Links if you need them ↓ ► Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin Amazon: amzn.to/383uqvd Book Depository: tidd.ly/383uVp5 ► Emma by Jane Austen, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin Amazon: amzn.to/3c1m6NK Book Depository: tidd.ly/2NYzdXX ► Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin Amazon: amzn.to/3uRLgqu Book Depository: tidd.ly/3uSzf4b ALSO COMING SOON: ► Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin Amazon: amzn.to/3uQQhzN Book Depository: tidd.ly/2OokFk1 ► Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin Amazon: amzn.to/3uQQhzN Book Depository: tidd.ly/388MpAm AND ► Pride and Prejudice letters edition, curated by Barbara Heller Amazon: amzn.to/3rs5AMY Book Depository: tidd.ly/2NXOgB2 PLUS ► My web article (because you *know* you want to learn more about the ſ vs s, don't you?): beautifulbooks.info/2021/03/pride-and-prejudice-removable-letters/
I've been collecting ephemera books for YEARS and I can't believe I've found this treasure trove. Please do a video on these books, they're so special!
Yes please make a video on more books like these! I adore interactive elements, so classic literature editions with paper engineering and ephemera like Minalima, Marjolein Bastin, and Barbara Heller are masterpieces in my eyes! I’d love to see your collection!!
These look really wonderful! I always loved these removable components in children's books, so it's amazing to see this fun element in classical literature as well! Thank you for the beautiful review as always ❤️
Thw second book in this video randomly came up on my instagram feed a while ago, and not five minutes later I'd already found and ordered it 😅 I'm in love with the concept, I'm definitely going to have to look up the first book you featured! I have a thing for cursive handwriting, so I was absolutely blown away by the variety and style of all of them. Such a fun book, and it's opened up a whole new world of books to collect for me!
The illustrations for this version of the book are of a small flower, butterfly, or a bird. They are small embellishments and typically include one little flower or bird in a corner of every 4-5 pages or so. Chapter headers and chapter ends get a whole stalk with a butterfly or two. They are lovely illustrations, but tiny, and I can't say that they add anything to the story at all. So while this gives the pages a bit of color now and then, I had hoped to have illustrations of the story itself and not random flora and fauna. Honestly, you could have put these illustrations on any romance book, which seems to defeat the point to me. That isn't to say the illustrations aren't lovely; just that they are very irrelevant to the story. Of note, that the type was small and very close together, which could make for a challenging read for those with poorer eyesight. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on the Bastin book 💕. Marjolein Bastin is a nature artist, and I think the reason for choosing her to illustrate these books is a reflection of the importance of the natural world in the novels of this time period - Jane Austen does talk about gardens and flowers a lot throughout her novels - Elizabeth admires the wild nature of Pemberley's estate, and the English landscape is described vividly throughout this and other works. That said, you are certainly correct that the illustrations are not specific to events in the story - instead, I think it is designed to give more of an impression of a vintage book in which someone has pressed decorative flowers. The published version has quite decent white space and type size as you can see in the video. Did your ARC have the additional inserts, like period sheet music, letters, dance cards, etc? I would think they are more relevant to the story than the floral illustrations, and they are placed into the page sections where these events occur. You might actually enjoy the Holland edition more, as the preparation of the letters was carried out with a significantly more scholarly approach, and it does add to the story where the letter fragments have been expanded into an entire letter, although I think the type in that edition is relatively small.
I wonder if yours is the same book I have? Mine has several large lovely floral illustrations by Ms. Bastin. Each page of this edition is a pleasure to look at. The added ephemera is a plus. There are numerous editions available with picture illustrations of the story....to the point of being run of the mill. This edition is very beautiful with it's flowers and butterflies throughout. It's a fine tribute to JA's masterpiece.
I was choosing an edition of P&P and came across your videos. Oh, my! What a beautiful language! choice of books- something for any taste, the details, video is made very nice and clear! Straight to the point, no blabla, no time wasting, but very carefully describing! I am also very thankful for notes such as paper and print quality : almost no one else here mentiones it, but its an important decision making point! I wish there were more of your videos! If only the sound track was not repeating for a longer videos, its pretty dominant and keeps attention away... Cant wait for more videos! Many thanks!!!
Hi, and thanks for such a thoughtful comment. I’ve had lots of trouble with soundtracks actually - in my early videos I used classical music that was all out of copyright (composed and played over a hundred years ago) but there are many unscrupulous people on TH-cam who claimed unwarranted copyright over these pieces (even classical music I had played myself on the piano can you believe) and then placed blaring ads every two minutes throughout my videos which was awful. I was able to dispute their claims - took a month or so and lots of evidence etc - and get their ads removed, only to have them change their business name and start the whole process again a couple of months later across all the videos. The only way to avoid this is to use music from TH-cam’s own library which is annoyingly limited as far as classical music goes. I’ll try to make sure there is more variety though, as I definitely don’t want people to be annoyed by the background music 😀💕
@@BeautifulBooks i am so sorry it been such a painful topic! i guess it would be enough if its just a little less dominant, but my main idea is i absolutely adore your videos and appreciate your effort, so much that i am rewatching your takes on books that i actually do not read that much=) again many thanks!
