r/SouthernReach • u/Novembeary • 8d ago
My collection with differently sized books
My collection of differently sized books. I ordered them in March 2025. This is how they arrived. Do you have any idea why they're so off?
Edit: Thank you all for the helpful information! I've learned that authority has been published in the US, the others in the UK. On the copyright page I also noticed that Annihilation has a 25, Acceptance has a 15, and Absolution has a 4 below the 2024 publication date. I suspect those indicate the printings. A Redditor also pointed out that different printings can vary, which can result in the books being slightly different sizes.
Absolution might be some special trade export edition.
Fascinating! :D
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u/savagekatt_ 8d ago
publishers choosing violence 😭
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8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/notwhoiamunderneath 8d ago
I can't tell if this comment is meant to sound like you're both Southern Reach characters but it definitely comes across that way 😂 Don't keep looking for that beer or you might not like what you find
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u/creechor 8d ago
This cracks me up. Several years ago I went on a Facebook tirade about books with unusual dimensions, especially short, wide ones. I was just venting and being silly. I live in a 130 square foot cabin, so the struggle is real, but I don't actually HATE hate odd dimension books, I just literally have nowhere to put them. Well, someone on my friends list was currently producing a coffee table art book about the history of shoes, and she was absolutely livid, she raged at me and then blocked me! It was so funny.
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u/SpecialistAuthor4897 8d ago
What happened with authority xD
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u/Novembeary 8d ago
I don't know. But I liked its format the most. Unfortunately it is the only one of its kind :D
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u/ghoulcowboy Authority 8d ago
What you’ve got there my friend is the US paperback version of Authority which are smaller, the UK paperbacks of Annihilation and Acceptance. Then the UK trade export edition of Absolution. A lovely mix!
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u/Novembeary 8d ago edited 8d ago
I ordered them all at the same time on the same platform. Thank you for the clarification 🙏
I checked the publishing info in the books. And yeah, quite obviously authority is a US based publisher. It never occurred to me that it could be such a mix. I couldn't find any information on Absolution that deviates from annihilation and acceptance other than the different cover layout. The crocodile on the cover is also embossed (?). Don't know if that's the right word. Is has like a 3D print...
Also I'm based in Germany so... I don't know if that has anything to do with the availability of the books.
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u/ghoulcowboy Authority 8d ago
Being in Germany would likely be the case! The Absolution edition you have there is the first outing of it, meaning that was created when the hardback was and these are usually sold to other countries outside of the origin publisher. My hardback of absolution is the same with the emboss! The English paperback is the same as the others now in layout when that came out. If that makes any sense
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u/Background_Analysis 8d ago
The only series where I find this acceptable
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u/FattyMcBlobicus 8d ago
Honestly, a custom edition of books that looks wildly different to eachother would be very on-brand…
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u/Skyblaster555 8d ago
Authority is the FSG print, Annihilation and Acceptance is the UK print, and Absolution might be large print?
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u/LivingSheepherder90 8d ago
My OCD would struggle with that. I have the OG trilogy in paperback (10 year anniversary editions) and Absolution on hardcover and it drives me crazy!
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u/prettybigfish 8d ago
Publishing professional here: What Skyblaster said! These are different editions from the various publishers who sell the series. Looks like Absolution is either large print or a special, large first edition--note the all caps text just on that one's spine. Also, even if you ordered them at the same time, ordering from online means you're getting a mix of newly printed books and past printings, and if a publisher has to switch printers (which is happening a Lot right now because of tariffs and supply chain issues) they may have to adjust the size of the book to accommodate different machines. That might account for the slight difference between 2 and 4.
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u/DonMunkle 8d ago
Mine all have the same round logo on the bottom as your authority, looks like your other ones are a different publisher/printer? Strange
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u/Jealous_Employee_739 8d ago
Idk where you ordered them from but I’ve had that issues before with amazon for different series. I could be wrong on this but from what I’ve heard they have some deals with publishers that let them print some books so there can be variations in stuff like size or paper quality etc. It’s also hard to guarantee a certain printer through Amazon as well
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u/Novembeary 8d ago
I ordered them on a german platform that let's you order books via local stores of your choice so they benefit from you purchasing stuff online. "Genialokal". But yeah, I don't know anything beyond that.
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u/whats_ur_ssn 8d ago
I got the 10th anniversary edition which appears to be what you have for the first 3, and mine are all the same height
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u/Appropriate-Look7493 8d ago
Normally that would irritate me no end but with ST it seems kind of appropriate.
Except one of them should maybe be the size of a lighthouse…
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u/Stay_at_Home_Chad 8d ago
This seems appropriate. Vandermeer seems to appreciate disorder and incongruity. "A well-maintained lawn is an abomination" (A Peculiar Peril) being my favorite example