PLEASE NOTE: Discount codes and coupons do not apply for Little, Big purchases.
By John Crowley
ISBN: 9780963363756
The 40th anniversary edition. The author's preferred text.
Featuring the extraordinary art of Peter Milton, and with a long, previously unpublished essay by Harold Bloom.
John Crowley’s beloved novel Little, Big is without doubt among the greatest works of the imagination created during the last century. In publishing a deluxe, 40th Anniversary Edition of this masterpiece, our goal was twofold: First, we wanted to fulfill the author’s dream of how the book should be presented, by creating an edition that in every respect, from beauty of design to accuracy of text to excellence of manufacture, would reflect all the artistry, insight, imagination, and care that John Crowley poured into every sentence of Little, Big. And second, we wanted to create an edition that fans of the book would cherish, an edition that will be a joy to behold and to read, an edition made to last several lifetimes.
The interior design of the first edition of Little, Big, published by Bantam Books in 1981 (and duplicated in the current HarperCollins edition), is certainly quite striking. Yet its sensibility is late Victorian, whereas Crowley’s design conception for the book has always been art nouveau. Incunabula has brought together the production team of editor Ron Drummond and book designer John D. Berry to create, in close consultation with John Crowley, that ideal edition of Little, Big.
It’s an ideal that very much includes art. The 40th Anniversary Edition features superb reproductions of over three hundred details from the drawings, etchings, engravings, and prints of Peter Milton, an artist whom John Crowley feels to be ideally suited to Little, Big. With loving care, we have interwoven Crowley’s words with Milton’s images to create a tapestry full of subtle and surprising resonances, a uniquely revealing concatenation of the work of two modern masters.
The finishing touch comes with a long, ruminative Afterword to Little, Big written especially for the edition by one of the novel’s greatest admirers, Harold Bloom, the Yale humanities professor and bestselling author of The Western Canon and Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.
Of course, such an embarrassment of riches deserves nothing less than the finest book manufacturing that money can buy. We are confident we have provided just that.
Three Graces
The 40th Anniversary Edition is actually three editions, one for every collector’s budget. All three editions exemplify the highest standards of book production, with acid-free papers, cloths, and sewn bindings. Please note that these are pre-order options and shipping info will be available later this fall.
Trade Edition
2,800 copies
$125 (+ $10 handling charge)
Unsigned, unnumbered edition. Mohawk Superfine acid-free paper, full cloth over boards, sewn bindings, dustjacket, 800 pp.
Numbered Edition
300 copies
$300 Sold out in 2009
Numbered, signed by the author and artist. Both the Numbered and Lettered Editions include a never-before-published short story by John Crowley related to Little, Big that is not included in the Trade Edition. The first 25 numbers were reserved by the publisher. After that, numbers were assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Mohawk Superfine acid-free paper, full cloth, sewn bindings, dustjacket, slipcase, 820 pp.
Lettered Edition
26 copies
$900 Sold out in 2007
Lettered, signed by the author, artist, book designer, and publisher. Both the Numbered and Lettered Editions include a never-before-published short story by John Crowley related to Little, Big that is not included in the Trade Edition.
Furthermore, each buyer of the Lettered Edition was asked to specify their favorite 350-word passage from Little, Big. John Crowley then inscribed the book personally to the buyer, and copied out, in his incredibly fine italic hand, on two facing pages in the book, the selected 350-word passage from the novel. Every one of the twenty-six copies is thus unique.
The first six letters were reserved by the publisher. The remaining twenty letters were offered for subscription on a first-come, first-served basis.
Mohawk Superfine acid-free paper, full cloth, sewn bindings, dustjacket, slipcase, 820 pp.
"Suppose One Were a Fish" Art Poster (Available Now!)
100 Copies
$20 (+ $5 handling)
A gorgeously created poster incorporating samples of the text as well as the visual art of this new edition available to ship immediately. Poster dimensions are 25" x 38". Please note that posters may be untrimmed and may include crop or other marks in the corners and a duotone color bar outside the image area. View full size PDF here.