I have just ordered / received #8

On upcoming titles, I saw this over at the LA Book Review today on a forthcoming Folio book. http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=1316
Loving by Henry Green. I'm not familiar with it, but it appears that LARB has jumped the gun, since the book is not yet on the FS site.

I've just received my books from the New Year Sale, further helped by a generous FS gift voucher I got for Christmas from my son!

I decided to splash out on the two Folk Tales of Britain sets. I hadn't realised before what a wonderfully comprehensive and scholarly work this is - on a par with Iona and Peter Opie's ground-breaking work on Nursery Rhymes. (This last would make a splendid companion volume to these Folk Tales, mole.) The only colour illustrations are the frontispieces, but there are a generous number of woodcuts scattered throughout, even one in the introduction, which is unusual. I particularly like those by Peter Firmin and his daughter, Hannah. Peter, British readers will remember, was the artist who brought us Noggin the Nogg, Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss, etc.

By complete contrast, I also bought Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy complete with boards covered in glitter! (It doesn't seem to be coming off, thank goodness) It's even funnier than I remember, although it might not be fully appreciated by non-British readers. I bought an omnibus of the first 4 vols of the 'trilogy' years ago, but it was purloined by the above-mentioned son - so his voucher affords some poetic justice!

By further complete contrast, my last choice was Origins of the Second World War by A. J. P. Taylor. Inexplicably, I've never had a copy of this controversial (when was AJP not controversial!) and important book before. Not a stunning book by Folio standards, but it's nice to have it in a good-quality hardback.

>3 boldface: I went to check out the Taylor volume yesterday which I had left sat in my basket for a week, only to find it had just gone out of print :-(

Please make me feel better by telling me it is awful. Lie if you have to!

4 > I've read people having success calling FS, and asking if a copy is hiding somewhere. Good luck. If not, it was TERRIBLE. Like the Twilight of history books.

> 4

I can set your mind at rest. It's a truly awful book, if you hate history and loathe well-expressed, readable and stimulating ideas which challenge accepted theories and make you think afresh. Honestly, forget it unless you love beautifully produced intelligent books available at a bargain price.

I must be cruel only to be kind

>6 boldface: Now come on, admit it. Your heart wasn't really in that lie was it! :-P

Ordered since end-October:

The Foundation Trilogy
Storm of Steel
Religion and the Decline of Magic
Of Human Bondage
Pliny
The Sea, the Sea
The Song of Roland (I'm afraid that due to some confusion with ordering and cancellations, I'll be receiving two copies of this book!)
The Adventures of Casanova

On another front, sizeable increase in books explaining Joyce's work and life...

>3 boldface: Ah, well done your gifted son for getting you a FS voucher for Christmas. It's enough to make you want to start a family.

>10 cronshaw: If I hadn't started a family I could afford a lot more FS vouchers myself!

>9 drasvola: You have great taste with that little lot Antonio, but you look to have exercised considerable restraint compared to my shocking profligacy since 18th Oct:

The Foundation Trilogy
Scott's Last Expedition
The Vampyre and Other Macabre Tales
Legends of the Grail
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The Realm of the Unreal and Other Stories
Elizabeth David's Christmas
The Postman Always Rings Twice
A Traveller in Time
The Box of Delights
The Midnight Folk
The War at the End of the World
Blake
Disgrace
The Castle
Jeeves and Wooster Stories
The Seeing Stone
Clea
Onward and Upward In The Garden
HMS Surprise
At The Crossing Places
King of the Middle March

Wow, that's an impressive acquisition list for one quarter. I shudder to think how long it would have been without the family restraint!

(Very belatedly corrected for spelling!)

> 11

I already own:

The Vampyre and other Macabre Tales
Legends of the Grail
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Midnight Folk
The War at the End of the World
Blake
Disgrace
The Castle
HMS Surprise

but you still win, Michael. There's no remedy for us.

Just received part of my order from the winter sale;

Folk Tales: Narratives
The House of the Seven Gables
Justine
Lost Illusions
Schindler's Ark

Unfortunately, the Folk Tales -set had received some damage and one corner of the slipcase was crushed (with some of the paper from the top ripped), with one of the books also having a damaged corner. Hopefully can settle this with FS staff. :/

All the books are lovely, but I especially loved Lost Illusions with the beautiful silk sides and also The Seven Gables, as the smooth covers remind me of a dark and mysterious oil painting.

Just received my winter sale order:

The Frankish Empire (Vol VIII) -- only problem is now I want to collect vols I-VII. Should've thought this through before ordering, probably. The illustrated slipcase is lovely, though; I wonder if all eight slipcases lined up create a single image across the slipcases?

Earth: An Intimate History -- I see this is now discounted even more on the site. Oh well.

Face of Battle -- should be a fascinating read.

Life -- couldn't pass this up at 76% off!

I'm pretty sure the bubble wrap took up more volume than the books themselves in the box! But it did its job, as every volume arrived in pristine condition.

Due to the additional reduction on Stones of Venice, I have finally purchased something from the Winter Sale. I thought I'd make it through, but it seems not.

Purchased The Secret Garden new from eBay for 25 dollars, with free shipping. Now I need A Little Princess and Little Lord Fauntleroy and I'll have my favorite books by this author.

Received today my latest FS order which was for Orlando and Travels with a Donkey. Woolf's work is a really beautiful edition. I love the binding, the paper, the type and the ilustrations (reproductions, actually, of paintings and photographs). It is also a wonderful book in feeling and size to cuddle with and enjoy the story. Stevenson's journey (the sixteenth FS printing!) is even smaller and handier to have around. I'm looking forward to the descriptions of a by-gone time of quiet travel.

Together with my two books came a free gift: the UNESCO sponsored Memory of the World. It's an attractive and profusely illustrated compilation of treasures that "record our history from 1700 BC to the present day". Difficult to put down since the curiosity to find out what is included and how it is described is boundless.

In addition I now have a "tea towel" that, since I don't drink tea (sorry, tea lovers), will be put to some good use in the kitchen. It's decorated with artichokes and garlic cloves (a tea-related subject?). Very colourful, including the new FS logo.

To top my happiness, the order came in the usual cardboard box, with plenty of bubble wrap, and shipped inside the famous (or infamous) white mailing bag. Not the slightest damage anywhere! Oh, bliss, joy!

Edited to correct the FS edition of Travels with...

Can the tea towel be of some use when one drinks sangria in the library (to avoid wine drops on FS books)?

At the risk of being considered a spoil-sport, I was on my part rather deceived by Stevenson's Travels. I thought it would be, as you say, ‘a description of a by-gone time of quiet travel’. Instead of that, I met religion, reformed faith and Roman Catholics at every page. I found the book boring, to the point it is one of my Folio books I would exchange most happily.

But it is true also that I was never hooked by Stevenson. Don't know if I am alone here.

Now, Drasvola: happy read!

Collected my Winter Sale books from the Members Room on Saturday: Folk Tales of Britain: Narratives and Legends.

It took the best part of an hour to check over all six volumes for faults before leaving. I'm happy to report they survived the journey on the tube unscathed (two lines were closed for maintenance - it was like a weekday rush hour in there).

>18 drasvola:, 19: don't know if you're being funny about the tea towel - it's just the English name for the cloth you use to dry the dishes (when you wash them in the sink and not in a dishwasher). So its place is the kitchen.

> 19, 21

For the time being, the "tea towel" is in the plastic bag that it came in. A momentous decision will be made soon as to the destiny assigned to artichokes and garlic. I suspected as much, overthemoon. English has such pleasant surprises all-around.

The first few pages of Stevenson are quite funny and engaging, Pepys. I'll see what the rest offers. Often we learn much more about the traveller than we do about the places travelled. Accounts of such experiences are one of my favourite subjects for reading (together with memoirs, diaries and letters). Although at different levels and times, Sterne and Steinbeck come to mind and, indeed, even Thoreau with his internal voyage to Walden and Voltaire's Candide in his best of all possible worlds.

> 23

Yes, Kerouac! After his false start, his sharing of money and clothes, the people along the way. The total frankness. Wonderful. Thanks.

21> No, I didn't intend to be funny at all, overthemoon. I understood it as a tea napkin, or something alike... I see, now... A special towel just for cups and the rest... Hmmm... Very English... Much better than a vulgar French "torchon"...

22> And you're absolutely right, Drasvola. As far as I remember, the first pages are the best.

If I have the heart to do it, I'd like to write a review on The Monk which I finished last week, and which is absolutely riveting and stunning. I rate it 4.5 stars.

> 25

Please write a review on The Monk, Pepys! There's a lot of fancy and stereotype in Lewis's description of Madrid, but it is a thrilling story full of morbid horror and depravation. I found it difficult to put down and, at the same time, kept fearing the occasional inaccuracy.

>25 Pepys: apparently the US name for it is dishtowel (I had to look it up).

I have just received a copy of the LE Les Miserables.
Yes, I know, its out of print, but I bought this on eBay.
In Australia Les Mis LE cost AU$475 (including postage) when available from the FS. I felt this was just too expensive, and bought Moby Dick alone rather than both.
I rarely come across bargains on eBay, but this time I was lucky.
For AU$205 (including postage) I bought a mint, never read (possibly never opened - the tissue paper still covered the number on the limitation page) copy of Les Mis, and I am thrilled. It arrived today in perfect condition.
My only disappointment is that there are very few illustrations compared to Moby Dick.
All I need now is a spare month to read it!

Yesterday, a jaunty little flotilla tied up alongside the Shed - the last three Aubrey-Maturin novels (the fragment, '21', appears to have sunk without trace). As usual, when a new batch arrived, I went straight to the illustrations. It has never ceased to impress me how cleverly these have been chosen (from contemporary paintings, drawings, etc.) in such a way as truly to illuminate O'Brian's text. I suppose it wasn't too difficult to find paintings of famous harbours and their approaches (or indeed real-life admirals), but nearly all aspects of ship-board life have been represented over the course of the series (as well as many of the birds and beasts so eagerly sought after and discussed by Dr Maturin). Well done, Folio's picture editors! It now behoves me to hoist the Blue Peter on another volume pretty soon.

As a result of my excitement (I was going to say, riding the crest of a wave, but that would be overdoing it) I decided to take my wife to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe (well, Prezzo, actually). "What's that bling?" my fellow shipmate on the sea of life asked unexpectedly. She wasn't referring to the couple at the next table, but to the book of that name (not Prezzo) which also landed on the mat that morning (not literally, thank goodness). The second Douglas Adams book (not a brand new FS publication, I know, but new to me) glitters no less brightly than the first. I love the whole package - the size, the illustrations, the glitter, the humour. Indeed, I can't wait to digest it (before I choke on all these brackets).

The mind boggles at the thought of a shelf-full of Aubrey-Maturin bound in "bling"!

> 19

Pepys: I've finished 'Travels with...' and, although some of the descriptions of chesnut trees and turf might seem a bit repetitious, overall I enjoyed the book. I can't see any reason why it should be discarded from your FS collection! Yes, indeed, there is the religious matter brought up, but how couldn't it be given the region it is? I stay with the following words from page 115:

In this world of imperfection we gladly welcome even partial intimacies. And if we find but one to whom we can speak out of our heart freely, with whom we can walk in love and simplicity without dissimulation, we have no ground of quarrel with the world or God.

Please give Stevenson a reprieve...

I really expected something else with this book: descriptions of landscapes and small villages, strange habits of the locals, as seen by a foreigner. I read it some 5 years ago, and it really deceived me.

But as I told you, drasvola, I have an a priori against Stevenson. I have problems with his style. It's good to know that we can differ, and however remain friends. I'm glad you liked it despite of all what I wrote. (I was afraid of having been too hard with this book.)

>30 HuxleyTheCat:

No, she was referring to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe! The binding has been sprinkled with what I can only assume is stardust.

I sort of knew that Jonathan :o) Whilst I enjoy my FS editions of the Adams very much, I was just thinking of the effect of twenty much larger volumes with iridescent bindings. Ever fancied holding a disco in the shed?

