I kid you not. The book was to be published in 2006, as the 25th Anniversary Edition of its original publication in 1981. Now it has appeared in 2023, the year of the book's 42nd Anniversary. I won't go into the long (looong...) history of the delays, but will merely thank those involved for their perseverance to finally see this book published.
The book is Little, Big, by John Crowley. This version contains the author's preferred text, illustrations by Peter Milton, and an essay by the late Harold Bloom, one of a number of people who have died in the interim since the book was announced.
The book itself is oversized (about 8 inches by 10 1/4). It weighs over five pounds. It is not an easy book to handle, or to read from. But it is out. And I will not repeat the idiotic phrase (which I have always hated, and thought inaccurate) that it was worth the wait, because it isn't.
