FS Collections

i recently collected the FS books of The Great Fire of London, Monks of War, The Plague etc and with the same style of spine they look great. can anyone recommend any similar sets/collections? i notice that my FS books of The Diary of a Village Shopkeeper, and The Diary of a Country Parson appeared to maybe part of a number of similar books with same type of spine. I enjoyed putting together the collection of Great Fire etc so would appreciate any advice

Scenes From Medieval Life, Medieval People and Medieval Women all share a design style, and there are of course the ancient empires books:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/118880

And of course there is the Victorian Explorations series with matching designs:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/154143

thanking you both

Also, though the spines are rather understated, there's the excellent WWII intelligence set - Holt's "The Deceivers" on Allied deception of the axis powers during WWII, Foot's "The SOE" on the Special Operations Executive (Famously tasked by Churchill to 'Set Europe ablaze!' - which they arguably did) and last, but certainly not least, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's account of the work to crack the German ENIGMA cipher.

You can see the set on the top right hand shelf in the image below:


Now that I look at it, the current Tolkien offerings - The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, lower right in the picture above - they aren't half bad, either.

There seems to be a monarchs series Richard III by Paul Murray Kendal. Elizabeth I. Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser and Victoria

>1 frostymaxim:

The two books you mention are part of a series of six - and are very cheap to acquire. The others are:

The natural history and antiquities of Selborne - the 1994 edition, mind
Memoirs of a Georgian rake
Rides round Britain
Our village

Selborne is the best, but the others have their charms - and they all have the lovely marbled paper sides.

Edited for typo

this is ever so helpful everyone, thanks

> 7
A very VERY hearty endorsement from me too. This "series" is very small relative to current Folio productions (so comfortable to hold in the hand), attractive spine design and absolutely GORGEOUS hand-marbled paper (it is definitely hand-marbled because I accidently acquired two copies of the same title with very distinct marbling). I love the woodcut illustrations too. But best of all is the SHOCKINGLY low price for a hand-marbled production...most volumes can be picked up in fine condition for around $20 or less.

>5 odderi: Nice photo; I need to take a Lief out of your book, Mr Eriksen!

I picked up several books at different times that share a similar design (all 20th century English novels). I am curious whether anyone knows of any others in this "series."

Edited: Thank you eatanygoodbooks for image help! The titles are Remains of the Day, The Enchanted April, and The Greengage Summer.

> 11 Try linking to the jpg urls.

https://pics.librarything.com/picsizes/15/18/151834199291e4f6373316f6a77434b4171...

https://pics.librarything.com/picsizes/08/e3/08e349fa8f17b116373746f6a77434b4171...

>1 frostymaxim:
There are scores of different series that the FS have published over the last 65 years. Many are beautiful to behold, and some are quite cheap on the secondary market, while others are still being published.
Following are pictures of some of the series that I own (some mentioned above). Not all of my series are complete, but these are the ones that i own in each series.

Victorian Memoirs


Agatha Christie


Alexandre Dumas


Ancient Philosophers


Ancient Rulers

Strand Stories


Dickens - current FS series


The Victorians


Victorian exploration


National short stories

>11 withawhy99:
The method of adding photos to your post is explained in the following thread:-
http://www.librarything.com/topic/184357

These instructions are kept permanently on the FSD Group Website at:-
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:Folio_Society_Devotees
under the title:-
How to add a picture to your FSD forum post

If in doubt about anything to do with the FS or FSD, always check the Group Website for further help and information.

>14 wcarter:

Oh dear, Warwick. I think you've just given me a massive tincture of enablement....

>9 UK_History_Fan:

Thank you for that; I'd no idea that the marbling was real, I'd assumed it was printed!

This little edition of Selborne was my first Folio, I only paid £5 for it, purchased it to replace a tiny 1980's edition with 'blobby' printing and a horrible font that I'd attempted but failed to read due to it being almost illegible!

>16 scholasticus:
Greg, merely repaying the favour. 😊

>17 Paulfozz:

Not only real marbling, but marbled by Ann Muir, of blessed memory. I bought Selborne from FS on publication, but the other five cost an average of just over £5 each. As Sean says (>9 UK_History_Fan:), shockingly low.