>34 HuxleyTheCat:

Sorry, Fiona! Too much stardust is addling my brain! In fact, I think the Aubrey-Maturin books are already quite garish, liberally adorned as they are with gold bling. Any more iridescence and I might have thought twice about acquiring them. I think someone on here once said that his mother was horrified at the way Folio books stood out and refused to behave themselves on the shelf. With some of them, she may have had a point!

As for a disco, I think I'll need a lot more glitter before the Shed becomes a suitable venue. You will, perhaps, not be surprised to hear that discos are not my first choice of entertainment these days! Call me a boring old ----, but I was never that keen on them - even when I could participate without oxygen and a back-up team. I've always been hopeless at maintaining eye contact while jumping up and down, and even when gyroscopically inert, I prefer to be able to talk to people rather than have to use sign language and lip-reading. Yes, I know - I'm past all help.

>35 boldface:

A glitter ball and strobes on all that gilt - gives me a migraine just to think of it.

Ah yes, the days of dancing around one's handbag and getting covered in beer. I believe it's called "clubbing" by the younger generation. At least our tunes actually had something close to melody...

Sorry for veering off topic folks! It's Sunday and it's quiet (and very cold and grey here in Blighty).

I just received Just So Stories Limited Edition. And I have only one word for it : B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. I would probably say it's even nicer than Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam LE. For the illustrations - it's not only the tipped in colour ones but also a few smaller black-and-white ones. Even the solander box is nice.

Hi..

New here, but I just received my biggest order yet from the Folio Society and I can't help but gush! Eugene Onegin, The Worst Journey in the World, The Bloody Chamber, Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman!, On the Road, Metamorphosis and Other Stories, and The Last Man. I am overwhelmed by the beauty of it all!

I discovered the Folio Society last year, and finally became a member in January of this year. So far I own all of the above, as well as the Rainbow Fairy Books (joining offer), HG Wells Collection, His Dark Materials, Paradise Lost (Blake), London Characters and Crooks, The Black Death, Folio Book of Days, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Devil's Dictionary. A fledgling collection, but I can't wait to watch it grow!

>38 mattwashere: Welcome Matt. It is always great to hear a new voice here. Your desire to "gush" is entirely understandable. You have picked up some fantastic books there (I have all of them myself except for On The Road). And if you stay a member of this group for any length of time, I can assure you your collection will definitely grow!

Welcom Matt, and do start cateloguing your newly acquired FS babies :) One of the pleasures I really enjoy about this forum is browsing the libraries of my esteemed fellows.

Renewed my FS membership with the following four books, winners all ---- nicely done by the FS:

1. Selected Poems by Robert Frost
2. Travels With Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski
3. Complete Shorter Fiction by Herman Melville
4. The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski

As an aside, I have a first edition of 'The Ascent of Man' and the Folio Society version is not a slavish copy. The original 1st edition book is much larger and contains many more illustrations and diagrams. However, FS has freshened this work by introducing many new illustrations and diagrams not present in the 1st edition.

If you are unfamiliar with 'The Ascent of Man' it is a great read. Jacob Bronowski was a modern day Renaissance man with an encyclopedic knowledge of many fields and Bronowski traces out the evolution of man through his use of invention and ingenuity, highlighting the seminal scientific discoveries and thoughts over several thousand years that helped civilization evolve. "The Ascent of Man" was a groundbreaking serial television program produced originally by the BBC and then imported "across the pond" into the U.S. as one of the first long, serial television offerings by the then fledgling PBS. It proved to be wildly popular and helped PBS get off of the ground. The book was published in parallel with the PBS series.

> 41

Yes, I too was delighted with the FS edition of The Ascent of Man. I really love the cover design! Now if only the FS would start publishing some of the books by Lisa Jardine, his daughter and an actual Professor of Renaissance Studies, I would be over the moon! I think Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution or Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance would probably appeal most to the FS public, although I would be delighted if they also consider her biographies of Francis Bacon and Robert Hooke.

I also love the new FS edition of the Complete Shorter Fiction of Herman Melville!

I've just received my copy of the Rubaiyat (Puttapipat illustrations). This is one of my favourite poems, and i'm just awestruck by the illustrations. I can't stop looking at them. The arrival of spring pic - so jewellike and sparkly! (Can you tell i like them yet?) i'd like to imagine in the LE version they were gilded like a medieval manuscript :-)

I also received (from ebay) the folio A Christmas Carol, Christmas Ghost Stories, and Christmas Crime Stories - i know this might seem unseasonable, but they rise in price before christmas when i actually want to read them, so now i have all year to look forward to them. Particularly loving the Michael Foreman illustrations in the Crime stories book.

I've been lurking about here, reading threads for a couple of weeks, prior to joining The Folio Society. I finally made up my mind and placed an order today which included a membership offer, then I signed up so that I could post here as well.

I went for the following:

The Martin Gilbert World War Collection
The Golem
Metamorphosis and Other Stories
To Kill a Mockingbird
Crusader Castles

I'm looking forward to recieving them.

Welcome...

Those are some great choices I’m sure you will enjoy them.

Now just to save time you may as well have all of your money/paychecks sent directly to the Folio Society as this group is dangerous and somehow money just seems to disappear when you hang around here...

Thanks.

I went for fairly cheap books (all less than £30) to complete my commitment.

I've also decided to try and stick to Library of America or Everyman's Library where titles are available from them rather than Folio. I made an exception for the Kafka volume though, so we shall see!

I'm mainly looking to Folio for nice editions of non-fiction, but it seems to me that those tend to be the dearer ones.

I've caved in to the 20% offer and ordered Loving and Structures.
There are numerous other new books that I'm keen on, but I can save them for future sales and/or renewal.

I have heard great things about Green so am anxious to try one of his novels.

I use the 20% on books within GBP 30, as there are unlikely to have drastic price reduction in future sales .

I am not sure experience tells me that the list price of a book has any meaningful influence on the likelihood of featuring in future sales (LEs aside). Looking at my past sale buys, it is just as likely that a £24.95 book will feauture in a 50% off sale as a £44.95 book.

The approach I try and adopt is to go for the lower priced books at full price to fulfil my membership requirements or as part of Box Set sales (like the Spring Sale) which requires the purchase of full price books to qualify for free sets. Then I use % discounts on the higher price books...

...a strategy that goes out of the window the minute I see a book I really want that doesn't fit with that strategy!

But 50% of a £44.95 book is more then of a £24 one. for the same reason I try not to rush on £80+ book until the absolute right time. :D

>49 Conte_Mosca:
Agree 100%. That was my rationale for choosing Structures, rather than, say, Orlando.
I would have gone for another £30+ (eg Silk & Cyanide) if not for my yen to get to Green.

> 50

The right time is always a good time to buy, but not so easy to identify ;) Among the more costly unlimited Foilo volumes, for every Walden, Apocrypha or Natural History of Selborne, all of which became available at half price or less to the more patient among us, there's a Purgatorio, Paradiso or Jerusalem - Leaves of Grass too perhaps? - which sold out fairly promptly and never became available below the initial 20%-discounted offer price.

It would be unworthy of us to hope that one of our FS moles might turn double agent and start delivering reliable tips on which of the Society's present offerings are flying off the shelves with no reprint planned and in a year's time will only be available through resellers at twice the current price, and which of them are hanging around so stubbornly that they're bound to be no more than £10 in the January sale... :)

>52 terebinth:

Yes, the favorite book is always in first priority , with or without discount. buying from second hand is not an option for me , being ROW, the shipping cost is quite daunting.

sorry, posted in the wrong group

>42 groeng: So agree - I'm a great fan of her writing, and also of her radio broadcasts: I've listened to most of her "Point of View" essays on Radio 4, and have both volumes of the scripts. One of my favourite writers. I'd agree with you also about the two volumes probably best suited to an FS market, but I have also thoroughly enjoyed her biography of Wren, and also Going Dutch.

After a prolonged search I have finally added to my collection of FS LEs "The Bird Paintings of Henry Jones" by Bruce Campbell.
With a foreword by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and preface by Professor Lord Zuckerman this was an early Folio Fine Edition in cooperation with The Zoological Society of London.
When it was published in 1976 it was £425 new. This was the largest and most expensive book published by the Folio Society up to this time. It is a huge book (57cm x 41cm) in landscape format and contains 24 superb coloured plates plus text, with green, marbled end-papers, half-calf binding, and gold-blocked slipcase.
Mine is number 388 of 500 copies.
An absolutely glorious book comparable to the modern FS LEs.

Pictures of the above can be seen at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/warwick_carter/8589057848/in/photostream/lightbox/
and click on "older' to see the full set of pictures.

> 57

Very nice pictures, thank you. More proof of the attractiveness of older Folio editions!

>57 wcarter: Thanks for sharing the pictures. I have been intrigued by this publication for some time, but have never seen internal pictures before (having just seen olepuppy's picture of the binding). Very nice indeed.

Not Folio and not earth-shattering discoveries but I'm very happy to have obtained from a second-hand book dealer in Barcelona, in very good condition with immaculate dustcovers, the Hogarth Press editions of

Mrs Dalloway (1968)
To the Lighthouse (1977)
Orlando (1978)

With regard to 57 above.
In only 18 hours these pics have been viewed by 42 people, but the only place where they have been "advertised" is this forum.
Gives some idea of how many non-posting lurkers there are amongst FSD and LT members (you do not have to be a registered FSD member to browse, only post). I suspect this forum has far more viewers (and therefore influence on book purchasing decisions) than we realise.

>61 wcarter:

I am one of the lurker . some of the heavy volume (moby dick,etc) are shelve vertically , aren't they suppose to be lay flat on a lectern.

Kafkachen, you are no lurker, I have seen your name many times in this forum :-)
Moby dick is not a large volume and does not suffer from vertical filing. Robert's The Holy Land, and Egypt and Nubia; and The Queen Mary Atlas - now they are BIG books that need the horizontal treatment.

>60 drasvola: Yummy!!

My first Folio order got here (Sydney) yesterday

http://imgur.com/a/PbnHK

Very nice Skarter, I assume the Incas, Mayans, etc were the introductory offer.

My first order is waiting at my parents house until tomorrow when I go there. I have parcels sent there because they're in most of the time.

> 65

That's the first time I've seen one of the much-mentioned Royal Mail bags!

>67 housefulofpaper:

Lucky you - a box in one of those is much more likely to get crushed - simply because the bags are stacking badly...

Two unrelated questions:

Is the LE Gulliver's Travels (FS) letterpress?

How many pages is there in the FS Shakespeare's Sonnets. It is difficult to get an idea from teh picture on the website.

Many thanks in advance

>69 Atheistic:

I will try based on general knowledge, but I am sure someone who actually owns these editions can provide you with more info.

1. In general LE's are not printed letterpress unless it is explicitly stated so. At most the limitation page may be printed thus, but it will normally say this in the production details on the website. So I am pretty sure Gulliver's Travels is not letterpress.

2. Which edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets do you mean? The Letterpress edition has 288 pages according to the website, but I see that the number of pages of the 'standard' edition (with 'crushed silk' binding) is not mentioned on the website.

I was referring to the standard edition of the sonnets.

I think you may be right that it is the limitation page that is letterpress.

>71 Atheistic:

I have both .

1, LE Gulliver's Travels is not a Letterpress.

2, The standard edition has no page numbers . its paper are thick and smooth, roughly 180 to 200 pages, an inch thick with cover. 8 pages of introduction at front, dozen of very nice engravings, zero notes. an above average binding by FS.

#72 Thank you

Any regrets regarding the LE Gulliver's Travels?

Nope, but if the Rubaiyat or the wind in the willows were still around, I would have get them instead. (and skip this one )

okay. Thanks for your response

Well further to my posts above, I've been able to have a look at my introductory offer and the other books I bought and I'm very impressed.

Having seen them in the flesh I don't even think the prices are all that high anymore.

Crusader Castles is especially good I think, given that it was the cheapest of my purchases.

My mother was happy with the free Crossword Dictionary too.

Now I just need to avoid temptation for a little while!

"Now I just need to avoid temptation for a little while!"

There is one way to make that much more likely - don't read anything posted here. Except for this message, of course. Stop after reading this one.