Fun fact: Marjolein Bastin is the daughter of children's author John van den Bogaard, who became especially famous when he started to write for television in the Sixties and Seventies. His series around the lovable tramp 'Swiebertje' is still the most well-loved and well-known bit of Dutch television. I grew up with 'Swiebertje' and I grew up with Marjolein Bastin's art, because she had a weekly 'observations from my garden' column in a ladies magazine my mother read but until literally a few weeks ago, when for some reason I read the wikipedia entry on John van den Bogaard, I did not know that he was her father!
Oh dear, watch out bank balance. Love ephemera, you're completely right, it's just something that can't be replicated with ebooks. The letter edition sounds wonderful but the clear text along with the botanical illustrationg might have sold me on collecting the Bastin editions.
Yes, clear text with a little white space makes a huge difference to the reading experience! I'm definitely getting the rest of her editions, they are so pretty!
Hi Daisy. Ooops! Almost missed this video even with my subscription. I received the Marjolein Bastin books in March and I adore them! I can't stop admiring and looking through them and am really looking forward to the next two books when they are released in the Fall. The Pride and Prejudice letters book is a stunning piece of research and creativity and I might eventually have to get it. I confess a copy of Little Women done in the same style excites me even more. Hope you are well and not affected by the flooding and excessive weather Australia has been experiencing in some areas lately. Looking forward as always to your next video. Cheers!
Hello! It's always such a quandary when there are too many beautiful editions of the same book, isn't it! I spoke to the author and she is definitely working on the Little Women edition, so that will be fantastic! I've just been swamped with work, carefully avoiding the floods, fires and general pestilence that is raining down around here as I snuggle up under a blanket with yet another wonderful book! Dx
Hi Daisy - Like you, I'm also rather obsessed with these immersive ephemera-type books. So as far as my two cents is worth, I would also LOVE it if you could make a list of them! Wonderful video as always 👏
Loved the video!😍😍 Like always, you have the most beautiful editions and collection 😍 ❤ I'm looking forward to see you library tour or bookshelf tour (by the way loved your wizard's library tour! Wonderful, beautiful books ever!)
Hola, creo que soy tu primer comentario en español, quiero agradecerte por que justo acababa de comprar uno de esos dos libros, gracias a tu video estoy a punto de comprar los dos, creo que son libros muy hermosos, así como el nombre de tu canal, saludos desde México.
Hi beautiful and the letters look as if the characters really look real ,makes them & the characters more real ,hope add them to my collection ,thanks for sharing ,
Hi! I wanted to know which of the two you would really recommend. I can't choose because both of them are so pretty. I really love the Pride and Prejudice letters edition by Barbara Holland because of the unique cover and the amazing letters (it's also the one that caught my eye in the thumbnail) but when i watched the whole video, I found myself in love with the Pride and Prejudice illustrated by Marjolein Bastin because of the beautiful paintings and the other different notes and other stuff inside it. Also I am really curious if there's any bad things (?) like a comment or an opinion about the two books before I should purchase one of them? Which one you think I should buy?
Oh my gosh, clearly I am the wrong person to ask - I bought both of them! I guess some of the things to consider are: do you want to start collecting a “set” (there are several Bastin titles in a similar style by Austin and her contemporaries, while Heller has a new letters edition coming out for Little Women very soon), would you be interested in “new” content (Heller’s edition creates whole letters from scraps quoted in the book, which is fun), do you like variety (Bastin has music and dance cards and all sorts of interesting things), what about authenticity (Heller’s letters are meticulously researched, even down to measuring how far the letters would have travelled so work our postage), the video compares size and paper weight which might help… I think you will be thrilled with whichever one you choose, they are both lovely. Good luck!
@@BeautifulBooks Thanks for replying to me! Both are very pretty and they each have their different items inside. That's why I can't pick which one to buy. Hopefully, I won't regret the book I choose 🥰 Thank you!
i swear i don't need another edition of P&P but the one with letters has been growing on me i don't even like the novel that much but a month after i bought my first one i bought the cheap peacock by RBA and now i feel lost this is sad, sad, sad
How did you get the Bastin so quickly? I pre ordered on your recommendation and I don’t think mine has even shipped yet. These are Lovely books and videos, I appreciate your insights, they have really given me the confidence to buy deluxe titles online without being able to browse.
Thank you - lovely to hear and exactly why I make these videos 💕 It depends where you buy from. I preordered P&P from Book Depository and since they ship pretty quickly from England to Australia, and they try to time it so you get the book on release day, it came right away. I preordered the others in the series from Amazon Aus (because it so happened this was the cheapest combination of sources at the time) and doesn’t look like they will ship until April, so I assume they must be in a pallet coming by sea).
Hi, thank you for this great video showcasing these beautiful books. I read a review saying that it is a sticker on the front of the cover (the oval with the name of the book). Is this the case? And if so, are they durable?
Hi! The title is not exactly a sticker but it is stuck on. Basically, they have created a oval shaped depression in the cover, and the title is on thick card stock which is stuck into the depression. So the overall effect is that the title card ends up at the same height as the rest of the book - not raised, nor easy to damage like a sticker. Because of this I would say yes, it is durable - no problems potentially damaging it by taking it in and out of a shelf of books, for example. If you look at the video around 01:22 you might be able to see what I’m talking about now that you know what to look for!
@@BeautifulBooks My copy just arrived and the "not sticker" is not centered correctly on the cover and I been asking myself, if I just got a faulty edition, or if its normal (Beside that I love the edition, it is stunning!!!)
