Anyone ever seen any books like this?

[bfollowell]

Have any of you ever seen any leatherette covered TrekLit books like the one in this photo?

They have The Starfleet Library on the cover as well as the Federation crest and the title embossed into the leather. I've seen quite a few of these listed on ebay lately but I've never heard of any Starfleet Library bookclub sort of deal which is what these would appear to be a part of. Does anyone know anything about these or where they may've come from?

- Byron

 

[bfollowell]

Nevermind, I'd been looking for a few days and just after I posted this question I found an answer. I'll answer my own post in case anyone else is curious.

Marco Palmieri answered a post on a S&S forum concerning these. It seems these were repackaged titles, published as part of a book club. Only four were released and they came out in 1997. The four titles were Best Destiny, The Final Reflection, Imzadi & Fallen Heroes.

- Byron

 

[zarkon]

Awesooooooome.

Just ordered the TFR one. My copy is a bit ropey, and the best trek novel ever deserves a swanky edition like this.

 

[JD]

That is nice!

 

[Sandoval]

Classy.

 

[Timewalker]

Very nice. Fallen Heroes is the only DS9 book I actually like.

 

[Fer]

Very, very nice. Although I have to admit I'm surprised it doesn't have the author's name on the cover-- that made me think it must be a bootleg. Nice to see it's legit.

 

[bbailey861]

Pity they were only part of a book club. It looks well made and yes, classy. I'll bet they would have done well in general circulation.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Pity they were only part of a book club. It looks well made and yes, classy. I'll bet they would have done well in general circulation.

I believe it was intended to be a Star Trek book club, which would've offered a leatherbound reprint every month. They never got beyond the first four titles, unfortunately.

I'm a huge reader/collector of Star Trek books, and yet I heard nothing about this project until years later. I think there were problems getting the word out about it. I would have subscribed, without question.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I believe it was intended to be a Star Trek book club, which would've offered a leatherbound reprint every month. They never got beyond the first four titles, unfortunately.

A tricky concept to sell to avid ST readers who buy every ST book, read it immediately, then wait anxiously for the next book. To repurchase a MMPB in leatherbound hardcover, several months after its original release, it would have to be an all-time favourite.

Was this a competitor to the Science Fiction Book Club, or a subsidery? Because that company was already offering SFBC "first time in hardcover" versions of a few duologies and trilogies that Pocket had only released as MMPBs.

It's a big ask to entice fans to buy them all over again. Fans who don't read all the books immediately aren't necessarily going to want to build a collection this way, leather binding or not. In any case, "Best Destiny" and "Imzadi" had already been hardcovers, then MMPB reprints. "The Final Reflection" did get a "library binding" hardcover reprint (not by Pocket) at some point, leaving only "Fallen Heroes" - an excellent choice, by the way - as unique for this special treatment.

I'll bet they would have done well in general circulation.

Nah. Very few leatherbound novels "do well" in general circulation, and media tie-ins are usually quite reliant on cover art. These would be reliant on trust and word of mouth that the stories were worth republishing in luxurious, more expensive format.

At one point, Pocket probably had too many hardcovers coming out each year. When they stopped being "special event" novels, it was often very hard to work out why certain titles had been earmarked as hardcovers.

 

[bfollowell]

At one point, Pocket probably had too many hardcovers coming out each year. When they stopped being "special event" novels, it was often very hard to work out why certain titles had been earmarked as hardcovers.

I've often wondered what the criteria was for which books came out in hardcover. Some books are great and large in scope and it's obvious that they were worthy of better treatment than your run-of-the-mill MMPB. Still, others, well, weren't. It really seemed to be hit or miss to me, especially the later hardcovers from the past few years.

- Byron

 

[bbailey861]

Yes, I have often questioned why some of the hardcovers were published in that format. I don't mind having them in that format but there are some that would have been fine as paperbacks.