Geronimo Stilton (lost interactive eBooks; 2000)
One of the covers of the two missing eBooks (also the very first ones ever published digitally). Image taken from an Italian magazine.
Status: Lost
Geronimo Stilton is an Italian series of children's books written by Elisabetta Dami. The series featured the title character, a mouse possibly inspired by Sherlock Holmes but not really going on detective adventures. Instead, he is going on some adventures with his family and describing them in the books like a memoir. Since it's rise into popularity, it has developed several spin-offs in which some are only found in Italy and Europe alone. It first entered the English speaking world with more than two eBooks published in 2000 by CyberRead. Before they were lost, they were considered one of the first ever eBooks produced from Italy.[1] They were also interactive with links that when clicked, joke windows popped up. Also, there was an option to add music, audio and animations.[2] Moreover, a search for another lost eBook is in progress (My First Internet Manual).[3] Another unrelated Italian eBook was accidentally found by Reddit user u/Visual_Aide_2477 (Trentino: Una Provincia Speciale!) while searching for My First Internet Manual.[4]
Recently, evidence suggesting that the eBooks were part of a collaboration with Microsoft has been confirmed through the Internet Archive's documents of Italian computing magazine "PC Open".[5] Possibly implying that the eBooks could also double as some kind of video games.
Geronimo Stilton's Illustrated Tails
The first book in the series which came out in the year 2000. It became very popular and both eBooks featured content totally separate from the other books and other related media. However, almost no information about the plot is found. By the year 2001, this was the fifth most popular book on CyberRead's eBookstore.[6] Only the ISBN of this book is known.[1]
Geronimo Stilton's Humorous Tails with the Secret Portrait Gallery
The second and last book of the series. The year it was released is currently unknown as there is no archived page from CyberRead (the site became a blog later in 2004 and defunct in 2010). Very little information about it can be found on the Geronimo Stilton website (archived). As the title implies, there is a secret gallery of characters hidden somewhere in the eBook.
Availability
So far due to the eBooks being extremely obscure, most of the information found are just basic with almost no plot detail (possibly done to keep the work secret). As of 2024, information about these books have reappeared on Open Library[7][8] but still there are no ways to obtain the eBooks so far and the amount of information is the same. Currently, a search for the lost media is going on social media, mainly Reddit,[9] on the subreddit r/CyberReadArchives.
On August 29th, Reddit user u/VIsual_Aide_2477 posted a meme about the lost eBooks on r/dankmemes. This however created confusion with Reddit users claiming to have supposedly in-print version of the eBooks but it turned out to be normal books still in existence. A Google search on the lost eBooks with the name of a language gives results on Geronimo Stilton jokebooks in other languages. Possibly giving a lead on the content of the two eBooks. As of October 17th, this is confirmed to be debunked and the post is now no longer on r/dankmemes.
Rumors of printed versions exist but this can be easily debunked as the eBooks are said to contain original storylines.
Several evidence suggests the eBooks could be still around in school libraries for archival purposes although this has not been confirmed yet.
On November 11th, Reddit user u/Ok_Hope4383 extract some text from the November, 2000 issue[10] of Italian computer magazine, PC Open which revealed that once the eBooks were purchased, it cannot be printed (obviously, based on it's content), copied but can be transferred to another person, leading to the person who purchased it losing it completely. Creating a possibility in which it could not possibly be preserved.[11]
See also
References
- ↑ https://docuver.se/mirrors/www.mediamente.rai.it/mm_it/001114/universo.asp.html
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CyberReadArchives/comments/1fipib0/more_references_to_geronimo_stilton_ebooks_in/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CyberReadArchives/comments/1fxn1dp/ready_or_not_this_guy_should_be_found/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CyberReadArchives/comments/1fxdlvp/the_ebook_version_of_this_obscure_thing_was_found/
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/pc-open-2002-04/page/n59/mode/2up?q=Geronimo+Stilton
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20010203195100/http://www.cyberread.com:80/
- ↑ https://openlibrary.org/books/OL53497987M/Geronimo_Stilton%27s_Illustrated_Tails
- ↑ https://openlibrary.org/books/OL53498069M/Geronimo_Stilton%27s_Humorous_Tails
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/lostmedia/comments/1biepyk/fully_lost_geronimo_stilton_ebooks_1997_2008/
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/pc-open-2000-11/page/n31/mode/2up?q=Geronimo+Stilton+Microsoft
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CyberReadArchives/comments/1go8lay/i_am_not_sure_but_something_exciting_seems_to_be/