Cassandra Clare talks special content in ‘Lady Midnight’ first editions
Source: simonteen’s Instagram
We are all eagerly anticipating the release of Cassandra Clare’s new book – Lady Midnight – and today Cassie took to her tumblr to answer a few questions about special content in first editions. You may remember that the first editions of Clockwork Princess and City of Heavenly Fire also had special content – the family tree and two different comics.
Every first page will be hand-stamped with a rune. (I wish I could sign them all, but it is beyond my ability to sign that many books.)
Even more specially, each first edition will contain a full short story, about the size of a Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy story. […]
There is mention in Lady Midnight, when one of the TMI characters drops by, that the characters have come from a party. I decided to write the short story of that party, so we could check in more thoroughly, emotionally with the TMI characters,to see what’s going on with them and how it ties into the events of TDA. It’s a chance to check in on couples, life, politics, and just see how things are going for everyone: we’ll obviously see Jace, Clary, Magnus, Alec, Bat and Maia, Simon and Isabelle, baby Max, Jocelyn and Luke and Lily and some of the characters from Tales from Shadowhunter Academy — and, it’s not just any party; the night contains a marriage proposal for one of our couples. The story will exist only in the first edition of Lady Midnight; All hardback first editions in English of Lady Midnight will have, printed at the end, this short story.
Cassie also clarified what counts as a first edition and how you can get one:
Publishers print books in batches called print runs. Every book printed in the first batch of books printed is a first edition. “A first edition book is a copy that was printed in the first print run, when the book was originally published. If the books sell out, the publisher will authorize the printing of a new batch, called the second edition. When that stock is depleted, the next print run is called the third edition, and so on.“
[…]
The best way to make sure you get a first edition is to pre order. You can do this online.
If you do not want to order online, you can go into any bookstore now and tell them that you wish to pre-order a first edition. They will call you when it comes in. Bookstores can do that. They put in their own order with the publisher, and the publisher makes sure they get those first editions. You can even do this at Walmart. You can do this in any country, in any bookstore where English language books are sold.
The special content sounds amazing! We hope that Jace proposes to Clary 🙂
Here is a list where fans around the world can preorder Lady Midnight, which will be published on March 8, 2016:
Amazon US / Barnes and Noble / Book Depository / Amazon UK / Amazon Germany / Amazon Canada / Amazon France / Amazon Spain / Amazon Italy / Amazon Brasil / Amazon India / Amazon Japan
TMI Source 
Is the version that’s bookable on Amazon the one with the special short story?
“All hardback first editions in English of Lady Midnight will have, printed at the end, this short story”. I have linked to the hardcover edition of Lady Midnight and if you preorder this one, then it will have the short story.
I already pre-ordered this book on Amazon.
Please tell me the marriage proposal is a Malec proposal. If it is, I will lose my freakin’ mind! ❤
I pre-ordered this on Amazon.
I thought Cassandra Clare said The Dark Artifices and The Last Hours covers would match both the original covers and the new ones but to me they look more like the new covers.
Caddie said that the covers for The Dark Artifices and The Last Hours would match the old and new covers, but in my opinion I think the Lady Midnight cover matches the new covers a lot more than the old ones.
In my opinion, Lady Midnight’s cover is exactly as Cassie said: a bit of both the old AND the new cover styles. The fact that there are rays of light on the cover, and the fact that the book’s title and the author’s name are positioned on the bottom, those are all things that the old covers did; it is arguable a little [visually ]**darker** themed than -either- cover style though. Whatever the case, I Really LIKE it! ^_^
In my opinion, Lady Midnight’s cover is exactly as Cassie said: a bit of both the old AND the new cover styles. The fact that there are rays of light on the cover, and the fact that the book’s title and the author’s name are positioned on the bottom, those are all things that the old covers did{{ — while the whole singular figure plus one object in their hands being the solitary focus on a relatively unadorned backdrop thing, on the other hand, is an attribute of the new covers}}; It is arguable a little [visually ]**darker** themed than -either- cover style though. Whatever the case, I Really LIKE it! ^_^
I pre-ordered it the same day it came out to! I hope that its a Clace wedding. Oh please be a Clace wedding!
It’s a proposal, not a wedding 😉
Oh shoot, now we have to wait. Thank you for correcting me!
Toodles!
Do you know whether Hispanic first editions will have this?