- Slab-serif "Egyptian" face
- generous line spacing
- full justification
- gentle contrast between off-white and yellow-green
- same apparent weight of text
- matte finish hardcover
- label applied to surface
- face too light
- gloss finish hardback
- bold contrast between white and kelly green
- ragged edge
- reverse-shadowed Roman face
- descender overlaps ascender (line spacing too tight)
- Same size
Andrew Henry's Meadow - comparison
Comparison of the covers for Doris Burn's 1965 classic "Andrew Henry's Meadow" and the 2nd edition, published in 2005. The new edition is available for $12.99 at www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0970739923. The first edition, long out of print, is regularly available on eBay for around $20-30.
This was my absolute favorite book as a child and holds a very special place in my heart. The new edition is very welcome, especially in a durable format at an affordable price. I plan to give away many of these as gifts. I am mildly disappointed, however, in the design changes (which thankfully do not extend into the body of the book and its absolutely MARVELOUS illustrations.)
UPDATE: for the 2012 edition, see www.flickr.com/photos/dystopos/7224300414/in/photostream
Comments and faves
King Power Cinema (83 months ago | reply)
Nice post John. After reading it at your house a while back, I can see why you dig it so much.
lexly87 aka Duc N. Ly (83 months ago | reply)
this is a great display of book collecting. it's so hard to spot first editions thank you!
ameliabee added this photo to their favorites. (69 months ago)
King Power Cinema (39 months ago | reply)
My copy is the Weekly Reader version, and the cover is green with the font of the first edition. It says 1965, so it may be a Weekly Reader thing.
Dystopos (39 months ago | reply)
The first edition was published by Weekly Reader.
King Power Cinema (39 months ago | reply)
Cool! Apparently there is a film being made from it. I could see that as being a good thing or a bad thing. It may be obscure enough to where it could be a good thing to really develop the characters during their time in the meadow, since the book kind of glosses over what they actually do there for four days.
Which house would you want? I'd want the treehouse or the bridge house. The tree house would be nice, but it would become a pain to get in and out.
Dystopos (39 months ago | reply)
I'm fond of Andrew's own house.
I'm not sure the film is still being developed. Zach Braff was supposed to have been working on a script with his brother, but I never heard that anything came of it. Hard for me to imagine it being very good unless it were very different.
Fancy Horse (33 months ago | reply)
" I plan to give away many of these as gifts."
Be sure and save one for Tyler, and for your own children if and/or whenever. :-)