I've just picked up two modest Folios from my local Oxfam for £4.99 each:

1. Dove Cottage : The Wordsworths at Grasmere 1799–1803, being The Grasmere Journal by Dorothy Wordsworth together with selections from the correspondence of Dorothy and William Wordsworth, edited by Kingsley Hart (1966; Folio 60, no. 229).

Bound in quarter dark red buckram with red pastepaper boards. It's illustrated with 12 atmospheric monochrome photographs of the Lake District specially commissioned by the Society from John Preston-Bell. The fore-edge of the paper sides has suffered a couple of small scrapes, but overall the book is still handsome. I already have much of this material in a paperback edition of the Journals and a hardback selection of the letters, but the Folio edition is, of course, a much higher quality product and the photos are very striking. My only criticism is that it doesn't have an index.

2. The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell, edited with an introduction by Winifred Gérin (1971; 2nd impression, 1973; Folio 60, no. 295).

Bound in quarter grey cloth, with pink and grey decorated paper boards. The spine design, by John Westwood, matches that of the Brontë series published by FS 1964–70 (the quarter binding of the series volumes was in leather rather than cloth). This is illustrated with contemporary photographs, etchings and engravings. I've never owned a copy of this famous biography before, so I'm very pleased to have found the Folio edition. Incidentally, in view of the thread on the Folio bibliographies, I see that Folio 60 mentions that Folio 34 and Folio 40 incorrectly ascribe a colour frontispiece to this edition. It also says that chapter '12' is misprinted '21'. I can confirm that this has been corrected in the second impression.

Yesterday just received A People's Tragedy. Spent a half hour just looking through all the photographs, which were absolutely stunning, especially all the photos of peasants. Some photos I recognized from the original publication, as well as others that are well known, but there are many more I have never seen. Also read through the introduction, which addresses the criticism the book received from both "left" and "right" critics. As with other FS sets like this, all the notes and bibliography are in the second volume. Probably going to start reading through this soon - the period of history just fascinates me.

Well, after two years of looking I finally joined the Society. I may have gone a touch overboard. The books I ordered:
Tolkien joining offer(Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silimarilion)
Foundation Trilogy
The Devil's Dictionary
Catch-22
Wind in the Willows
Chronicles of Narnia
Winnie the Pooh
Pagans & Christians
Folktales of Britian: Naratives
Folktales of Britian: Legends

Looking forward to receiving them! :D

>80 alarickc: Welcome! I trust the last five you acquired in the Spring Sale?

>81 cronshaw: That I did, the sale on the Folktales was too good to pass up.

>80 alarickc: akarickc, welcome to the Folio Society and the trusted online source of our own bonker's group of devotees :)

Congratulations with the books. I am sure you will love them. The Foundation Trilogy
is beautiful. A real must have. I do hope they have corrected the small printing
error, which I notified them back in February. It's on p. 75 of the first book on the lower page, left hand side: "sai3" where it should say "said". It's a small error and I don't find it obtrusive.

I had also been lurking before I joined back in 2009 and haven't looked back. Before joining, I was a wee old late 20'something chap, with a stable life, a girlfriend, 2 not-my-own-kids, a volvo and a golden retriever, and my wallet was happy and cheerful, except for the weekend night outs drinking cheap beer. Oh how young and ill-informed I was!

Now, I am a 30-something gentleman, honorary member of the FS (well that's what I think, I'm prabably the only one in Denmark! That's honor enough), with a remington cycle, a tweed jacket, designer glasses, with not so a stable life, no girlfriend, no kids, no pets, casually drinking champagne on Friday night gallery openings, engaging in unilateral conversations, with a slight elitish look of course, with some blonde about how modern society is echoing the characteristics of the decline of the Roman Empire, and how we both should seek refuge in a near-by 2 bedroom apartment in Middle Earth, before the rise of Lord Sauron threatens.

And my wallet you ask?...well let's say the old guy is a highly decorated soldier suffering constant economic blows and dilemmas everyday with struggling questions such as "should I buy this FS LE today, or wait?" and "Shall I take the 5 or 10 monthly interest-free instalment plan?"

Despite all of this, I say this to you: I and maybe others here might come off a bit eccentric, and might be suffering from FAD (Folio Acquisition Disorder). And yes, we do spend dangerous amounts of our hard earned money on this esteemed institution, the bastion of literary truth and excellence, the keeper of exquisite illustrations, called The Folio Society, written with the definite article. And maybe all of this might seem a bit odd to you, including my introduction of my personal life before being ordained in the Brotherhood of the Acquisition of Finely Produced Books, but I tell you I am in intellectual nirvana!

So good day to you, Sir or Madam. And welcome to a long road towards a richer life; intellectual that is, not so financial.

> 83

Dear Faisel: you are waxing lyrical again! Very heart-felt post. Appreciated.

>83 ironjaw:

I actually rather enjoyed the personal background. It's nice to hear from other unrepentant eccentrics(I have the designer eyeware, though I'm still trying to find the perfect tweed jacket). I'm 18 myself and was moved to join because of a distressing decline in my consumption of books(darn this iPad) and thought this might turn things around. I look forward to greater intellectual stimulation as facilitated by this horrendous money-pit...errr, literary apothecary. ;)

As an aside I think I'm honestly most looking forward to Christians and Pagans. I have the paper-back and was enjoying it immensely, but never finished it. The book is too large to read! A four inch thick paper-back is a crime against humanity, I can't wait to have it in three volumes.

>83 ironjaw: Oh, and it is sir. :)

>83 ironjaw: Wonderful background there ironjaw! It's reassuring to know we eccentrics all fit comfortably within the Folio circle.

>83 ironjaw: Fine post, maybe it reflects my own idiosyncracies but you strike me as much more "sensible" than "eccentric"!

My sale order arrvied today: Loving and Structures. Both solid examples of what Folio does so well. Loving is a little better than that in fact: I really like the design and illustration.

>83 ironjaw: Who are you calling eccentric Faisel? Speak for yourself. I am not eccentric, I am completely bonkers!

That aside, a very fine post. Mind you, I think if I had attempted conversations with my wife about the need to seek refuge in my house before Lord Sauron threatened, she may not have become my wife. Indeed, if I think about it, had my wife known about my bibliophilia before agreeing to marry me she would probably not have become my wife either!

p.s. I consider myself an honorary Dane, and therefore an honorary Danish FS member. OK I am not Danish at all, but my sister-in-law is, and my brother lives with her in East Jutland, an area I have as a consequence had the pleasure of visiting on several occasions. It's always cold!

Hej hej!

Thank to all my fellow learned friends.

Michael, that is good to know, then we are two honorary Danes. Maybe we should start an elite club wearing Viking-hats, sipping green tea and reciting Tennyson! Or should that be Kierkegaard: "Life has its own hidden forces which you can only discover by living"

Been waiting nearly three weeks now for my first order to get here. The suspense is driving me crazy!!

alarickc, what a great selection to join with. despite how beautiful and inticing they are online, once they are in your hands, they are more beautiful than one could have imagined.

ironjaw, love your post. it's nice to know i'm not the only one who feels that way at times.

Ironjaw, what happened to the golden retriever, was he yours?

It was given to a family friend who lived on a farm and had two young boys. It was better for him - more open space than living in the city.

I liked your very thoughtful post, Faisel. Be your own man. That's what I say. Personally, I used to worry that I always seemed to be out of step with the world. Now, I acknowledge that the world may intrude occasionally, but I shout at the TV and move on, lost in intellectual nirvana, or, as my wife calls it, a fool's paradise. I must say, I rather like the idea of designer glasses. I've just had to glue my old ones together yet again.

I've just got back from a short trip to Yorkshire and another pilgrimage to the Bronte parsonage at Haworth. How did they all fit into those tiny rooms, I ask myself? Well, the fact, as I learned, that Charlotte was only four foot nine or ten may have helped.

All fired up with enthusiasm, I made for the nearest bookshop, only pausing to take tea in a local hostelry and being slightly delayed when the proprietor discovered that in a former life he had lived very near to where I live now, and that now, he is sending his son to my old school. Sorry, that last sentence has just ended in a cul-de-sac.

In the bookshop, I found the FS Five Novelettes by Charlotte Bronte, published in 1971. It was at an exorbitant price, being literally just down the road from where they were written, but a few clicks later and I had secured a mint copy for a full £20 less which was already waiting for me on the mat when I arrived home today, forty-eight hours later. (Did I say elsewhere that I didn't let the real world intrude? Forget it!)

In the meantime, I picked up today a lovely pocket-sized volume of essays by A. A. Milne, no less - a first edition from 1920, rebound under the aegis of the London bookshop Hatchards in full green morocco with raised bands and gold rules inside and out, for just £10.99. I love you, book fairy.

>96 boldface: Sounds fabulous, enjoy! I've never been to Haworth but would love to visit having read Wuthering Heights for the first time last year - such an extraordinarily beautiful work.

Now Jonathan, that sounded like a wonderful trip! I like your ending about finding a first edition for £10.99. I just love it when the book fairy surprises one with such gifts.

I have never seen any books bound by Hatchards. I shop exclusively from them when ordering from Denmark. I like supporting a small but world renowned bookshop. They have the best packaging ever when sending books. And I don't get charged 25% VAT.

>98 ironjaw:

Hatchards always carries a selection of new and recent titles rebound in full leather. I don't know who does the actual binding but it is hand-done. Generally, it isn't the cheapest shop, but the service is second to none and it's always a pleasure to go there.

>96 boldface:

Further to my account of Five Novelettes by Charlotte Brontë, I should have added that it is a Folio Press book - not a fine or limited edition, but one of a series of original books published by the Folio Society for general sale. It even has an ISBN: 0 85067 029 2.

Dickens's London and Eugene Onegin finally showed up last night! Hurrah! Waiting now for the Fairy Books (joining offer) . . .

I just got my four fairy books; I was far too tempted with the 20% discount. I already owned the blue book in the series and it was so lovely that I decided to collect all of them. (That is FAD for you..)

The ones that I chose were the Violet Fairy Book, Pink Fairy Book, Olive Fairy Book and Lilac Fairy Book, and they were all so absolutely beautiful! I especially loved the lilac and pink books... even though I really don't like the colour pink, but it does suit the book. Not still quite sure about the illustrations in the Olive book, but they might grow on me.

Now to get the rest of them!

I have just had a lovely serendipitous experience. Only yesterday I was reading an article in a back issue of Slightly Foxed about The FS edition of William Hickey's Memoirs of a Georgian Rake (Summer 2012, written by Patrick Welland). It also just happens to be the only title in this series of "memoirs" with their lovely Ann Muir marbled boards which I didn't own. Well I was visiting the Harrogate Antique Centre this morning (not expecting to see any books) and there it was! One of only five FS titles in the Centre, tucked away in a corner at the back, at £4 each or 3 for £10! Unfortunately the other titles were ones I already own, but I was delighted to snap up the pristine copy of Memoirs of A Georgian Rake for just £4.

> 103

Wow! Lucky you.... I am green with envy. It sounds like a wonderful production and a fascinating text, and I am sad I missed out. I do so love the marble work of Ann Muir. And only 4 pounds....

> 105

The Hunting of the Snark won't take long - maybe you can read that while deciding what to read next. Since I have no interest in the Faerie books, I would go with Lost Illusions.

Hello fellow Folio lovers. I became a member very recently, on April 3rd. I'm in Montreal and only found out about FS last year, when a young woman in the 75ers group I'm also part of mentioned them. I visited the site and decided it was much too expensive for me to join, but had to have the FS edition of The Handmaid's Tale, and obtained a reasonably priced brand new copy via eBay. I finally picked up THT at the beginning of the month for a 3rd reading (but my first in this particular edition) and the experience was so special, I decided I MUST get more Folio books, and I MUST join to take advantage of their member benefits.

As a joining offer, I chose the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary which arrived this week. While I'm very happy to have these volumes, I now wish I'd gotten something a little bit more fun, like the fairy books maybe.

Yet, to arrive, the 4 volumes I chose which consisted of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and Eugene Onegin. I quickly found out about their option to pay in instalments when I complained that it hadn't been specified anywhere that the 4 books must be ordered within a week.

