Century Press - The Crocodile

From the email from the press:

Shipping Autumn 2023 in a limited edition of 250...

Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Crocodile

Pre-Orders Open Sunday July 16th at 12pm EST

⦿ All pre-orders received by the end of July will receive a special edition of The Crocodile with handmade endsheets from master Canadian artist Susan Kristoferson.

⦿ Her stunning paste papers were exhibited by the Grolier Club earlier this year, and have been acquired by NYC's Metropolitan Art Museum as part of their Paper Legacy Collection.

⦿ Don't miss out on the chance to own one of these special editions! These paste paper end sheets will appear ONLY in books that are pre-ordered in July.

Dostoevsky's The Crocodile
Limited to 250 copies
$199 CAD

>3 AlexBookshelfFrog: where did you see that it’s unfinished?

>3 AlexBookshelfFrog: yes, their books are all printed letterpress

You can learn more about the press and their books at centurypress.ca

What a strange choice of a short story. It's amusing like Gogol's The Nose, but there are other and better short stories to choose from. Dostoevsky is my favorite author and if it were Dreams of a Ridiculous Man, White Nights, or A Gentle Creature I would likely buy it, but, $200 for The Crocodile is a pass. I wonder the reasoning behind this selection, especially since their other publications have been wildly popular selections.

Apparently Dostoevsky marked that he intended to add more or rework parks of the Crocodile I think that’s where the notion comes from that it was unfinished in the author’s eyes.

>7 Joshbooks1: It came down to a poll a few months back, The Crocodile or Bartleby the Scrivener by Melville. I guess that it won means it's popular enough among fans of the press, but I would have vastly preferred the Melville.

>9 SolerSystem: That's a bummer. I love Bartleby and have been wanting a nice fine press version for a while. Definitely more desirable than The Crocodile.

>9 SolerSystem: Indeed that's unfortunate. Bartleby is a much better short story and I'm quite surprised since The Crocodile is not even one of Dostoevsky's best novellas or short stories whereas Bartleby is brilliant and the older I get I can empathize with him so much more: "I would prefer not to."

Given the length of both stories and their thematic connection, I feel like a single volume double feature would have been the obvious win for everyone.

>10 LeBacon: Indulgence Press (if you can find a copy).

>13 kermaier: Yeah, I've seen that version for sale online once or twice. It looks very well made but I didn't care for some of the design decisions and I'd really have to love it to pay the prices those are going for.

Ordered mine!

The Crocodile
$199.00 CAD

https://www.centurypress.ca/products/the-crocodile

Dostoevsky: The archetype of the gloomy Russian novelist.

Yet, always sure to feature moments of humour amidst the angst. Experience one of his hidden gems in The Crocodile, an absurdly comic, trenchant satire of 19th century Russian politics and Westernization, whose significance echoes across time into our own geopolitical circumstances.

Limited to 250 copies, Century Press is proud to present a striking new edition of The Crocodile like it's never been seen before.

A brand new translation of Dostoyevsky's "Editorial Preface” that accompanied the original publication of The Crocodile in Dostoevsky’s journal, The Epoch. This preamble to the story will be published in English for the first time in our edition.

An annotated and revised version the English Garnett translation from Dr. Sarah J. Young, a professor of Russian literature at UCL in London, as well as comprehensive introduction of her own.

Illustrated for the first time with four pieces by UK-based illustrator Rohan Eason.
Printing and Bindery Specs

Fully bound in vegetable-tanned, cypress goatskin leather from the Hudson Valley

Two-colour letterpress printed on premium 100% cotton 'Flurry' paper with a 1956 Heidelberg 'Windmill' platen press, typeset in Academy

Italian, tight-weave, cotton ribbon bookmark

Original gold-stamped artwork on front cover, back cover, and spine by Oksana Tarasenko.

Smyth-sewn by hand for maximum durability

Measures 7.5" x 5.25"
July Pre-Order Bonus!

All pre-orders received by the end of July will receive a special edition of The Crocodile with handmade endsheets from master Canadian artist Susan Kristoferson.

Her stunning paste papers were exhibited by the Grolier Club earlier this year, and have been acquired by NYC's Metropolitan Art Museum as part of their Paper Legacy Collection.

