Gilt-edged Parables
- By : Nat
- Category : Classic finds, Reviews
The other day, a copy of The Parables of Peanuts, Robert Short’s follow-up to his best-selling The Gospel According to Peanuts, arrived in my mailbox. Now, I already have a copy or two of this in AAUGH.com reference library, but not this edition; this is the leather-covered, gilt-edge version.
This is one of Easton Press’s productions. They take books being put out to the regular market by other publishers and do these upscale editions. They’ve done a fair number of Peanuts books, but because I’m not an every-edition collector (except for A Charlie Brown Christmas books, of course), I haven’t felt the need to send upscale money their way. Sure, I got one, because I found one at less than list price. And then I had to get a copy of their edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition. But I only picked up the Parables book because it was at auction for less than a quarter of its original selling price – and in this case, it’s in perfect condition because it’s still shrinkwrapped – and likely to remain that way. If I’m going to ready a copy, I’d prefer to put my stress on an already comfortably-read paperback than one.
But it’s that sort of thinking that makes them more valuable as a collectible and less valuable as a book. Maybe that’s mostly me – I don’t surround myself with things of vast financial value; I’d rather not spend my time worrying that I’d do something stupid and destroy them. I’m a junky watch, used car, cheap sneakers kind of guy. I don’t mind paying extra for sturdiness or features – just make them functional features, not flash. But I gotta admit, the book looks real solid in its leather cover, like something that is supposed to be taken seriously.
Easton Press hasn’t come out with any new Peanuts books in their latest catalog. They no longer have their edition of Parables in print. They do, however, still have a number of other Peanuts books available, including a set of the first five volumes of The Complete Peanuts for $375.
(Meanwhile, if you’re looking for something functional: today’s deal is on a Swiss Army Knife gift set for $29.99. You don’t get much more functional than that.)