Today I received books ordered during the 20% sale:

Travels with Herodotus
Mrs Dalloway
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Catch-22 (arrived earlier in the week)
as well as the Myths and Legends of Russia Folio Notebook, much too beautiful for me to actually use.

I also got busy on AbeBooks to try to obtain out of print as well as better priced volumes, and the following arrived this week:

The Portrait of a Lady
Zuleika Dobson
Scarlet and Black
My Family and Other Animals
Excellent Women
Cautionary Tales and other verses
The Best of the Raconteurs
Life (saw it on the recent sale, but wasn't interested in Earth)

Have also ordered from various merchants and still waiting on:

I Claudius and Claudius the God
Italian Food, Mediterranean Food and Summer Cooking by Elizabeth David
and Good Things by Jane Grigson.

Won't mention all the other books I am also seriously considering purchasing both from FS and from other merchants as I'll be at it all day.

Can I afford any of it? Of course not. My credit card bill will be extremely painful this month, but I'm sure many of you know the kind of pain I speak of only too well by now. I've got to get a grip, but I'm seeing now that joining this group will be no help at all in the way of restraining my mad impulses to acquired as many FS titles as I possibly can, regardless of consequences.

As an aside, I notice that the use of touchstones doesn't seem popular in this group. Is there a particular reason for that? I'm merely curious. Thank you for reading. :-)

Oh yes, also meant to ask about the return policy: in general, I try to purchase titles I'm familiar with as don't want to end up paying so much and ending up not liking the text, but would it be reasonable to return anything for that reason?

>As an aside, I notice that the use of touchstones doesn't seem popular in this group. Is there a particular reason for that?

I don't use them when I am not using the full name of the book :) Other from that - no real reason not to.

Not sure for returns - the only ones I've ever heard of were damaged books...

Good grief, just I was about to treat myself to a wee lie down to recover from the excitement of both receiving 37 vols of FS Shakespeare this morning and learning how to post photos on LT (and do italics! ), the doorbell rings and I go to collect a large box from FS with my Big Set Sale bargains: the six Folk Tales of Britain volumes, six Mapp and Lucias, and three Arthurs. An overwhelmingly bulimic day then of 52 more Folio volumes entering my small flat. Although the 37 Shakespeare vols. are reassuringly slim and the M&Ls are to be gifted to a friend, I still feel like a bloated Labrador unable to restrain itself from binging more than it can possibly digest.

Oh man...

The Blind Watchmaker
Colour
The Earth An Intimate History
Eyewitness to History
Ideas and Opinions
Life
Pliny's Natural History
Relativity
The Hunting of the Snark
Touching the Void
History of Japan

And finally: Vincent Van Gogh Sketchbooks.

I'd like to say that's my budget for the year, but I already know I'd be lying to myself.

So if your budget for the year is gone, start working with the one for next year. :) As long as you are still in the same century, it is permitted.

>112 AnnieMod: That's great news as fiscally I've gone a little Cypriot.

>113 cronshaw:

Don't remind me - I've got on a bit of a spree in the last few weeks...

Following a conversation with the lovely people at FS (I just posted something on the Spring Sale thread a bit earlier about that) have ordered The Mapp and Lucia Novels and The Adventures of the Five Children, which will be sent out to me on May 1.

>108 AnnieMod: I was asking about returns because I saw something in the FS literature along the lines of "you may return any book for any reason". I would like to think I'll only order books I'm already familiar with to ensure that I pay the premium price only for books I'll want to keep and reread, and I was mostly concerned about Travels with Herodotus as wasn't familiar at all with Kapuściński before and didn't know if I'd enjoy it, but needn't have worried because when I picked it up last night to read the first few pages, I was only able to put it down again after a few chapters with great difficulty.

>109 EclecticIndulgence: Good thing I had some kind of preparation for this monkey house, having been part of the 75ers group since 2010. My wishlist has grown exponentially since then and though I like to think I have a book budget, it's really only an illusion I maintain to avoid facing the prospect of complete financial ruin and a life in the streets pushing my books around in a shopping cart (how I'll pare down my collection to few enough volumes to fit into that cart is my greatest source of anxiety, as you can imagine).

I'm really eager for Eugene Onegin to arrive. I've become a big fan of the Balbusso twins since I first saw their illustrations for The Handmaid's Tale and can't wait to finally be introduced to Pushkin's work.

>110 cronshaw: 52 volumes in one day has got to be some sort of world record, even with this insane group, no? I'm very very envious, but even if I could afford to follow your example I don't think I could survive that much excitement in the same day!

>115 Smiler69:

Eugene Onegin is easily one of my favorite Folio volumes that I've acquired so far. It's truly spectacular to hold, let alone read! It was my introduction to Pushkin as well and I must say I'm smitten.

I hope I'm not a broken record about this, but since everyone on here likes the FS Eugene Onegin so much, I would be remiss if I did not point out the wonderful Heritage Press version as well. On ABEbooks, it starts at about $10, and it is also a wonderful introduction to Eichenberg's illustrative powers.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Eugene-Onegin-A-Novel-in-Verse-Alexander-Puskin-Illust-F...

Same translation?

Never mind - checked myself. It is a different one. I personally find Falen's (Oxford and Folio) to be closer in atmosphere to the Russian text than Deutsch.

I just received my Tolkien intro offer and I must say I'm impressed. The covers are great, the illustrations are beautiful, and I'm in LOVE with the Abbey Wove paper. These are also the most readable copy's of Tolkien I've ever seen: the leading, oh the leading! I'm very satisfied and am greatly intisipating my other orders.

My only question/concern is that the sewn-binding in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings is extremly tight; so tight in fact that if I didn't know how to tell if a binding is sewn or perfect-bound I'd assume it was glued. Is this normal? Do Folio's binding usually loosen a bit with use?

>120 alarickc:

Yes, it will loosen up a bit with reading. I had a few very tight bindings - all of them are loosing up slowly if used. Some of them are still tight though.

OK - my ebay latest spree that already made it here:

Hours in a Library
The Age of Scandal by T. H. White
An Inkeeper's Diary by John Fothergill
Silk Road by Frances Wood
Experiences of an Irish R. M. by E. Sommerville
French and Japanese Short stories (the other 4 are on their way)
Memoirs of a British Agent by R. H. Bruce Lockhart
Story of My Life by George Sand
A Russian Gentleman by Serghei Aksakov
The Assassins A Radical Sect In Islam by Bernard Lewis
Sybil or the Two Nations by Disraeli
The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe - an old favorite...
Captain Cook's Voyages 1768-1779
Asa Briggs' Victorian Trilogy
The Father Brown Stories
Churchill's WWII 6 volumes set
The Road to Oxiana
Evelyn Waugh Comedies set
The Maltese Falcon
Culloden by John Prebble
The Folio Book of Short Novels
Women in Love
The Retreat from Moscow from Adrien Bourgogne

And Legends of King Arthur - the 3 volume set (this one came from Amazon)

A few more are on their way here... As I mentioned elsewhere - I had been on a crazy spree lately.

General alert! Signs have been detected of a world-wide FAD epidemic and subsequent irrational behaviour. Stay indoors and switch off all outside communication until further notice. If you can spot the paradox, there's still some hope.

>123 boldface:

Too late boldface, too late. The infection had already spread amongst the population.

I succumbed recently from the plague with the last batch of captain Aubrey, 4 whittington, 1 grabhorn, 1 golden cockerell press, 1 Arion, 6 LEC (winw, Tibet, log, Salome, etc) the complete Dolphins, and 3 massive folios leatherbound and ornated from late XIXth, plus few other french illustrated books from the middle XXth . I fortunately resisted to a strong attack of Kelmscotts from an auction house.
I am presently digging my compost to make soup for the family!

*looking up more cheerfully* Now I do not feel that bad :)

>122 AnnieMod:-124 Infection it is: what else causes such feverish rash behaviour?

And just succumbed to the 8-volumes Hodgkin (but then I had been looking for a full set for a very long time). I will be damned if I know where these will stay though...

>128 AnnieMod: Throw out the divan or bed frame (or sell it on eBay for more book tokens) then just lay your mattress directly over your evenly laid volumes :)

Well, all my books came today, and it was quite the haul. I've never seen my local postal workers as confused as when they were trying to figure out whether they were supposed to give me the white bags or just the boxes. When you add in the new pair of Birkenstocks I purchased, today was a most joyous occasion! I received:
The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
The Silimarilion
The Foundation Trilogy
The Devil's Dictionary
Catch-22
Wind in the Willows
Chronicles of Narnia
Winnie the Pooh
Pagans & Christians
Folktales of Britain: Narratives
Folktales of Britain: Legends

In the end they're all gorgeous, but Wind in the Willows wins hands down. Now I'm left to wonder why all their books aren't printed on that astoundingly glorious paper.......

> 130

Congratulations! The white bags are yours but some postal workers seem to take a liking to them...

>130 alarickc:
An amazingly large and high quality swag for a single order. 22 volumes by my count. That shouldn't take you more than a couple of weeks to read :-). When are you planning your next order?

>130 alarickc:-132 Absolutely agree, what a wonderful, impressive haul, enjoy! I must have missed those two volumes by Birkenstock...

>130 alarickc: ".......Wind in the Willows wins hands down. Now I'm left to wonder why all their books aren't printed on that astoundingly glorious paper......."

I agree. It's ironical, then, that in Folio 60, Paul W. Nash, who otherwise calls it "a delightful new edition", specifically criticizes the paper: "It (the edition) is only marred by being printed on hard, artificially textured paper which is unpleasant to the touch." FS have used Modigliani paper a number of times, eg. for the 2-volume Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Tales, and also (irony of ironies) for Folio 60 itself!

> 131

My mother uses the bags to line our recycling bin as they are very sturdy. I can't blame others for wanting them.

>135 eatanygoodbooks:

There's an idea! Perhaps I shall do the same.

>130 alarickc: What a great catch! I've been lusting after The Wind in the Willows since I discovered FS last year. Will have to get it before it goes out of print again! Does anyone have a clue when that might happen? Also alarickc, funny coincidence, as I just purchased a pair of Birkenstocks too this week!

Yesterday I received my four qualifying books

His Dark Materials trilogy
and Eugene Onegin

along with the canvas tote bag, which I'm a little disappointed with. On the FS site, the bag has beige-ish shoulder straps which go well with the bag's burgundy colour and gold FS lettering, but the one I got has glaring white handles. I know it's a free gift, so I'm not going to ask for an exchange or anything, but has this bothered anyone else or am I too picky?

On the other hand, I'm thrilled with the books; illustrations, paper, binding, everything. I first read the Philip Pullman trilogy a couple of years ago from my Alfred E. Knopf softcover volumes, which I thought were the cat's meow because of the covers before I discovered FS. I still think those covers are gorgeous to behold and wonderfully tactile (see below), but of course the paper stock and binding aren't any good. I'll still hang on to them, if only for those beautiful covers. Nowhere in those edition did they mention that the black and white drawings were by Pullman himself though—obviously the man has many talents!

  

I've also decided to return my initial introductory gift, the Shorter Oxford English dictionary and get the Rainbow Fairy books instead as I've worked out it's a much better deal; the SOED is currently on sale and comes with the CD-rom too. Can anyone tell me if these volumes go on sale very often?

>132 wcarter: If the world worked as I wished? Tomorrow, I dearly desire the Pliny and British Birds. However, my funds are now exhausted so many times over I think I may recover some in time to make an order with the summer sale.

>133 cronshaw: It's on the history of cork and latex cultivation... ;)

>137 Smiler69: I wish your feet luck in breaking them in!

>134 boldface: I can see why someone might have a preference for uncoated papers, but in my mind the Modigliani is a definite step-up from the Abbey Wove(actually Monken Premium book paper). Why is it a step-up you ask? Opacity, opacity, OPACITY! How people don't value opacity in a book paper over everything else I can't fathom. The Abbey Wove is lovely, but you still get text ghosting from the opposite side of the leaf and the facing side of the next one.

Folio has also managed to secure my patronage going forward with amazing service! My copy of Catch-22 has an issue were the rear end-paper came slightly unglued; just a mm or two, but enough to put more stress on the paper and increase the chance of tearing and separation. They told me to keep the book and they have dispatched a replacement! I now have a beater-folio edition of my favorite book! I couldn't be more happy and as a plus I now will actually take a folio book out of my house into the world for all to see.

