The internet gets bigger all the time

spanishOnce in a while I go poking around the internet trying to fill in the gaps in my knowledge about all the editions of Ruth Chew’s books.

Sometimes it pays off, because the internet gets bigger all the time.

Today I found THREE books for sale on a Spanish site called TodoColeccion. I’ve never seen them in person OR online before. I think I’ve managed to order them.

I also found a better image of No hay nada como una bruja on a Mexican site that appears to be similar in function to craigslist. Since I don’t live in Mexico and thus can’t meet up with the seller in person, I’m doubtful I’ll get to buy that one.

In pursuit of an elusive “Lectorum Publications” Spanish edition, I discovered what I think is a price arbitrage seller on the Amazon Marketplace. The reply to my request for more information about the book for sale was immediate and completely unhelpful, I assume because the seller doesn’t actually have the book… I think if I bought from quality7, the seller would go and buy a copy elsewhere to sell to me (at a huge profit). I guess this sort of thing accounts for those crazy prices you see on Amazon marketplace sometimes…

amazon

 

New books shipping Jan 28!

new-books-jan-2014 Two more of Random House’s reissues of Ruth Chew’s books are about to be available. Next to be released in paper-and-ink copies (hardcover and paperback and library hardcover) are The Trouble with Magic and Magic in the Park. Released as an e-book omnibus are The Wishing Tree, The Magic Coin, and The Magic Cave, collectively titled Three Wishing Tales.

Order The Trouble with Magic
at Amazon
at Barnes and Nobleicon
at Book Depository
via Indiebound

Order Magic in the Park
at Amazon
at Barnes and Nobleicon
at Book Depository
via Indiebound

Updated website launched!

old-homepageYou may have seen this website looking like the picture on the left as recently as yesterday. But now the design and technology have been updated a bit. Welcome to the new version of the site!

There’s now a MailChimp subscribe widget in the right-hand column. You can sign yourself up for the e-mail announcement list there. If you sign up, you won’t get daily or weekly messages; the list will be used to announce when new books are going to be coming out.

Do let me know if you have suggestions for improvements.

Big news!

new-books Ruth Chew’s books are going to be republished! Two of them (No Such Thing as a Witch and What the Witch Left) are shipping NOW!

Read the PW announcement:
Random House to Reissue Ruth Chew’s Fantasy Oeuvre

Read Elizabeth Bluemle’s PW Shelftalker interview with Random House v-p and publishing director Mallory Loehr:
The Return of Ruth Chew!

Buy What the Witch Left
at Amazon
at Barnes and Nobleicon
at Book Depository
via Indiebound

Buy No Such Thing as a Witch
at Amazon
at Barnes and Nobleicon
at Book Depository
via Indiebound

Collection status

IMG_3400The ruthchew.com book collection recently grew with the addition of some new old books and the new Random House books. Here are all of the books in the collection together.

The new books are at the front on the left; the stories not written by Ruth Chew are at the front on the right, and the translations are the leftmost column (those black ones with the glittery spines are all Japanese). The rest are all hardcovers and paperbacks from different years representing Ruth Chew’s 29 stories for children in English spanning the 30 years from 1969 to 1999.

Most of the books in the collection are distinct in some detail; many of the paperback books are similar but have different ISBNs, slightly different covers or cover prices, or have a different print run encoded on the copyright page.

Sometimes it’s tricky to buy an exact edition because online booksellers will list a book for sale under the ISBN of a slightly different edition. This happens especially in the case of the older books, which don’t have ISBNs of their own!

If you’re interested in collecting Ruth Chew books, too, have a look at the information for collectors.

Forthcoming e-book omnibus: Three Wishing Tales

Three Wishing TalesInside the new copies of No Such Thing as a Witch and What the Witch Left, I saw that there were not one but two e-book omnibuses being promoted.

The second one, which I assume is going to be released with the next two paper-and-ink books in January 2014, is called Three Wishing Tales, and will contain The Wishing Tree, The Magic Coin, and The Magic Cave.

