Many of you will be familiar with The Princess Bride from the almost perfect cult classic
movie produced by Rob Reiner in 1987.
But the movie was based on an equally fabulous book, and if you’ve never read it you are
really missing out, because the book has all the humour, joy and romance of the movie and
more besides.
So today’s video covers some of the most wonderful editions of The Princess Bride book
for your enjoyment.
The central conceit of the book is that the author, William Goldman, is presenting an
abridged version of S. Morgenstern’s longer so-called classic book.
So the story is constantly being interrupted by author’s notes on the abridgements he
is making, and asides about his memories of his father reading the book, and his discussions
with the publishers.
This book is the first hardcover edition of the Princess Bride, published by Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich in 1973.
It’s most easily identifiable by the cover, which was designed by Wendell Minor, but what
makes this edition hugely desirable is that the author’s notes on his supposed abridgements
are presented in glorious bright red text.
This technique of using coloured type in a novel is still uncommon even today, so it
was extremely striking at the time.
Unfortunately this has resulted in this volume commanding huge prices in the secondhand market.
(Sharp-eyed viewers may have noticed that my copy has a dodgy facsimile cover that I
made myself, as I actually snagged mine very cheaply because it had no dust jacket.)
There was also a similar Macmillan edition released in the UK in 1975.
A science fiction book club edition was published that same year, and it’s quite confusing
for online buyers because both editions have the same ISBN and similar publisher information.
The jacket art for this edition is by well-known children’s illustrator Ruth Sanderson.
But this edition has the author’s notes and asides indicated by italics rather than
coloured text.
Another very sought after edition is the first paperback edition published by Ballantine
in 1974, which is actually even more scarce than the very expensive hardcover edition.
This paperback also has the striking red passages, but what really sets this one apart is the
cover.
Please, take a moment to appreciate how truly inappropriate this design is.
The art is by Tom Coconis, Tom – I do not think this title means what you think it means...
Apart from the rather confronting naked lady gracing this cover, we have snakes, skulls,
that bird on her head…
It’s rather more appropriate for The Princess Bride of Cthulu than the fairy tale it contains.
It was so controversial that the publishers stopped the press run after little more than
a week, and less than a thousand copies were printed.
The second paperback edition changed the cover and replaced the internal red text standard
black italic.
Being paperbacks, they were also easily damaged which makes them even more rare.
After this a variety of anniversary editions and leather-bound copies were released over
the next thirty years or so, particularly peaking in the late 1980s when the movie was
released.
I won’t cover all of those different bindings in detail, but I would highlight the 1977
Ballantine paperback edition which has a sweet cover by Norman Green and contains a really
gorgeous foldout map of Florin and Guilder.
You can usually find a copy of these pretty cheaply if you keep an eye out.
In the first book, one of Goldman’s hilarious authorial asides mentions that he wrote a
powerfully emotional reunion scene between Westley and his true love Buttercup that wasn’t
in Morgenstern’s original book.
But he says basically that the publisher won’t let him include his fan fiction in this abridgement
so he encourages readers to write in to the publishers to ask for a copy of the scene.
Now, back in the 1970s, if you wrote into this address – and every month a few hundred
people did – they would send you back a letter from Mr Goldman.
It didn’t include the reunion scene, but it did include a long funny letter perpetuating
the charade with all sorts of details about legal roadblocks that would hopefully be overcome
when the Morgenstern copyright ran out in 1978.
It also mentioned that there were discussions about printing Morgenstern’s sequel to the
book, titled Buttercup’s Baby: S. Morgenstern’s Glorious Examination of Courage Matched Against
the Death of the Heart.
After 1978, the letter was sent out with a new post script added about how a misunderstanding
of the Florinese numbering system meant that copyright actually ran out in 1987, not 1978,
and more legal woes about the publishing journey of Buttercup’s Baby.
Then the movie came out and a new post post script was added about America and Florin
trade problems causing a new delay in its publication.
Honestly, it’s quite delightful.
The text of these letters was included in some of the anniversary editions as they were
released.
The 30th anniversary edition of the book actually included sample chapters of Buttercup's Baby,
and hints that there might be a full version completed before the 50th anniversary rolls
around in 2023.
Now, back to the books!
This lovely illustrated edition of The Princess Bride was released in 2013, and it contains
50 really beautiful sepia illustrations by Michael Manomivibul.
These are the same illustrations that are included in the much more expensive leather-bound
Easton Press edition released the same year.
In 2014 the Folio Society also released an illustrated edition, bound in olive green
cloth with gold accents that features illustrations by Mark Thomas in more of a cartoon style.
And 2017 saw the release of this hefty beauty, the Deluxe Edition.
This features the same illustrations as the 2013 edition, but they have been enlarged
to fit in this oversized volume, along with full-colour chapter openers and a new colour
map printed on the endpapers.
Before I go I have two more books to share with you.
First is this fabulous anti-fairy tale The Silent Gondoliers, written by Goldman ten
years after The Princess Bride under the pseudonym of S. Morgenstern purely to keep the mythology
of his fictitious author alive.
It even includes a note to the publisher with some requests for updates to The Princess
Bride.
It’s very funny, and its very existence just makes me so happy!
And the other is Cary Elwes’ very enjoyable 2014 memoir As You Wish, about the making
of the movie.
Cary played Westley in the film, and his book of stories, photographs and interviews with
cast and crew is a wonderful treat for fans of the movie.
I hope you enjoyed this video, and that you have a chance to read The Princess Bride – it’s
wonderful in any edition.
Let me know your favourite scene in the comments – my favourite movie scene is the sword
fight between Inigo and the Dread Pirate Roberts, and my favourite part of the book are all
of Goldman’s childhood reminiscences.