Pull up a chair fellow A Song of Ice and Fire fans, because today we're going deep into the history of George R.R. Martin's hallowed book series. Next month, from April 3-6, the ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair is returning to the Park Avenue Armory in New York City for its 65th Edition. This book fair is specifically aimed at bringing together rare books in one central location, the better for bibliophiles to admire them, explore their place in the annals of publishing history, and in some cases even buy them.
While a book fair like this is interesting enough on its own merits, this year's event holds a special treat for fans of A Song of Ice and Fire, the iconic fantasy series by George R.R. Martin which HBO adapted into Game of Thrones. Walden Rare Books, a French rare book collection, has assembled a signed set of US first editions for Martin's series, and will be displaying them there.
This is especially notable because A Song of Ice and Fire doesn't have any one particular binding for its first editions. Since the books were published so far apart, they received new cover treatments at various phases in the series' history. Because of this, a set of first edition Song of Ice and Fire novels almost functions like a time capsule for fantasy publishing, showing how cover artwork and marketing trends evolved over the course of this one series' run — as well as the fortunes of the series itself, as the success of the HBO show propelled it to new heights of popularity that resulted in new editions.
We had the opportunity to speak to Hervé Valentin, one of the curators of Walden Rare Books, about how they assembled their full set of rare signed US first editions for the series, as well as a set of original French translation first issues for the first three books. We also discussed how changes in A Song of Ice and Fire's design reflect the journey of modern fantasy publishing, how the series took off in France, the impact of the HBO show, and how another series by French author Maurice Druon inspired Martin's work in Westeros. You can watch the full interview above, or read on for some highlights edited for clarity and length:
The US first editions of A Song of Ice and Fire tell a story
One of the things that's fascinating about the first printings of A Song of Ice and Fire that Walden Rare Books is showcasing is that almost every volume has a totally different cover design. A Song of Ice and Fire has had many different cover treatments over the years, often as new benchmarks for the series were reached. There was a new set of covers that came out around the time of the TV show in 2011. There was a set that came out in 2005 around the time the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, was published. And the original first edition of A Game of Thrones had a totally different cover with just the Iron Throne that was unlike anything else in the series. I couldn't resist asking how Walden Rare Books brought these disparate printings together.
"I had to work a lot, because as you said, it is very complicated, and even more for American books for us to be sure because there is no real bibliography," Valentin said. "There are no real studies about what is the first printing, the first issue, the real first dust jacket, what you exactly need to have...we want to give to our collectors the perfect copy and the perfect edition. I was looking for the information because the Game of Thrones universe interests me, so I was thinking of gathering it to create a set. But when I began to work on this topic, I realized how it was difficult to have the precise information, so I keep in touch with a forum in the UK and I met someone who was a collector for a few years, and he knows, I would say everything. He knows a lot of things, so it helped me a lot."
Once Valentin knew what he was looking for, he had to tackle the gargantuan task of finding the books. That brought him into contact with other rare book collectors, each of whom gave him a piece of the puzzle. "I met with another person who was very close to finishing a full set, there were two volumes they were lacking. So I [bought those], and then the first book from another person, and after that I completed the set from another," he recalled.
"As the first ones were signed, I had to find the final two signed too. So it was another quest, but I was very precise about the condition because the condition [of the first batch of books] was absolutely perfect. They were unopened, untouched, and the condition was right. So it took me six months to finalize it."
Valentin was "very happy" to complete the set, in part because it gave him a reason to showcase it for the French public. While Martin's series has enjoyed massive success in the United States, it is equally well-loved in France. In fact, it took off even faster there than it did in the states. In addition to the US first editions Walden Rare Books is bringing to the Antiquarian Book Fair next month, they also have a set of the original French translation for the first three novels in the series, A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords. Since those first translations were only done in paperback, Valentin said it was "much more difficult" to find pristine copies.
"[They're] cheaper and people do not pay any attention to keeping them very clean. So it's not something that you think about collecting," he explained. "But the first printing, they didn't know [how successful it would be], so they just made 1,000 copies. Which is very few prints, 1,000 is nothing. So [out of] all the copies left everywhere in the country, to find a full set of the three first issues in very, very nice condition was a challenge, too. So I'm very happy to have both sets now to be displayed."
The fascinating French history of A Song of Ice and Fire
While the original French printing only ran 1,000 copies, the success of A Song of Ice and Fire was much swifter there than in the United States. In the US, A Game of Thrones was published in 1996, A Clash of Kings in 1998, and A Storm of Swords in 2000. It wasn't until the third book that Martin's series finally cracked the New York Times Bestseller List. The books were translated into French within two years of their original American publication, and sold out of their first printings so quickly that the publisher had to scramble to print more copies.
"it is interesting to note that the success in France was immediate, as there were reprints of several thousand copies in the year of each release of the three volumes," Valentin said. "The first one...[was published] in May 1998, and there is a reprint in June, so one month later. So quite very fast, the whole first issue was immediately sold in France and they needed to immediately do a reprint. It gives a good idea of the success of the book. It's the same for the other two volumes."