> 139

That's so great! So rarely do our Folio babies see sunlight. :-D

> 141

Very smart to take precautions in case something spills inside of your bag, or a pen explodes. When I was forced to take a Narnia book out with me, I kept it inside of a dust case that came with a pair of my designer shoes. At the time I was debating on having something like this made to hold a book.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/94783200/batman-ipad-1-2-or-3-sleeve-tablet-case

Oh God I love these discussion!

> 144

Dastardly villains will think twice before they try to fold over our book pages!

Holy Book Protector... BATMAN!!!!

146 & 167 >

Both of you are pure genius, I nearly spit my water on myself from laughing so hard.

Yes! FS has entered a record into my account of my order of Mapp and Lucia, so the phone rep was able to find a copy hiding somewhere for me after it had gone out of stock online. I'm doing my very very happy dance right now. Still haven't received my order of Dorothy L Sayers or Arthur Trilogy, but that's alright, I have to find space for them first.

I just received Elizabeth David's Italian Food yesterday. Got it from a secondary source.; the book itself is in perfect condition and the slipcase is slightly sunned and a bit crushed on two corners, but I'm willing to live with that.

Have been trying very hard NOT to order the Andrew Langs that are currently on sale. I'll be getting the Rainbow series as a membership offer, which leaves 6 other books for me to drool at.

Well I tried to hold off, but I was completely obsessed by these books and could think of practically nothing else for days now, so finally ordered them.

Here, as copied from the FS site:

ITEMS ORDERED
1 x The Brown Fairy Book @ CAN$59.95
1 x The Lilac Fairy Book @ CAN$59.95
1 x The Olive Fairy Book @ CAN$59.95
1 x The Pink Fairy Book @ CAN$59.95

Best purchase you could have ever made Smiler69, congratulations :)

>152 Comatoes: Thank you :-)

In a few weeks, I'll have 8 out of the complete set of 12... not bad at all!

> 153

I give you till June to have the entire set. :-D

Well, judging by some of the shamelessly stupendous sprees being flaunted here by my fellow biblioholics, my own haul is positively parsimonious:
Herzog
How the Mind Works
A People's Tragedy
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Campaigns of Napoleon
Eyewitness to History
The Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries Collection
A Folio Notebook - Hitchhiker's Guide
A Folio Notebook - Ideas and Opinions
A Folio Notebook - First Love

Thanks for that - I'm now feeling almost virtuous in my self-restraint :-)

> 155

Please share photos of the Folio notebooks. :) Great haul! I love my Narnia set, and I can't wait to receive my DLS Mysteries collection.

I completely admit that as I drove down my driveway and saw a Folio bag waiting for me, I let out a girlish squee. Never has an American been so happy to see "Great Britain" written on the side of anything.

I just finished inspecting my order, and both of my sets are in mint condition. The Arthur set is simply stunning, the printed side papers are so gorgeous. The illustration that I allowed myself to peek at in one of the DLS novels is so well done. What to read first?

My latest order just arrived!



All books were in excellent condition, though some of the slipcases were a bit misshapen around the front edges. I managed to moosh them all into place, but I might ask for a replacement for the Catch 22 slipcase as it's still very wrinkled inside and I'm worried the blue will rub off onto the book.

I had to do a serious rearrange of my bookshelf! There is no longer room for even a single book more! And I don't have room for another bookshelf either :o(

>158 thesleepyreader: I own Catch-22, The Handmaid's Tale and the His Dark Materials trilogy; all gorgeous books, and I'm sure the others are as well. Congrats!

>159 Smiler69:

They are gorgeous, and I particularly love the look of His Dark Materials on the shelf. One thing that I had forgotten is just how BIG some Folio books are! Most of the Folio books I have read recently have been on the smaller side (John Wyndham, Meaning of Hitler...), so probably about the size of the Arthur books. Catch 22 feels like an absolute beast of a book in comparison!

>55 Willoyd:...........DrEvil...........Parsimoniousness personified,I think not.Or if so,I dream of being a biblio-scrooge of a similar nature. The 'Eyewitness To History' set looks wonderful,and as for 'Herzog',I am ashamed to say I have never read it but Bellow's writings are lauded as second to none.Must give it a read some day!!

Great bookhaul,and happy reading.

Ah I am quite jealous of the HDM set. My Folio set has replaced Northern Lights with the American title of "The Golden Compass." Which simply is not as cool.

>162 aaronpepperdine:

My thoughts exactly. When I purchased the set, I reached out to the FS to see if it would be possible to receive the 'Northern Lights' copy instead, but copyright restrictions stopped me in my tracks ;__; I think our only option is to trade with somebody in the UK, however I'm doubtful there would be many takers!

>163 mattwashere:

Can anyone tell me why the title was changed for the US in the first place?

>164 boldface: I claim no credit for the knowledge, but Wikipedia states the following:

For some time during pre-publication of the novel, the prospective trilogy was known in the U.K. as The Golden Compasses, an allusion to God's poetic delineation of the world.

Meanwhile in the U.S., publisher Knopf had been calling the first book The Golden Compass (singular), which it mistakenly understood as a reference to Lyra's alethiometer (depicted on the front cover), understandable because the device superficially resembles a navigational compass. By the time Pullman had replaced The Golden Compasses with His Dark Materials as the name of the trilogy, the US publisher had become so attached to its mistaken title that it insisted on publishing the first book as The Golden Compass rather than as Northern Lights, the title used in the UK and Australia.

>165 Conte_Mosca:

Thanks!

On Saturday, I got the Mapp and Lucia set I ordered from the spring sale. My wife has already started reading the first volume but it will probably be awhile until I get to them. Based on quick browse, they look quite nice.

I have just taken possession of The Temple of Flora Limited Edition. I can only marvel at how Folio shipped it so promptly (and safely). The solander box alone weighs a couple of pounds. The book now has a table to itself. It's a breathtaking volume, and a very brave publication too on the part of Folio, for including not just the flower plates but also the reams of original (and not always good) poetry it was published with - it's not just a picture book. Perversely, I'm now mulling the purchase of the separate loose plates also, to have them framed. I wonder if FS would discount the plates for me??

>168 Firumbras:
No chance of ANY discount on LEs - never happens. It would devalue the book in the eyes of collectors, and they would never sell any unless the discount was applied.

>169 wcarter: What never? Well almost never - last year FS gave away a $100 discount good on any LE. This year they gave away a $100 discount good on any Letterpress Shakespeare.

Am I correct in remembering that the Alice's Adventures Underground LE was once included in a sale, unusually for an LE, a couple of years ago?

>170 kdweber:,171
I stand corrected, and sit contritely in the corner. :-(

>172 wcarter:

Not to pile it on, but the plates aren't considered an LE in any event.

>169 wcarter:, 170
I remember getting such a voucher last year (with a fairly tight deadline for using it). I didn't use it.....!

>171 cronshaw:

It was also the only LE not eligible to be used when they mailed the $100 vouchers last year.

> 167

Glad to hear this has your approval. I can't wait to receive mine.

Oddly (or not, I'm not so sure anymore) I received my free gifts from the sale today without having received my books. I emailed FS a few weeks ago to see if there would be any way to receive something other than a pack of playing cards since I acquired multiple packs in the last sale, and they sent me two black FS notebooks and a notepad with a really neat row of books at the bottom that's cut at an angle. I quite like them, however I really just want my books!

Small packages will arrive faster usually (different path than the big bags). So your books will show up - they are somewhere in a boat, probably rowing ;)

Had a big white bag on my doorstep. Inside was Pliny's Natural History. Arrived well wrapped in yards of bubble wrap.

> 177 What free gifts? (Feels left out)

> 178

You were quite right, I had three big white bags waiting for me when I got home from school! I can't wait to browse through Pliny and Eyewitness to History (and the eight other magnificent specimens!)

> 180

Well apparently new(ish) members are still being offered a pack of playing cards in this current sale. I just wanted something different!

Postwomen (yes, mine is female) are such nice people because they bring me book gifts that I have purchased for myself, often months earlier and from varied parts of the world.
This morning mine has bought me the 1995 Folio Society Limited Edition of Brideshead Revisited or The Sacred and Prophane Memories of Captain Ryder by Evelyn Waugh. This was published before the present series of FS LEs started in 2001 and was a specially bound version of what was otherwise a standard FS edition.
It is quarter bound in Nigerian goatskin with hand marbles sides (so every book is different) by Ann Muir. Mine is No.11 of 100 numbered copies signed by the illustrator Leonard Rosoman.
The book is in immaculate condition although the slipcase has a few marks on it.
Regular readers of this forum may recall that I obtained this book with the help of another FSD devotee (whose name now escapes me, I am ashamed to say) who saw the book at an English book fair on sale by a reclusive book seller who had no email or even phone. Considerable detective work tracked her down and I made the purchase from the other side of the planet with the assistance of the owner of the adjoining booth at the fair.
Another beautiful book to treasure.

>182 wcarter:

"Remarkable detective work, eh, Holmes?"

"No comment, Watson."

>183 boldface: Jonathan
:-)

>182 wcarter:

The hunting spice up the transport of finally receiving it. show us some pictures !

>185 kafkachen:
Ask and ye shall receive!
Pictures of Brideshead Revisited mentioned in 182 above.
http://www.librarything.com/pic/3861302.
http://www.librarything.com/pic/3861303
http://www.librarything.com/pic/3861304
http://www.librarything.com/pic/3861305
or see below

>182 wcarter:, etc. How perfectly wonderful! I'm in love with those illustrations, though for some reason I don't think they are all loading... or then again maybe they are. In any case, if you ever get tired of this beauty, would you please be so kind as to let me know first? :-)

First I regret asking for pictures , because it might only drive up the price , but then after some googling I came to realize this is so rare it will need luck to procure one.

>182 wcarter: How wonderful Dr Carter, what a lovely and rare acquisition. Thank you so much for sharing the pictures.

I only have the rather less popular Of Gods and Men in this series of LEs (thankfully its unpopularity meant it was rather more affordable than most of these usually are, and I love it!). I did see a copy of Brideshead Revisited on ebay a few months ago, but my bid was way short of its final selling price which passed the £200 mark.

p.s. your detective assistant was Fiona (HuxleyTheCat).

How beautiful! and a great hunting story.

>189 wcarter: Thanks for sharing the pictures Warwick, they're lovely illustrations, that marbling is beautiful, and goes so well with the leather spine. I didn't realise that the LE illustrations were the same as those in the standard edition. I don't care at all for the garish green and yellow patterned binding of 1995 standard edition and can't bring myself to buy one even though they're so easy to find in second hand bookshops, but I do like the new binding Folio produced in 2007 (and oddly hard to find - a cheeky seller on abe is asking for £53!) of a sort of green-grey mist effect over the boards with a line illustration of Brideshead.in gilt. As with Lear's Nonsense and Miss Marple's Short Stories, rebindings can be dramatic!

>193 Conte_Mosca:
Fiona - Thank you again for leading me to this marvelous find.
Michael - Thank you for reminding me of Fiona's name.

How lovely! I'm drooling over here! :-)

Received a very lovely haul from the sale today and many gleeful laughters of FAD-induced insanity were had.

The Desert War Trilogy
The Chronicles of Narnia
Pagans and Christians
The Natural History of Selborne

Especially loved the Narnia-set with the original illustrations which I remember from my childhood when I first read the books. I also like how the books are quite small - they give the entire set a vintage-like feel, complete with the gold-decorated illustrations on the covers.

Of course I also fell in love with Natural History of Selborne, even though I foresee it will be a bit tricky reading it due to the large size of the book; it doesn't really fit too comfortably on one's lap. I can see why this particular book has raised such ample praise from other devotees.

Now I'm waiting for the rest of my books from the sale to arrive, even though my free storage space for books has somehow magically vanished!

In addition to my recent purchase of the History of Japan, I have just bitten the bullet and ordered the History of Chinese Civilization set (see the Spring Sale 2013 thread for the recent discussion about this set).

I plan to pick them both up from the Members Room next Wednesday, work commitments permitting.