@@babsikro1252 I love your name for it - my "not sticker" isn't centered exactly either, but it's not off by enough to bother me unless I'm examining it (I show the cover of mine in the first few seconds of the video if you want to compare) - so I think they are done by hand. Glad you love it otherwise 💕
@@BeautifulBooks yeah, I like Pride and Prejudice very much, and I think this edition looks simply gorgeous, you video showcases it so well, but Mansfield Park is my very favorite Austen novel. And lavish editions of it are comparatively very rare.
I wonder how many editions you own of Pride and Prejudice 🤔 I have the seasons edition, lit joy classic edition and now the letters edition you just showed, and of course will get the chiltern edition. I want all of those. 🤗
Do you know where I can find the content list from the Majorlein Bastin edition? It seems like I'm missing one of the ten pieces. It just arrived today so I'm a bit upset about it and I wish there was a way to verify what part is missing... I'd be truly grateful if you could help me with that.
Hi! Yes, I can help with this - I actually made a list of the pieces and which pages they are supposed to be inserted in for all her books on my website, here: beautifulbooks.info/marjolein-bastin/ - if you let me know which piece is missing I can take a pic of it for you if that helps, just drop me an email on the website contact from.
@@BeautifulBooks Thank you so much for replying so quickly! You're a lifesaver. I checked them out comparing them to my books and seems like my mom found the missing piece that slipped but I was a bit paranoid and I needed to be sure of it so your list truly helped me and washed my anxiety away. Fortunately none is missing. And, your page made me realize I'm about to buy Little Women and Wuthering Heights too. So thanks again for your help and everything. BTW I'm already subscribed to your channel. Can't wait for your next video. Wish you the best!
No, it is new to me. I’ve just looked it up, sounds interesting. Do you recommend it? Did you read it online, or does it translate well to a physical book?
Hi, Wanted your opinion on which edition of Les Miserables is better, the Barnes and Nobles collectors edition or the Canterbury Classics leather bound edition
Hi! They both use the same translation (Hapgood - well regarded but rather dated) so your reading experience will be the same with either book (just for interest, I think the Donougher translation used by the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition is an easier read, but that’s a paperback). Personally, I think the B&N books have a more durable cover than Canterbury Classics (I often see CC books damaged simply by removing a price sticker), and although I usually shy away from these enormous volumes because they are so unwieldy, I actually have the B&N Les Mis myself - the cover design is absolutely beautiful in real life, and I think the gold tooling on white leather and royal blue accents look very luxurious 😀. The Canterbury Classics spine is much more sedate (plain red with a small black cannon), so your personal tastes will come into play here. Be warned that both have small print (B&N maybe a mite smaller? I don’t have both to compare side-by-side here, but the B&N page count is lower) and thin paper, since it’s about a thousand pages long. Hope that helps, I’m sure you’ll love whichever one you get! 💕
@@BeautifulBooks Hey thank you very much for this detailed reply! 😊 I didn't opt for paperbacks because I wanted to build a collection. My paperbacks for some reason start to get Yellow spots after a while which really impacts the beauty. Have read many articles about it and tried everything but it just won't stop. I wanted to look for great hardcovers and these two caught my eye. There might be others like Folio Society but they're out of my price range😊
@@KakashiHatake-ou7mp yes, paperbacks are often not very durable since they are usually glue bound and eventually the pages fall out (and UK paperbacks in particular often don’t use acid-free paper, which often contributes to yellowing over time). The Penguin deluxe classics *are* one of the rare acid-free paperbacks, but with a book of this size, it’s honestly pretty hard to read a paperback without cracking the spine unfortunately. So yes, these two hardbacks will be much more long lasting!
Is there a guide on what page each insert goes? I took them all out to admire and forgot where they all go? Lol 🤦🏾♀️..watching the video but hard to tell for some.
Hello there! I have seen the Bath Treasuries in the store - love the brightly colored covers! I don't have any myself (I do already have an embarrassment of riches as far as children's classics goes) - they look like they are using beautiful illustrations from the golden age, is that right?
@@BeautifulBooks i absolutely love they're illustrations, but that's just my opinion, i only have the wind in the willow at the moment but i plan to order a few more, i can send you photos of the illustrations if you want, not sure my phone camera would do them justice though
The Bastin has more illustrations, and the Heller has more letters. Bastin is 'prettier', while Heller is more scholarly and accurate (lots of research into how they would have written at the time, even down to how the envelopes were folded for posting!).
Sure! Jane wrote First Impressions between 1796-97, when she was 21 years old (she also wrote Elinor and Marianne at the same time, which was later reworked into Sense and Sensibility). Her father tried to get First Impressions considered by publisher Thomas Cadell but they rejected it without even accepting to read it. She didn't resubmit to another publisher, and later had to change the name after a different book called First Impressions was published by Margaret Holford in 1801. After extensive reworking she eventually published the novel as P&P in 1813. (We don't have the original manuscript, but know these details through various correspondence that remains from the time - apparently First Impressions was a family favorite.) I'm not exactly an Austen scholar (perhaps someone else will jump in!), but from what I've read, the general consensus is that First Impressions was written from the point of view of sentimental literature popular at the time where "love at first sight," was usually experienced by headstrong women who made poor judgements were then ruined by choosing a man based on favorable first impressions (esp how handsome they were), but later turned out to be a bit of a reprobate (this is really the Lydia and Wickham relationship). Jane's reworked novel P&P was broader, looking more at how first impressions form a basis for consideration and how they should be reviewed with new evidence, and how pride and prejudices are affected and changed. (However, without access to the original manuscript, I assume these are all just opinions and guesses 😃)
Yes, the ones I’ve seen are nice, well-made classics. I don’t have any myself though, because I prefer illustrated books, and/or fancy bindings, etc, but I think they would look good in a classically styled collection.
