I've mentioned more than a few times before how a set of book's spine design is one of the most important things to me (I still haven't purchased a Masterwork since they changed spine design the other year). A nice matching spine can make me purchase a set of books I'd not otherwise bother with and equally it can send me insane when something doesn't match its peers.
This week thanks to the Epic threads I finally broke down and ordered all eleven volumes of the Complete Clone Saga/Ben Reilly Epic books. All the Ben Reilly books that have arrived so far (waiting for #1) have a nice uniform look to them. However, of the three Clone books to arrive so far, they are all different.
Volume 1 - 2nd print 2012 - dark blue spine, white on red MARVEL
Volume 3 - 1st print 2010 - light blue spine, red on white MARVEL
Volume 5 - 1st print 2011 - dark blue spine, red on white MARVEL
I can just about live with the MARVEL being different but to have a totally different spine colour on the 2nd print! Why? Why would they do that? Second prints don't usually change colour, do they?
I know this is a danger of buying sight unseen online rather than using a LCS but these aren't exactly cheap. It's cost me nearly £250 for these books.
It's enough to make me send all three books back to Amazon and just keep the Ben Reilly books even if they are the inferior storyline as I can't stand to see that colour discrepancy on my shelf. This happens so often I sometimes think that people in charge of collections just do not understand this kind of collector mentality that is more interested in spine and trade dress than linework and art restoration. But my money's as good as anyone else's. End of rant.