Edit: typo

>199 Conte_Mosca:
What a feast on far east history ! hope you enjoy them .

It would be interesting to compare the chapters on WW2 between these two sets.

> 199 - Please let me know what you think of the History of Chinese Civilization set, both first impressions and once you start reading them! I'm sure you expected me to ask for that - I am still very interested in the set.

>200 kafkachen:
Unfortunately it seems that History of Chinese Civilization set doesn't cover events after 1918 - perhaps to avoid one of the most delicate parts of Chinese history (considering the fact that set is written by Chinese scholars)

> 200 - that would indeed be an interesting comparison, but the Chinese set only covers the time to 1911, so WWII is not included.

I see I was beaten to it - work gets in the way of so many more important things!

>202 desmond1910: , 203
Then maybe a story about Yang Shoujing(楊守敬) And Kan Shimada(島田翰)

Toward the beginning of the spring sale, I ordered the Adventures of the Five Children and Dawkin's The Blind Watchmaker.

That "further deductions" email really took it out of me. It arrived on the same day that my first order did, and I was so impressed by the books that I ended up deciding to complete the two sets and get the Adventures of the Treasure Seekers and the other two Dawkins books as well.

So much for my restraint!

Well, since last time I checked in with recent books acquisitions, I've received

The Fables of Aesop
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1999)
The Best of Saki
The Lifted Veil: Women's 19th Century Stories
Claudius the God
Impossible Journeys
and Anthem for Doomed Youth: Poets of the Great War

The first 4 titles were all acquired from resellers in the UK with huge shipping charges. But I finally found a local (Montreal) merchant I've been buying from for years, who, unbeknownst to me till this week, keeps FS titles and other collectibles in his home for customers who know to ask for them and got the last two books from him in As New condition, each at the price of the average paperback, which was a nice beak.

Haven't posted in a bit but was today surprised by a large white bag delivered right to my desk by our friendly downtown postman! I'm now the proud owner of both the Pliny set and Runciman's Crusades. These should be followed in a few weeks by the "Eyewitness to History" set (the threat of limited stock is all it takes to force me into a panic buy) and the Narnia set. Thank you to the Devotee who convinced me to revisit CS Lewis. Now I need a little push to make one last set purchase. All of the talk about the Selborne volume has piqued my interest and the Audubon volume which I have scrolled over dozens of times with nary a click all of a sudden has me curious. How much more time do we have left before the sale ends?

Oh well - the Chinese History and Japan were too hard to resist so they are coming my way (together with the Eyewitness books - they somehow made their way in the order).

>208 AnnieMod: I am in good company then. We can compare notes :-)

>200 kafkachen:, 201 I will indeed report back. I have a handy 2 hour train journey in the quiet carriage on the train home after I have collected them. That will give me plenty of time for a good first impressiion...

>207 dbshee: The Selborne volume is stunning as it is huge, one of the great unsung bargains of the sale. The paper, binding and illustrations are all magnificent, I doubt you'd regret it, unless you have a bad back.

How much is the Selborne set? The sale for us newer members does not include it unfortunately, and my interest has been piqued!

Also, A History of Japan arrived yesterday before work, and I've just had a chance to browse through it. First impressions are great, I can't wait to delve right in.

>207 dbshee:, 210, 211 I am one comment away from ordering the Selborne volume. I'm a great fan of Gerald Durrell, and this would be going back to the source, wouldn't it? And just as I was telling myself I was ready to put a stop to my FAD... for the rest of the month at least!

>212 Smiler69: I'll do it if you do?! And I'm also thinking of going for the Plutarch instead of the Audubon. It is my birthday on Monday. I'll count THIS purchase (not the previous five multi-volume purchases already this year) as my gift to myself!

Hello all. My birthday also happens to be coming up in a few days, and I think I will finally treat myself to a Folio Society membership. But, since the Folio Society membership year runs from September 1 to August 31, would I have to renew (buy four more books) right away this coming September to keep my membership active, or can I renew any time within the upcoming membership year? Thanks for your help.

>213 dbshee: Ha! Sounds like the kind of dare I'm up for! :-)

Personally, I would go for the Audubon, but that's just because I'm deeply into visual arts and also collect art books. That being said, I am NOT caving in and purchasing that volume too, considering I just got back from the museum of fine arts with another acquisition today, AND that yesterday I spotted a book on the history of British engraving printed in 1978 that I MUST get my hands on. Doth the lady protest too much? Anyway, I'm off to get Selborne. In three payments, it's totally doable. And never mind that I've got about a dozen monthly payment schemes going for the next 3-5 months...

But back to your question dbshee, I think your should treat yourself to everything your heart desires. I do the exact same thing for my birthday, which is in July, and usually start buying things "for my birthday" just around this time of year. And every consecutive purchase is the definitive birthday gift... typical addict behaviour maybe? ;-)

>214 andrewsd: Good question. I joined at the beginning of April and am wondering the same thing.

>214 andrewsd: All memberships expire at the end of August, so you would have to renew at that time if you wanted to continue.

Usually around this time, membership requirements usually only require 1-2 book purchase, but I think it varies from region to region. If you call them up, they may provide you will a good deal if you let them know your concerns about renewing so soon in August.

>211 mattwashere: $94 in the U.S. sale.

I just now put through my order for The Natural History of Selborne, and while I was at it, also ordered Pliny's Natural History and Folk Tales of Britain: Narratives. After seeing so many people talk about these here, I couldn't resist the lure of the sale, which may after all end any time now I guess. I'm now officially going on break as far as FAD goes. Wish me luck with that.

> 218

As far as I remember FS usually gives us about a week notice before a sale comes to an end.

> 217

$94!? That's far less than I was expecting, it being priced $235 US and all. I am definitely going to be making a call in the next few days.

>215 Smiler69:, 216 Called customer service today and they said that I would have to renew in Sept. with the full four book purchase even if I just sign up today. She did say that there would be a couple of renewal offers that would be sent to me, so perhaps one of those would contain a better deal to sweeten the pot. Of course, I could always just let my membership lapse until later in the year, but I don't want to miss out on any sales if I join.

>221 andrewsd:

Well - this is expected. It is usually THIS year's renewal that can be cheaper/less books/better - this is what the guys above had been explaining. For next year, there is no reason to offer you something better as it will be a full membership year.

>215 Smiler69:

Placed an order on Sunday morning for the Natural History of Selborne and the Plutarch so it looks like I lost or won the challenge depending on which way you look at it! The reason I held off on the Audubon was that it is readily available in the same format for the same price on Amazon AND there is another edition published for the Natural History Museum of London that also gets rave reviews for about the same price. Some further research is necessary but a conclusion should definitely be made by the time Father's Day rolls around. Enjoy the Pliny. I've only browsed through the table of contents but look forward to the time I'll be able to dig deeper (& it looks fabulous on the bookshelf)

>223 dbshee: Does the Natural History Museum edition you are thinking of have the birds in the 'correct' (original) order? That is to say, in Audubon's random order rather than sequentially arranged by family type. I like the idea of the original, random order so as to give a sense of natural exotic variety rather than artificial order imposed by Peterson's rearrangement in the current Abbeville offering.

>224 cronshaw:

I cannot find that information but the following are quotes from Amazon-

"The exquisitely preserved, complete set of prints from which this slip-cased facsimile edition was created is part of the permanent collection of the Natural History Museum of London. The images were captured using state-of-the-art digital scanning techniques to preserve the intricate detail and vibrant colors of Audubon's original work."

"The state of the art digital scans (or photography) direct from the originals reveals sharp detail and harmonious balance of tone, from hard blacks to delicate creams. The order of the plates does not seem to follow species lines so there is surprise and variety at each page turn."

I'm thinking that may be the case and therefore I would also prefer the Natural History Museum edition. As a note they are both the same size and slip-cased and the Natural History Museum edition can be found for $125 used or $195 new.

>225 dbshee: Thanks, I've located the correct volume now, with a big pelican on the front, a blue linen binding and in a slipcase (IBSN 9780565092733) available in the UK for £52 from Foyles (incl. delivery). It is the same size and has the same number of plates as the Abbeville baby elephant edition, but in the original random order in which Audubon produced and published them. And profits go to support the museum, definitely the edition for me!

>96 boldface: "... a lovely pocket-sized volume of essays by A. A. Milne ..."

Further to my earlier post, the little green full leather edition of If I May by A. A. Milne has in the front the beautifully engraved bookplate of John Roland Abbey. http://bookplate-jvarnoso.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/major-john-roland-abbey.html

I had no idea when I bought it, but John Roland Abbey turns out to be one of the greatest collectors of fine bindings and colour-plate books of the twentieth century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Roland_Abbey

I even found (in the Shed) a whole chapter on him in The Pleasures of Bibliophily. This particular book, of course, is of no importance in the great man's story, but I'm still curious to know how it ended up in the Oxfam Bookshop in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.

Today I received two non-FS books, which are nonetheless directly connected to FS editions, or at least discussions we've had here.

The first is the Oxford World Classics edition of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, which Conte_Mosca recommended as a companion piece to the most recent FS edition of the Rubáiyát. I wanted to post this portion of my comment on the Rubáiyát thread I had started a couple of weeks ago, but oddly enough, it seems to have disappeared altogether...

The second book is the NYRB edition of Lucky Jim. I've been looking at the FS edition and considering getting it, but having not read this novel yet, and not liking to spend that amount of money on a book without knowing whether I'll like it, thought it would be more reasonable to get a cheaper edition to start with. Besides which I quite like NYRB; they are among my favourites among my many softcover books.

>228 Smiler69: http://www.librarything.com/topic/153831 :)

>229 AnnieMod: Thanks Annie! I looked for that thread everywhere, and just now saw that for some reason it had become an "ignored topic". Not sure how that happened, but it's good to have it back! :-)

You clicked on the small red x next to it.
I check my ignored topics every few days for mistakes like that - it is very easy to ignore topics without trying :)

I just received the Miss Marple boxed set and the volumes are gorgeous. I made the mistake of also ordering the Miss Marple Short Stories from 2011 and it's now in its eleventh printing! Further, the illustrations are black and white simple ink drawings that are nothing like the stunning illustrations in the boxed set. For some silly reason I thought the same illustrator had done both. Given that the short stories is in its eleventh printing, I must be the last person in the FS to acquire a copy--but maybe there's someone else out there who can take this post as a warning.

> 232 Are you sure? Why do I think that until recently there were two editions of the Miss Marple stories available (too lazy to check the material) - I now see only this edition on the website: http://www.foliosociety.com/book/MR2/miss-marple-short-stories which contains (to judge by the pics on the site) colour illustration by Andrew Davidson, the same person who illustrated the four-volume set as well. I have been adoring them for a while so I am a bit perplexed by your report of monochrome pictures. Perhaps someone who owns these volumes can shed some further light?

>232 podaniel:, 233 I'm no expert, but my guess is you are both correct. On the site it says "One of The Folio Society’s all time bestsellers, The Complete Miss Marple Short Stories is now available in this new edition featuring newly commissioned illustrations by Andrew Davidson." So it seems this edition must have come out in 2012-13.

#233
You're safe to order it groeng. The description on the website says it's a new edition with newly commissioned illustrations.

I know there are at least two different editions because I bought mine years ago and it doesn't look anything like the one on the site. Sorry I can't give any details because I'm at work. I just remember that I bought it with a Poirot set and the Marple and the Poirot had similar bindings.

Podaniel, did you get your Marple Short Stories directly from FS? If you did I'd suggest giving them a call and get it replaced with the new one. If you got it second hand you've probably got the older one like mine.

> 233 I believe you're right - I think I remember both being listed at the same time, but the older one being reduced in a sale and the newer one not.

>233 groeng: My two cents - I ordered the Miss Marple Short stories as part of my renewal package last August. I enjoyed it, so when I saw the Complete Miss Marple Short Stories being offered in the fall, I ordered that, thinking it was a different collection of stories. Both editions are lovely and both have the same stories. The new printing (12th printing 2012) has full color illustrations by Andrew Davidson. The eleventh printing (2011) has pen and ink illustrations by Christopher Brown. So, for a time, both editions were available on the FS website.