@@BeautifulBooks Hi, thank you for the reply. I wanted to know about them as they are the only Hardcover edition I could find for Works of Ursula Le Guin. In case you know of any other editions which has her collections please let me know! :) (Not Folio Society of course I can't afford those :D )
@@KakashiHatake-ou7mp Are you looking for her complete works, or one of the series in particular? Saga Press have done some nice hardback editions that are worth checking out - the Charles Vess illustrations for Earthsea are gorgeous (e.g. amzn.to/3hSVbZ4) - but make sure you get the US Saga Press edition, not the UK equivalent (Gollancz/Orion) because despite having the same illustrator, the UK edition was far inferior in publication quality. Good luck!
@@BeautifulBooks Hi thanks for the recommendation. I was thinking of getting the whole Hainish cycle set if it's available (I got the idea from Library of America since they made a collection of all the novels in a boxed set.) I definitely check out the ones you recommended!
Hello, I am wanting to read a beautifully illustrated version of Heidi to my children. I was wondering if you have some suggestions for me. Thank you for all these videos. I find them so helpful to be able to look through a book before I purchase. Blessings
Hi there. For younger children, I think the Usborne illustrated edition is beautiful if you can find it - the illustrations by Elena Selivanova are delightful and there are plenty of them throughout the book (the hardback is unfortunately out of print - amzn.to/39UzEtY - but paperbacks are easier to find - amzn.to/39RzkfG). As a keepsake edition for someone older, the Barnes & Noble Heidi has some classic illustrations by Jessie Willcox Smith and a pretty leather binding, but there aren’t actually many illustrations (this is the Amazon link, but if you are in the US it will usually be cheaper to get from B&N directly: amzn.to/3dMPubc). The clothbound Everyman’s Library edition is also a nice option with illustrations by William Sharp (amzn.to/3rUnM1f) but similar to the B&N, the number of illustrations is much more limited than the Usborne edition. Hope this helps :)
I bought 2 of these for my daughter who is a huge Austen fan. What a disappointment. There are NO, repeat ZERO illustrations of characters or scenes from the novel; instead every few pages has a few insipid drawings of flowers and birdies . That’s it. The “extras” including Darcy’s letter to Elizabeth and maps of Highbury are simply inserted loose between random pages: no pockets to keep them in place and no list or index. The “Emma” extras consist primarily for recipes for some reason, as well as a letter to Austen’s publisher. These would have been just as useful if they had been printed on pages in the book, but most of them aren’t useful at all: there is nothing that contributes to one’s understanding or knowledge of the novels. Huge waste of money. There are better illustrated and annotated editions than this overpriced piffle.
Links if you need them ↓
► Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin
Amazon: amzn.to/383uqvd
Book Depository: tidd.ly/383uVp5
► Emma by Jane Austen, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin
Amazon: amzn.to/3c1m6NK
Book Depository: tidd.ly/2NYzdXX
► Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin
Amazon: amzn.to/3uRLgqu
Book Depository: tidd.ly/3uSzf4b
ALSO COMING SOON:
► Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin
Amazon: amzn.to/3uQQhzN
Book Depository: tidd.ly/2OokFk1
► Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, illustrated by Marjolein Bastin
Amazon: amzn.to/3uQQhzN
Book Depository: tidd.ly/388MpAm
AND
► Pride and Prejudice letters edition, curated by Barbara Heller
Amazon: amzn.to/3rs5AMY
Book Depository: tidd.ly/2NXOgB2
PLUS
► My web article (because you *know* you want to learn more about the ſ vs s, don't you?): beautifulbooks.info/2021/03/pride-and-prejudice-removable-letters/
The letters looks so beautiful! I’d love to see a whole video of more books with ephemera like this!
Excellent! (I think books with ephemera are SO COOL)
I've been collecting ephemera books for YEARS and I can't believe I've found this treasure trove. Please do a video on these books, they're so special!
Always love to find another fan! I'll definitely do another video on some of my favorites ツ
Yes please make a video on more books like these! I adore interactive elements, so classic literature editions with paper engineering and ephemera like Minalima, Marjolein Bastin, and Barbara Heller are masterpieces in my eyes! I’d love to see your collection!!
Loved that first edition of Pride and Prejudice! I just ordered the Emma version of that edition, can't wait!
They are so lovely 💕
These look really wonderful! I always loved these removable components in children's books, so it's amazing to see this fun element in classical literature as well! Thank you for the beautiful review as always ❤️
Thanks! Books with removable elements are some of my real faves 💕
Thw second book in this video randomly came up on my instagram feed a while ago, and not five minutes later I'd already found and ordered it 😅 I'm in love with the concept, I'm definitely going to have to look up the first book you featured!
I have a thing for cursive handwriting, so I was absolutely blown away by the variety and style of all of them. Such a fun book, and it's opened up a whole new world of books to collect for me!
