The Bad Beginning
Publication date: September 30, 1999
HarperCollins:
1. Chapter sampler (hardcover version)
Booklet containing the first chapter of The Bad Beginning. Distributed in 1999 via countertop display stands in bookstores.
2. Magnets for Misfortune
Magnetic poetry set with an appropriately woeful vocabulary. Package included a card advertising a poetry contest, with the prize being publication in the Beatrice dedication of a future book. (The winner was Emma Montana McElroy, mentioned in The Miserable Mill.)
3. Advance Reading Copy (ARC)
Advance reading copies are pre-production / unfinished / review copies of the books sent to book reviewers, booksellers, librarians, etc. Since The Bad Beginning and The Reptile Room were published simultaneously, their ARC was combined. The two books were bound dos-a-dos in one volume. The first version of the ARC had "Unfortunate" misspelled as "Unfortuante" on the cover; this was fixed for the second version. Included draft versions of Brett Helquist's illustrations. Originally distributed in 1999 by HarperCollins to promote the new series.
4. Chapter sampler (paperback "penny dreadful" version)
Booklet containing the first chapter of The Bad Beginning and an excerpt from "The Cornucopian Cavalcade". Distributed in 2007 via display stands in bookstores.
The booklet:
LemonySnicketPaperbackSampler.pdfSubmission form for Lemony Snicket advice column:
AskSnicket-FORM.pdfEgmont:
No promotional items.