News of a new 1001 Books edition

You might have heard, you might not have, but October will see a new 2012 edition of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Priced at £20.00 and released by UK-based Cassell Illustrated, this will be the fourth edition after the book was originally published in 2006 and then reissued in 2008 and 2010.

The $1001 question is, how many books will they remove to squeeze in those published since 2010. In 2008, they changed a whopping 282 books, and in 2010 a further 11. I think everyone’s hoping that the 2012 list won’t be radically revised. Accusations of a “moving target” have been prominent in online discussions.

All the publishers will tell us is attached to this post. It’s a publicity pdf that tells us a little more detail than online discussions have revealed and a little less detail than we’d like to answer our $1001 question.

But reading between the  lines, when the marketing copy stresses how many photos have been changed, I think we can safely assume that the main selling point is not the inclusion of a slew of new books.

What North American and Antipodean readers of the marketing copy might wish was less blunt was the fact that it clearly states “not for sale in:US,AU,CA,NZ.” That means it’s going to be an expensive investment for hard core fans of the books who might want to rely on the updated versions of the iPhone app and the spreadsheet that Arukiyomi will be bringing your way just as soon as he can after the list is available.