Don't miss out on the chance to own one of these special editions! These paste paper end sheets will appear ONLY in books that are pre-ordered in July. (Final version may vary slightly from below image)
.
Note: Our leather bindings are made from the honest hide of an animal. You're getting the real deal: full-grain leather, considered the best and highest quality leather available. Be aware that this type of leather can be naturally marked with features from each animal like creases, wrinkles, and insect bites. This means that no Century Press book will look exactly the same.

Seems like a great value!

Also ordered, can't resist a bit of fine press Dostoevsky.

Thanks for this, ordered my copy as well.

"An annotated and revised version the English Garnett translation from Dr. Sarah J. Young, a professor of Russian literature at UCL in London, as well as comprehensive introduction of her own."

Not tracking what they did on the translation - sounds like maybe Prof Young revised the Garnett translation versus supplying a new translation? I don't speak Russian so can't comment on the accuracy of Garnett but I did laugh at Nabokov's joke in Pnin referencing Garnett imitating somebody, sitting on the professor's bookshelf.

>19 LBShoreBook: Funny since what appears to be the biggest complaint of Arion's Eugene Onegin is the translator... Nabokov! I always found Nabokov incredibly insecure who wrote several good to great books but had the nerve to be hypercritical on authors who in my opinion were far more talented: Dostoevsky, Faulkner, Stendhal, Camus, Gogol, Hemingway.

On Garnett, I'm not sure if one needs an account to read the article but NYT recently published a fascinating piece on Garnett's life and translations - what an amazing woman. Regardless if one likes her translations or not she was instrumental in bringing some of the best literature to the English speaking world.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/28/books/review/constance-garnett-russia-revolut...

>20 Joshbooks1: Thanks for sharing the link, I saw that one when it came out and she definitely led an interesting life. I am a bit more ambivalent about Nabokov than you appear to be, I think his short stories are amazing, capital A, but I have not loved any of his novels. I plan to acquire the AP Eugene Onegin specifically for his translation as a supplement to my FS edition translated by Falen. The poem is good enough to warrant multiple editions on my shelves.

>20 Joshbooks1: Funny since what appears to be the biggest complaint of Arion's Eugene Onegin is the translator... Nabokov! I always found Nabokov incredibly insecure who wrote several good to great books but had the nerve to be hypercritical on authors who in my opinion were far more talented: Dostoevsky, Faulkner, Stendhal, Camus, Gogol, Hemingway.

Well, and his butterfly research was lacking, as well. For example, his revision of the genus Lycæides (family Lycænidæ) although detailed and extensive, failed to hold up under subsequent scrutiny. Such revisions are often subsequently invalidated in part as knowledge increases, but in this case, it was almost completely invalidated and is no longer referred to, as it was deemed to have fallen short to start with.

>19 LBShoreBook: I was unclear on precisely what it meant as well.

Those illustrations are delightful.

Just received an email that The Crocodile is shipping now. Looking forward to my first Century Press acquisition!

Got mine today, utterly lovely!

>27 yolana: Same here, looking forward to reading over the holidays!

Finished The Crocodile last night, got to it a bit later than planned. It's a delightful book and well made. The special endpapers are a treat, too. Easily recommended.

It looks like they may have improved the margins for The Crocodile, giving the text a little more room to breathe. Can anyone confirm?

I like my copy of The Sun Also Rises overall, but the margins are virtually nonexistent and the text comes almost right up to the edges of the pages.

>30 Nightcrawl: This is the only Century Press book I have so far, so I can't compare to others, but the margins are fine to me. They frame the text beautifully and make the book easy to hold and read. Here's a photo from their site showing the size:

>29 Shadekeep:, funny, me too!

I love this format, I only wish Bartleby would have won the Century Press poll. I thought The Crocodile as a work was meh.

>30 Nightcrawl: They've made minor improvements with each edition. I was happy with the layout and design improvements in Call of The Wild and remained happy with The Crocodile as well.

>32 kcshankd: I enjoyed this work, but I do like absurdist satire in general. I would happily pony up for a Bartleby in this format as well. Perhaps they'll circle back around to it?

>31 Shadekeep: Thanks! That definitely looks like an improvement. Lovely book!

Smells nice, too!

Clicking through random posts proved to be worthwhile and a little expensive. I couldn’t resist this edition. I am less familiar with Dostoyevsky’s shorter works and, even if this turns out not to be my favorite story of his, I’ll be very happy to have such a nice book out of it from one of my favorite writers.