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litjoy’s special edition set of the night circus & the starless sea


My copies of the LitJoy Special Edition Set of The Night Circus & The Starless Sea have arrived and I cannot properly capture or describe how beautiful they are. I knew they were going to be gorgeous but I overwhelmed at how stunning they are and how wonderfully the work of so many artists and designers has been woven together. 


The covers are foiled in silver and gold and each one has a metal charm inlay: a sword for The Starless Sea and a clock for The Night Circus. They have beautiful page edge art, illustrated tip-ins and endpapers, and they come in a gorgeous custom slipcase.

These editions are particularly special as each book contains dozens of author annotations in my questionable handwriting. Little bits of inspirations and references and memories and behind-the-scenes thoughts. It was an unusual experience wandering through both of these books again to add notes to them and I hope these notations prove interesting or insightful or amusing.


Endless gratitude to the team at LitJoy for putting so much thought and work into this set. I was so impressed every step of the way watching these editions come together and I’m blown away by the final product. This set is truly something magical and I am so honored to have both of these stories together wrapped in such incredible art. (As far as I know this set is still available!)

LitJoy’s The Night Circus and The Starless Sea Special Edition Box Set

Book cover designs by Lichen & Limestone

Slipcase and page edges by Fyodor Pavlov 

Tip-in illustrations by Maria Arteta and Patsy Lascano

Illustrated endpapers by Simona Jančíková and Patsy Lascano

By erin, ago

folio society’s grimms’ fairy tales

I had the honor of writing the introduction for Folio Society‘s new collection of Grimms’ Fairy Tales, a task which was both delightful and daunting. I had such a wonderful time rereading these tales for the first time in years, finding new favorite stories and moments. There’s too much to say about these stories. About all of these objects and characters and paths through the woods. It was difficult to capture the depth and the darkness in only a few pages, but hopefully my introduction serves as an appropriate blend of wishes and warnings for those entering this particular forest.

I am always astounded by how much thought and detail The Folio Society puts into each and every one of their books, they are absolute works of art. This collection includes fifty selected tales both familiar and less so (special thanks to Folio for asking me if there were any in particular that I’d like to see included and adding Fitcher’s Bird for me, all feathers and honey). These stories were translated by Jack Zipes and they are wrapped in beautiful, bold illustrations by Sophy Hollington.

As of this writing there are only a few copies remaining of the very fancy limited edition but Vesper recommends the standard edition, it’s the one she keeps sitting on.

So much gratitude to Folio Society for inviting me to be a part of this project and giving me an excuse to revisit and reread so many glorious tales. These are old stories but there’s so much to discover, still, no matter how many times you’ve heard them or read them or reread them. So many things lost in the woods, waiting to be found.

By erin, ago

the uk 15th anniversary edition of the night circus

For this year’s fifteenth anniversary of The Night Circus, my wonderful team at Harvill in the UK have put together a truly wonderful and wonder-filled new hardcover edition featuring beautiful cover illustration by Kei-Ella Loewe. Here the circus has traded its traditional black-and-white for evening blues and bonfire golds, with gold foil highlights and a perfect blue ribbon bookmark and it is just as gorgeous and gilded with its jacket off as well.

This edition also features a brand new introduction written by the extraordinary Alix E. Harrow. This is an introduction that made me laugh and made me cry and it has footnotes. I am so, so honored to have Alix introduce this book. (If you haven’t read any of Alix’s own fantastic books I highly recommend them, I am particularly fond of The Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Everlasting.)

This 15th anniversary edition of The Night Circus will be released on October 15th in the UK and is available for pre-order. My endless gratitude to everyone at Harvill for putting so much thought and detail into dressing this story up for its anniversary, and to Alix for providing the perfect welcome.

By erin, ago

the new paperback of the night circus

The Night Circus turns 15 this year, somehow, and even though I question the math involved and the nature of Time I am delighted that Vintage has given the US paperback a new look to celebrate the occasion.

The new paperback is designed by Madeline Partner with art by Alex Eckman-Lawn who is one of my very favorite artists, I have one of his collages (this one) on my wall and he also did the artwork for the US paperback of The Starless Sea so now both books are beautifully coordinated. As soon as Vintage started discussing a possible new cover I suggested Alex and I’m so delighted that they agreed.

The new paperbacks have, of course, been properly inspected by Vesper and apparently approved.

While I am still very much in denial about the flow of time, I could not be happier about having a fresh new cover for the circus, especially one this gorgeous and evocative. Endless thanks to Alex and the entire team at Vintage for putting such a spectacular package together!

By erin, ago

the folio society edition of the starless sea

Much to my delight the wonderful Folio Society has worked its magic once again, this time on The Starless Sea.

This edition is gilded and honey-dripping and so lovely to hold. One of my favorite things about Folio Society editions is how beautifully tactile they are. Vesper apparently agrees, as my copy is currently covered in fuzz.

It is illustrated by the incredible Cristina Bencina who also illustrated the Folio Society edition of The Night Circus. I adore the way she works with lines and color and the color palette here is so gorgeous, bright and bold while still maintaining the subterranean shadows. It is an honor to have this book filled with her inimitable interpretations of moments and images. (I am entirely obsessed with the title page owl.)

My eternal gratitude to Folio Society, I have been a fan and a collector of their extraordinary editions for so long and I continue to be overwhelmed seeing my own stories dressed up in their Folio finery.  

This Folio Society edition launched at the beginning of the month but I somehow forgot to post photos on the blog while I was posting them elsewhere. I’m not sure how that happened or how May has managed to tumble so quickly into almost-June in a burst of greenery and lilacs.

My apologies to anyone who still actually reads this blog for the delay! Please enjoy this tiny bunny:

By erin, ago

litjoy special editions

LitJoy has put together this spectacular special edition set of my books and I’m thrilled that it’s finally been revealed.

This set features both The Night Circus and The Starless Sea in a custom, tarot-inspired slipcase. This set is signed and also annotated by me in my questionable handwriting, with dozens of notes and references and memories scribbled in the margins. The covers are foiled (The Night Circus in silver and The Starless Sea in gold) and include metal charm inlays. The page edges are illustrated to coordinate with the slipcase. They are truly something special.

So many incredible artists are involved in conjuring these editions and I am honored and delighted to have their work enhance these stories.

Book cover designs by Lichen & Limestone

Slipcase and page edges by Fyodor Pavlov 

Tip-in illustrations by Maria Arteta and Patsy Lascano

Illustrated endpapers by Simona Jančíková and Patsy Lascano

My endless appreciation to all of them and the wonderful team at LitJoy. It has been such a pleasure to watch these editions evolve. I was lucky enough to get to see a great deal of the behind-the-scenes for these, glimpses of processes and planning and sketches, and it has been a bright light in a dark time to see such creative people bring these editions to life.

Much more information about these editions on LitJoy’s website! These sets are limited and preorders will open at the beginning of February. 
By erin, ago