Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Ten copies - only - available of the Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality Book



I thought i was out of stock of my Disneyland Paris, from sketch to Reality book i did with my co-author and friend Didier Ghez, but, good news for those of you who were looking desperately for a copy, i recently've found back ten copies of the last - and updated - english edition, with the text in english of course.

It's a 320 pages and 750 pictures book - including 250 renderings from Walt Disney Imagineering - and if you like Disney and more for the great hi-res pictures and artwork, you will literally love this book - no kidding!

Here is everything you need to know if you want to order it. Please note that no re-printing of the book is scheduled, and these last available copies may be the REAL last one!

Even at the park where i was two weeks ago, it was impossible to find a copy of the english edition. When i asked at the Storybook store if they had the english edition, i was told that they were out of stock.

So, if you don't have it yet and don't want to miss this beautiful book , i'm afraid to say that may be it's now or never...

HOW TO ORDER THE ENGLISH UPDATED EDITION: As i've said, i have ten copies available of the english edition, and I will personnaly sign each copy with a special dedication to you or anyone you wish if your purchase of the book is for a gift.

Price for one copy of the english updated edition is 87 Euros + 15 Euros of shipping.

Payment can be done easily with Paypal - Paypal payment must be sent to the email adress: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr

I ALSO HAVE ONE COPY - ONLY ONE - OF THE EXTREMELY RARE ENGLISH COLLECTOR'S EDITION: Out of stock since 6 years, this collector's edition is printed on luxury glossy paper, with a "gold" colour print on the cover AND most of all, it includes four lithographs of WDI artwork for the Walt Disney Studios, exclusive to this edition. This was a limited edition, and each copy have a "number".

Price for this copy of the english collector's edition is 200 Euros + 35 Euros of shipping. Of course, i will sign it too for you.

I HAVE ALSO COPIES OF THE FRENCH EDITION. If you're looking for the French edition, NOT updated and with the text in French, which also will be sign for you, it's the same price: 87 Euros + 15 Euros of shipping

If you want to be sure i still have copies available whether it's the english or french edition before you send your Paypal payment, please send me at: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr

And, of course, thanks to let me know about your order payment and your shipping adress by sending me an email at the same email adress - or if you have further questions.

As i am the one who designed the book, i'm not really at the good place to send compliments about it, but if you are a reader who already own the book, please leave a comment at the end of the article to let other readers know what you think about it.
Previous comments can be read at the bottom of this page where the article below was previously posted.

So, here is the previous article that will tell - and show - you more about the book.



A little description of the book, now - See below some pictures of the book pages - Please click on the mosaic pictures to see all the photos.

The book is really large at 320 pages and with 750 pictures - of which 500 are park and attractions photos and around 250 are renderings from Walt Disney Imagineering(WDI)! The size is 9 x 12 inches, all pages are in color and it's hardbound with a glossy dust jacket. The text (by Disney historian Didier Ghez), was written after more than 75 interviews he conducted with all the Imagineers who created the park. He goes into just about everything you wanted to know about this unique place that many describe as the best "Magic Kingdom" ever created by WDI.

It took Didier and I five years to create the book, but it was worth all the time we spent on it, and the book looks just as good as we had hoped for at the beginning.

The first chapter about Main Street has 52 pages and introduces the reader to the "legend" of Main Street, USA. You'll learn all about the Disneyland Paris Railroad, the unique "Discovery" and "Liberty" Arcades; find out about the architecture, the restaurants (like "Walt's," a tribute to Walt Disney, but also inspired by Club 33 in Anaheim) and the shops; with dozens of photos, renderings, models, and reproduced for the first time here, all the "cities of the future" posters located in "Discovery Arcade."



The second chapter on Frontierland discusses the park's western side with extensive sections about its major attractions, "Big Thunder Mountain" and "Phantom Manor." In fact the book has the longest sections ever put together in a book on all the major attractions. The Pirates of Caribbean section in the Adventureland chapter is 26 pages, Phantom Manor has 16 pages devoted to it, as does Space Mountain, it's a small world, etc. The photo material was so great that we kept adding more pages to the book, which was supposed to have only 240 pages when we started... we ended up with 320 upon completion!



