We Have Always Lived in The Castle

The Folio Summer Magazine shares the below illustration of a "beguiling cat" from an upcoming FS book about "an unsettling 1960s mystery." Just for fun: does anyone have an idea regarding what the book might be?

'The Case of the Badly Drawn Cat'?

Alternatively, 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' by Shirley Jackson, which is narrated by a girl called Merricat, who has a pet cat called Jonah. Written in 1962, I think that would count as unsettling and could be a welcome second instalment in a Shirley Jackson series. Might be the same illustrator as The Haunting of Hill House - foliage style is similar ...

>2 red_guy: That's a convincing guess! I read The Haunting of Hill House recently (my first Shirley Jackson, actually) so this is probably a good book to follow it up with.

EDIT: Just found this older cover of the book with a similar vibe -

I hope it is We Have Always Lived in the Castle! That would be fabulous!

Thanks for the info.

It is confirmed to be We Have Always Lived in The Castle. Available in both a standard and limited edition.

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle.html

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle-limited-editi...

Perhaps we could update the thread title?

Psychic abilities confirmed. Next demonstration : Euromillions draw on Friday.

These are what I think of as pseudo LEs, typically released at the same time as the SE with a limitation page, a signature and an outrageous price tag.

>7 ubiquitousuk: Perhaps we could update the thread title?

Done.

The email I got says the limited edition has a limitation of 250, but the Folio website is currently saying 500–I wonder which is correct?

>13 ambyrglow: On Instagram they've confirmed that the email is incorrect and there are 500 copies

>14 Bookworm5041: 499 now - I ordered mine fairly sharpish. As I bought Hill House last year, I was up for it. >10 folio_books: Well, different cover, the box, different endpapers, bound in cloth not paper, the inevitable print, foiled page tops and of course Donna Tartt's autograph (who knows - we may get a Folio Secret History now contact has been established!) and at the same £250 the last one went for. I think it's a reasonable offer - not like the Sharpes.

>15 red_guy:

Yeah, I bought Hill House last year as an LE but wasn't convinced of the value. I'll settle for the SE this year but I'm waiting for the Autumn collection. I really dislike buying Folios one at a time, for postage reasons.

>16 folio_books: Yes, nothing worse than a poor lonely book; that's what helped me put Trainspotting into the basket for company.

>15 red_guy: A FS Secret History would definitely be a hit with a lot of people. I hope FS does it.

>17 red_guy:

When I bought Trainspotting I had to buy another to prevent lonely book syndrome. I chose Interpreter of Maladies. They're not going to catch me again so Lived in the Castle is going to have to wait until the Autumn Collection is released.

Looks like a nice presentation. I probably won't pick it up, but it really is a great story. Highly recommended.

Does anyone know if the Tartt afterword is a FS exclusive, or from a previous edition?

>20 PartTimeBookAddict:

from the blurb on the ordinary edition:-

Let Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle cast a spell on you. With an afterword by Donna Tartt written exclusively for this illustrated Folio Society edition.

>21 dfmorgan: Oh, great. It only says "new" on the LE version blurb. If anyone gets this if you could let me know how long the afterword is. It might sway me to pick it up.

>8 red_guy: I was going to say your guess was on point!

I appreciate that they saw how quickly the 250 copies of the Hill House LE sold out and increased the limitation to 500 this time around.

>23 BooksFriendsNotFood: If I remember correctly the 250 Hill House LE’s sold out in just under 1 hour so even given the 500 limitation this one is hanging around a lot longer as its going into a second day & not even a sighting of a ‘half sold’ banner !

>24 antinous_in_london: I was surprised too! Either this title is less popular among readers than Hill House or perhaps the increased limitation gives people more time to buy it at their own leisure?

>25 BooksFriendsNotFood: Hill House may be more well-known to the general public these days because of the 2018 Netflix series.

>25 BooksFriendsNotFood: I remember on Hill House from the minute it went live if you refreshed the page you could watch the stock counter ticking down as the copies flew off the shelves & i guess the FOMO then set in as lots of people saw it flying & made the jump.

