Suntup - Blood Meridian

https://suntup.press/blood-meridian

This is a book I haven't read before. I've read The Road / No Country for Old Men. The Road I think is a bit overrated... anyway, I think I would've preferred a more orange tone to their numbered binding rather than the burgundy one. I do like that caravan painting though.

Looks like an American football from Minecraft.

The price is honestly insane. And don’t get me started on “rights” that accompany these books.

>3 thecollectingdad: I completely agree with the rights. I think each release shouldn't be attached to other ones that aren't part of the same series... doesn't feel right.

The price I can't speak to much, that's probably up to people's personal preferences, as I've seen (I don't remember the name) a children's book listed for over $1500 and people loved it, while I myself wouldn't ever buy. I will say the text matters most of all to me as I do read the books instead of collecting them for cosmetic purposes, though that is obviously part of it.

I'm not a fan of the art. For a work this edgy and dangerous, the art seems incredibly bland and safe. It's like something you could buy from a pop-up store at the mall.

>3 thecollectingdad:
I think the price, for a 500 page letterpress printed leatherbound small press book, is nothing out of the ordinary. And definitely far from insane.

>6 Raenas: Yeah, far less overpriced than some of the recent offset-printed offerings, in my opinion.

>7 const-char-star:
Agreed. I find those $600 offset books quite overpriced sometimes, but this I would even call good value for what it is. Shame for the illustrations though, was expecting something more bloody/wicked to fit the book.

The illustrations are working for me, the bindings not so much. Probably a good thing given the chances of getting a copy directly without rights and how expensive it will be on the secondary market.

Too bad there is no artist edition.

I also find it strange that there is no acknowledgment for binder or, especially, printer, given that both editions will indeed be printed letterpress, and all the bindings will be hand executed. I suppose it's impressive that Bret Easton Ellis will be signing them all given his (unrelated) literary fame, but a signature from the introducer seems less relevant than signatures from the craftspeople involved.

>9 abysswalker: Hear, hear!

>5 SDB2012: Agree on the artwork. There was potential for so much more here. It's not exactly bad, just bland and exactly what you would expect from a western.

>11 Levin40: I haven't read the book (pls dont spoil), but I've heard enough about it that its violent and includes scalping's and is about mercenaries. So maybe a scalping where gold or coins is coming from where theyre cutting or something would've been cool? Idk.

I will say I do really love that painting of the desert with carriages/horses... especially it being two pages. The otheres yea nothing special.

Blood Meridian is an acclaimed novel, but most people have never heard of "My Confession: The Recollections of a Rogue" by Samuel Chamberlain - this was the basis for Cormac McCarthy's 1985 novel. By all accounts John Glanton (let's call him the real-life "antagonist") was a monster, and he got what was coming to him at the end (it wasn't pretty)! Anyway, I know this is sacrilegious to some, but I'm going to say it anyway - in my opinion (just my opinion) Cormac McCarthy is overrated. Yes, yes, he's a very talented writer, etc. but I think nevertheless quite overrated. People call "Blood Meridian" a quintessential American classic... why? I think Chamberlain's book does a much better job and is a primary source whereas McCarthy is often rehashing plots/ideas/stories - and not just in Blood Meridian. Anyway, just my opinion and a bit of background I thought some might enjoy hearing about!

The artwork wouldn't be out of place in an Oakley Hall or Larry McMurtry novel, but it's totally anodyne given the content of Blood Meridian. I'm not really sure how an artist could best depict the novel, but seeing this makes me less regretful that I'll be missing out on it. The red top edge on the lettered edition is a nice touch, though.

>14 SolerSystem: Yeah agreed. I am a massive BM fan, literally my favorite book of all time, I've read it 12+ times. And I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to illustrations. But these just don't work at all.

>12 Soup811: I will say I do really love that painting of the desert with carriages/horses... especially it being two pages.

Yeah, that's kind of what I mean. It's a nice painting, but Blood Meridian? It could be almost any Western. As you suggest, the art really should have tried to capture more of the violent and almost hallucinatory nature of the text.

Art seems to be the main issue with Suntup books, with many of them being pretty bland and obvious in my opinion (there are some exceptions, I thought the art of A Scanner Darkly was excellent). I hesitate to use the word 'rushed', but, given the release rate, could this be something to do with Suntup book perhaps having a shorter germination period than those of some other publishers?