the life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Now counting down, 97 copies left. I got mine last year and am surprised that it is not already sold out. It is both a literary classic and this LE edition is really high quality and matching the style of the book.

Residing in US, I usually don't go after LEs which are on the lower price range. The shipping/book price ratio is not appealing for such LEs. But this one was hard to pass, at least for me.

>1 hiclik: I’d be interesting in seeing the variety of marbled paper pages that LibraryThing members got in their copies. Here’s mine:

>2 ChampagneSVP: nice one.
Mine has grown on me. First attempt at posting an image, here it goes...

>3 EdmundRodriguez: yours is lovely!

Love this LE. It is one of those understated but elegant pieces and the construction is superb.

I'm satisfied with my LEC Tristram. But the FS LE seems like a great bargain.

I'm on the fence with this one! For those that own this book, are you pleased with the illustrations and do you feel they fit well with the novel?

In the flesh, does it feel like a significant step up from a FS 'Fine' edition?

Here's mine:

Not being satisfied with the hand life dealt me I cheated and I replaced the original (left) with other marbled papers from Jemma Lewis I had before settling on the one on the right.

>10 wongie: To each his own but I really like the original one you received.

>8 GardenOfForkingPaths: It is a decent step up from a SE and definitely worth the price. The illustrations are a very good match for the book/section.

And more importantly it's a brilliant book. It's one of those rare literal laugh-out-loud ones. I was amazed when reading it - the humour seems very modern, certainly compared to other comedies of a similar generation. It seemed to preface the Goons, or Python, or Vic 'n' Bob.

I live in hope that they'll one day do an SE. I know I've previously commented on rehashes - but it is 50 years since they last did one!

Edit: After a little playing I seem to be able to make it stand up straight but it has reduced in size for some reason compared to the lazy version.

This is mine:

And mine:



Edited to add: Yes, it really is kind of monochrome in appearance.

And another, rather sombre



Why does my straight up image get turned sideways in the junk drawer?

Edited to right way up - see below

>18 affle: That happens when I use my iPhone. The solution is to “edit” the photo a tiny amount and it will be saved properly. I usually can crop a bit off one or more sides, then it shows up fine.

>19 BionicJim:

Thanks, but it doesn't seem to answer in my case. The image was taken on my iPhone, then emailed to my computer, where it's easier to crop and upload - I did both. But it landed sideways in the junk drawer.

And mine:

>20 affle: some Apple image software uses metadata annotations indicating the photo orientation, rather than actually rotating the bits, which other Apple software recognize and display as intended. But some non-Apple software don't pick up on the hints, hence the differing orientation. One way to fix this is open the image in a non-Apple image editor (third-party Mac; just not official Apple) and make sure the orientation is as you intend. I use Gimp (free) for this.

>21 drasvola: That might be my personal favorite! Gorgeous work

>23 L.Bloom:

Thanks for your comment! I like it too.

I have edited my effort at >18 affle:, so:

>22 abysswalker: Thank you for an explanation of the curious effect

>19 BionicJim: And thank you for a hint for an alternative to Gimp as a fix - I rotated it all the way round

And >21 drasvola: I too think you did well, Antonio

Edited for typo

>25 affle:

I believe, Alan, that our pages are family-related.

I finally plumped for this one. A really lovely LE.

>27 Son.of.York:
And a really lovely marbling. Jumps off the page :-)

Second attempt (I hope my last) at loading my recently arrived contribution to the Tristram Shandy marbled page gallery.

I'm happy enough with mine after being initially ambivalent, the old-fashioned pattern has grown on me. My favourites in the gallery here are probably Wongie's original* (10) and Edmund's (3) though I'd also have been very content with Antonio's (21) and Warwick's (7). All in all I'm impressed with the variety of marbling styles used in this one edition.



*it did tickle me that you replaced it Wongie, though a sort of hurting tickle :)

(edited to add that the blue appears far darker in the image than it actually is)

>30 cronshaw:
Thanks, Russell, for your comment. Congratulations on finally owning this edition of a fantastic, memorable work.

>30 cronshaw: I actually think that's really good - I'd have been very happy with that!

>30 cronshaw: This is the most beautiful one I've seen so far.

>31 drasvola: >32 Willoyd: >33 L.Bloom: Thanks all :)

It's fascinating how we're unconsciously drawn to different colours and patterns. I wonder to what extent psychologists could use marbled pages to determine character types or to predict tastes in other areas, a Rorschach test for bibliophiles!

>30 cronshaw:
I really like your marbling pattern and colors. I would consider myself lucky if this were in my copy (I didn't seek out this particular LE). Congratulations!

>34 cronshaw: yes, saying something cheeky and paraphrasing the movie Armageddon: I see butterflies, you see woman with breasts :o)

>36 ironjaw: I've blinked, stared, closed my eyes, stared again, had an extra strong tea, and still can't make out any gender or potential dairy supply. I'd like to imagine doves of peace flying over the Dnieper, but then again it could be effluent from Chernobyl.

>21 drasvola: I did a little elementary research into different marbling patterns today, and found that yours Antonio is a design called 'Spanish Ripple' which I thought delightfully apt for you!

>38 cronshaw:
Wonderful result from your research, Russell! Thanks a lot for sharing. I had no idea that marbling patterns had a story behind them. Yours suggests to me Nordic frost formations, but my imagination is no solid guide when it comes to marbling...

Though I admired this LE when it was in stock I never took the plunge and left it at that. But I recently had the unexpected good fortune to get this LE secondhand at a very reasonable price and it arrived late last week. I thought I would add my own marbled page to the list.

>40 assemblyman: Congratulations! I think that marbling style is called 'non-pareil', it's quite a classic pattern. Thanks for posting it here, it's fun to gradually expand the gallery and see the range of marbling styles employed for this LE.

>41 cronshaw: Thank you. I was unaware of what this marbling style was. Yes, there is quite a varied mix of marbling styles so far on this thread which has been quite enjoyable to see.