THE PASSENGER AND STELLA MARIS: THE PICADOR OVERRATED ADVANCE READING COPIES SET

*The Passenger & Stella Maris, advance reading copies, set 57 out of 230, in slipcase.*

The Passenger & Stella Maris, limited advance reading copies of the boxed English edition, slipcased.

Picador, London, 2022.

Advance reading copies of the boxed English editions. Two volumes. Hardcovers, 20,6 x 13,5 cm., 381 and 189 numbered pages with numbers appearing only on the odd-numbered pages. Publisher’s red cloth lettered in black and white for The Passenger, blue cloth lettered in black and white for Stella Maris. No dust jacket as issued. Front panels of both books read “Limited edition proof”. The Passenger’s spine states “October 2022” as the date of publication, while Stella Maris’ spine states “November 2022”. Both volumes have “57/230” handwritten in black ink on the title page. Enclosed in a plastic clear slipcase lettered in white which lists on the lower side “6th December 2022” as the date of publication and “£50.00” as price.

CONDITION: fine books in a near fine box.

Issued in 230 copies at £50.

Despite the fact that the books state “uncorrected proof”, this is actually a set of advance reading copies produced to promote the boxed edition issued by Picador, as suggested by the info printed on the slipcase bottom. The most of the 230 sets were allocated to Waterstones, the others were distributed by Picador agents to indipendent bookstores.

Apparently, the books were printed before the decision to delay the publication of Stella Maris, as Stella Maris still states “November 2022” on the spine and “22nd November 2022” on the back panel, as the date of publication.

COLLECTING TOPICS: an uncommon advance item, with the first copies to appear on the market fetching very high prices, ranging between $1,600 and $2,000. Prices are beginning to lower, and fine copies can now be found for around $1,000.