So before the legendary Vladamir Nabokov passed away, he left instructions for his heirs to throw the rough draft of his unfinished novel, The Original of Laura, into the fire. However, his wife just couldn’t bear to do it. Years later, when she died, the draft—written on 138 note cards—fell into the possession of her son Dmitri.
Dmitri, having struggled for 30 years with the decision of whether or not to publish it, finally gave the OK.
Knopf, being Knopf, came up with some brilliant packaging: Each of the pages would feature reproductions of the note cards, which owners could punch out and rearrange as they see fit, since no one really knows the proper order (though Knopf did make its best guess).
However, for libraries…maybe perforated note cards in the pages wouldn’t be the best idea…? I could see how that would be a giant mess. Still, libraries are going to want to have the book, this being a landmark publishing event: the last unpublished work of a modern master.
SO: We’ve produced a special Library Edition with no perforation! The book will have the same price point as the original and you won’t have to worry about having a book returned with holes in it, or getting all the pages laminated, or finding a glass case to keep it under. So if you’re having trouble keeping your library’s copy together (or if you don’t have one at all yet), order the Library Edition from your preferred jobber or order it from us.
-David
Wow. I can’t wait to get my hands on this one, me and everyone else in the world! I love the idea of re-arrange-able punch out notecards. Very creative and apropos.
This will be perfect for my husband who is a huge Nabokov fan.