> 237 Ahh, thanks! That is what I remembered but was too lazy to check the prospectuses to confirm my hunch. Clearly the new (12th impression) incarnation of the short stories was redesigned to go with the set of novels. If you look at the covers you can see they are similarly designed, in addition to using the same illustrator. I really love the work of Andrew Davidson and fully intend getting these volumes ere long even though I am not a particular fan of Agatha Christie. Thanks for clearing up this mystery!

I ordered the A L Rowse Elizabethan set from the sale and have read 1 volume and started the next. I'm so glad I gave in, they are beautiful books and well written not heavy going.
Off topic but on Monday I came across the saddest collection of FS in an Oxfam bookshop, to call them foxed didn't begin to cover it. There were a lot of volumes and sets with very mottled and musty slipcases where damp had gone right through to the books.
On a brighter note yesterday I picked up 2 very fine FS volumes, Catherine the Great with superb cloth binding and a pictoral slipcase and Chekov a Life in Letters from an antiques centre for £5 each and they look unread.

> 232 - 237

This is why I love FS Devotees. Somehow I wound up with the 11th impression which is sold out now (I must have gotten one of the last copies). The FS representative was happy to credit my account for a copy of the 12th impression (with the new illustrations) which I will be receiving shortly. Once again, a good example of the wonderful FS customer service. And I wouldn't have known to check if it wasn't thanks to all of you. I am very appreciative.

Two white bags were waiting for me when I got home yesterday. One contained The Adventures of the Five Children set by E. Nesbit, and the other yielded

The Pink Fairy Book
The Brown Fairy Book
The Olive Fairy Book
and The Lilac Fairy Book

When I receive the four in my introductory offer, I'll only be missing the Crimson and Violet out of those they've produced so far. I knew they would be spectacular, but still, I wasn't prepared for just how wonderful they would be. I love that the illustration styles are so vastly different from one book to another and I think I was actually turned on by how thick the paper stock is. Now to find time to read them...

eta: The Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries Collection just arrived in today's mail, what fun!

The Agatha Christie set just made it here and it is really beautiful :)
Orlando, Loving, The Silver Sword, Taming the Infinite and The Little White Horse were keeping it company on the way across the ocean (I am just making sure my books do not feel lonely on their way here...)

Bit late to the party, but I've received:

- The Anatomy of Melancholy
- Pliny's Natural History
- The Complete Greek Tragedies
- Pax Britannia
- History of England from the Accession of James II
- the two Folk Tales sets

I think I should be set until the membership renewal? :)

>242 AnnieMod:
I definitely plan on getting Taming the Infinite soon, perhaps as part of my renewal! It sounds amazing.

>242 AnnieMod:
Orlando is beautiful, but Loving? I was going to order it until I saw Christopher Corr's illustrations! OMFG - what were they thinking of? I've seen better executed drawings stuck to other people's refrigerators :-(

Obviously, I'm a mere philistine, but I'd rather have the boring paperback. I'm getting a migraine from merely looking at the pictures on the website.

>244 DrEvil:

I got it for the text - illustrations are just a bonus... I am not much about art - I dislike almost anything that is not standard classical painting :)

However - they look a bit better in real life (colors popping off the page being what I would describe it probably) and I suspect they will grow on me (as the ones in Oscar and Lucinda did even more).

>244 DrEvil: LOL! I had a look at the illustrations, and being a professional in those matters as a former art director and a wannabe full time artist, my first kind thought was "so colourful and vibrant!" and then "I'm not quite sure I really? like the style so much, and then "I'm sure some people will think they are like children's drawings". But at the end of the day, I don't think I'll order it because it doesn't speak to me personally, though I truly love the fun colour palette.

Of course I had to check out all the titles Annie pointed out too!

After beginning my search a couple years ago, I finally have won an auction for Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad. This now completes my FS Conrad collection. As one of my favorite writers, I am happy as one can be. I hope I didn't take out of someone else's hands among the devotees. Now what collection to tackle next? Trollope?

Congratulations :) Trollope is fun (both to read and collect - although there are a few that show up on the market very rarely...).

>247 brother_salvatore:, 248 I've come across quiet a few Trollope complete sets on my various searches on Abe Books. Here is one of the better deals, though of course shipping would probably end up costing you more than the books themselves!

>249 Smiler69:

That's the problem :) Plus - I have half of them already (or nearly so) so a complete set does not really work anymore. Complete sets show up occasionally - both on ebay and on abebooks - but some of the books are a bit harder to find individually.

I've just put through another order, but too embarrassed to list what I got considering how many orders I've put through recently. My FAD is really really BAD.

Oh come on - inquiring minds want to know. :)

I am siting on yet another order here as well - trying to convince myself that I do not really want to make it.

Annie, I've wasted spent the last couple of days filling and emptying, then refilling, the re-emptying, etc my cart and at one point was even poised to purchase the Gulliver's Travels LE at $850 (I'm crazy about the Peter Suart illustrations). But then reminded myself I'd made a promise not to mess around with LEs since I'm already going way overboard on book expenses. Oh, and how can I forget? I also came close to ordering one of the last 55 copies of Temple of Flora at a mere $1,650. Small change, really. All of this is a very lengthy process because I research each book I consider buying, look up conversations about it here on LT and FSD and so on. I finally decided that if I didn't just go all the way and make a purchase already, I'd be at it for goodness knows how many more days. So here's what I ordered finally:

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
The Dark is Rising
Folk Tales of Britain: Legends (to accompany the Narratives I ordered seemingly years ago now)
The Arthur Trilogy
The Crimson Fairy Book (I'll only be missing the Violet book, which should be available again in September)

All in all, I think I was very reasonable.

Looking forward to seeing what you end up ordering too! Because we all know you really DO want to do it! ;-)

eta: I most reluctantly removed A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court from my cart, though I so badly want to have a book with David Hughes illustrations*. I reasoned that I would order it when came to to renew my membership.

*might start a possibly OT thread about that eventually.

eta2: trying to guess which books may possibly end up being on sale added another layer of complication. I thought maybe Over Sea, Under Stone might be a candidate since it's "older"... I'd better call them to make sure there are still plenty left or I won't forgive myself if I miss out on it!

Well - I can heartily recommend all of those besides the Crimson book (because I am still resisting the rainbow books... will see for how long). They are worth having and at that price, the Arthur Trilogy is a must have. And I suspect that you will cave in on the rest of the Cooper's books but we will see :)

I stopped carrying at what will come on sale - if I want it, I buy it. If it get added in a sale? Well... fine, but when I paid for it I made the decision to spend the money so...

I would not worry for the Cooper books - they all are too new and letting one of them go OOP will harm the sale of the rest. Or so I think - that's Folio after all... who knows what will happen.

PS: Plus my crazy ebay and Amazon phase is still going so have a few books coming in the mail this way as well... will report when I get all of them here :)

I just made a bit of an impulse buy: The Black Death by Philip Ziegler. I stumbled across the book on ebay and, being a sucker for red and black covers whilst also having an interest in the subject, I just had to jump. Unfortunately, about 5 minutes after buying it for $28 I found someone else selling it for $9.50...oh well!

>255 thesleepyreader: Hopefully the book you bought will be in three times as good condition as the other ;)

>255 thesleepyreader:

You loose one, you win one. At the end everything evens out.

>254 AnnieMod: The fairy books are well priced right now, with 29% off, so if you are going to jump in, now would be the right time. :-) That's what I decided to do, so that when I receive the 4 in my introductory offer (I returned my initial IO to get those instead), I'll only have the purple book missing, along with the orange and grey they'll be releasing toward the end of the year.

You're probably right about the Cooper books, but I'll still give them a call tomorrow to enquire about quantities on book 1, just to make sure.

I've been dealing with a bunch of online merchants to source some titles too and am happy I finally found a more local dealer in Toronto, which will reduce those killer shipping charges. If I order ten or more books at a time, they'll even wave the shipping fee altogether. Luckily for me, almost all the merchants I've dealt with that I ordered several volumes from were willing to take a deposit and one or two monthly payments, so the spending gets spread around over time.

I just purchased three books from eBay tonight, even though I'm supposed to be taking a break till the summer sale...

Dubliners
Beyond the Pale and Other Stories
Good Behaviour

Is it ok to mention these here or is this thread only meant for when we order our Folio books directly from FS?

>259 Smiler69:
Ilana, that's fine. Absolutely anything vaguely or remotely related to FS books and ephemera is OK to be posted where you believe it is most appropriate. In fact subjects often go so far off topic you begin to wonder which forum you are reading.

>260 wcarter: Thanks Warwick, I've noticed that conversations tend to roam freely over here, having lurked on quite a few threads thus far. That's more than fine with me, as it's encouraged me to visit threads I wouldn't otherwise have, with the original topic being of only moderate or no interest to me; things are always sure to take an interesting turn! :-)

By the way, for those who've been holding off on getting Count Belisarius and Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy, I spoke to someone as FS yesterday to ask about inventory levels on certain titles, and it seems both those books are nearing the end of their runs.

Just purchased an "As New" copy of Count Belisarius on eBay for half the price. While I was at it I also got a 1994 edition of Gulliver's Travels, which was a very good deal. What I REALLY want is the LE, but I thought this was a reasonable compromise. Especially considering I haven't read it yet and that I've spend enough to purchase a couple of LEs just this last month... but so much fun making that many more purchases for the same price!

Brand spanking new to FS and this group has helped me considerably, so big shout out to all FS Devotees!! I was quite lost w.r.t knowing how the membership worked, if I was or wasn't a member before buying the required 4 books, why can't I see the sales, how the sales work and so on....but after picking up many helpful hints through this group my first four are:
-The Call of the Wild
-The Devil's Dictionary
-The Picture of Dorian Gray
-The Jungle Book
Into offer was Empires of the Ancient Near East & Early Latin America and as a free gift no matter what I decided to do they gave me the Oxford Leather-bound Compact Dictionary and Thesaurus ($105 value)!

As soon as I made the purchase I had instant access to the sales and got:
-Life & Earth
-The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh
-The Times World Atlas Collection

Hoping the summer sale will be free sets given how many books you buy, sounds tasty! But alas I fear I missed that event and I'm sure the marketing team will come out with something different, from what I was told when I rang them up anyways. But I do have a tidy sum of books in my wish list, not sure how long the books on offer stay in print for, but will put in a cracking order come a months time regardless, only because of the payment plan of course! Didn't get any sort of a reasonable answer to that question either, rather a "yes buy them all before they're gone, cause once they're gone that's it...we'll gladly take your money" response. Fair enough.

My Sayers set is here, and it's beautiful! I MAY have given it a hug when I took it out of the box. . . . :-)

>264 Bookworm59: I love mine too!

I promptly finished off a paperback copy of Clouds of Witness when I got it so I could jump into book 3, Unnatural Death (am dead set on reading the Lord Wimsey series in publication order). And what a joy to read from this gorgeous little volume!

I wonder when they'll publish the remaining 2 novels and the short stories?

Heavy box waiting for me at my front door this afternoon. Inside:
1. The Complete Greek Tragedies
2. Pliny Natural History
3. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Still waiting on my Van Gogh Sketchbooks, but the status has changed from "May Publication" to "Pending." Shouldn't be long now.

I've just purchased The Iliad and Odyssey, 1974-5 versions in fine condition with good to average slipcases, prose translated by Rieu, for a combined $75.00 and free shipping. Browsing around, it seems it was a good deal but I'm looking for a little "moral support!" I'm not much into poetry and the translations seem to get pretty good reviews for readability. Was it a good choice/value? Does anyone have both these versions and the Fagles versions and how do they compare in presentation and composition?

Two boxes of goodies arrived from the FS today, containing my last order, in which I took advantage of the last days of the now terminated Spring sale. I received the following:

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (will probably end up ordering all the books in the series—LOVE the illustrations!)
Folk Tales of Britain: Legends by Katharine Mary Briggs (3-volume set)
The Seeing Stone
At the Crossing Places
and King of the Middle March by Kevin Crossley-Holland (they were practically giving those away)
The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.

Not listing all the ones I've ordered from Abe or won on eBay lately or I'll be at it all night... May 2013 will definitely have been a major lifetime record as far as book expenses go!

