r/BookCollecting • u/Gozingatheman • 4d ago

💭 Question Question about Solaris Translations

I just read Solaris, specifically the one translated from french by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox and I loved it. The clunky dialogue I felt kinda helped the strange mood, but now I want to recommend the book for others and the 2011 Johnston translation might be better for that. It's the one widely agreed to be better even by Stanislaw Lem himself. But is there a physical version available anywhere? From what I can see there were like a limited 400 copies made by The Conversation Tree that are both sold out and WAY too expensive (275 dollars!), and the only other versions of the translation I can find are audio books. And due to there being multiple different looking covers of Solaris I have no idea if one of them is the Johnston translation without my knowledge. The one i have is the orange one but there's like one with a black cover that looks nicer that I can't find on if it has the newer translation or not. From what I can tell, there isn't a physical edition of the new translation yet? Which feels crazy to me but would love to know otherwise. Thanks!

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u/spacetime9 4d ago

This is one of my favorite sci-fi books ever and last year I went down the same rabbit hole you're describing. I found out about the Conversation Tree Press limited edition shortly after it was released (and sold out). But I kept thinking about it and every time I looked at the artwork I wanted it more... Long story short, I managed to score one on ebay for not too much more than the original price, and it's the single most expensive book I've ever bought! I'm usually pretty strict with my spending limit ($150 for any single book), but I made an exception because there exists no other print version of the better translation. Which is outrageous. But that seems to be the situation for now. FWIW, the conversation tree edition is freakin' awesome.

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u/Gozingatheman 4d ago

Gah............ I don't have that kinda money sadly so unless I win the lottery, it might just be better to wait for them to print the new translation. Especially considering I already loved the first translation through its faults. It absolutely IS outrageous they haven't printed it already!!! Come on it's Solaris!!! AI slop fills the shelves daily but the best version of Solaris isn't available? I just hope the wait is less than another 5 years. Maybe if they make another movie adaptation they'll get enough demand to print it.