Ah, these books are very addictive! I love them 💕 (am hard at work on a video showcasing some of my collection!!)
I would love a look at your other books with ephemera. I think there is just something so special about books like these 😍 Thank you for sharing 💖
Fantastic. I'll definitely have to make a list then - I think they are super cool, but they can be very hard to track down...
The illustrations for this version of the book are of a small flower, butterfly, or a bird. They are small embellishments and typically include one little flower or bird in a corner of every 4-5 pages or so. Chapter headers and chapter ends get a whole stalk with a butterfly or two. They are lovely illustrations, but tiny, and I can't say that they add anything to the story at all. So while this gives the pages a bit of color now and then, I had hoped to have illustrations of the story itself and not random flora and fauna. Honestly, you could have put these illustrations on any romance book, which seems to defeat the point to me. That isn't to say the illustrations aren't lovely; just that they are very irrelevant to the story. Of note, that the type was small and very close together, which could make for a challenging read for those with poorer eyesight. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on the Bastin book 💕. Marjolein Bastin is a nature artist, and I think the reason for choosing her to illustrate these books is a reflection of the importance of the natural world in the novels of this time period - Jane Austen does talk about gardens and flowers a lot throughout her novels - Elizabeth admires the wild nature of Pemberley's estate, and the English landscape is described vividly throughout this and other works. That said, you are certainly correct that the illustrations are not specific to events in the story - instead, I think it is designed to give more of an impression of a vintage book in which someone has pressed decorative flowers. The published version has quite decent white space and type size as you can see in the video. Did your ARC have the additional inserts, like period sheet music, letters, dance cards, etc? I would think they are more relevant to the story than the floral illustrations, and they are placed into the page sections where these events occur. You might actually enjoy the Holland edition more, as the preparation of the letters was carried out with a significantly more scholarly approach, and it does add to the story where the letter fragments have been expanded into an entire letter, although I think the type in that edition is relatively small.
I wonder if yours is the same book I have? Mine has several large lovely floral illustrations by Ms. Bastin. Each page of this edition is a pleasure to look at. The added ephemera is a plus. There are numerous editions available with picture illustrations of the story....to the point of being run of the mill. This edition is very beautiful with it's flowers and butterflies throughout. It's a fine tribute to JA's masterpiece.
I was choosing an edition of P&P and came across your videos. Oh, my! What a beautiful language! choice of books- something for any taste, the details, video is made very nice and clear! Straight to the point, no blabla, no time wasting, but very carefully describing! I am also very thankful for notes such as paper and print quality : almost no one else here mentiones it, but its an important decision making point!
I wish there were more of your videos!
If only the sound track was not repeating for a longer videos, its pretty dominant and keeps attention away...
Cant wait for more videos! Many thanks!!!
Hi, and thanks for such a thoughtful comment. I’ve had lots of trouble with soundtracks actually - in my early videos I used classical music that was all out of copyright (composed and played over a hundred years ago) but there are many unscrupulous people on TH-cam who claimed unwarranted copyright over these pieces (even classical music I had played myself on the piano can you believe) and then placed blaring ads every two minutes throughout my videos which was awful. I was able to dispute their claims - took a month or so and lots of evidence etc - and get their ads removed, only to have them change their business name and start the whole process again a couple of months later across all the videos. The only way to avoid this is to use music from TH-cam’s own library which is annoyingly limited as far as classical music goes. I’ll try to make sure there is more variety though, as I definitely don’t want people to be annoyed by the background music 😀💕
@@BeautifulBooks i am so sorry it been such a painful topic! i guess it would be enough if its just a little less dominant, but my main idea is i absolutely adore your videos and appreciate your effort, so much that i am rewatching your takes on books that i actually do not read that much=) again many thanks!
@@mop1394 thanks again fo the kind words, I do appreciate them 💕
Fun fact: Marjolein Bastin is the daughter of children's author John van den Bogaard, who became especially famous when he started to write for television in the Sixties and Seventies. His series around the lovable tramp 'Swiebertje' is still the most well-loved and well-known bit of Dutch television. I grew up with 'Swiebertje' and I grew up with Marjolein Bastin's art, because she had a weekly 'observations from my garden' column in a ladies magazine my mother read but until literally a few weeks ago, when for some reason I read the wikipedia entry on John van den Bogaard, I did not know that he was her father!
Oh, how cool! Thanks for sharing 💕
Oh dear, watch out bank balance. Love ephemera, you're completely right, it's just something that can't be replicated with ebooks.
The letter edition sounds wonderful but the clear text along with the botanical illustrationg might have sold me on collecting the Bastin editions.
Yes, clear text with a little white space makes a huge difference to the reading experience! I'm definitely getting the rest of her editions, they are so pretty!
I absolutely would love to see your books that have removable ephemera!!
Excellent 💕
I'd love to see your list of books with removable ephemera! It's a collecting interest of mine too.
Fantastic! It’s such a fun genre, but so hard to find information about. I’ve started making a list ready to share already 😃
This is the most wonderful book l ever seen before!!!!! 🌟🔅🌸🌸
Hi Daisy. Ooops! Almost missed this video even with my subscription. I received the Marjolein Bastin books in March and I adore them! I can't stop admiring and looking through them and am really looking forward to the next two books when they are released in the Fall. The Pride and Prejudice letters book is a stunning piece of research and creativity and I might eventually have to get it. I confess a copy of Little Women done in the same style excites me even more. Hope you are well and not affected by the flooding and excessive weather Australia has been experiencing in some areas lately. Looking forward as always to your next video. Cheers!
