Complete Shakespeare 37 volumes

I have a handful of these, but haven't really collected them, as I have more copies of Shakespeare's works by different publishers (including FS) than I care to mention! I do however have all the FS versions of the Folio Shakespeare from their pre-slip cover days, which will cost a bit more than the slip cover versions, particularly the first edition As You Like It. These are the same as the volumes you are referring too, but in dustjackets rather than slipcases.

The standard Folio Shakespeare volumes in slipcases are pretty common in second hand shops (and ebay) and in my experience typically sell for around £5-£6 a volume in good condition, or c.£200 for the full set (which is a typical price I have seen for a full set on the few occasions I have seen these come up on ebay).

If you want to collect these, they shouldn't be hard to find, although with postage added you will tend to pay a premium if you try and collect via ebay (usually around £6-£10 per volume) unless you hold out for a full set to come up, although sometimes lots come up of 4-5 volumes together, which usually bring the average price, including postage, back down to the £5-6 mark.

What price was the full set you saw? Under £200 it is probably an ok deal (under £150 a very good deal). If it is more than that, it depends on how much you want it, but if you hold out you can probably get it cheaper.

All my estimates assume you are in the UK of course!

>3 EclecticIndulgence: Perhaps not. What you are describing in your first message, and in particular the reference to the white covered volumes, sounds to me the rare Folio60 item 407 published in 1976 also known as The Folio Press Shakespeare. Item 407 is the complete set of 37 Shakespeare volumes as previously issued but now uniformly bound in "Elephanthide" - or better white vegetable parchment - and slipcased in 6 slipcases with different coloured labels. This set was issued via the Folio Press and 675 (perhaps 750 as the original prospectus said) unnumbered copies were published. These sets are rare and a bit more expensive then the original Shakespeare volumes that were previously separately issued between 1959 and 1976 as described by 2. Content wise this set is completely identical to the other separately issued volumes. Basically, this set is just the last unbound and unsold sheets of the previous series. It looks like the original series did not sell as well as Folio had hoped and hence a new set was born to flush old stock. I am not saying that £450 is cheap for such a rare set though, the original 1976 pushlishing price was £165.

A few years ago I managed to find have such a rare Folio 407 item. I have made some (again pretty bad) pictures.

Front of the slipcases


The differently coloured labels at the back of the slipcases:


A cover, all books in the set look like this:


A randon book's title page:

>4 ExportFrisian: Good spot! I missed the reference to the white volumes! In which case I agree that these will be more valuable the standard versions of the Ffolio Shakespeare. How much more valuable, I have no idea, as I have never come across this set before except in passing via the FS bibliographies. I guess as with all things, especially those that don't come to market that often, value is measured simply by however much someone is willing to pay! £450 doesn't sound unreasonable for something issued in such a limited run, but given that it is simply re-bound version of volumes that are available at fiver a volume, it is difficult to judge. I suspect that if this was a fully unlimited run, it probably would not have sold more than 750 sets anyway, so it may be largely academic. Still feels expensive for a set of Shakespeare plays to me, but I can't argue with the fact that this are nice volumes, and much easier and more pleasant to read than bulky volumes containing multiple plays.

Hi, I have this set, in mint condition. Does anyone know where I could sell it? Or of anyone who may be interested?
Thanks
sarah

Hi, I have this set, in mint condition. Does anyone know where I could sell it? Or of anyone who may be interested?
I am in the UK
I had interest from one of your memebers and shipping to Canada was £75 to give an idea.
I was hoping for £400 if anyone was interested.
Thanks
sarah

If anyone was interested I would like to end up with £360,after postage. I was going to split the shipping cost for the gut mentioned above.

Well I finally plumped for this set, after years of saying 'No!', for some reason the 'cloudy' grey slipcases I'd always seen them in before put me off (F.A.D. obsessional symptom), and I baulked at splashing out £10 a volume at the Folio Christmas Party - not that I could have physically added to my manic purchases that day if I'd wanted to.

