Each volume in the 33-volume series, including the "Master Index", was either 144 or 160 pages in length (the 176-page volume 11 excepted), heavily illustrated and with pictorial essays on specific topics within each volume and were as a rule issued without a dust jacket. Executed in hardcover, each volume was bound in black faux leatherette, the cover endowed in silver printed text imprints, and with a square shaped illustration glued on.
As had been customary with the Time-Life Books series publications, each of the original US first-print series volumes had received two ISBNs (the second one usually eight numbers higher), with the lower number indicating the retail/DTC copies whereas the higher ones indicate the library binding (lib. bdg.) copies as specified in the book colophons – which remained adhered to for later with higher newly assigned ISBNs endowed revised editions as well, if there were any. Neither of the two versions nor their later reprints were furnished with dust jackets. However, in 1997 a separate printing was commissioned by Barnes & Noble as retail exclusives for their bookstore chain, and while these were otherwise nearly indistinguishable from the main home market releases, safe for the copyright colophons, they were endowed with dust jackets. [7] It is unknown however, what the extent of the Barnes & Noble reprint run was beyond the two known titles listed below.
An out-of-the-ordinary home market release concerned the Chinese-language versions Time-Life Books issued a year earlier in North America on behalf of the Chinese-speaking populace. As with the Barnes & Noble edition and already rare to begin with, it is hard to ascertain the scope of this release beyond the four known titles listed below.
International editions
Contrary to the inspirational Enchanted World series, which had not been widely translated into other languages, its Mysteries of the Unknown spawn was. UK as well as French, German, and Dutch-language editions are known to have been released in the overlapping time-span by the local "Time-Life Books B.V." Amsterdam subsidiary branch as otherwise exact copies of their US counterparts where book format execution was concerned. The 1990-93 Netherlands/Flanders Dutch-language edition though, was not only published out-of-order, but severely truncated as well, as only eight titles are known to have been released in translation, [8] most likely because of disappointing sales. The 1988-93 UK, French (as Mystères de l'inconnu, [9] also disseminated in the other Francophone countries, French-Canada included) and German (as Geheimnisse des Unbekannten, [10] also disseminated in the other Germanophone countries) editions on the other hand, were released in their entirety, albeit that volume 33, the "Master Index", was passed over in all cases. The UK edition also served for the series' dissemination in the Commonwealth of Nations, Anglophone Canada excepted which was served with the US home market edition. Wile the French edition did not, the German edition carried Dutch ISBNs, confusingly the very same ones as the Dutch-language counterparts if there had been any. Contrary to the French and Dutch editions though, which only saw one print run each, yet like in the US, the series was a popular one in the UK and the German-speaking territories in particular, enjoying multiple reprints; of the first German-language title, "Mystische Stätten" (="Mystic Places"), for example, is known that there have been at least nine Time-Life Books printings between 1988 and 1992 alone. [11] Except for the Dutch-language edition, which took considerably longer, the other Time-Life European edition releases lagged about six to twelve months behind the release of the North-American source publications. This also held true for the UK edition, as additional editorial work was required to convert the texts from American-spelled English into British-spelled English.
The Amsterdam subsidiary maintained administrative satellite offices in the UK, Germany and France which facilitated the series publication by Time-Life Books themselves. In those European countries where Time-Life Books did not have a physical presence, another path was usually taken to market their publications; extending publication licenses to local publishers who showed interest in releasing the books in translation – interested parties in other language territories where no edition in translation was considered, were offered the opportunity to acquire the original English-language version via mail through their nearest Time-Life Books subsidiary as was standard operating procedure for the company at the time, typically by taking out a series subscription. Per the book colophons, these European licenses could have been extended by either the Amsterdam subsidiary, or by the American mother company as had been the case for the Spanish-language edition. Where Mysteries of the Unknown was concerned, interest turned out to be ample. Mediterranean Europe saw three editions in translation besides the French one. In Greece the series was partially released by Athens-based Alkyon Publications (as Παραψυχολογία, 1990–91, eleven known published volumes in dust jacket, but published out-of-order [12] ), Italy saw a likewise partial series release by Milan publishing giant Arnoldo Mondadori Editore (as I misteri dell'ignoto, 1990–92, the first twenty volumes published [13] ), whereas Time-Life Books' regular go-to licensee Ediciones Folio, S.A. from Barcelona had a Spanish-language edition published (as Misterios de lo desconocido, entire series published in 1993, the "Master Index" included [14] )
Italy already saw a reissue of their series by Balsamo/Bresso-based Hobby & Work Italiana Editrice in 1995–96. [15] Hobby & Work was actually predominantly a partwork publisher, a publication format particularly popular in southern Europe at the time, and not only reissued the series in the original book format, but had each book split up in five magazine-style parts as well, concurrently selling them as magazine issues through the newsstand channel with one of them accompanied by a 30-minute VHS-tape that dealt with the underlying topic. [16] As a matter of fact, this also applied to the Spanish edition as Folio co-published the series with specialized Madrid partwork publisher Ediciones del Prado who had already marketed the newsstand variant of the publication in a similar way two years before Hobby & Work would do. [17]
The Nordic countries too, received their share of the series in translation variants. Coined Mystikkens verden, the series saw a partial publication in Denmark and Norway, [18] as with their southern neighbors in a book format copied from the source material. The Danish edition was released by Copenhagen publisher Lademann A/S [ dk ] (1990–93, 28 volumes [19] ), whereas the Norwegian edition was released by Oslo-based Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS (1991–92, 12 volumes). Like the North-American volumes, the Danish and Norwegian counterparts were furnished with two ISBNs as it is customary in these countries to distinguish between books sold through magazine newsstand channels and books sold through the retail bookstore channel if both channels are selected by the publisher in question as means of distribution. Of volume 12 "Hauntings" at least, is known that it had also seen its "Sálfarir" Icelandic-language counterpart edition published in 1991 by Almenna bókafélagið [ is ], Reykjavík. It is unknown though, if this release concerned a standalone one-off, or if it had been part of a larger publication effort.
