The Agatha Christie Book Collection by Hachette Partworks

Laura Ann

I was wondering if anyone here subscribes to this series of Agatha Christie books? They come two a month, I believe, and are facsimiles of first editions. Each book also comes with an accompanying magazine, unique to that title, with other information and trivia. Unfortunately, this series is not available in the U.S. Is anyone here lucky enough to subscribe to this series and, if so, how do you like it? How is the quality of the books? Just curious.

johnwaynefreak

Only the wrappers are facsimiles, the body of the text is a new typeset (I only bought the first couple to see what they were like - that was two years ago - but if memory serves, spelling errors were plentiful).

As is the case with most partworks, you're better off buying the books from a shop yourself and then cherrypicking some decent biographies / guides to add your shelf.  And the magazine has the usual pages taken up with a breakdown of the characters, the plot, etc;  pleasant enough as a filler but not really necessary for anyone intending to actually read the book.

Give it another couple of years and complete sets will be going for under £50 on eBay (and in true partwork fashion, the vast majority probably still in the cellophane!)

Laura Ann

Thank you so much for the review! I had guessed that the magazines might not have much substance, but the books not being a real facsimile is very disappointing. And spelling errors would make me crazy. I don't feel so bad now that I'm not able to subscribe to this. 

Do you happen to know anything about the HarperCollins facsimile books? They also are not available in the U.S., so I've never seen them. I thought it would be fun to buy one or two special titles, and have them shipped over the pond, but only if they are well done.

Laura Ann

johnwaynefreak

The Harper Collins facsimiles are lovely - all a uniform size, many a fair bit smaller than the genuine first editions (and obviously slimmer, as the publishers aren't quite so generous with the weight of the paper stock they use these days), but save the copyright page at the front, they use the same typesetting as the originals.  Indeed, it's nice to see how the layout of the books, fonts, etc. changed over the decades from 1920's "Styles".  You also see how the books go from trying to sell other authors in the crime genre on the inside flaps of the dustjackets, to just promoting Christie's other works.

Even more pleasing is the fact that the binding replicates the original editions, so the boards are the correct colour and you get the Crime Club masked gunman on the spines rather than the Harper Collins logo.  The Harper Collins logo only appears on the cover in the form of an 'obi' style disposable wraparound for the lower half of the cover - this wrapper also has the barcode so as not to spoil the dustjacket.

Has to be said, they do look lovely on the bookshelf.  I occasionally flick through them on the shelves in the bookshops over here to see what printing some of the titles are on; they appear to still be nearly all first printings, with only the ones you would expect to be big sellers on later issues (from memory, the facsimile of "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" is now on its fourth or fifth printing).  "And Then There Were None" is the only one that isn't all it could be - after all, if Waterstone's can sell "Tintin in the Congo" in the Children's section (albeit sealed and with an explanatory slip), why can't the Crime section carry "Ten Little Niggers", even on the top shelf?  There is a webstore selling facsimile dust jackets at their original sizes, but annoyingly, they don't quite fit these editions - and so one has to stick with "And Then There Were None".

One word of warning: the "Round Robin" editions, "The Floating Admiral" and "Ask A Policeman" aren't quite to the same standard (glossy boards and non-facsimile covers).

Hope this helps you, Laura Ann.  I'm sure you won't regret any you pick up.

Laura Ann

Thank you so much, JWF, for this detailed and thoughtful review of the HarperCollins Facsimiles. They sound like they were carefully produced and something most Christie fans would love to own. I would especially enjoy seeing them lined up on a bookshelf! I think a few would make a nice addition to my collection. I greatly appreciate your review as it's very hard to tell from a picture online what a book is like. It's so much nicer to hold it in your hand. (One of many reasons it's sad that bookstores are vanishing. I have the same problem with ordering sheet music online, but, unfortunately, there are hardly any stores selling it left.)

Thanks again!

ClayinCA

I didn't realize there was that much difference between the Hachette facsimiles and the Harper Collins ones; since the price is about the same, I think I'll continue importing the Harper Collins books.  Thanks very much for the heads-up, johnwaynefreak!

QuestionMark

Hi there!

I was wondering if any of you could tell me the difference between the Harper Collins facsimile editions and those published as part of the partworks collection.

I have been scouring the internet for details, but I cannot find what I am looking for. Am I correct in understanding that the books that came with the bi-weekly collection are only facsimiles in terms of their dust jacket? What about the book itself, then?

Can anyone perhaps provide some pictures (or a link) to illustrate the difference?

I am about to purchase a large collection off of eBay and I want to make sure I am buying the right thing.

Thanks!