This month I chanced upon the complete 37 volumes on abebooks in smart uniformly black individual slipcases which I'd not seen before. The multicoloured spines and in the black slipcases not only cried out to me (F.A.D. hallucinatory symptom) but positively moved my arm (F.A.D. passivity symptom) to phone the dealer and order direct. Calling thus directly I was rewarded with a decent discount which triggered acute mood elevation (F.A.D. hypomania) - £230 including P&P, or £6.20 per volume. The set has just arrived today and I'm ecstatic in a way only another F.A.D. sufferer could appreciate. I've just laid all the volumes out together on the floor admiring the pretty rainbow of spines, happily quite unfaded as promised (I abhor faded spines - another F.A.D. obsessional symptom), and while I know I'm experiencing another episode of mild hypomania (insight!), it's muted by the reality check of where on earth to put them. But that's a mere detail. Sensibility comes before sense with F.A.D..

I'm thrilled at the Dali illustrations in the apple green 'As you like it', and surprised to find that Richard II has an unblemished dustjacket covering its blue cloth 'quill' binding. Part of me wants to expose the cloth so that it's uniform with the others, but then another part says I should keep the DJ on. Aaagh! (F.A.D. schizophrenia)

Anyway, for those also in the F.A.D. outpatient queue, I can heartily recommend the set: it's not only externally very handsome, but internally the text is beautifully crisp with headers in colour and magnificent illustrations. I know that the same 37 volume set uniformly bound in white (?vegetable parchment) is reportedly more scarce, but the aesthetic of the coloured set takes some beating. Importantly, and part of the self-justification I allotted the purchase, I'm now inoculated against the grand but fiscally toxic Letterpress Shakespeare, one new volume of which would cost roughly the same as this entire near fine second hand set.

Cue dancing in circles - ever decreasing with diminishing floor space.

>11 cronshaw: Congratulations. Now stop dancing for a second and take a picture for us :-)

I have never seen these in black slipcases before, although I have about 20 of the individual volumes in their traditional grey slipcases or, for the earliest publications, their dustjackets.

I won't add that the inoculation effect may be only temporary, as owning these did not prevent me from later starting down the slippery slope that is The Letterpress Shakespeare...

Whoops, unable to upload - any advice on how to? Ta! Sorry for IT incompetence.

The easiest way is to upload the photo to your Member Gallery (click on "Profile", then "Your member Gallery" in the top right corner, then "Add Another Picture" using the left hand link. Then you can include the picture in a post if you use the following "code" in your message (you can get the web page link to the picture by choosing that option when you view the picture in your Member Gallery):

(IMG SRC="http://host.com/picture.jpg")

But instead of using the brackets, shown above, bracket with the "greater than" and "less than" signs (AKA angle brackets).

Oh my goodness, I actually managed it! Thanks Conte Mosca for the advice - while you were typing that out I remembered an old LT thread which Esmeralda pointed out: "Things Every Woman (and Man) Should know about HTML" - located in the Virago Modern Classics LT group - but which somewhat threw me at the time. I retrieved it and followed the instructions there, venturing as far as opening a Flickr account, before posting the result you see! Am feeling positively IT enabled and about to lie down to recover from the excitement.

The photo shows not only the 37 colourful FS Shakespeare volumes, but how I luckily found, to within a mm, the perfect space in one of my Billy bookshelves, alongside 20 Jean de Boton Jules Verne volumes. All that remains is for me to find a new home for the uni books I removed...

>12 Conte_Mosca: Just practising my nascent skill to show you those black slipcases! ;)

Wow, I feel emphatically enabled, it's bloody brilliant! this hyperlink wizardry (even if it takes me half an hour). Now about to calm down with a nice cup of tea and start reading a play.

It says the photo is currently inavailable.

>18 ironjaw: Thanks for letting me know, I still see them both when I log on to LT but will go back to my new Flickr account to see what's going on.

Edited to add that I've just gone to Flickr and seen that I didn't load them properly (doh!). I hope you can see them now?

They're visible now. I am envious.

I'm envious of people who can perform basic IT functions without suffering a mini-stroke.

If nobody minds I'm going to direct this thread back towards the books ;-)

What do you think of the Shakespeare volumes? A local bookstore has a shelf full of them, and I've been kind of tempted.

>22 aaronpepperdine: I already love them and heartily recommend you snap them up from that local bookstore. I've uploaded more images for you to see (also gives me good practice!)...