It was not just Europe that saw their own editions published; other parts of the world saw their region-specific editions released as well by local publishers under a full license from the Time-Life Books, Inc. mother company. The largest of these concerned the Brazilian Mistérios do desconhecido edition published by Abril Livros opreating out of Rio de Janeiro (1992–96, 24 volumes [20] ), likewise in a format edition that was a Portuguese-language copy of the originating home market publication – a salient detail was that mother country Portugal had not seen its own edition released. The second known Latin-American edition was the 1992-93 Misterios de lo desconocido Spanish-language publication released in Argentina by Editorial Atlántida S.A., a major magazine publisher from Buenos Aires. Theirs however, was a deviant release format with redesigned wrappers as cover, as the at least twelve known volumes were released in a magazine-type format under the overall Biblioteca Time Life Books Conozca Más moniker as indication that it was intended as a side collection of the publisher's then-main Conozca Más magazine publication. [21] In service of that goal and published out of order, the volumes were also truncated to 98 pages. The precise extent of that publication effort is unknown however.
Rounding out the international other-language editions, are the ones known to have been released in the Far East, again under a full license from Time-Life Books, Inc. A partial series release in translation was published in one batch in mainland China in February 2002 by Lijiang Publishers, Guilin, as part of their "鏖战位置丛书 (Tiao zhan wei zhi cong shu)" collection. At least five such volume releases are known. [22] A single Japanese-language release of volume 24 is also known to have been published by Tokyo-based Burai Shuppan in 2006. [23] But as with the earlier referenced Icelandic release, it remains unclear whether or not it had been a standalone one-off, or if it had been part of a larger publication effort. The Far-Eastern releases though, concerned in both cases smaller-sized paperback budget-price releases with completely redesigned covers.
Over a decade after the publication of the series by Time-Life Books, some, but not all, of its first-edition UK and German-language volumes were joined by two followup editions released by third-party publishers, who were licensed to do so by the European "Time-Life Books B.V." Amsterdam branch as specified in the colophons of the individual volumes. The first concerned the 1999 second-edition German-language hardcovers without a dust jacket release, licensed to Eltville-based Predita Verlag who released these volumes under its "ECO Köln/VVA" imprint, featuring deviant cover art and newly assigned ISBNs, but did not carry the first edition Geheimnisse des Unbekannten series title though the original Time-Life cover illustration was printed on the back-cover. They were joined by a 2005-06 third German-language edition released by Augsburg-based publisher Weltbild Verlag [ de ]. Also executed as simple hardcovers with again new covers they were this time around issued with no ISBNs and subordinated under the publisher's "Weltbild-Sammler Editionen" collection, mentioning the original German series title as subtitle. Somewhat confusingly, as there was some overlap in volume titles reissued, Predita continued their second-edition release by reprinting some of its volumes under the same ISBN with redesigned versions of their covers around this time as well, but now under its "H+L Verlag, Köln" imprint. The German reiteration effort was rather modest in scope, as only about a dozen volumes of the series are known to be released by Predita under both its imprints, whereas that of Weltbild was even more modest with its eight known volumes released.
Apart from the two licensed German-language reiterations, some of the series volumes saw a 2003-04 second-edition in the UK as well from the London-based Caxton Publishing Group, likewise under a full license from the European Time-Life Books B.V. which had managed to stay in business a few years longer after the American "Time-Life Books, Inc." mother division had gone defunct in 2001 as a dedicated book publisher. [24] The volumes released by Caxton featured redesigned cover art with a dust jacket and were furnished with new ISBNs. As usual with the Caxton editions, its licensed Time-Life pedigree releases did feature the Time-Life logo on the spine and front cover of the individual books. Had the German reiteration effort already been modest in scope, the UK effort turned out to be far more modest with its only three known second-edition title releases. Both the UK and German reiterations were specifically intended for the regular bookstore retail channel.
Contrary to the ubiquitous availability of the first edition Time-Life series volumes on the UK and German used-book markets (as they are on all other territory markets as well for that matter, the English-language ones in particular), their higher edition volumes are a lot more uncommon. Still, by becoming one of Time-Life's most widely disseminated series in translation, it was testament to the worldwide appeal and popularity (and thus financial success) the Mysteries of the Unknown series had.
