Trotter wrote:
Yes it has, another 420 copies were reprinted, I expect it to be reprinted as it goes out of print and there are still demands for the book.

copy numbers from correspondence with HC.

Thanks for that, Trotter. If anyone here gets a copy, it would be interesting to know who the printer is, and if it has a statement of reprinting.

As I suspected, the reprint of Tales from the Perilous Realm is printed in China and does not have a correct numberline. The numberline is "I".

I'm getting a bit sick of HarperCollins doing this with the Deluxe Range. It may not be deliberate dishonesty, but it completely goes against accepted convention, and it is a huge negative for collectors.

I have received from a friend collector some photos of this edition. The book reports that it's a first edition, but if you look carefully the logo on the book, this is different: only yellow instead that red and yellow.

Probably it's a reprint? What do you think?

Good eyes, I can confirm mine is gold only and I supplied the picture above with the "Printed and bound in China." The signed version with different ISBN has the red. So the question is whether the first printing of the unsigned also has the red and gold.

And of course the booksellers are using the stock footage showing the red and gold. But nothing is worse than roxy media using the super deluxe image to sell the deluxe.

The "Printed in China" statement undoubtedly indicates that it is a reprint, (irrespective of the lack of red foil on the book cover -- that is interesting though, as I didn't realise they deleted the red foil when they reprinted).

To answer Tapuvae's question, the first printing of the unsigned version also has the red/gold foil. There is no difference whatsoever (other than the added signature and different "information sheet") between the two versions of the first printing. They are the same book, printed at the same time.

It is frustrating that HarperCollins doesn't care about correct number-lines on the deluxe reprints. Fortunately the Chinese printing makes them fairly easy to detect.

Is there any way to tell, from a sealed copy, whether it would be a first edition or a later one?

I know the foil stamping is a different colour on the China edition, but that is on the inner cover, not the out board (on which the foil seems to be same across all editions).

If I get this, I would prefer the first edition, or even a later edition, as long as it wasn't the China edition, simply because of the 3-foil stamping and the quality of the pages and binding that, as I understand, are better in the original edition.

The only way that I know how to tell, is that if you buy the Alan Lee signed version it has a different ISBN which is visible through the sealed wrapping.

The ISBN is 978-0-00-723715-9 (978-0-00-728618-8 is the unsigned edition and the later reprints).

All the signed version are first printings, and are not printed in China.

With clarifying that all the TftPR reprints are Chinese; If it isn't Chinese, it is a first print.

Awesome! Thanks so much Trotter and Stu. This is exactly the information I was looking for.

You two rock \m/