| International Editions |
| The work of John Bellairs has been translated into a handful of languages over the years. We have assembled a collection of the international editions here, providing some of their publishing history and information on their colorful covers. |
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Brazil
We are anxious to see how (or if) the series progresses. |
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France
The Lewis Barnavelt series was translated into French beginning in 2001 with La pendule d'Halloween. The publishers, Rocher, however changed the names of Lewis and Rose Rita to Kévin and Emily. Illustrator Lalex said the decision was to give the books a more American feel to French readers and that the rest of the books are more or less the same. Lalex has illustrated 10 books in the Barnavelt series up through The Whistle, the Grave, and the Ghost. In 2004 Lalex began illustrating books in the Johnny Dixon series; the eighth book in the series (whose publication order differs slightly from the original American publishing order) is The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie. |
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Germany
The House with a Clock in its Walls (Das Geheimnis der Zauberuhr) was first published by Diogenes Verlag in 1977, but has long since gone out of print. Heyne Publishing in München published the first of the Lewis Barnavelt series in 2000. Daniela Schlingmann, Heyne fiction editor, says that none of Bellairs’ other titles have been published in Germany before; however, "the Bellairs series did not work as well as we had expected. I personally like his work a lot, but I believe the German readers got caught up in the Harry Potter hype. Therefore, we are not intending to publish any other Bellairs's series in the near future. There might be paperback editions of our hard covers, though." Heyne ended up releasing 8 books in the Barnavelt series, through The Beast Under the Wizard’s Bridge. |
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Italy
We sort of stumbled upon these by accident and we're not really sure about anything except: (1) the Sloane pitching robot looks like something out of a B-grade horror movie and (2) the illustrated Lewis appears to be passing a stone the size of the Hand of Glory behind him. Here’s the $10,000 question: in a fight to win the respect of Bellairs' fans everywhere, which Lewis would win: "Trendy Lewis" (seen in the cool stance below wearing jacket and stylish red pants for his battle with Mrs. Izard) or "Hot Shot" Lewis (seen in the less-than-perfect television adaptation)? Cast your vote today! |
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Japan
Japanese publisher Artist House released the first Bellairs’ title – The House with a Clock in its Walls – in 2001. One of the first things we thought of when we came across the covers was that they were reminiscent of the old Bantam paperbacks from the 1980s: an interior illustration surrounded by a colorful, eye-catching border. Artist House publishers have released eight titles in the Lewis Barnavelt series up to The Beast under the Wizard's Bridge. Shueisha Publishing has released three titles in the Johnny Dixon series: The Mummy, the Will and the Crypt; The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull; and The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost. |
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Poland
It's not that we don't like these covers. They each have a certain charm about them and the artwork looks professionally done. The problem is that a few of them - many of them - really don't seem to go with the books. For example, we don't recall a school bus or purple bubble-slime in The Figure of the Shadows, we don't quite recall Lewis popping out a hole in the ground in The House with a Clock in its Walls and The Beast Under the Wizard's Bridge's cover... well... you get the idea. We wanted to know about the other covers and sent word to Amber Publishing, only to get back a nice message written in Polish (something no one on staff speaks) with only a few decipherable words: GARRO and GRIMANDO. Amber Publishing released 8 books in the Lewis Barnavelt series. They also issued the first three books in the Johnny Dixon series in Polish as well, though they sport the Paul Zelinsky covers known from the American paperbacks, only with Polish titles. Anyway, since we're unsure who did what artwork and what artwork Amber "borrowed" for their covers, if anyone knows more about the artists behind these paintings, we'd love to know. Step up! |
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United Kingdom
Corgi Publishing released the first three Johnny Dixon books in the UK in the late 1980s. We’ve found their covers, albeit poorly scanned photos of pretty ragged paperbacks. |
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