I know this is a bit of an odd question and most people are able to read a book regardless of the edition, paper quality, font size/ type, etc. But one thing that I have noticed in my life is that this changes the experience for me and I can’t quite understand why and I was wondering if anyone else feels this same way.
I’ll give you an example, I had this newer paperback copy of The Shining by Stephen King. It was a little bulky because the font size was large, the paper quality was modern paperback so poor and thin, and the the book was over 680 pages making it seem like the book is longer than it really is. I wasn’t able to actually enjoy this book because of this. Then I won a bid on eBay for a first edition mint hardback of The Shining and I am able to feel deeply immersed within the pages. The smell of the pages, the feel of them, the vintage looking typeface. It got me thinking just how big of a deal is edition and does this affect other readers?
This isn’t even just with The Shining, this has happened with several books for me and I tend to enjoy the older editions way more than the new. However, I didn’t want to title this post “Are old editions better than new?” because that’s not always true in every category. However, another new vs old I can speak on is Charles Dickens “Great Expectations.” I had a new paperback from Barnes and noble with a very ugly cover and boring looking pages that just didn’t work for me. Then I found a mass-market paperback edition by Penguin from 1998 and once again, was able to enjoy the read based off of edition alone.
So maybe this is more along the lines of “old vs new” when it comes to book editions. Were older books bound better with better paper quality and more readable typeface? And if so, why does this enhance the reading experience while newer editions actually can potentially ruin the reading experience?
by Sal-Inger