Another series: America's Founding Fathers (Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin).

Okay, here's a few more "sets," some already mentioned, and some new. This also includes sets of sets, such as Ancient Civilisations, or Wodehouse.


National Short Stories


Fairy Books


Raymond Chandler


Ancient Civilisations


Victorian Memoirs


Russian Leaders


Disasters, et. al.


Wodehouse - Three Jeeves sets (14 vols) and One Blandings (6 vol)


Eileen Power - Medieval Life


Humor Series

Livy - early history of rome .. herodetus - Thucydides - livy hannibal - caesar gallic wars/civil wars - tacitus annals

this is great everybody, many thanks for all the info

There's also the Kafkas...

There's the coffee book set (large books to the left, not sure if Jerusalem is supposed to be part of it as it's the odd sized one) and the Folio Poets to the right and the Conrad series.

and of course the O'brian series:

Does anyone have the full Folio Society Myths & Legends Series? I only have 10.

>26 kdweber: ken would you mind listing the books on the right?

>27 kdweber:

How is the Myths & Legends series? I'm intrigued by it, but don't have any.

>27 kdweber: I think I have the full series -- 20 volumes. I also have the earlier FS editions of "The Norse Myths", and the "Laxdaela Saga". These last two do not look like the series. Are you wanting a list or a picture? The titles could be deciphered from a picture, I am sure.

>29 Jason461: The series is bound in variously colored quarter-leather bindings, with pictorial cloth sides.

It will be a bit of a pain to get a picture of them all together, but I will do it if anyone wants it.

>28 ironjaw: Memoirs of a Fighting Captain, The Wooden World, and three different editions of Two Years Before the Mast. I'd also recommend the book on the left, A Sea of Words.

>29 Jason461: I've enjoyed the volumes. I like reading folklore.

>30 garyjbp: I'd love a picture.

>31 kdweber:

Here is a pic. Not so much of a pain as I thought:




Note that the last book on the right on the lower shelf: Irish Myths and Legends, may not be technically part of the series. It is slightly differently bound, with paper boards, and it has the name of the author in a different orientation on the spine. And the title doesn't match the others in size.

I file Irish Myths with the others too! By subject it certainly ought to be part of the series. Not sure why they were led astray with the design.

>32 garyjbp: bad link - you need to end the url after the jpg extension, i.e.



>33 UK_History_Fan: I agree with you Sean.

>34 kdweber:

Interesting. It must depend on the browser. My pic shows up fine in Firefox. I did a preview before I posted it, and it was fine too. But thanks for pointing out my error. I'll be more careful in future.

>35 garyjbp: You're right, it renders in IE and Firefox but not Chrome (my default). It is bad HTML but some browsers are more forgiving than others.

I found that there is another one in my "twentieth century novel" collection -- Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. Anybody have any others?

I appreciate all of the photos everyone has contributed, but this thread has been bad for my budget...

thanks to all for the pictures. lovely to see the pictures of all the sets , a good source of information and it would be great if they go up somewhere on the website for this group as a permanent record .

http://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/25/bd/25bdac87aabb10663706a2b6a77434b4...

>38 wdripp: Ha ha! Yes, it's not a good idea to look at threads containing photos of these books if you want to keep a tight grip on your wallet! :-D

Hi, I have recently purchased The Campaigns of Alexander by Arian. I was wondering if it is part of any series like those mentioned above. Thanks.

43-
http://www.antiqbook.com/search.php?action=search&l=en&searchform=antiqb...

not particular .. but it then have to be this book. Same size ..

---

I today received Henry VIII, William Conquered, Richard Iii and Mary Queen Scots, off eBay. Does anyone know details of complete set of these as the spines are same style

The set also included Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria . The series was called Kings and Queens of Great Britain.

Many thanks

This picture is prompted by the recent issue of The Comedians:

I thought id update you all on my efforts to get some collections together, following all the great information I received after my opening post.
The set including The Plague, Monks of War etc was the first i completed via the second hand market, as well as the set featuring Selborne, and Village. As was mentioned in the thread these were relatively cheap. I have managed 15 of the Explorer/Victorian collection and so far 7 of the civilizations. A mixture of very good ebay deals, Oxfam, and other shops were the source. This thread and all the contributors to it have been a real help, many thanks, and any more ideas very welcome

There's also the Gaskell novels...

