A new cover for the West

In case you don't know, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia is a rather lovely-looking 272-page hardcover art book that celebrates the series, containing words from Shigeru Miyamoto, lots of concept art, a history of Hyrule and an officially sanctioned timeline. After envious glances towards the release in Japan earlier this year, there was the rather pleasing news that it'd been localised and was coming to the West, courtesy of Dark Horse Books.

Although it isn't scheduled to ship until 29th January 2013, its initial listing for pre-order on Amazon.com saw it leap to the top spot of the best-sellers chart. With the release starting to get ever closer, the publisher has now confirmed the new cover that'll grace the opus — the main image of this article — when it's shipped in the West.

Dark Horse editor Patrick Thorpe has spoken to IGN, and said the following about the reasoning behind the change of cover.

This is the official cover for the North American version of The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia. The logo and gold colored design elements will be gold foil stamped. The large symbol on the cover is the Gate of Time from Skyward Sword. We felt that it was appropriate for a number of reasons. Hyrule Historia is a history book, not only about the development of the games, but the history of Hyrule as well. We wanted the reader to feel like they were stepping through the gate, back in time, and experiencing all aspects of the Legend of Zelda. As keen-eyed Zelda fans will tell you, the three symbols surrounding the triforce are the symbols of the three goddesses who... well, I'll let you read the book to find out their signifance. But we loved the gate's symbol because it is fraught with meaning, much of which is explained in different sections of the book, and appear again and again throughout the series. One of the other reasons is that there are Skyward Sword sections that bookend Hyrule Historia. It felt appropriate to put a symbol from the 25th anniversary game on the cover. I hope that you all like it as much as we do.

A new trailer has also been released alongside a piece of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword concept art. Both are below, and if that's not enough you can also check out another preview page from earlier in the year.

So, is this on your wishlist?

[source uk.ign.com]