Hamlet:



The Tempest:



Midsummer Night's Dream:



As you like it (Dali):



As you like it (Dali):



All's well that ends well:



Antony:



Cleopatra:



Cymbeline:



Obviously it's a matter of personal taste, but for me the format, type, and quality and variety of the illustrations are wonderful: many of images are the characters in costume (and often particular named actors) while others are decorations for set backgrounds.

I hadn't realised before that the titling and character headers on each page match the colour of the colour binding. I can already tell this edition is going to hugely enhance my enjoyment of Shakespeare, I doubt you'd regret buying it.

Cronshaw, I hope you're enjoying your new-found skills. Now is there any way I can make you forget how to do it? It was bad enough with the first picture on the shelf, then the slipcases and my longing grew. Now the interior views of the books and I can barely stand it. I have sworn off buying any books until at least after my property taxes are paid in June and now it's taking all my willpower to keep from frantically searching out the set. Hmm, I may just have to ban myself from the FSD site until I am assured my house is safe. ;-)

But they are such beautiful books.

>23 cronshaw:

What a wonderful set! ... which leads inevitably to the following questions: Why did you have to learn how to post pictures? Why didn't I see that set on Abe first? How am I going to sleep tonight? Where did I put my tablets?

I had been trying to collect this set for years (ok... not very seriously)... I suspect that I should pay some more attention and get it done. Grrrr....

>24 haniwitch:,25 Sincere apologies, but I was directed to post photos by Conte Mosca (and one doesn't disobey a Prime Minister).

>1 EclecticIndulgence: Hey Eclectic, I forgot to mention the white vegetable parchment set you opened this thread with is available from a Canadian seller at a good price ($370) for a near-fine set: much cheaper than the one you first came across!

I would formerly have recited that line of Our Lord Gavron's Prayer: "Lead us not into Letterpress Temptation" but I am now fully inoculated against that particular mutation of the F.A.D. virus :)

>27 cronshaw: Nice to see you spotted my Stendhalian identity :-)

Very Nice set by the way. Wonderful unfaded condition, and in those lovely slipcases - I definite step up (or ten) from my rather haphazard collection of this set (although I still love my early editions - nine in total - in their wonderful dustjackets from 1950-1958 before the FS introduced their dull grey slipcases to the series)

I may be mistaken, but I'm fairly sure that a least some of this set was printed by letterpress. I could feel impressions in the paper from the text in the examples I've seen in bookstores.

>32 aaronpepperdine: Almost all were. All those published up to the mid-late 1970s at any rate.

>32 aaronpepperdine:,33 I just checked, and given that the series was completed in 1976, I suspect the whole series was printed by letterpress, with the plates produced by lithography.

So, EclecticIndulgence, you can sell your Letterpress Hamlet, and with the proceeds, buy a full set of Letterpress Shakespeare!

I also forgot to mention an odd Folio Shakespeare surprise (or shock) I experienced when on holiday in Tokyo with my partner a couple of weeks ago. We were doing our usual meandering for miles around that vast vibrant city one day and had just emerged from the impressive ship-shaped Forum building by Tokyo Main Station when we decided to explore the large Muji store just the other side of the railway lines. It's a pleasantly laid out store on three offset levels, incorporating a fascinating fully sized Muji wooden house on the first floor - all kitted out delightfully and making Ikea look decidedly passé. But that amazing house was not what struck me the most. The F.A.D. virus travels with you, you see.

Throughout the two upper levels of the store was myriad shelving displaying marvellous ceramics, clocks, towels and other household items of muted appeal to psychotic bibliophiles. These were interspersed with the usual non-sale decorative items to create a homely retail ambience, and indeed there were lots of tastefully arranged hardback books arranged in colour spectra at various intervals. My F.A.D. jaw hit the floor though on seeing a stack of six of the white vegetable parchment-bound Folio 37 Shakespeare volumes nonchalantly posing beside a stack of Muji storage boxes. I dashed over to our bereft friends, lovingly fingered their pages, smiling and lapping up the lovely lithographs, but all the while shocked that such Folio Society beauty could be degraded to such a lowly function, transported so far from their place of birth, almost like slavery. Ignoring a 'I don't believe it!' issued by my partner, I dashed around the store's shelving as if I'd had three expressos, and lo found several more piles of the same set, over twenty-five in all (but no Dali's 'As You Like It' - perhaps someone in Muji is not altogether uncouth), all in fine unread, unloved condition. I pampered as many as I could without risking divorce before being dragged away to the Muji café where I slowly sank into an incredulous stupor. What an appalling fate for such gorgeous Folios and in such pristine condition, Shakespearean tragedy on a Muji set!