The Frontierland chapter also covers the Mark Twain, the River Rogue Keelboats, Fort Comstock, all the restaurants, the shops and Cottonwood Creek Ranch.and featuring stunning photos of Disneyland Paris from the air by Yann Arthus Bertrand, author of The Earth from Above that make spectacular "double-pages," and allow the reader to discover the park from a whole different angle.



The Adventureland chapter is even more interesting, as many elements of the land exist only in Paris - such as the Bazaar and Aladdin to Africa and the ex-"Explorer's Club." Plus there's a long section about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril," "Adventure Isle" and "The Swiss Robinson Treehouse" and, of course, "Pirates of Caribbean" the land's major attraction and featuring its amazing Audio-Animatronics! All in all there are 56 full pages about Adventureland, and as in the previous chapters, there are dozens of photos, lots of concept art, and many shots of Imagineers at work. There's even a great bonus here, with the Marc Davis artwork for "Pirates" also included.



56 full pages are also dedicated to Fantasyland. There's an extensive look at Sleeping Beauty Castle, sections on all the dark rides (Snow White, Peter Pan and Pinocchio), as well as a look at "Alice's Curious Labyrinth," the "Mad Hatter's Tea Cups," "Storybookland," and "Casey Jr." There are even 14 pages about "it's a small world" with stunning photos of nearly all the scenes in it. Here the reader can discover a new attraction that exists only at Disneyland Paris, with a great view from above of Alice's Labyrinth.

Discoveryland also gets 52 pages of special treatment, with sections on the Visionarium, the Nautilus, Star Tours, Space Mountain, and everything you wanted to know about the other attractions in this land – Autopia and Orbitron. In fact the Nautilus chapter takes you on a visit with photos of every room of this detailed walk-through and two double page photo spreads, one which makes you feel you're inside Captain Nemo's grand salon, and the other showing you a unique view of Discoveyland featuring the Nautilus and Space Mountain in a kind of "CinemaScope" view.



When the book was released in early 2002, the Walt Disney Studios didn't exist, so you won't see them in the book. But there's still one last chapter about the hotels of the park, and Disney Village too, with the great Buffalo Bill Wild West show that entertains hundreds each evening.

And because every day in a Magic Kingdom should end with a parade and fireworks, we have the Main Street Electrical Parade that close the book, with an Herb Ryman gorgeous painting, see picture on the top of this post.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The books is great. I know you've said before that it would be too difficult to put together a similar book for DisneySea, Epcot or Animal Kingdom... but the world needs you to!

Anonymous said...

I bought the collector's edition when it first came out, and it is simply the best book done on any of the parks, with the possible exception of "The Nickel Tour".

Alain and Didier's book is large, and filled with incredible imagery from each area of the park.

Every fan should own a copy.

Unknown said...

I was at the Disneyland Paris Resort for six days last week and my husband tried to find a copy in Spanish or English, but it was out of stock in all the shops of the park, so we bought it in French, wich I can read very well. The last day, just when we were about to leave, they received 3 copies of the book in English but we didn't have time to retrieve the french copy which was already in our suitcase which was stored in the hotel's baggagerie. I think that the copy i got is not the updated version because it still features the Visionarium atraction and not Buzz Lightyear's, but it really is an incredibly wonderfull book, beautyfully written and it takes me back to the fantasy of the days I spent in the resort everytime I wander trhough its pages.

Matt said...

no contests with free book prizes for the poor people?

just kidding - they look great, Alain!

Alain Littaye said...

To Aladar: Yes, the french edition is not updated yet because we did the update of the book for the reprinting of the english edition. So, the english edition IS updated and the french one will be hopefully updated in the future, if there is a reprinting.

turquoisefish said...

I bought the book a few years back (In French, couldn't find it in English and never have).
I love it to bits and my friend who thinks that if the park isn't in Florida then it isn't Disney was really wowed by it too.

Anonymous said...

I was in Disneyland Paris just yesterday and the had both the French and English versions of the book on sale for 45 euros each. I found it in 'The Story Book Store' right next to the Town Hall just as you walk into the park... I believe they have quite a few there as I asked... so if you are going soon, pick it up!