Valentin credits A Song of Ice and Fire's immediate popularity in France to the fact that the first book won the Locus Award in 1997. "I would say the series maybe became famous quite fast because the first volume was translated just after A Game of Thrones had won the famous Locus Prize, which is well known here in France," he said. "People [watch it to see] who is a winner, it's well known here among fans of medieval fantasy. And the covers of the French edition clearly indicates the prize...on the back of the volumes."
In the video interview above, Valentin points out where the first printings of A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings cite the series' Locus Award win for Best American Novel on the cover. There's another interesting indicator of the series' success on the cover artwork for the French edition of A Storm of Swords: it reuses a piece of artwork from the original US edition of the preceding book, A Clash of Kings, something Valentin says is "quite rare."
"[I]n France, we change completely the design of UK or US editions, because it's not the same cultural way to sell books," he said. "But as it is a medieval fantasy world, they wanted it to be the [closest it could] to the American drawings. And they used the original drawings by a British artist named Stephen Youll."
The impact of the HBO show and shifting fortunes of fantasy
Valentin also discussed how the attitude toward fantasy has shifted in recent years. It was once extremely difficult to find fantasy novels like Martin's in good condition, because "the genre of fantasy was long looked down upon," and thus pains were not taken to preserve these works. Walden Rare Books has seen that start to shift, as signs indicated that more people are searching for pristine copies from authors like Martin, thanks in no small part to HBO's massively successful television show Game of Thrones.
"[I]t was the same for Harry Potter," Valentin said. "The HBO series series was very, very important, and made the text very famous, more than the books did for sure. I think it was the same in the US, but as soon as the HBO series [arrived] here in France, it made [the books] even more famous with repeated editions and reissues in paperbacks and the illustrated edition. It had an audience of millions."
Valentin detailed how the original French publisher of A Song of Ice and Fire, Pygmalion/Gérard Watlet, was a "very small house of publishing," which was acquired by a larger publisher in 2003 as it became clearer that fantasy was becoming more popular. Then that larger publisher was acquired by an even larger publisher in 2012, Madrigall, which consolidated several prominent French publishing houses including Gallimard and Bourgois under its banner in order to have the most extensive fantasy catalog in the country. The tides were shifting and the signs were clear: fantasy was in higher demand than ever, and A Song of Ice and Fire was part of that movement.
The French series that inspired George R.R. Martin's Westeros
As it turns out, Martin's ties to France go back even farther than the success of A Song of Ice and Fire. Near the end of our conversation, Valentin told us that George R.R. Martin's Westeros books were heavily inspired by the famous French fantasy series Les Rois Maudits by Maurice Druon, which translates to The Accursed Kings or The Damned Kings.
"It was written in 1955 by a French writer called Maurice Druon. It's a medieval saga called The Damned Kings, the first volume is called The Iron King. And George Martin, the author of Game of Thrones, admits several times to having been greatly inspired by this book when imagining his own," Valentin said. "It's a romantic saga about the French Dynasty quarrels of the 14th century. Maurice Druon was a former member of the resistance and had a passion for medieval history. So the two worlds, that of Druon and Martin, share a lot of stories of blood and betrayals, and have a taste for violence and decadence. "
In addition to its Song of Ice and Fire books, Walden Rare Books also has Druon's works. "We are very lucky, we [also] offer the first edition of the full set of The Damned Kings by Druon, and a very spectacular copy because the first is inscribed with a large dedication by Druon in color," Valentin said. "It's interesting to have these books which maybe inspired Martin to write A Game of Thrones."
The ongoing saga of The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring
Obviously, A Song of Ice and Fire is not a finished series. At this point, Martin's ongoing toils to finish the final two books in the saga, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, is the stuff of fantasy legend. Does the fact the series is unfinished affect their significance among collectors?
"It's a work in progress. The set is not finished, and time will be the judge of that. I don't know," Valentin said. "We can't know the future in Biliophila, so we try to defend what we think is the very best literature, and it's a gamble. But we talk a lot with the people, with the collectors, because they are all readers. They love words, they love literature. They have, I would say, good taste. So when we speak to each other....we can [agree on some things] and say, yeah, 'It will stay [relevant] for years and years and decades and maybe one century.' Or, 'Oh god, they were lucky to be there when it was published, lucky to [get them signed] and preserve and collect those sets,' because if you don't take care of this text now, in one century maybe it will be impossible to find them because they will disappear."
Valentin emphasized that in the "story of Biliophila," there are many examples of books which have become very rare because no one took the time to preserve them. Part of the reason to assemble a set like these first editions is to help safeguard against that sad fate for A Song of Ice and Fire, so that future generations can see how it all began for George R.R. Martin's beloved fantasy series.
A huge thank you to Hervé Valentin and Walden Rare Books for taking the time to discuss A Song of Ice and Fire with us!
Walden Rare Books will be showcasing and selling this set of books among others at the ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair from April 3rd to the 6th, at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. You can find out more about the event at its website.
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