The thought did flit through my dense mind that I should ask a member of staff how much the Folios would cost, but imagining a whole chapter lost in translation as a beleaguered Muji shop assistant would, with exquisite Japanese politeness, explain that these were only for decoration ("Yes, yes, I know, but, you see...") and having concretely in front of me my long-suffering partner who could pop an aneurysm if I tried to use up our luggage weight allowance with Folios, common sense prevailed, and I left the store without even saying goodbye.

Wow. I am crying. ;(

What a sad fate. It would have given me sleepless nights and completeley have ruined my holiday. We should commence a rescue effort! Or at the very least sign a petition. Such book abuse should not be allowed to go unremarked upon!

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, cronshaw. I enjoyed reading your lively description.

>36 cronshaw:

A tragedy indeed, cronshaw! I once negotiated to buy a book that was part of a shop display. It was pre-internet days and a book I had been searching for for years. When I suddenly spied it gracing a display of G-plan furniture there was no hesitation- I had to have it!

That's an amazing story. I love it when ones travel leads to book nirvana. I'll be dreaming of Tokyo tonight.

A set of the rare 1976 37 volume FS Shakespeare featured by ExportFrisian in item 4 above has become available on EBay (no personal connection with seller) for the reasonable price of $850 ex Wisconsin. I would love to purchase these but cannot justify this expenditure at present.
Sale site is :-
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/William-Shakespeare-FOLIO-SOCIETY-37-Volumes-Works-Pl...

>42 EclecticIndulgence: Yes, I think so. Since I was involved in that original exchange of posts over a year ago, I have seen a couple of these come up for sale in the £300-£400 range. A very nice set though. However, personally I covet rather more cronshaw's set in their slinky black dresses, and colourful undergarments (see #15 and #16 above). he can keep his thumbs though (see #23!)

>42 EclecticIndulgence:,43 I agree that's expensive. Also, having seen a few of those white sets popping up on sale over the past year, I'd say they're perhaps more 'scarce' than 'rare', though I could be very wrong and my experience just coincidence - perhaps the same set reappearing again and again! Seeing these very volumes liberally distributed around a Tokyo Muji department store in April this year (see above) as shelving décor seemed to devalue them (both Muji for Folio Cruelty and the bookset) for me.

>4 ExportFrisian: and to whoever else may be able to chip in with feedback :-)

As a novice to Shakespeare, the fine set such as the one you have pictured is one which I may be tempted to buy( or bid for, at any rate).

Are there comprehensive , or any explanatory footnotes, endnotes etc... that come with this bookset??

I have looked at some pictures of the beautiful Letterpress editions and appreciate that an unspoiled page is very appealing, with the play only on show.However, the Letterpress "does" come, it seems, with a hefty commentary aid-book.

If this 37 volume set is in a similar virgin state, what would be a good book/books/ bookset to buy to enhance my enjoyment and full understanding of these wonderful plays.?

Many Thanks.

>45 Daithioc: This thread should help. it collates all the main Shakespeare threads together, as well as providing picturs of many interesting editions of Shakespeare's play.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/155833

In particular, the link to the following thread may help, as it leads to a detailed discussion about which editions have the best commentaries:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/127911#3667016

>46 Conte_Mosca:

Thanks for that.

I had seen the multi-linked thread you have referred me to, it was through that, that I came across this particular thread.

I will re-read over the wealth of information and take it from there, many thanks.

Your post #36 in the 'Arden vs Oxford Shakespeare' thread was a good insight also. The BBC DVD set is also appealing to me.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that discussion over "the" best Shakespeare bookset is the veritable minefield, as this is the same eclectic conversation that is replayed over what the best Canterbury Tales,Odyssey or Beowulf etc... is !!

Having said all that, I take it then that the Folio Shakespeare set I initially enquired about has zero companionable endnotes? (I have seen pictures of the regular pages and it seems to be just the play itself).