I have no self control, AT ALL when it comes to FS. Broke down last night after entering all my new acquisitions here and ordered the first and third book in the Dark is Rising Sequence, Over Sea, Under Stone and Greenwitch. Largely because I really do want that tea towel, and also because I was dying to see if the offers would change once I'd gotten said towel. So far they haven't. Does that mean I can get more than one towel?

Also, I had seen talk on one of our threads about playing cards, and hadn't paid much attention, but having seen said cards, would absolutely LOVE to get a set for the superb illustrations by Jonathan Burton. Any chance they might still have some of those on offer?

>269 DejaVoo: Sorry to hear you weren't able to take advantage of the Spring Sale. I would just look on it as a chance to save up your money for the upcoming Summer Sale. I only joined FS in April, so am also very new to their sales and don't know what to expect with this upcoming one, but as I understand it, neither do seasoned veterans! I can say that this last one had unbeatable deals which did confirm to me that being a member certainly does have it's privileges.

I expect The Bloody Chamber should be jolly good, and be a good counter-balance to all the "children's" fairy tale books I've now got on my shelves.

eta: I just called up the society to find out if there was a promotion that would allow me to get the playing cards, and they said they'd send me out a pack, just like that! How fun! I guess it does help that I've spent half my yearly earnings with them in the last 6 weeks... :-)

>270 Smiler69:

You get a towel on each order in such cases - :)

>270 Smiler69: You are suffering acute FAD delirium, a costly condition but one whose pleasure is beyond price, enjoy! :)

>271 AnnieMod: Annie, now armed with that information, I just called them and asked to cancel Memory of the World, which would just take up lots of valuable space I need for my FS volumes, and asked for another tea towel instead. I'll have a matching set! :-)

>272 cronshaw: You are suffering acute FAD delirium, a costly condition but one whose pleasure is beyond price

Delirium sounds just about right! Especially considering I can't stop looking up listings on Abe and eBay and finding books I CANNOT live without a moment longer. I think I'd better get addicted to morphine stat to put an end to this mania!

>273 Smiler69:

Deep breath :) I tend to go on buying binges now and then (and last 2 months I was at my worst) and there will be no way to stop that. But you cannot read 10 books/day... and books are not so rare... so at one point one need to stop for a bit and look at the shelves :)

>274 AnnieMod: Annie, of course you're absolutely right. I'm always trying to remind myself that I need not acquire every single book published by FS within the next month, but then I always see "just one or two more" that I really want to have for my own. I've contacted a few merchants about their wares and awaiting responses, but after that I've promised myself NOT to look up any more listings or initiate more purchases till at least the end of the month. Wish me luck with that!

>275 Smiler69: *with the driest possible voice*
The end of the month is today...

>276 AnnieMod: LOL! I'm already in June, so I meant until July, basically, which is my birthday month, and I hardly see how I can deny myself then, especially as the Summer Sale will likely be on...

It is my birthday in about two weeks time so I just ordered:

Baburnama
Letterpress Henry V
Poems of Thomas Gray

That is an excellent birthday present.

Thanks! Now I am curious if the books will arrive in time.

When I placed the order, I realised that the FS only charges the standard shipping cost for the Baburnama. For books of this price they normally charge a multiple of the that. For example The Natural History of Selborne counts as four books as far as shipping is concerned.

>278 Stephan68:
Any one of them will be enough for me as a birthday present. you sure will have a very happy birthday.

I went a bit over the top with this order, but in my defence I have to say that I managed to stay away from LEs since I ordered Leaves from a Psalter almost exactly a year ago. The Poems by Thomas Gray was a must have for me to accompany my copy of Night Thoughts and I still had a £50 voucher for the Letterpress Shakespeare waiting to be redeemed.

> 282

You will love The Poems of Thomas Gray. It is worthwhile the economic effort to purchase it. Night Thoughts seemed so lonely...

This sounds as if you are very happy with your copy. How does the Poems of Thomas Gray compare to Night Thoughts as far as the production quality is concerned? Did they use a similar paper for Thomas Gray as they use in Night Thoughts?

> 284

I am indeed. Let me mention some details. The solander boxes are the same height so the editions match. The book covers however are quite different. Gray's being resplendent in a gold figure based on a Blake drawing. The paper is not quite the same, Young's seeming slightly thicker than Gray's, but the latter having a silky feeling. Young is printed on Modigliani Neve paper and Gray on Natural Evolution paper. The printers are respectively Bath Press and Appl. But you must know all this, I suspect. I like the endpapers on Gray over the ones used for Young. The Blake volume uses something called Curious Metallics gold leaf backed with Nettuno Carruba which is a beatifully gold-toned paper.

Of course, the Gray book has less pages but still is quite heavy. Looking at the pages of the two works, the striking difference is that the windows cut out for the text are much larger in Night Thoughts than those in Gray's poems. Thus, there are more Blake cm2 for your money in this latest FS limited edition!

Hope this helps.

>285 drasvola:

Thanks for the detailed information!

I seem to remember reading that the text in Night Thoughts was printed letterpress. Am I remembering correctly? And, if so, is Thomas Gray printed in the same manner?

> 287

The original that Blake used was of course letterpress, but the facsimile produced by the FS it is not.

> 287

The FS Night Thoughts is a digital photography reproduction of the original letterpress edition in the British Museum.

I have just taken delivery of the last 11 Aubrey-Maturin novels, completing my set. There seems to be a discount on them at the moment; perhaps this is one to watch for the summer sales too. I've put a photo (not great quality - ipad) on my member gallery.

> 290

Congratulations on completing the series and a very nice picture. Thank you. I sort of stopped after the first four books but somehow I'm feeling some enabling inklings.

> Thanks for looking at the pic! I would certainly counsel an Jack Aubrey-esque lack of financial prudence when it comes to acquiring these books. The picture research (as others have said on the forum) is wonderful. I like the nautical, 'rough and ready' cover design which blends uniformity and variety, and oddly enough for a Folio book, these are titles that I won't mind seeing getting the odd bump or scrape, or coffee-stain. They are very portable, and I'll be taking a couple of them with me on holiday, so that their pages can soak up a bit of sea air - and perhaps coffee.

> 292

It's tough deciding how to best apportion resources for the purchase of FS books! I think that the series are very well researched as far as the illustrations go. See no problem in getting the ships to breath some sea air but perhaps a coffee stain is one of the lesser evils if your imagination runs into fierce naval battle scenes and all the consequences.

>290 Firumbras: That's very handsome rigging you have there: the Everymen are stowed most smartly athwart your five Aubrey-Maturins below deck.

>294 EclecticIndulgence: Thank you Dearest Eclectic. I actually have all the Aubrey-Maturins now bar one - three of the last four I was missing I found three months ago in a second hand bookshop in Charing Cross Rd at £12 each (shrinkwrapped - imagine my ecstasy) - and possibly construing my rabid-fox-in-hen-house incredulity for frank mental illness and for buying all three at once the beatific shopkeeper let me have them for £30. I had bought eight fat juicy Trollope-hens a moment earlier at £7 each. That was one of my worst ever book impulse days. I still can't remember quite how I balanced all the bags on my handlebars as I cycled home. You see? You simply have to move to London!

I have my last exam for this year this Thursday (I'm having a legitimate study break here on LT in between de Quincey and ETA Hoffmann). A priority project for the summer holiday is cruising through the Aubrey-Maturins!

> Thankee, Cronshaw. They are trim, weatherly volumes, with lovely lines. A newly-commissioned bookcase of the line will soon allow them a clean sweep fore and aft. I wish you joy of your exams!

>297 EclecticIndulgence: Unless you have clotted cream which I found out is about the most amazing thing on the planet with strawberry preserves and biscuits.

Never had the pleasure of having clotted cream, but you are making my mouth water! Wonder if they'd have it at the Ritz here in Montreal?

> 297, 298

They certainly have it at the Ritz in London!

http://www.theritzlondon.com/tea/menus-en.html

>300 boldface: Oh that looks so lovely Jonathan! I know the Ritz here has been serving high tea since they opened in 1913, but I'm not absolutely certain they serve the clotted cream portion along with the scones. Perhaps I'll have to call them up to check on that. At this time of year it can be taken in their lovely summer garden, and just now I'm considering perhaps making high tea at the Ritz as an outing for a couple of friends and I for my birthday in July...

> 301

Alas, I'm still paying the mortgage on my last indulgence there!

>296 Firumbras: Many thanks! Not an emotion I'm experiencing.

>297 EclecticIndulgence: Fingers crossed for your job hunting. We'll absolutely risk a stroke or two and celebrate your eventual return to the shores of Edeland with scones, clotted cream and traditional strawberry jam. Clotted cream is the Luttrell Psalter of the dairy world, it transports one to heaven, only sooner than one might have intended - cholesterol never presented itself so irresistibly.

>300 boldface: I've never been! The thought I could get an LE for the same price has always stopped me.

>305 DejaVoo: Congratulations on all the new arrivals, must be exciting indeed! I wish The Vampyre was on the Summer Sale as I'd really like to have that one.

According to my LT listings, I've managed to accumulate exactly 79 FS titles in the last three months. If you consider that several of those titles are boxed sets, that works out to 1 or more volume per day. Insane. Especially since I don't have enough room to store them all; I can't really afford it; AND I'm considering getting another dozen or more from the current sale.

I haven't been reporting each arrival as they were coming in these past couple of weeks, but today's haul is probably worth mentioning. Two shipments from FS (though one was sans white bag) and one from an eBay merchant who was selling mint copies:

The Rainbow Fairy Books - 4 volumes (introductory offer after exchange of the original one)
...which came with a free Compact Oxford Thesaurus set (not sure how that happened)
Over Sea, Under Stone
Greenwitch
Smiley's People
Travels with My Aunt

Recently arrived from various resellers at friendly prices in fine cond.:

London Characters and Crooks (in shrink-wrap)
Symposium (unfortunately not exactly fine as listed. Getting a refund.)
Beyond the Pale and Other Stories
Dubliners
Brideshead Revisited
Thomas Wolsey, Late Cardinal: His Life and Death
Count Belisarius (paid more for it than the current sale price, grrr)

Also received a pack of those beautifully illustrated playing cards and two tea towels.

>306 Smiler69: Ilana
The psychiatrist will see you now. Let me loosen the straightjacket just a little to make you more comfortable. NO! NO! You can't grab that book brochure, and stay away from the computer. Now look what you've done! I let you loose for two seconds and you order five more books! I'll have to tighten those straps again.
Really doctor, I think institutionalisation is the only answer for this case.

>307 wcarter: & 308 Actually, I just now finished entering the new arrivals and the total is now 85 titles since May. Considering I am 'officially' crazy, so to speak (though I don't think psychiatrists use that word)... well... yes. Better an acute case of FAD than running around in the rainy streets stark naked and risking catching pneumonia, I guess. Though I might require extra medicating. ;-)

>309 Smiler69:

You are now buying in a pace that outrun many audacious FAD maniac on this forum. keep it up !

> 306 - I'm afraid I must concur with Dr. Carter's recommendations. It's for your own good - moderation is an admirable trait, you know. Such a pace is unsustainable.

>310 kafkachen: & 311 I hope nobody got the impression I was boasting about my frenzied buying. Quite the contrary, I was kind of hoping I would get gently scolded, because of course I know it's out of all proportion. Moderation is indeed an admirable trait, and one which I wish I was capable of displaying, but I seem to hold to the extremes by nature. That being said, I'm also very good at rationalizing. So. My rationalization goes something like this: I started devoting myself more seriously to reading and book purchasing around 6 years ago, when I had to stop working. It is only by some strange freak that I did not discover the FS then. Had I done so, it's a sure bet I would have joined, and started collecting back in 2007, if not earlier. If I back-date my purchases to that year, it works out to just to just over 14 book purchases per year, or 1.18 books PER MONTH. Which, I think, is entirely reasonable. See? :-)

But no. I can't sustain this rhythm, nor do I want to. I'll stop after the Summer Sale. And after I've paid off a couple of orders from Abe merchants. :-s

>312 Smiler69:

No, I do not think you are boasting, far from it, those are very earnest confession that many here are able to embrace with.