I assumed this might be a ‘must buy’ for those who wanted it in series with the Hill House LE (though i also bought the previous LE & i haven't jumped yet - i cant seem to get up as much enthusiasm for it especially when , as mentioned above, i haven't got round to buying the Thucydides yet which to me offers much better value & future re-reading potential). I’m assuming now that all future Jackson offerings will have a LE version in a ‘house box’ just to lock people into the series.

>26 Betelgeuse: Hill House is one of the most influential horror books ever written and certainly one of the best known haunted house books. I realize my words don't do it justice or convey the respect it deserves.

>17 red_guy: 'Yes, nothing worse than a poor lonely book; that's what helped me put Trainspotting into the basket for company.'

Snap!
I was wondering what to get with Trainspotting and this was just perfect. I missed out on the Hill House LE so I'm glad to get this one.

I think the comparatively slow sale of the LE is to do with the higher limitation, plus the general slow deflation of the covid/lockdown Folio bubble.
Flipping LEs isn't quite the thing it was, and older books pop up at far more reasonable prices (e.g. a copy of Rogue Male for £28 the other day) than before. There are still a few poor souls imagining that their two volume Greek Myths is a passport to a happy retirement, but not so many.

It's a long time since I read The Secret History, but I was blown away by it at the time and have been wondering about another go - and although I'm not bothered with British autographs, having Ms Tartt and Joyce Carol Oates did push me to the LEs. Same with Gene Wolfe for New Sun.

>19 folio_books: >29 Cat_of_Ulthar: Amazing the mental gymnastics we can perform to 'save' £7.99!

>28 SDB2012: Oh, I agree, I was just saying the Netflix series (which I haven't seen) may have contributed to the rush to buy the FS edition. I've read Hill House and enjoyed it very much. Right up there with James' Turn of the Screw.

What do you think is the prime motivator for the price difference between the LE and SE? The signature? The case? The limitation itself?

Whatever the case, I do like the artwork in this one, and I may finally make the jump for both Jackson SEs because of this release. Dare I hope that they add The Sundial to the line next?

>25 BooksFriendsNotFood: It is possible that there was some speculation on Hill House, and that the increased limitation has deterred those who might have bought WHALITC with a view to moving it on fairly quickly for more than the published price.

There is also a long awaited oversized edition of this title coming from Centipede very shortly, so there may be fans that are choosing between the two publishers on this title.

>34 Shadekeep: I was thinking about this in a more general sense yesterday - I wasn't thinking about pricing so much as what distinguishes the two states apart from the limitation and/or signatures - and I think that the main difference between the SE and LE in a lot of FS offerings is just the design. And I think this often disappoints a lot of people because they're looking for premium materials or extra content but FS usually just provides a different cover which may be more attractive than the SE cover (although this is subjective depending on the person), a switch in binding material e.g. from paperbound to clothbound, a nice case, and a print — among other small things like unique endpapers or colored page edges, but these seem to be the biggies. Occasionally, the LE may also be slightly larger in size. So if price is not too large an obstacle, then the decision may simply be, "Which book do you find more beautiful in an aesthetic sense?"

Of course, the glaring exception here is The Turn of the Screw (TTOTS) LE which kept the design exactly the same as the SE but used leather binding with gold foiling and changed other small things like endpapers, clothbound slipcase vs paperbound, gilded pages edges, etc.

So maybe the design-based distinction is way off base and it's simply that paper binding to cloth binding is an extra $320. And $320 x 2 (to account for paper binding to leather binding in the TTOTS LE since we're skipping cloth entirely) = $640, and adding that to the $60 TTOTS SE price brings us somewhere in the ballpark of the $725 that the TTOTS LE costs. 😂

I read the following in an article discussing Hill House and Castle so this may also account for any difference in popularity (I believe this aligns with what other members have already mentioned):

"If you’ve already read Jackson’s most famous novel, or if you’d just like to start with something different, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is an excellent choice. I think it gets less academic and popular love than Haunting (which dovetails neatly with liminal gothic novels like Turn of the Screw and thus, I believe, show up on syllabi more frequently), but is perhaps the more interesting book."



Personally, I found Hill House perfect - and too scary for me to want to own, which helped me get over not having the LE haha - so I'm looking forward to reading Castle and hopefully also loving it!

So I'm reading Castle and uhhhh is it just me or do the Blackwoods have a picture of Hill House in their kitchen? 👀

>40 AlexBookshelfFrog: Very cool indeed.

