Sunday, February 13, 2011

VERY BAD NEWS : The Disneyland Paris " From Sketch to Reality " book is now officially out of stock - Read below how to get one of the very last copy



This time, this is it, the DLP book is now officially out of stock everywhere whether it is at Disneyland Paris or at the publisher. The park informed me that they have no more copies in stock of the book whether it is the french or the english edition and the publisher, who also don't have any more copies, is not planning any reprint of the book, too.

The very last copies available are the last one i have and personally i still have only FOUR copies of the book in english version with NO dust jacket. The cover of the book itself is not in bad conditions, corners, for instance are okay, but they have some minor marks on the flat part of the cover. All the pages inside are in very good condition. These are the very last english copies available and the price for each copy is: 87 € + 15€ of flat shipping. Your copy will be sign by me, of course, as i am the author as you know.

EDITED: The four english copies without dust jacket are SOLD! Please scroll down to read about the last "perfect" copies.


If you want perfect copies, scroll down to the paragraph about french copies.

Here are pictures and more details about these english edition copies without dust jacket. All have marks whether it's on the front or on the back and i tell you where is what for each of them. Please enlarge each picture to see them well. If you are interested by one of them please let me know which copy "number" you want.

Copy No 1: COPY SOLD


Copy No 2: COPY SOLD.



Copy No 3: COPY SOLD - Another copy in not-so-bad condition: the front is okay, except a scratch on the very left and the back is in good condition with no marks or scratches. Corners are in good condition. Inside pages are in perfect condition.



Copy No 4: COPY SOLD



Now, If you want a totally perfect copy, I have also 4 copies of the first FRENCH edition (2002, and with the dust jacket, of course) even more valuable as it is the first french edition: price per copy is 250 euros, plus 35 euros of registered air mail shipping and packing. And i should be able to send you a Word file of the english text, if you can't read french. Of course the copy will be sign for you, as i always do.

I also have two copies of the french COLLECTOR'S edition (printed on a luxury paper, gold printing on the cover, including four WDS artwork lithographs, and limited and numbered edition of 2000). The copies i have are extremely good "numbers" as they are among the "20" or "30" / 2000 and the price for a signed collector copy is 500 euros plus 30 euros of registered air mail shipping.

The prices above may seems high, i agree, but have a look at the prices of other people selling the book on Amazon, and you'll see that i still am the cheapest one as they sell the book as much as 599€ for a normal edition and 1990€ (!)a collector edition! Have a look HERE to check this on Amazon.fr and HERE for Amazon.com

If you want to order one of my copies and if you have a Paypal account the best is to proceed to the payment by paypal - the paypal payment must be sent to the email adress: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr

Important: Please note that the prices are in Euros, not in $, so you have to choose the "euro" currency when you will do the paypal payment.

There is unfortunately no doubt that, from now, this book is going to be extremely difficult to find and prices will also go very high in the next months, i'm afraid.

For those of you who don't know the book, here is a description of the book. See below some pictures of the book pages - click on each of them to see the mosaic pictures in big size.



The book is a gorgeous "coffee table book" with 320 pages and 750 pictures - of which 500 are park and attractions photos and 250 are Walt Disney Imagineering renderings!

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 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 - in fact Imagineer Bruce Gordon told us that it was "probably the best book ever done on a Disney theme park". Coming from Bruce who did with David Mumford the great "Disneyland, The Nickel Tour" book, it was more than a compliment.

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!



Pictures: copyright Disney

11 comments:

Richard said...

So Sad to hear that the book is not available any more...It was truly the most beautiful book on Disney Parks ever.

Robert / Cologne said...

A must buy. This is the ultimate book on DLP,get it and you will not be disappointed.

Eric said...

I agree, it's definitely the best book about DLP. GORGEOUS pictures and LOT of WDI artwork. I have it since three years and it's always my favorite Disney theme park book.

Marlon said...

Just be short, the best book ever about our beloved DLRP!
Must have for every Disney and DLRP fan. Thanks for the love in this book Alain!

Mark said...

Fantastic book, really! A little bit expensive but worth each penny!
Don't miss it while it's still available!

fiyero said...

This book is amazing. Disneyland Paris only had the French version a few years back when I bought it but I still love this book.

SPBrazil said...

I have the book and I also recommend it: great pictures and high quality in paper and in all details!

timotheosbrain said...

I've been hearing about this book since the year it was released, and was thrilled copies were still available. Although the book focuses only on Disneyland Paris, this is one of the best books ever published on Imagineering. The concept art, photography, interviews, and publication quality put it on the same level as other comprehensive books, such as Walt Disney's EPCOT.

Plus, as a creative director who works with conceptual projects, I'm always looking for new sources of research and inspiration. This book is a treasure trove.

fiyero said...

So sad that this book isn't readily available any more.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad I got one at DLRP.

Alain, do you plan to do a new version of the book, including Walt Disney Studios Park?

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this wonderful book.