Hello! It's always such a quandary when there are too many beautiful editions of the same book, isn't it! I spoke to the author and she is definitely working on the Little Women edition, so that will be fantastic! I've just been swamped with work, carefully avoiding the floods, fires and general pestilence that is raining down around here as I snuggle up under a blanket with yet another wonderful book! Dx
Hi Daisy - Like you, I'm also rather obsessed with these immersive ephemera-type books. So as far as my two cents is worth, I would also LOVE it if you could make a list of them!
Wonderful video as always 👏
Oh wonderful! I will do it then 💕
Loved the video!😍😍
Like always, you have the most beautiful editions and collection 😍 ❤
I'm looking forward to see you library tour or bookshelf tour (by the way loved your wizard's library tour! Wonderful, beautiful books ever!)
Thank you! (I’ll get to a bookshelf tour one day - my library is pretty extensive so the idea is rather daunting...)
Hola, creo que soy tu primer comentario en español, quiero agradecerte por que justo acababa de comprar uno de esos dos libros, gracias a tu video estoy a punto de comprar los dos, creo que son libros muy hermosos, así como el nombre de tu canal, saludos desde México.
¡Hola a México! Gracias por comentar. 😃
Hi beautiful and the letters look as if the characters really look real ,makes them & the characters more real ,hope add them to my collection ,thanks for sharing ,
Hi! I wanted to know which of the two you would really recommend. I can't choose because both of them are so pretty. I really love the Pride and Prejudice letters edition by Barbara Holland because of the unique cover and the amazing letters (it's also the one that caught my eye in the thumbnail) but when i watched the whole video, I found myself in love with the Pride and Prejudice illustrated by Marjolein Bastin because of the beautiful paintings and the other different notes and other stuff inside it. Also I am really curious if there's any bad things (?) like a comment or an opinion about the two books before I should purchase one of them? Which one you think I should buy?
Oh my gosh, clearly I am the wrong person to ask - I bought both of them! I guess some of the things to consider are: do you want to start collecting a “set” (there are several Bastin titles in a similar style by Austin and her contemporaries, while Heller has a new letters edition coming out for Little Women very soon), would you be interested in “new” content (Heller’s edition creates whole letters from scraps quoted in the book, which is fun), do you like variety (Bastin has music and dance cards and all sorts of interesting things), what about authenticity (Heller’s letters are meticulously researched, even down to measuring how far the letters would have travelled so work our postage), the video compares size and paper weight which might help… I think you will be thrilled with whichever one you choose, they are both lovely. Good luck!
@@BeautifulBooks Thanks for replying to me! Both are very pretty and they each have their different items inside. That's why I can't pick which one to buy. Hopefully, I won't regret the book I choose 🥰 Thank you!
I'd love it if you so a full video with more books with removable ephemera 😊
I am (slowly) working on it! 💕 I love them and have a huge collection, so I think I’ll have to break it into a series 😂
@@BeautifulBooks
Sounds even better ☺️
i swear i don't need another edition of P&P but the one with letters has been growing on me
i don't even like the novel that much but a month after i bought my first one i bought the cheap peacock by RBA and now i feel lost
this is sad, sad, sad
I know. I have somehow managed to build a P&P collection by *accident*!
OMG Thank you for sharing this!
Best channel on youtube
Aw thanks ❤️
i always look forward to your videos.. i love letters of different authors
Aw, thanks so much 💕 I love letters too!
This is absolutely beautiful
I'm in Love💙
OMG they are lovely and so tempting! Thks for sharing
Yes, they are really lovely (enough to sucker me in to needing two more editions of P&P 😂)
@@BeautifulBooks I see that P&P is to you the same as Jane Eyre is to me. "Just one more copy", I always promise myself... lol
@@BookCravings ahaha, yes, I may have said that before...
What a beautiful video and what beautiful books!
Thanks! And yes, they are lovely 💕
How did you get the Bastin so quickly? I pre ordered on your recommendation and I don’t think mine has even shipped yet. These are Lovely books and videos, I appreciate your insights, they have really given me the confidence to buy deluxe titles online without being able to browse.
Thank you - lovely to hear and exactly why I make these videos 💕 It depends where you buy from. I preordered P&P from Book Depository and since they ship pretty quickly from England to Australia, and they try to time it so you get the book on release day, it came right away. I preordered the others in the series from Amazon Aus (because it so happened this was the cheapest combination of sources at the time) and doesn’t look like they will ship until April, so I assume they must be in a pallet coming by sea).
Good to know! I’m also in Australia and went Booktopia based on price too
Hi, thank you for this great video showcasing these beautiful books. I read a review saying that it is a sticker on the front of the cover (the oval with the name of the book). Is this the case? And if so, are they durable?
Hi! The title is not exactly a sticker but it is stuck on. Basically, they have created a oval shaped depression in the cover, and the title is on thick card stock which is stuck into the depression. So the overall effect is that the title card ends up at the same height as the rest of the book - not raised, nor easy to damage like a sticker. Because of this I would say yes, it is durable - no problems potentially damaging it by taking it in and out of a shelf of books, for example. If you look at the video around 01:22 you might be able to see what I’m talking about now that you know what to look for!
