The Nickel Tour Limited Slipcase Edition

The recent post at Imaginerding on Disneyland: The Nickel Tour inspired me to dig out my all-time favorite book: the slipcase edition of the book, sold in August 1998 at The Disney Gallery. When the original supply of The Nickel Tour was almost out, Camphor Tree numbered the final 500, produced beautiful leather slipcases for them, and had an author signing at the Gallery. My original copy had been used to the brink of dismemberment, so it seemed like a wise investment. Plus, my first copy hadn't been signed and I now knew both Bruce and David.

I have a variety of images related to this event to share today. The one thing I do not have (convenient for scanning) is the special postcard created by The Disney Gallery and sent out announcing the signing. The front of the card reproduced The Nickel Tour's cover. Bruce and David obviously loved that and included it at the end of the second edition.

This is an assortment of what I got that day. The book, the slipcase, the Disneyland 100th anniversary postcard (more on that in a minute), and a sheet announcing publication of Walt's Time in December 1998.

Each book had an autographed marker attached near the front, providing the number. In the Disneyland scheme of things, 13's not a bad number with which to end up. There was also a small yellow paper attached to the top of the slipcase with the number, but that came off pretty easily. Mine is now with some miscellaneous Disneyland paper (at least, I hope it is!).

The books were personalized, of course. I recall hearing that David actually came up with "Enjoy the tour!" and Bruce stole it from him. I believe it!

I had just returned from Disneyland Paris and proudly sported a Space Mountain hat, hence Bruce's comment. This is the only photo I have with Bruce and David, collectively or individually. I'm glad I have it.

Also included with the book was what The Nickel Tour calls one of the rarest Disneyland postcards. It's pictured in both editions of the book, but the second edition remarks that there were one hundred produced and available in December 1998. That is incorrect. Bruce and David probably confused their December 1998 signing of Walt's Time at the Gallery for this earlier event. I don't know why they said there were 100 cards; you can see below my card is clearly 13 out of 250!

It was designed by Imagineer David Durham. I just noticed that the location of the card manufacturer is given as "Parkersville, West Virginia, USA&C, Earth..." Less than fifty years until we annex Canada, I guess! As I was searching for information on the slipcase edition online, I found an interesting Emuck chat transcript with Bruce and David from the beginning of August 1998. Their monthly online chats for Disney.com in 1999 were a real treat!

Also, on Thursday Werner Weiss updated the What's New at Yesterland? page and included the information that Chris Strodder's Disneyland Encyclopedia (see my earlier post) should begin shipping next week!