Stardust (novel) - Publication History

Publication History

Stardust was originally conceived by Gaiman and Vess as a "story book with pictures," created by both, to be published by DC Comics. During an interview to be included in the audio book Neil Gaiman explained how, one day while driving he had seen a wall on the side of the road and had conceived the idea of Faerie being behind the wall, this sparked an idea in his head about an American novelist who moved to England where he would find out about this wall, this book was to be called, very simply, Wall. Soon after he was nominated for a literary award which he won, at a celebratory party he saw a shooting star and immediately came up with the idea of Stardust. He dragged Vess out of a party that he was at and outlined the plot to him, Vess agreed to do the illustrations. Initially it was released in 1997 in what is known in the medium of comics as a prestige format four-issue mini-series. This means it came out once a month in a square-bound high-gloss comic, with high grade paper, high quality color and no advertisements.

Gaiman and Vess originally intended the story to be released complete, as a single book, which would better reproduce the painted illustrations of Vess and be a "story book" for all ages, and a release in this format was made in 1998. There was both a hardback (ISBN 1-56389-431-9) and a trade paperback edition (ISBN 1-56389-470-X). It is more accurately titled Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust (Being A Romance Within The Realms of Faerie). The hardback edition is quarter-bound in faux leather with the author's names, title and several stars inlaid in foil. It also has reproductions of the comic book covers and many sketches by Vess. The trade paperback has a very different cover design and illustrations by Vess, and has subsequently been reprinted with another different cover design.

Gaiman retains the copyright to the text and in 1999 decided, encouraged by publisher Avon, to publish Stardust as a conventional novel in hardback without illustrations. There was also a subsequent UK hardcover edition, from Hodder Headline. The book also proved popular with readers of the "romance" genre, although it is generally considered part of the fantasy genre. Thus the paperback publication was originally given three different covers which when placed side by side had one background image and a different primary image including a handsome man holding a woman in a passionate embrace, although this cover concept was never used.

In 1999, Charles Vess' Green Man Press produced a portfolio as a benefit for Charles Vess' wife Karen, injured in a car accident, titled A Fall of Stardust, which contained two chapbooks and a series of art plates. The first chapbook, written by Gaiman, comprised "Wall: A Prologue" short story, "Septimus' Triolet" poem, "Song Of The Little Hairy Man", and "The Old Warlock's Reverie: A Pantoum" poem. The second chapbook was a short story entitled The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse by Susanna Clarke. Art plates were illustrated by William Stout, Mike Mignola, Terri Windling, Bryan Talbot, Jill Thompson, Paul Chadwick, P. Craig Russell, Mark Crilley, Elizabeth Johns, Michael Zulli, Robin Mullins, Lisa Snellings, Terry Moore, Tony DiTerlizzi, Linda Medley, Lorenzo Mattotti, Zander Cannon, Dave McKean, Jeff Smith, Trina Robbins & Steve Leialoha, Gary Gianni, Janine Johnston, Stan Sakai, Michael Kaluta, Moebius, Rebecca Guay, Geof Darrow, Brian Froud and Charles Vess. Several plates were colored by Eric Olive. Todd Klein worked with Charles Vess to create the unique logo. Those who order this collection directly from Green Man Press received an additional art plate by Sergio Aragonés.

In July 2007, a new hardcover edition was published by Vertigo containing approximately fifty pages of new material, including new artwork and information on the production of the book.