@@BeautifulBooks thank you! That is very helpful. I will go ahead and order. :)
Great - I hope you enjoy it! 💕
@@BeautifulBooks My copy just arrived and the "not sticker" is not centered correctly on the cover and I been asking myself, if I just got a faulty edition, or if its normal (Beside that I love the edition, it is stunning!!!)
@@babsikro1252 I love your name for it - my "not sticker" isn't centered exactly either, but it's not off by enough to bother me unless I'm examining it (I show the cover of mine in the first few seconds of the video if you want to compare) - so I think they are done by hand. Glad you love it otherwise 💕
Ooh, I wish they'd do a Mansfield Park with letters like this!
That would be fantastic 💕
@@BeautifulBooks yeah, I like Pride and Prejudice very much, and I think this edition looks simply gorgeous, you video showcases it so well, but Mansfield Park is my very favorite Austen novel. And lavish editions of it are comparatively very rare.
SO true - everyone keeps focussing on the same few classics. Many other editions need the love too...
I wonder how many editions you own of Pride and Prejudice 🤔 I have the seasons edition, lit joy classic edition and now the letters edition you just showed, and of course will get the chiltern edition. I want all of those. 🤗
Um, how many is too many? 😬 (Excellent choices of yours btw!)
Do you know where I can find the content list from the Majorlein Bastin edition? It seems like I'm missing one of the ten pieces. It just arrived today so I'm a bit upset about it and I wish there was a way to verify what part is missing... I'd be truly grateful if you could help me with that.
Hi! Yes, I can help with this - I actually made a list of the pieces and which pages they are supposed to be inserted in for all her books on my website, here: beautifulbooks.info/marjolein-bastin/ - if you let me know which piece is missing I can take a pic of it for you if that helps, just drop me an email on the website contact from.
@@BeautifulBooks Thank you so much for replying so quickly! You're a lifesaver. I checked them out comparing them to my books and seems like my mom found the missing piece that slipped but I was a bit paranoid and I needed to be sure of it so your list truly helped me and washed my anxiety away. Fortunately none is missing. And, your page made me realize I'm about to buy Little Women and Wuthering Heights too. So thanks again for your help and everything. BTW I'm already subscribed to your channel. Can't wait for your next video. Wish you the best!
@@annabourbon Yay, happy ending! (And the warmest of welcomes to my channel 💕)
Hi :) just wondering if you have reviewed 'The Octonnumi' by Trevor Alan Foris
No, it is new to me. I’ve just looked it up, sounds interesting. Do you recommend it? Did you read it online, or does it translate well to a physical book?
Hi, Wanted your opinion on which edition of Les Miserables is better, the Barnes and Nobles collectors edition or the Canterbury Classics leather bound edition
Hi! They both use the same translation (Hapgood - well regarded but rather dated) so your reading experience will be the same with either book (just for interest, I think the Donougher translation used by the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition is an easier read, but that’s a paperback). Personally, I think the B&N books have a more durable cover than Canterbury Classics (I often see CC books damaged simply by removing a price sticker), and although I usually shy away from these enormous volumes because they are so unwieldy, I actually have the B&N Les Mis myself - the cover design is absolutely beautiful in real life, and I think the gold tooling on white leather and royal blue accents look very luxurious 😀. The Canterbury Classics spine is much more sedate (plain red with a small black cannon), so your personal tastes will come into play here. Be warned that both have small print (B&N maybe a mite smaller? I don’t have both to compare side-by-side here, but the B&N page count is lower) and thin paper, since it’s about a thousand pages long. Hope that helps, I’m sure you’ll love whichever one you get! 💕
@@BeautifulBooks Hey thank you very much for this detailed reply! 😊
I didn't opt for paperbacks because I wanted to build a collection. My paperbacks for some reason start to get Yellow spots after a while which really impacts the beauty. Have read many articles about it and tried everything but it just won't stop.
I wanted to look for great hardcovers and these two caught my eye. There might be others like Folio Society but they're out of my price range😊
@@KakashiHatake-ou7mp yes, paperbacks are often not very durable since they are usually glue bound and eventually the pages fall out (and UK paperbacks in particular often don’t use acid-free paper, which often contributes to yellowing over time). The Penguin deluxe classics *are* one of the rare acid-free paperbacks, but with a book of this size, it’s honestly pretty hard to read a paperback without cracking the spine unfortunately. So yes, these two hardbacks will be much more long lasting!
@@BeautifulBooks I will check both of them out and try to pick one. Thank you for your help 😊
Is there a guide on what page each insert goes? I took them all out to admire and forgot where they all go? Lol 🤦🏾♀️..watching the video but hard to tell for some.
Oh no! Don’t worry, I’ll make a list for you tomorrow 😘
@@BeautifulBooks that would be amazing!!!! 😊
Do you have have the bath treasury of children classics books?
I just bought one, really amazing so i was wondering
Hello there! I have seen the Bath Treasuries in the store - love the brightly colored covers! I don't have any myself (I do already have an embarrassment of riches as far as children's classics goes) - they look like they are using beautiful illustrations from the golden age, is that right?
