Today the Redwall Wiki is reviewing the Blacksheep UK set of Redwall paperbacks. These editions were first released by Penguin's Red Fox imprint around 2006 - 2007 during the 20th Anniversary of Redwall. Since that time, Red Fox has re-issued the books with slightly different cover text, and we'll delve into that shortly.
Blacksheep UK designed the cover artwork for these editions of the novels, which consist of the first 14 books:
Redwall, Mossflower, Mattimeo, Mariel of Redwall, Salamandastron, Martin the Warrior, The Bellmaker, Outcast of Redwall, Pearls of Lutra, The Long Patrol, Marlfox, The Legend of Luke, Lord Brocktree, and Taggerung.
In 2006, we had the chance to ask Brian Jacques about these new covers, and he had indicated that the artwork was not necessarily approved by him.
Why did we decide to grab these?
- Several of these books we'd never seen a photograph of before. All that appears online is simply a graphic of the cover artwork.
- We'd also never seen the complete 14-book set together. Until now.
Hunting the books down can be difficult depending on the novel, as some are located in the UK only. In other cases, there's only a handful floating around out there, as these were published approximately 16 years ago. Generally, you have no idea what's going to appear in your mailbox because photos of the books simply do not exist with seller listings. They could be any edition that's been released, as some of the ISBNs are also the same with the re-issues.
When images of the book covers were first released, the subtext "Over 5 Million Redwall Books Sold" was included on them. We have never seen a photo of a physical book with this cover text, only the graphic. We're not even sure if the first-release editions ever used that subtext given that we've never seen it. However, this graphic IS used for some book seller listings.
At some point, the subtext became "20 Years of Redwall: Over 10 Million Redwall Books Sold." We think around 2014, the subtext "Over 20 Million Redwall Books Sold" began usage - it's definitely the subtext used for publication as of 2021. However, unless there's a photo accompanying the listing, you have no idea if you're getting a "10 Million" or "20 Million" Blacksheep UK book.
The first six books are the easiest to find, as you can actually buy them in one package on Amazon. While the listing has a 2021 release date, these are the "10 Million" subtext books.
That left me eight books to track down. And, like as mentioned while assembling the UK hardcover set, the condition of the books can vary and may not match the listing. One seller sent me the wrong book altogether. Another was so terribly beat up I had to re-order it from someone else. In other cases, books were "library editions" and covered in stickers that required minor surgery to remove.
Out of the remaining eight books, seven ended up having the "10 Million" subtext. The Pearls of Lutra arrived with the "20 Million" text, and as per the book copyrights page, was a 2021 re-issue. However, there's a rather glaring design error on the book's spine: "THE PEARLS OF LUTRA" is written as "THE PEARLS OT LUTRA"!
We can't believe this happy accident was overlooked (whoops!). And, given the proximity of the "T" and "F" keys, it's likely this was a typo. But still.
Does this error make the book more collectible? There are some folks who might disagree with us, but we say yes! But, as we just said, unless a photo accompanies the seller listing, there's no telling which edition of the book you'll get. We have no idea if earlier releases of the Pearls of Lutra Red Fox Blacksheep UK edition contain this same error, or if it's just the 2021 re-issue. This also isn't our first time finding some flaws: we spotted some in the 2014 Redwall paperback as well as the Redwall Twentieth Anniversary Gift Package.
Something else we thought was interesting about the Blacksheep designs is that Luke the Warrior on The Legend of Luke cover is the only character who's facing to the left. In the other 13 books, everyone else faces to the right. I can't help but wonder if this was intentional, and if so, why, as it looks a bit odd on from a shelf perspective.
Internally, as these are UK English-language publications, the books contain the same maps and illustrations that you're probably familiar with. You can see the backs of the covers here.
And as a side note, we think these cover designs are perfect for Halloween pumpkin carving.
As always, thanks for reading today. More fun stuff is on the way for 2022!
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