From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996
Subject: Re: Hardback Editions
Magician was published in 1982 by Doubleday in hardcover at a price of $19.95. First edition now sells for between $300-500. A trade-size single paperback was next, from Doubleday, and it went out at $7.95 I think, and you can still find one or two floating around in used bookstores, though most people tend to hang on to it; has a killer cover by Bralt Bralds (I bought the original painting from him). Silverthorn and Darkness in the 1992 edition were unchanged text; in fact they weren't shot from the original plates, which were long gone, but were "blow ups" of the Bantam paperback texts, which is why the fonts look so damn odd and large. The ONLY book I've rewrite after publication was _Magician_ and now all English language versions (paperbacks in the US and UK) are the Author's Preferred Edition (Revised Edition in the UK). Most of the foreign language translations are still from the original text. All the hardcovers are, sad to say, out of print, so you're either going to get very lucky and find one in a "Books for under $4!" bin at Crown, or start paying collectors prices for the 10th anniversary editions. If you want hardcovers, grab them as soon as they come out. Hardcovers only linger for 4-6 months, or until the paperback ships, after which they die.
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