>33 Betelgeuse: The netflix adaptation was excellent. Complete reimagining of the story that doesn't have much to do with the novel, but the guy who made it has put out some phenomenal horror and is probably the best at the doing the more "literary" style horror that generally doesn't translate well to screen.

>42 ClarenceBodicker: I will have to watch it

>43 Betelgeuse: Totally worth your time. Make sure you don't watch the second season (which in a similarly literary fashion was adapted from Turn of the Screw). It's still great but he didn't direct it. He also has a show called Midnight Masses that has a big King vibe but it works better than most of the King film adaptations because it retains the intensity in King's writing that never seems to translate to the screen.

>42 ClarenceBodicker: I did not like the Nextflix adaptation. I wanted to like it, and I did get through the entire series, but I thought they ruined the atmosphere, the story, and overall the characters were one-dimensional. My opinion of course.

The standard edition is reasonable at $75, and honestly I think the cover is better than the LE which is $395. What do you get for 5.26 times the cost? A magnetic box and print. Wow... this is a sad LE with no vision.

>45 astropi: I love the LE personally! I find the cover even more stunning in person, perhaps because it's so detailed. The clothbound binding makes it feel really nice to hold as well. The whole box + case is so gorgeous that I'm not even impressed by the Hill House LE anymore 😂 (which I have never owned, but I used to really like it).

>46 BooksFriendsNotFood: I'm glad you love it -- I want to love it, but I just do not see anything that particularly makes it "special" nor worthwhile. Compare this edition with the Arion Press "The Sundial" --
https://www.arionpress.com/store/91-the-sundial

Arion Press Edition: printed Letterpress, 15 full-color illustrations by Miles Hyman (Shirley Jackson's grandson), signed by Miles Hyman, 10.25 x 6.5" (significantly larger than the FS LE), 282 pages, limited to 300 copies, base price (without any discount) is $500. That, is a special book that I can easily recommend to everyone - it's magnificent.

>47 astropi: looks very nice. And I understand the craftsmanship involved in producing a letterpress. But why do they bound with a square back? I automatically balk at any FS book bound like that (reason I don't have any Clarke or the recent Rovelli), and probably would do the same for this. I know that for a book this thick there is no need to have a rounded back, but for me it's a very big no, just for aesthetic reasons.

>47 astropi: I've seen this before and I remember thinking that the illustrations were gorgeous!

The following will probably be a valiant but nevertheless horrible attempt to explain why FS works for me but a book like Arion Press's 'The Sundial' does not:

I think there are some book readers and collectors who appreciate what I shall call - just for the sake of this discussion since the terms I will proceed to use no doubt have actual definitions - "fine" or "fine press" books. These readers and collectors may appreciate things like: the craftsmanship of books, the look or feeling of something handmade, leather or half-leather bindings, letterpress, premium paper, marbled endpapers, etc.

And I'm assuming there are also some book readers/collectors like me. When I was into trade books, I would pay extra money and UK shipping just for beautiful sprayed/stencilled page edges or exclusive covers which look "better" than the regular cover. Several years ago, I once browsed the FS site and nothing really interested me because the titles were usually not what I was interested in and the covers weren't really my style either. Fast forward to 2022, and suddenly I found FS interesting (and I believe long-time FS customers had complaints). The beautiful Georgette Heyer and new Christie covers pulled me in and suddenly I started finding other beautiful books like Jaws, Black Panther, Murakami, etc. And going back to the discussion of Castle, I like the SE cover better than the Hill House SE cover, but it's still not something I'd feel the need to own, unlike the LE which makes me go all heart-eyes. I suppose if you take the kind of books I like and show it to a non-reader, it's something that even they would find attractive even though they wouldn't spend money on it or wish to read it?

These descriptions probably do an injustice to readers like myself and even more so to the "fine"/"fine press" readers, but I hope there is some vague thread of sense here. If not, I tried. 🥲

>49 BooksFriendsNotFood: Books tastes are like food tastes. If we each had $100 for a nice meal, maybe I’d get a nice steak from a steakhouse, while you might head to a Japanese restaurant and order sushi. Sure, they’re both the same budget, but I have no interest in sushi.

