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If you just can’t wait to read former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s political memoir, A Journey, which is set to hit all good book shops in the U.K. on September 1, and the U.S. on the 2nd, then there’s some good news.
The book’s publisher, Random House, has revealed that in addition to the regular version of Tone’s tome, retailing at £25 ($40) they will also release a special edition, available to buy for the ever-so-slightly elevated price of £150 ($235).
But what extra bang will you get for your buck (or your quid)? Well, the cover of the normal edition simply features a close-up of Blair’s face (where he’s giving the camera a good old fashioned stare), but the special version will be signed by the author, have the title stamped in gold and comes with a cloth slip case in crimson to keep the book safe (which might come in handy if former PM Gordon Brown tries to borrow your copy).
The Office of Tony Blair promises that the book will, “break new ground in prime ministerial memoirs just as Blair himself broke the mold of British politics.” Blair wrote the 624-page book with a reported advance of $7.3m and The Bookseller website reports that translation rights have already been sold in 14 territories. An e-book and an audio book, read by the author himself, will also be released. But no advance copies have been made available for review nor has there been a serialization deal put in place.
But these efforts to create some pre-publication buzz might be falling on deaf ears: Amazon has already slashed the price of the regular copy by half to $20, due to lack of demand. Perhaps they’ll bump the price back up if Blair signs those copies too.
-Frances Perraudin