In a Dublin bookshop during a trip to Ireland last fall, I
noticed many
omnibuses (omnibusses?) for authors whose backlist titles are
sold here in
the States as individual volumes. Chandler, Hammet, James Lee
Burke, Jim
Thompson were some of the writers I noticed who had various
titles combined
into a single bound package.
Such combo volumes are fairly rare in the States -- except
for instant
hardbound remainders you'll find on the bargain tables. The
only ones that
come to mind immediately are Penguin's Berlin Noir package by
Philip Kerr
and the new Cornell Woolrich omnibus.
I suppose such omnibuses are more economical to publish than
individual
novels, and probably are cheaper for readers to buy. However,
I suspect
that sales would be lower for a combo volume here because a
thicker book
like that might not appeal to beach readers. But this is a
vaguely
materialized opinion based on no sales information.
Personally, I'd like to see omnibus volumes of works by
writers who seem to
fall out of print frequently -- Woolrich is an obvious
example, and I'm
sure other pulp-related crime writers would be "usual
suspects" for a short
list. Any other recommended candidates for omnibus volumes?
-- Duane
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