So yeah, $500 can get you a fine press copy of The Sundial from AP (which has been around for 13 years and hasn’t sold out btw), but what if, what if… most people don’t give a crap about that book?

Some people here struggle with this simple concept.

>50 What_What: That's a really great metaphor! Very concise too.

I'm glad there are a variety of publishers and presses so that most everyone's different tastes are catered to!

>52 BooksFriendsNotFood:

Absolutely!

>50 What_What: but what if, what if… most people don’t give a crap about that book?

I have the book. I've read the book. I don't give a crap about the book.

I love most of Shirley's work, but The Sundial bored me to death.

>51 AlexBookshelfFrog: That's my only complaint, no slipcase :(
I'm looking into getting one specially made, since I love the book. I feel it has not sold out yet because Arion Press typically does not cater to people without a huge wallet. At $500, The Sundial is an exception. Not cheap for sure, but it's less than 1/2 the price of most any recent Arion publication! Also, it was released before there was a big revival in Jackson's works, most notably because of the success of the Netflix series. If this had been released recently by Suntup, I bet it would be in the $700-800 range and quickly sell out.

>54 SDB2012: I also love Shirley Jackson, and The Sundial is my favorite work of hers. I feel it's underappreciated, and the "horror" aspect is minimal, but SO well done. The Sundial in fact had a big influence on Stephen King's The Shining, which was also influenced by Hill House. Anyway, different books for different folk :)

>55 astropi: It hasn’t sold out in 13 years because it’s too cheap?

If you have an subscription its even 30% more cheaper 🙂

>57 Ragnaroek: Indeed! Although I think most people (myself included) can not afford a subscription. Even so, I feel that $500 is a great deal for The Sundial.

>55 astropi:. The Sundial has gone on sale every year for quite a while. Last year for 30% off, previous years for 20-25% off.

>59 kdweber: Absolutely worth getting a copy, especially if you can snag it on sale. It's funny, the Suntup Hill House is now worth big bucks (I think someone sold a copy some months ago for $1500 although it might have been even more). However, as someone that had a copy of Suntup Hill House (I traded my copy long ago), I can assure you that the Arion Press is a far better value. The illustrations in The Sundial are gorgeous, the overall production values are superior to the Suntup edition. However, I feel that many people are not aware of the Arion edition, and to be fair it is not Jackson's better known work, although in my opinion her finest. That's my two cents for what it's worth :)

>59 kdweber: I am late to the party, but Sundial indeed looks very nice. Do you know what time of year these sales are normally to be expected?

>60 astropi:
In my opinion Suntups a book a month crusade is destroying the quality standard for some productions. There arent that much Master-Book-Craftsman available to do those 350 numbered and 1000 all the time for such an amount each month..

>61 ubiquitousuk: Same question here. I'd love to pick up The Sundial on sale.

>62 Ragnaroek: I think their quality is just as high as it was from the beginning, arguably even better. What has changed is that they release more books now then previously - about one book per month. As everyone knows, the FOMO has greatly dissipated. However, again I really think the quality of their work is excellent. In fact, for the price, it's hard to beat. Consider Life of Pi - a letterpress book with original illustrations AND signed by the author for under $200 = amazing!

>61 ubiquitousuk: >63 Shadekeep: They do a Booksgiving sale every year in November.

>65 AMindForeverVoyaging: Thanks kindly for the info!

>61 ubiquitousuk: >63 Shadekeep:, >65 AMindForeverVoyaging: is correct. Last years sale was 10 November through 30 November.

>48 dyhtstriyk: It is partly the spine that puts me off this book as well - not because of the square shape, but because it is uninspired. Most of the time, my interactions with books are walking past the shelves they are stored on, not reading them, so the design of the spine is critical for me. A typeset paper label cuts no mustard IMHO.

I will accept that the illustration depicted above does look superb, but I for one will always choose FS over Arion.

I have handled the fabled Arion Moby Dick a number of times (at auctions), and I don't really see the attraction of that book either. Yes, it is amazing inside, but I just don't get the binding. Although this may be partly because every copy I have seen has been badly sunned.

The vast majority of fine press books I have use flat spines. Around half have paper labels and the other half use printing directly onto the spine. So this aspect of the book doesn't put me off at all. Rounded spines sometimes give me pause however, because there are some publishers who use those to disguise a lack of fine bookmaking with artifice. Not naming names, but you know...