In your post #36 on the Arden v Oxford thread you referred to your Folio collection of 15 books as a nice size, easy to read and "no distractions" as you put it.
You may have answered my question already,then, grazie mille :-)

I suppose in an ideal-money-no-option world(of which I don't belong to) the Folio Letterpress collection may well be the dog's undercarriage, but I suppose even then, people may prefer different versions for a variety of reasons.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THE-FOLIO-PRESS-SHAKESPEARE-37-volume-boxed-set-FOLIO-...

Well, it seems as though a 37 volume set went for £225.
Looks like a pretty good set.

I have the complete set of Folio Press William Shakespeare Books to sell . They are in excellent condition all in their original boxes. Accepting reasonable offers

>49 vanessad185:

Best of luck with the sale. I myself have a set just like yours, alas, I'm not in the market to buy. They are a lovely addition to any library though and hopefully someone out there will snap them up.

On the off chance that this is still available, or some other similar set might be for sale from you (or anyone else), I would be interested.

Is this set still available?
TKS!
ludwig3

Having succumbed to the commentary volume offer, I've decided to part with my 37 volumes (individually slipcased), so if you're in the US and want to fill gaps in your collection please send me a private message. I would rather enable the set completion of fellow Devotees than sell on eBay (so long as my family can come out even).

If somebody is in the market for the Folio Press Shakespeare, ther is currently an offer on eBay (Starting bid £350, BIN: £750):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113267750766?ul_noapp=true
I would be in the market for a complete set as I only have some of the plays, but the seller explictly states, that they don't ship outside the UK.

>54 c_schelle:

You could use a forwarding service. It costs extra but does make such sales available from Germany. Most concentrate on the US only, but some also offer the UK. I should add that I have no personal experience yet. I've started a trial with Colis Expat, but that's a pre-order for December, so no clue how that will work out.

>54 c_schelle:

£750 seems a bit steep. I bought a set of these in virtually mint condition last December for £295 including delivery by courier. It's a lovely set and Folio's first letterpress edition. Illustrated with colourful costume designs from actual productions and printed in black with cues, etc., in another colour, what's not to like?

>55 SF-72: Thanks for the idea, but my book budget for this month is depleted and I have an eye on a LE from new publisher that is really interesting to me (and the Thornwillow Pride and Prejudice). If the forwarding service is working out for you could you please post your experience here?

>56 boldface: £295 Seems a really good price for 37 books. I haven't even noticed in this thread that the books are letterpress. £750 would be a bit too much, but there has not been one bid on the books yet.

>57 c_schelle: I have had good experiences with myukmailbox.com forwarding from the UK to France. You may choose your preferred shipping speed/shipper almost freely and the heavier the shipment becomes (as in 10 kg-ish), the combined shipping cost and fee using the forwarder becomes very close to shipping directly from the original seller to you. However, as you are charged per parcel, then it is naturally cheaper for you if all of your purchases can be fitted into one huge box.

I hope this helps.

>58 F.Trier:
The big problem with these mail forwarding services and the FS, is that the FS will NOT let those outside the UK (in Australia and USA anyway) purchase from those countries and post to a UK address, so you have to use the "Buy For Me" service, which charges 10% of the purchase cost, plus onward postage fees. Under the new FS arrangements, and higher prices for ROW (ie. those of you in Europe) may be caught with the same problem.
It can be worth while for expensive order, but in my experience the order has to exceed £400 to be worthwhile.

>59 wcarter: would it not be possible to use a VPN on your browser, making the FS site think you're in the UK? Or is the problem not based on web location (IP address) but in the location of the credit card holder? In that case, maybe a PayPal account might be a solution...

>60 Fierylunar: I think your account is linked to a specific region. You would have to set up a new account.

>60 Fierylunar:
VPN is an interesting idea, and I already use Paypal. Might try that when buying my next LE.
>61 c_schelle:
To save a significant amount of money, I can cope with setting up a phantom account.

>59 wcarter: Ordering from FS with phantom accounts and mail forwarders is surely becoming more and more economically feasible by the minute this time of the year :) However, I was referring to private sellers (ebay, auctioneers, etc) that insist on shipping solely to the UK and not even Europewide. I believe that was c_schelle was mentioning in post #54.

>63 F.Trier: You are right at the moment I was only thinking about using such a service for buying items on eBay, but depending on future ROW policies this option will become more interesting (I think it was also discussed in the thread where the price increases were being discussed).