The Grand Sophy

Remember a while back when I wrote a blog post complaining about Sourcebooks Casablanca’s terrible rebrand of Georgette Heyer’s novels?

Well, I snarked, and now I’m going to praise. I’m working on my All of Heyer entry on These Old Shades (no, really) and I came across this cover image.

*The latest Sourcebooks Casablanca Cover for These Old Shades. I love it!*

This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about! They wanted a fresh new look to appeal to younger readers, and this time they’ve done a smashing job. A fan, pistols, cards, a quizzing glass, a carriage–presumably His Grace of Avon’s light traveling coach on the way to Versailles, pulled by his high-couraged horses–all the things one thinks of in connection with this delightful story. It looks like fun! Who wouldn’t want to read it?

So it seems that Sourcebooks took the criticism about their proposed new books–and believe me, I was not the only one complaining, the Georgette Heyer Facebook group was acquiring pitchforks and torches–and went back to the drawing board, and came up with a really wonderful new look, also rebranding them as “The Georgette Heyer Signature Collection.” Well done, Sourcebooks! Your ebooks still cost too much, though. (They do occasionally put them on sale, if you’re in the market…sign up for eReaderIQ and set your preferences for Georgette Heyer, and you will be notified by email when the prices drop. They often run a sale near Heyer’s birthday in August.)

Incidentally, we think Miss Stanton-Lacey would approve of The Grand Sophy‘s makeover, though Miss Wraxton might sniff. And they included Tina the Italian Greyhound! HI TINA WHO’S A GOOD GIRL YOU ARE YES YOU ARE

Sourcebooks is in the process of rebranding its editions of Georgette Heyer’s novels. I want to say up front that Sourcebooks performs a real public service in keeping Heyer in print here in the U.S. It wasn’t that long ago that, if we Yanks wished to read Heyer’s books and our public library was not well-stocked, we had to comb used-book stores and websites, sometimes paying outrageous prices due to their rarity–Heyer fans tend to hang on to their copies–or import them from the UK at considerable expense. I know that because I did it.

Sourcebooks recently posted on their “Georgette Heyer” Facebook page the first redesigned cover they are launching, for The Grand Sophy, which can be seen at left (you can see it at a larger size by clicking on it). While the illustration is fresh and appealing, it has about as much to do with The Grand Sophy as I do with nuclear geophysics.

One is tempted to respond, in the language of Austen and Heyer, that some great misapprehension has occurred. Is that supposed to be Sophy Stanton-Lacy? Whose clothes are all from Paris, who drives a high-perch phaeton and rides a spirited Mameluke-trained stallion, and who carries a pistol and knows how to use it (though it throws a little right)? This simpering miss with her ribbons and flounces and sweet cotton gown that she ran up from the Simplicity Basic Regency Gown pattern using quilting fabric from JoAnn? With a really weird handbag? And evening gloves with a day dress and bonnet? THAT’S supposed to be The Grand Sophy? Continue reading →