rendered in this image.)
On the left, the deluxe version, on the right the trade version.
Perhaps in this close up, it is easier to see the more generous margin in the deluxe version? (I apologise to it for the poor image... I assure you that it looks nicer in real life than it does here!)
As I said... the plates used to do the printing were the same for the trade binding and for the deluxe versions... but for the two deluxe bindings, the text and illustrations were printed on larger sheets.
I've seen bookseller listings saying that these versions of the books were limited to the following numbers... The first is for listings specifying the vellum, the second for the cloth-with-label version. (I do, by the way, try to apply a "quality filter" to what I harvest from the internet, sticking mostly to information from sites I believe to be carefully compiled.)
(** Logic suggests that 20 "super" copies of When We Were Very Young were also produced... but I have yet to see one listed at Abebooks)
Interesting "odd" variations turn up too... "out of series" copies... i.e. of the vellum binding, as the numbered copies, but without a number. (Presumably the binders made up a few spare, in case of accidents, and while there were only 20 issued with a number, the "spares" were not put on a bonfire. Why would they be?)
I've also seen copies of the books in the usual size, but with one of the plates from one of the "ne plus ultra" variants bound in. Maybe the original suffered some horrible accident, but the limitation plate survived?
And now you can return to the page with an overview of collecting the Winnie-The-Pooh books from AA Milne and EH Shepard... or, if you came here from there, just close the tab or window this is in, and you should find the overview page underneath it.
Editor's email address for comments or questions.
Page TO BE tested for compliance with INDUSTRY (not MS-only) standards, using the free, publicly accessible validator at validator.w3.org. Mostly passes. There were two "unknown attributes" in Google+ button code. Sigh.
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