Cassandra Clare sheds light upon the special edition of ‘The Shadowhunter’s Codex’

Cassandra Clare’s The Shadowhunter Codex, which is a collaboration with her husband Joshua Lewis, will be released in 16 days and a lot of fans probably  know that there will be a regular edition and a special edition of the Codex.

Today, Cassie took to her tumblr to explain the differences between these two:

There are two different versions of the Shadowhunter’s Codex, which is out October 29.

One: the hardback edition.

Two: the hardback limited edition.

I recognize that there’s little to no explanation on any website about the difference between the two (and I only figured out there were two once people started asking about it.) I do hope that gets fixed by TPTB, because I do not think most people would shell out for a limited edition of something without knowing why it’s limited or special, and also, they shouldn’t think it’s the only option!

I did some digging around and finally found the description of the Deluxe Edition on the Amazon page for the book. You just have to scroll to the bottom of the description itself. My editor also wrote me and said:

“The special edition is in a lovely soft-touch slipcase with gold foil and embossed text. Inside is the blue Codex (a paper-over-board binding with soft touch and gold-foiled Mortal Cup on the front). The Codex has gold foil edging on all the pages, a golden ribbon, and a golden headband (the piece of cloth that goes across the top of the book binding). It also has four-color endpapers and 92 pieces of interior art.”

The regular Codex has all the art and the text but not colored. So the differences are the velvet slipcase (a case you can slide the book out of), and gold Cup, the gold pages and ribbon, etc. It’s basically a really beautiful object. But the regular version is pretty too and contains no less information! So it’s really up to you what you want.

Rebecca Guay’s beautiful interior endpaper art.

I also found the Barnes and Noble review of the Codex on their page.

“As the world awaits Cassandra Clare’s sixth and final Mortal Instruments novel (due in May 2004), it’s a fine time to explore the Shadowhunters’ realm and lore through this unique document. This Shadowhunter’s Codex serves as a fully illustrated manual to the creatures, languages, history, devices, and places of their world. This annotated copy holds particular allure because it was once property of Clary and carries her sketches, marginalia, and commentary. (P.S. The August film release of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones increased interest in this already popular series.)”

What version will you buy? Sound off in the comments!