>62 Ragnaroek: >64 astropi: Please don’t turn this into another Suntup thread, we have about 3-4 of them already. Have you guys thought about reaching out to a professional that you could talk to about your Suntup issues?

>69 Shadekeep: “ Not naming names, but you know...”

Almost all my books have rounded spines, so they must be from the you-know publishers. But what difference does it make? I’ve actually never thought about it. I like an attractively designed spine, although it isn’t my top consideration when buying a book, but both flat and rounded spines can be attractive.

>71 jroger1: Not saying all rounded spines are fakes. Rather, there are a few publishers who use rounded spines to make the bindings appear to be of higher quality than they actually are. It's a cover for shoddy work underneath, but since it looks high-end, it suckers people in. Most rounded spines are from reputable presses and just fine, I'm just saying it's a bit ironic now that the posh round spine makes me more cautious than the trad flat one.

>71 jroger1: One of the names not named is certainly a publisher whose name starts with an E.

Which is a pity, because that publisher is the only way to get middle-range Science Fiction (including many Hugo Award winners from the 80s and 90s) books in a decent edition. Sometimes even the only way to get them in hardback.

>73 dyhtstriyk:
If that E publisher is Easton Press, then I’m not sure why you would call the construction inferior. I have many of their books going back 50 or 60 years. They still look new, and I’ve never had one come apart, not even the heavy ones.

>74 jroger1: I like them very much, too. All my Eastons (except the two-volume Magician, which has weird rust-like spots on the top) are spotless.

However, the experts of the forum can attest far better than me which practices are iffy to them. The only one I can remember right now is that the raised bands are fake in all Eastons and not really needed.

>75 dyhtstriyk:
I don’t know whether the bands are necessary or not, but they add to the eye appeal just as the cover designs do.

>75 dyhtstriyk: >76 jroger1: Easton books for the most part really are on-par with Folio Society. Some people really love the leather-bound books, and their signed editions are really something unique. You are correct that the raised bands are fake. Still, if they did not include them people would complain, and they are a nice touch :)

Most raised bands these days are decorative (not fake), as they were used in the past to hold the thread used to bind books. Now they are a strip of leather around which the leather used to bind the spine is tooled around.

>70 What_What: haha. Sorry for annoying you.
I think that's an splendid idea, I might have the Suntup syndrome. 😵‍💫

>74 jroger1: I like my Easton Press Books aswell. They may look a little dull if you have alot of them, but they are nicely done. The price is okay. I would love to have an Slipcase though 😅

I have a couple of Easton Press titles myself. They look fine, though there is a bit of that "fake glamour" about them when you know that some of the binding structures aren't functional. It's like when they put unnecessary/non-functional elements on other goods just because having them evokes quality and tradition. But in spite of that the bindings are attractive enough. Will see how they hold up.

I'm probably going to cave and get their limited edition of The Kalevala, which I've vacillated on for ages. I really want a solid edition of this, and it doesn't seem like anyone else is likely to try in the near future.

>81 Shadekeep:

Their Kalevala is a very beautiful edition. I'm glad I bought it.

>82 SF-72: Glad to hear it! I'm also thinking of adding the regular edition of The Left Hand of Darkness, as it's signed by Le Guin and running low-ish.

>81 Shadekeep: Yesterday I received my Easton copy of 'Growing Up Weightless'. With all the talk about John M. Ford's books coming back into print I decided to read it on Kindle and loved it so much that I decided to look for a good edition. It was an enormous surprise to find out Easton had done it. It looks gorgeous and compact, and is a nice companion to EP's Ender's.

>83 Shadekeep: Beautiful edition. Well worth the price. It has a few (if I recall three) B&W illustrations as well as the color frontispiece.

Finally committed to Easton's The Kalevala. I did pass on The Left Hand of Darkness, the version I was looking at appeared to have no illustrations. Not that that decided it for me, rather I have some other book purchases coming up and have to make judicious choices. Plus it's a book I have in another acceptable format at the moment, unlike The Kalevala.

Just a side note that I received The Kalevala and it looks very nice so far. It's both larger and less thick than I was visualising, and seems like it will be easier to handle for reading than I expected.