>50 Kainzow: ... and George Eliot

Jane Austen
The Brontes
Shakespeare
Thomas Hardy (15 volumes)
Anthony Trollope (48 volumes!)
Rudyard Kipling
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Charles Dickens (four different sets, one of 7 volumes, and 3 of 16 volumes)
John Le Carré (3 volumes)...

...and many many many more.

The list of author "series" is a very long one to add to the list of 'thematic" series, but I suspect from the original post, that >1 frostymaxim: it is the thematic series you were more interested in. And on that front, I think most have been covered already.

Thanks CM yes more the thematic series (Ive learnt a new word there! but it sounds right), i started literally liking particular spines that were same designs like those already covered.

>51 Conte_Mosca:
Okay.Sorry,I didn't read the post correctly.

>53 Kainzow: Oh gosh, my post was not in any way meant to be a response to yours, and certainly not a critical one! And indeed many of the replies to date have covered author-specific collections. Had Frosty responded differently I would have happily posted some pics of other author collections along the lines of those I had listed. But having read the OP, I got the impression that he was primarily interested in thematic series, and I just wanted to clarify :-)

lol, hey no worries, my post was meant tongue in cheek cos i had to google thematic lol :) cool

>54 Conte_Mosca:
Oh no worries,I knew you were right! I really didn't read what the OP wrote- I tend to be too impulsive at times!

Here are a few more series that come to mind (please note my lists of titles might not be complete):

History of England
- Britannia: A History of Roman Britain
- Anglo-Saxon England
- Early Medieval England
- England in the Latter Middle Ages
- England under the Tudors
- England under the Stuarts
- England in the Eighteenth Century
- England in the Age of Improvement 1783-1867
- Victorian England
- Edwardian England
- England 1914-1945
- England 1945-2000

Wars & Conflicts
- The Thirty Years War
- The Seven Years War
- The Boer War
- The Spanish Armada
- The Mutiny of HMS Bounty

Barbarian Invasions (note - all are by Thomas Hodgkin)
- The Visigothic Invasion
- The Huns and the Vandals
- The Ostrogoths
- The Imperial Restoration
- The Lombard Invasion
- The Lombard Kingdom
- The Frankish Invasion
- The Frankish Empire

Short Stories (by Author)
- Katherine Mansfield Short Stories
- Anton Chekhov Short Stories
- More?

Composers
- Beethoven
- Mozart
- Are there more?

These may qualify; I think there are just these two?

Binding designs by David Eccles, inspired by the Victorian Travel and Exploration series re Folio 60.

The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin, 2001;

The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt, 2004.

ah yes i was looking at The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt, 2004. as i have stones of venice, good shout.

>57 elladan0891:

The Boer War is not the same style as the others--but the C. V. Wedgwood trilogy regarding King Charles is (The King's Peace, The King's War, A Coffin for the King). I don't know about the Mutiny on the Bounty.

The History of Western Science,

The History of Western Music,

but not History of Western Philosophy.

>60 podaniel:
I haven't collected them yet, but judging by the pictures, they sure look like they're from the same collection to me.
They are clothbound and of exactly the same size, 10" x 6.25".

>62 elladan0891:

You know, I never thought of including The Boer War with the others because the covers for that one are decorated with a period photograph while the others are decorated with line drawings (of course, the others also concern events that occurred before the existence of photography). Now that I put The Boer War with them, by Jove, I think you're right! Thanks for the observation.

Yes, the key is the black title box on the spine. Paul Nash, in Folio 60, calls these the bellicose series. The list also includes the three volume Campaigns of Napoleon and the Campaigns of Wellington, as well as the Highland Trilogy. Also, the English Civil War, which podaniel mentions in post 60 is part of the set but my copy came with The Trial of Charles I as the third volume.

The Thirty Years War by CV Wedgwood also fits in this collection. I just happen to be reading it currently and it's spine matches with the above volumes. It is a very well designed book as well. Hope this helps.