@@BeautifulBooks i absolutely love they're illustrations, but that's just my opinion, i only have the wind in the willow at the moment but i plan to order a few more, i can send you photos of the illustrations if you want, not sure my phone camera would do them justice though
@@Noa-cc9ur who is the illustrator for wind in the willows? From the cover it looks like Arthur Rackham...
@@BeautifulBooks yes
Which one has more letters , maps , illustrations ? 2nd or 1st which would be more interesting in a visual way ? Editons dated ?
The Bastin has more illustrations, and the Heller has more letters. Bastin is 'prettier', while Heller is more scholarly and accurate (lots of research into how they would have written at the time, even down to how the envelopes were folded for posting!).
Can you please provide more information on the novel First Impressions?
Sure! Jane wrote First Impressions between 1796-97, when she was 21 years old (she also wrote Elinor and Marianne at the same time, which was later reworked into Sense and Sensibility). Her father tried to get First Impressions considered by publisher Thomas Cadell but they rejected it without even accepting to read it. She didn't resubmit to another publisher, and later had to change the name after a different book called First Impressions was published by Margaret Holford in 1801. After extensive reworking she eventually published the novel as P&P in 1813. (We don't have the original manuscript, but know these details through various correspondence that remains from the time - apparently First Impressions was a family favorite.) I'm not exactly an Austen scholar (perhaps someone else will jump in!), but from what I've read, the general consensus is that First Impressions was written from the point of view of sentimental literature popular at the time where "love at first sight," was usually experienced by headstrong women who made poor judgements were then ruined by choosing a man based on favorable first impressions (esp how handsome they were), but later turned out to be a bit of a reprobate (this is really the Lydia and Wickham relationship). Jane's reworked novel P&P was broader, looking more at how first impressions form a basis for consideration and how they should be reviewed with new evidence, and how pride and prejudices are affected and changed. (However, without access to the original manuscript, I assume these are all just opinions and guesses 😃)
Hi first of all i love your review ♥️please do grimms complete fairytale 😍
Thank you so much
Hi, and thank you! Grimm’s Fairy Tales would be an interesting one - I have a *lot* of different editions though...
Wooowwww😍😍😍😍😍 just luv it
Thanks 💕
Have you come across the Library of America hardcovers? If so, thoughts?
Yes, the ones I’ve seen are nice, well-made classics. I don’t have any myself though, because I prefer illustrated books, and/or fancy bindings, etc, but I think they would look good in a classically styled collection.
@@BeautifulBooks Hi, thank you for the reply. I wanted to know about them as they are the only Hardcover edition I could find for Works of Ursula Le Guin. In case you know of any other editions which has her collections please let me know! :) (Not Folio Society of course I can't afford those :D )
@@KakashiHatake-ou7mp Are you looking for her complete works, or one of the series in particular? Saga Press have done some nice hardback editions that are worth checking out - the Charles Vess illustrations for Earthsea are gorgeous (e.g. amzn.to/3hSVbZ4) - but make sure you get the US Saga Press edition, not the UK equivalent (Gollancz/Orion) because despite having the same illustrator, the UK edition was far inferior in publication quality. Good luck!
@@BeautifulBooks Hi thanks for the recommendation. I was thinking of getting the whole Hainish cycle set if it's available (I got the idea from Library of America since they made a collection of all the novels in a boxed set.) I definitely check out the ones you recommended!
@@KakashiHatake-ou7mp for the whole Hainish cycle, I agree LOA is your best option then 😃
What kind of paper is it for both versions?
The Heller edition has very thin paper. The Bastin edition is like normal matte book paper.
@@BeautifulBooks thanks!
Hello,
I am wanting to read a beautifully illustrated version of Heidi to my children. I was wondering if you have some suggestions for me. Thank you for all these videos. I find them so helpful to be able to look through a book before I purchase. Blessings
Hi there. For younger children, I think the Usborne illustrated edition is beautiful if you can find it - the illustrations by Elena Selivanova are delightful and there are plenty of them throughout the book (the hardback is unfortunately out of print - amzn.to/39UzEtY - but paperbacks are easier to find - amzn.to/39RzkfG). As a keepsake edition for someone older, the Barnes & Noble Heidi has some classic illustrations by Jessie Willcox Smith and a pretty leather binding, but there aren’t actually many illustrations (this is the Amazon link, but if you are in the US it will usually be cheaper to get from B&N directly: amzn.to/3dMPubc). The clothbound Everyman’s Library edition is also a nice option with illustrations by William Sharp (amzn.to/3rUnM1f) but similar to the B&N, the number of illustrations is much more limited than the Usborne edition. Hope this helps :)
I just wish it has a slipcase. I fear the ephemera would fall out when book is carried.
I haven’t had too much problem with that, but it’s certainly a risk!
I bought 2 of these for my daughter who is a huge Austen fan. What a disappointment. There are NO, repeat ZERO illustrations of characters or scenes from the novel; instead every few pages has a few insipid drawings of flowers and birdies . That’s it. The “extras” including Darcy’s letter to Elizabeth and maps of Highbury are simply inserted loose between random pages: no pockets to keep them in place and no list or index. The “Emma” extras consist primarily for recipes for some reason, as well as a letter to Austen’s publisher. These would have been just as useful if they had been printed on pages in the book, but most of them aren’t useful at all: there is nothing that contributes to one’s understanding or knowledge of the novels.
Huge waste of money. There are better illustrated and annotated editions than this overpriced piffle.