Random House has some more information available here:

http://www.randomhousekids.com/books/detail/223669-three-wishing-tales-a-matter-of-fact-magic-collection-by-ruth-chew

Unboxing the six new Random House books

IMG_3404 IMG_3410 IMG_3409IMG_3416Today I got the six books I ordered from Amazon. Why six? Because for each of the paper-and-ink titles, What the Witch Left and No Such Thing as a Witch, there is a paperback, a hardcover with dust jacket, and a hardcover with no dust jacket (that’s the library edition).

The hardcovers have the original cover art on the covers under the dust jackets (see left!).

The library hardcovers are “case binding”, the kind of binding you think of on textbooks. Glossy paper over cardboard. And, like I said, no dust jackets (see below).

IMG_3415 IMG_3414IMG_3405Which should you buy? Obviously if you just want to read the story, you can buy the cheap paperbacks, or even the corresponding e-books, but if you’re nostalgic for the originals, go for the hardcovers!

About the interiors of the books:

The books have a page of teaser text at the front for the story you’re holding, and longer teasers for each other in the back (a few pages from the beginning of chapter 1 of What the Witch Left; all of chapter 1 from No Such Thing as a Witch).

The text has been re-typset; these are not cheap facsimile versions where they basically photocopy an old book and reprint that. It’s a new font and new chapter headings. New linebreaks and layouts and all that.

All the original interior illustrations are there; I checked! Actually, they’ve been given more space on the page than they had before.

There are half-title pages as well as title pages in these versions; frontmatter styles as well as marketing styles have changed in the last four decades. The original dedications remain, either on the copyright page (No Such Thing) or on a separate dedication page (What the Witch Left).

I think the biggest surprise for me was seeing the back covers and spines, because of course nowhere online do you see those. There’s a kind of woven background texture that’s light blue (No Such Thing) or light teal (What the Witch Left). It’s on all three formats.

The spines say Random House, of course, but they look odd to me because I’ve got so many copies of these books that say SBS and Scholastic on the edge!

I still can’t believe they’re real. And there are are more to come!

Paperbacks front and back:

IMG_3402 IMG_3403

Library hardcovers front and back:

IMG_3406 IMG_3407(大型)(組立済)水槽台 ウッドキャビ ダークブラウン 900×450 90cm水槽用(キャビネット)
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(業務用20セット) コニシ 尿石とれーる 1L
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610ベンチ型 カムシェルビングセット 61×122×H214cm 4段

Happy October!

OctoberIt’s October and people are starting to pick out their costumes for Halloween. Why not get in the mood with a Ruth Chew story? Witches, black cats, flying broomsticks, big cauldrons, and magic, magic, magic![5173]【メーカー直送のため代引不可】 ラギオール ワイン ワインオープナー ラギオール?アン?オブラック マンモスクラストアイボリー 120×28×15(収納時) 1本 ステンレス、マンモスの
【中古】 COBOL 最新の傾向に即して「2種のコボル」を完全解説 ’91年度版 / 新田 雅道 / ナツメ社 [単行本]【メール便送料無料】【あす楽対応】
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New old books in the collection

newoldbooksI have ordered and received some used books that will fill in holes in the collection.

Two are really mangled ex-library books, and two are somewhat mangled ex-library books, but some of the hardcover editions are just really hard to get and expensive in ANY condition, so…

The copy of No Such Thing as a Witch is in great shape, though, as are the two pictorial hardcovers and almost all the paperbacks.

Total cost: about US$150, or about $10 each on average, including US shipping.直送・代引不可姫系カラフルローチェスト/収納タンス 【4段 ピンク×取っ手:おまかせ/全12個】 幅120cm 日本製 【完成品】【代引不可】別商品の同時注文不可
10個セット タジン鍋 黒金彩タジン鍋(小)(萬古焼) [ 16.7 x 14cm ] 料亭 旅館 和食器 飲食店 業務用
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New books ship today!

ShippingShipping starting today are the first two Random House paper-and-ink re-issues, No Such Thing as a Witch and What the Witch Left, as well as the e-book collection containing Witch’s Cat, The Witch’s Buttons, and The Witch’s Garden!

If you pre-ordered the books, look for them soon!

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