COLLECTING MODERN FIRSTS

DANNY by Chancery Stone - A PUBLISHING HISTORY AND COLLECTORS' EDITIONS PROVENANCE

DANNY begins as an original short story written in Cumbria June 1990 and set in the 1700's featuring a prototype John & Danny who were twins named John & Jack.

DANNY, the novel inspired by the short story, started in July 1990. Written entirely in longhand, with all four volumes completed by July 1993, a massive work in excess of two million words long.

Approximately the first quarter/third of the first volume was published in trade paperback by Citron Press in 1998. Citron were an 'experimental' POD firm who launched a list of 38 books by first time authors in August 1998. Chancery Stone's DANNY was one of these. Only the first quarter/third was published because the firm worked to strict word counts and DANNY far exceeded these. As it would not have been feasible to abridge the book to a quarter of its size it was decided to simply stop it at the first natural break within their given word counts. The book had no discernible ending and no resolution. However this did not appear to adversely affect sales.

By September that year Citron claimed to have printed 56 copies and told the author that it was their "most requested" and "bestselling title". However, despite DANNY's apparent bestselling status it was noticeably absent from the firm's top ten list in the November newsletter and Citron repeatedly declined to promote the book to a general readership, expressing vague concerns about it "falling into the wrong hands". After a complaint from the author the contract was terminated in December 1998.

The closing Citron royalty statement showed the following details of copies sold at that date:

20 copies to author

6 copies to British libraries

3 review copies

41 copies sold

TOTAL 70 COPIES

Of the author's twenty copies, nine were sold on e-bay in 2001, one on Amazon in 2004, and the rest given away. Of the nine e-bay copies only one was signed. Of the gratis copies only one was signed.   No books were printed for the launch party and so none of the copies sold by Citron were signed. Therefore, as far as the author recalls, there are only two signed copies of the Citron edition in existence.

In 2004 the book was published in its full length by Poison Pixie Ltd. However, this edition has been substantially re-edited since the Citron version, losing more than 200 pages from the complete MS, including the original opening paragraph, so it differs quite substantially with several scenes missing. As, however, the Citron Edition was only a partial printing, the Poison Pixie edition is actually the true first edition of DANNY.

1922 copies of the current edition were printed and although it is dated April 2004 the book actually did not appear for sale until June 11th 2004. However, one copy was sold in advance of this to a collector in Somerset, Lisa Butt. Lisa had bought a rare signed Citron Edition from the specialist book dealer Plymbooks in Plymouth and had been searching the web trying to find a reading copy when she inadvertently came across Poison Pixie's prototype web site for the new edition of DANNY. As the site was not posted anywhere and no-one knew of the book's existence no sales had been anticipated, so the firm was most surprised to receive an order - especially when they discovered it was from someone seeking the old Citron edition which had last been offered for sale 3 years before!

They told Lisa the book was not printed yet and she agreed to wait and so picked up the first copy sold in Britain at a bargain price of £10.99 - the price which had been assigned to it before the maths were done! When the books arrived for the launch a copy was sent to Lisa, signed by Chancery, as the first copy sold in Britain. Lisa now owned two very rare books - or so she thought. In a final twist to the tale it was recently discovered that Lisa's signed Citron edition was a forgery - arguably making it even rarer!

Collector sales of the new edition have escalated at a tremendous rate with orders coming in daily for signed copies. Additional collectibles in the shape of posters and bookmarks are also sought after. But Poison Pixie have announced that they will be calling a halt to signed copies when the first thousand books have been sold. They say that after that it will only be possible to get a signed copy at public appearances. This is only likely to fuel the feeding frenzy for signed copies.

Poison Pixie have also announced some more unusual DANNY collectibles which they expect to be auctioning this year, including:

• The firm's in-house proof copy of Volume 1, annotated/corrected throughout by the author (Poison Pixie are taking 'expressions of interest' on this one so get in the queue now!)
• The partial proof provided by Bookwell the printer. This is not the whole book but sample pages from front and rear to show layout. It is however the only printer's proof that was produced.
• Miscellaneous ephemera such as early cover designs.
• Book launch ephemera, including a handful of unopened goodie bags which were given to guests on the night, the very desirable 'Sexually Explicit' badges, also handed out to guests on the night, plus menu cards, and even the original admission tickets!

Perhaps best of all however is Chancery Stone's evening dress and jewellery which will be accompanied by photos of Chancery wearing it at the launch and a signed letter of provenance.

And finally, some fantasy collectibles all currently in the author's possession but unfortunately not for sale....

The original handwritten draft of volume 1. The handwritten draft is understandably enormous, annotated throughout and contains many scenes missing from both the Citron & Poison Pixie editions. The author says she may consider parting with this some day.

The original handwritten drafts of volumes 2-4. We're not likely to see these on the market soon as they are still currently works in progress, but likewise the author says she may consider letting these go in the future.

The original handwritten short story that inspired DANNY.

A single copy of an abridged version of DANNY produced by a POD firm in the US with a different cover and different text from either the current or Citron editions.

The author's work book where the entire history, plotting and machinations of the book were worked out. Containing not only full family histories, it also contains notes on all the family secrets and events that happened 'off-screen'. In short, material that will never make it into any of the books. It also has room plans and, more unusually, photographs of the characters as the author envisaged them.

And last, but not least, the author's 'Progress Logs' - diaries of the daily life of writing Danny, containing much on the novel but, she says, also far too much personal information to give away! Ah well, we can but dream....

JANE DARK

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