Welcome to the Spring 1993 edition of the Fifth Estate. You probably noticed, it is different in two striking respects. First, the elaborate use of color by two of our favorite illustrators, Tony Doyle, on the cover, and Sean Bieri in the centerfold.
Color is normally an expense we think inappropriate to incur (particularly full-color), but the cost for this issue was picked up generously by the people responsible for the back-page Mao poster, which meant it could be used in the other sections as well. Contributions to further printing of the poster and to offset the cost of the color work in the FE, can be sent to their address listed elsewhere in the issue.
The other noticeable difference is our smaller size. Usually we print 32-pages, but the color work dictated a smaller edition as 24-pages is all our printer’s press can accommodate. However, more importantly, we want to get back on our quarterly schedule. We have been down to only two papers a year, but with this issue, we are pretty much on time.
Our press run has been 5,000 copies for the last several years which is about what we need for subscribers and bookshops, with a few hundred left over for back issues. However, with the last two issues, our printer did an overrun, so we have a considerable number of papers left in our office, which always makes us sad.
We have the Autumn 1992 and Spring 1993 available in quantity for only the cost of postage. Those interested in papers for free distribution can send us a few dollars and we’ll enclose papers up to the postal weight. For instance, $5 would give you thirteen pounds of FEs.
Our usual thanks to those of you who have subscribed, bought papers at your local stand, purchased books, and, to those stalwarts of our project, the FE Sustainers. Without all of you—no paper!