A Trilogy in Five Parts vs The Ultimate Hitchhiker

[lethe]

https://www.goodreads.com/series/4095...

I noticed that according to the series listing, H2G2: A Trilogy in Five Parts contains #1-5+&[sic] short stories.

This is not correct. My edition (which happens to be the default) only contains the 5 books plus an introduction by Adams. I wanted to change it into #1-5, but that would make it the same as The Ultimate Hitchhiker, which has angry librarian notes attached that people should stop combining it with the 5-part trilogy and not to touch the description.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/edit/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/edit/3...

According to other online sources, The Ultimate Hitchhiker does contain an extra story about Zaphod ("Young Zaphod Plays It Safe"), so I think that's the one that should have the "& short stories" attached to the series number plus its title added to the description, but those notes make me nervous.

Should I just go ahead and make the changes anyway?

[lethe]

I changed the series of my edition to #1-5 and fortunately it does not automatically combine with the #1-5 already there.

I guess what I'm asking is basically: can anyone confirm, copy in hand, that The Ultimate Hitchhiker does indeed contain extra material?

[Melanti]

I don't have the book in hand right this second but I do own it and can confirm that "Young Zaphod Plays it Safe" is indeed included. About fifteen pages worth. And that's the only short story in the series, so if anything it should be + short story (singular rather than plural)

I'm actually kind of surprised your edition doesn't have it!

Since the difference is only 10-20 pages depending on exactly what edition you have, you should be within that threshold that would let you combine the books if you wanted - though I tend to avoid doing that if someone's left angry librarian notes.

[lethe]

Thanks, I have added it (and left both editions separated).

Melanti wrote: "I'm actually kind of surprised your edition doesn't have it!"

I guess that is what makes your edition the Ultimate! ;-)

[Banjomike]

I would agree with keeping the Ultimate and Trilogy volumes separate. However I've removed the 'primary' tag from the 'Trilogy in Five Parts' edition.

[lethe]

Ah yes, sorry. I was confused as to what the ticky box was for, I thought it belonged to the note field at first and forgot to uncheck it.