Last week, we had the pleasure of speaking to Hervé Valentin of Walden Rare Books, a French antiquarian book collector who gathers rare novels from across the realm in order to display, sell, and share them with the wider world. In early April, he'll be bringing a signed set of US first edition copies of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin to the ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair in New York City. This is a fascinating set of books, because almost every one has a different cover design reflecting the series' journey through the annals of fantasy literature.
Our conversation was far-ranging, getting into some specifics about how Martin's series took off in France, its overall cultural impact, and one of the Song of Ice and Fire author's surprising French influences: The Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon, which Martin himself touts as "the original Game of Thrones."
To accompany this interview, Valentin shared several images of his Song of Ice and Fire collection, including those vaunted US first editions as well as a set of three original French translation first issues. Among those images was one that made me immediately sit up straighter in my chair, because it was an edition of A Game of Thrones I had never seen before: an advanced reading copy of the original book, printed in 1996 ahead of the novel's formal publication date.
Advanced reading copies (ARCS) are early copies of a book printed for marketing purposes. Publishers typically do a small printing of them to mail out to bookstores, reviewers and the like in order to start building interest in a book ahead of its actual release date. These editions often contain a non-definitive version of the book's text, before it has gone through the final stages of proofreading and editing. While many books get ARCs, it's rare to see one for a series as wildly famous as A Song of Ice and Fire that has been preserved in such good condition for close to three decades. So without further adieu, feast your eyes on this beauty:
A Game of Thrones early reader copy has stunning, unique artwork
A Game of Thrones was originally published in August 1996, but this advanced reading copy would have been released even earlier. While many publishers in our current era have gotten on the wagon with doing fancy ARC editions for their biggest releases, this early copy of A Game of Thrones remains striking; it's clear the publisher was dedicated to giving it an eye-catching design. It features artwork by Stephen Youll which is unique to this edition; it did not appear on the original first edition of A Game of Thrones or any subsequent editions.
Youll contributed multiple covers to Martin's series over the years, including the first edition covers for A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords in the United States. Youll also created the cover artwork for the paperback version of A Game of Thrones that was released in 1997, but for whatever reason, Martin's publisher Bantam opted to have Youll create a new piece of artwork for that edition which features Jon Snow; you can check it out on Martin's website.
To my eye, it looks like this artwork depicts Catelyn Stark's arrival in the Vale, when she's greeted by Ser Vardis Egan. The mountainous landscape and blue-on-white sigil of the pennant flag seem to match that scene, even if the falcon of House Arryn is a little hard to make out. I also love the little direwolves and dragons at the top and bottom of the border artwork.
Lastly, it's worth noting that this copy features blurbs from Anne McCaffrey and Robert Jordan, the authors of The Dragonriders of Pern and The Wheel of Time, respectively. Martin has talked before about how Jordan helped him find his audience in epic fantasy; this blurb is what he meant. Jordan was one of the biggest names in the genre at the time, and his endorsement was a signal to fantasy fans that A Song of Ice and Fire was a series they might enjoy.
Walden Rare Books will be showcasing this rare advance reading copy of A Game of Thrones along with its first edition set of A Song of Ice and Fire books at this year's ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, from April 3-6. Just like the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire books Librarie Walden is bringing to the fair, this ARC of A Game of Thrones is signed by Martin.
If you'd like to check out these books in person for yourself, you can find out more information about the ABAA book fair at their website.
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