Field note ·
Edition size should follow the recap box, not the other way round
A 12-page joining origin does not need an edition of two hundred. A 22-page first assembly might.
We set edition size after the recap box is lettered. The recap tells us how much prior story a new reader must hold. A joining origin that leans on three earlier issues is a poor candidate for a large edition; most of those copies will sit unread.
A first-assembly origin that can be handed to someone who has never read the run can bear a larger edition, still capped so that the paper proofs remain a studio job rather than a commercial print run. Fifty copies is our usual ceiling for a 22-page issue.
If a collector asks us to enlarge an edition after close, the answer is no. Enlarging would make every provenance card in that drop a lie. We would rather commission a sequel origin with its own number.
In consultation we will sometimes advise you not to take a second copy of a large edition. Two copies of a fifty-print first assembly teach you nothing the first copy did not. Save the second allocation for a joining origin with a shorter recap.