The colour edition
The same journal, printed in colour.
Every journal in the collection comes in two editions. The same 123 pages, the same prompts, the same six verses. One is printed black on white. The other is printed on warm ivory, in the colour on its own cover.
What changes
The same page, both editions.
Nothing is added, moved or taken away between them. Four pages from four different journals — because each journal is printed in its own colour, not in one house colour.
A chapter opening — pages 76–77
Dear Dad · Espresso. Every chapter opens on a mirror spread: the title page facing its verse. In the colour edition the whole spread carries the cover colour.
A chapter opening — pages 14–15
Dear Nan · Mulled Plum. The same spread in another journal. Each edition is printed in its own colour, so no two openings in the collection look alike.
A writing page — page 16
Dear Grandad · Forest Tobacco. This is what most of the book looks like: a coloured outer margin, the writing panel on warm ivory, and the heading, prompt, border and ruled lines in the cover colour.
A writing page — page 24
Mom · Heritage Garnet. The ruling is unchanged — same number of lines, same spacing, same space to write in.
In the colour edition
What is different.
- The outer margin of every page — the band carrying the running head and the page number — is printed in that journal’s own colour, where the black-and-white edition prints it grey. It is the first thing you see on an open page.
- The writing panel inside it is warm ivory rather than white.
- Headings, ruled lines, borders and ornaments are printed in the same colour — Dusty Teal for Dear Sister, Espresso for Dear Dad, Deep Aubergine for Dear Grandma, and so on through the collection.
- All six chapter openings are printed as full-colour spreads, title page and verse together.
- The prompts are set in the same colour as the headings, a shade softer than black on white.
- The spelling, on Dear Sister, Dear Brother and Dear Grandma. Their black-and-white edition was republished in American English; the colour edition stayed British, because a book’s title cannot be changed after publication and the word Colour is in it. Every other journal reads the same in both. Which spelling a row is printed in is written beside its buy buttons.
In both editions
What is not.
- 123 pages, 8.25 × 11 inches, the same on both.
- The same prompts in the same order, on the same page numbers.
- The same six original verses, one at the head of each chapter.
- The same writing space on every ruled page — the illustration never crosses into it.
- The two-page family tree keeps the same drawing. It is the page where the two editions come closest to each other — warmed rather than recoloured.
- Paperback and hardcover are available in both.
Before you choose
Three things worth knowing.
It costs a little more
Colour is printed on every page rather than a few, and the printing cost follows. The exact price sits on Amazon, in your own currency, and is shown before you buy.
On Amazon they are two separate books
A colour interior needs its own listing, so each edition has its own page and its own ratings. The reviews you may have read belong to the black-and-white edition, and Amazon does not show one edition on the other’s page. That is why this comparison lives here.
Not available on Amazon Australia
Colour printing is not offered in the Australian print network. The black-and-white edition is available there in both paperback and hardcover.
Either edition is the same journal, and it is the handwriting inside that anyone will keep. Choose colour if the book itself is part of the gift.
Every colour listing
Choose a colour edition.
Each links straight to the colour listing on Amazon. To see that journal’s own pages in both editions, open its page and switch the strip to full colour.
Dear Mum
Heritage Garnet
PaperbackUK — Dear Mum, full colour paperback on Amazon UKUS — Dear Mum, full colour paperback on Amazon USCA — Dear Mum, full colour paperback on Amazon CA
HardcoverUK — Dear Mum, full colour hardcover on Amazon UKUS — Dear Mum, full colour hardcover on Amazon US
Compare both editions →
Dear Dad
Espresso
PaperbackUK — Dear Dad, full colour paperback on Amazon UKUS — Dear Dad, full colour paperback on Amazon USCA — Dear Dad, full colour paperback on Amazon CA
HardcoverUK — Dear Dad, full colour hardcover on Amazon UKUS — Dear Dad, full colour hardcover on Amazon US
Compare both editions →
Dear Sister
Dusty Teal
PaperbackUK — Dear Sister, full colour paperback on Amazon UKUS — Dear Sister, full colour paperback on Amazon USCA — Dear Sister, full colour paperback on Amazon CA
HardcoverUK — Dear Sister, full colour hardcover on Amazon UKUS — Dear Sister, full colour hardcover on Amazon US
Compare both editions →
Dear Brother
Slate Navy
PaperbackUK — Dear Brother, full colour paperback on Amazon UKUS — Dear Brother, full colour paperback on Amazon USCA — Dear Brother, full colour paperback on Amazon CA
HardcoverUK — Dear Brother, full colour hardcover on Amazon UKUS — Dear Brother, full colour hardcover on Amazon US
Compare both editions →
Dear Grandma
Deep Aubergine
PaperbackUK — Dear Grandma, full colour paperback on Amazon UKUS — Dear Grandma, full colour paperback on Amazon USCA — Dear Grandma, full colour paperback on Amazon CA
HardcoverUK — Dear Grandma, full colour hardcover on Amazon UKUS — Dear Grandma, full colour hardcover on Amazon US
Compare both editions →
Dear Grandad
Forest Tobacco
PaperbackUK — Dear Grandad, full colour paperback on Amazon UKUS — Dear Grandad, full colour paperback on Amazon USCA — Dear Grandad, full colour paperback on Amazon CA
HardcoverUK — Dear Grandad, full colour hardcover on Amazon UKUS — Dear Grandad, full colour hardcover on Amazon US
Compare both editions →
Dear Nan
Mulled Plum
PaperbackUK — Dear Nan, full colour paperback on Amazon UKUS — Dear Nan, full colour paperback on Amazon USCA — Dear Nan, full colour paperback on Amazon CA
HardcoverUK — Dear Nan, full colour hardcover on Amazon UKUS — Dear Nan, full colour hardcover on Amazon US
Compare both editions →
One to watch on Amazon.com: Mom, Tell Me the Story of Your Life carries the same title in both editions — the Color Edition line on the cover is what tells them apart. The link above goes to the colour one.
Not in the grid: Dear Grandpa is published in black and white only, so there is no colour edition of it to compare yet.
The collection
Two editions of almost every journal.
8 of the 9 come in both — all except Dear Grandpa, printed in black and white only.