Well this is fun. Yesterday I actually searched for information like this. I decided I wanted to turn the typical 2 volume set of paperback book of the new sun into 4 volumes. I got the first book, shadow and claw and I cut it in half and have been working out how I will rebind it. I like the covers from the european release so I found the art and have been working on making them the right size and adding a spine title. I plan to print that, attach to cardstock, laminate and bind it in with tape and see how it works out. Maybe this article will give me ideas. These volumes are not huge or anything but I thought it would be a fun project and maybe I will do more for other things. Maybe chop up the unabridged count of monte cristo. That thing is ridiculous.
Yes, I remember seeing those double editions come out and thinking they were too large! I bought the volumes as they came out so luckily didn’t have to deal with that problem.
Some, like dickens, just write too long (though he had an excuse, being paid by the word, and in many cases being paid as he worked). Pynchon and Stephenson too. But it feels like Wolfe kept his books short, or at least shorter than they probably started out!