Folio Society Bibliographies

I obviously had too much time on my hands over Easter, but I got thinking about FS bibliographies and the various discussions that have taken place regarding them on the FSD boards. I therefore decided to do a little research into the content of the bibliographies to compare and contrast. For those interested, I will share my thoughts here.

Below is a picture of my FS bibliography collection, which includes all 7 of the bibliographies published to date, starting in 1968 with Folio 21 and most recently with Folio 60, published in 2007.



In a few posts to follow, I will summarise my analysis of each one, including the following information:

Total Pages – (No of Pages)
Editorial Content / Essays – (No of Pages / No of Essays)
Full Page Illustrations (Colour) – (No of Pages)
Full Page Illustrations (B&W) – (No of Pages)
Other Illustrations – (No of Illustrations)
Bibliography Pages – (No of purely bibliography pages)
Av Number of Books per Page – (based on the bibliography pages only)
Weighted Av Number of Books per Page – (as above, but adjusted to reflect bibliography pages which also include illustrations – I have assumed each non-full page illustration takes up 25% of a page)
Index Pages – (No of Pages)
Appendices – (No of Pages)

Where the bibliography includes essays, I will also list them.

Before I provide the individual details, here are my “awards” based on my findings:

Best For Full Page Illustrations – Folio 25 (or Folio 21 + Folio 1968-1971)
Best For Total Number of Illustrations – Folio 60
Best For Essays / Editorial Content – Folio 50
Best For Portability – Folio 40
Best For Collectors – Folio 25
Best For Book Descriptions – Folio 25 (or Folio 21 + Folio 1968-1971)

And finally, the winner of the Best Overall category has to go to Folio 60, simply on the grounds that it is the most complete, and therefore the most useful (although run a close thing by Folio 50 for its excellent range of essays).

This may be the most comprehensive analysis of FS bibliographies ever completed, if for no other reason than no-one else is daft enough to have wanted to do it!

EDIT: Updated to correct my error in suggesting there was a Folio 30 which I don't own. I find I don't own it because it doesn't exist!

Starting in date order, we have Folio 21 published in 1968. (With thanks to Folio 60), this is “printed by Mackay, the lithographs by Cowell, the Curwen Press and Jarrold. Bound by Mackay in full grey cloth with the Society’s device in blind on the front board, black leather spine-label; dark red end leaves. Dark red and black slip case. Errata slip to page 5.”



Folio 21 includes descriptions of FS publications 1-243, with a total of 120 pages devoted to colour (31) and monochrome (89) facsimiles of text, display and illustrations from the books, and photographs of the bindings.

Analysis

Total Pages – 208
Editorial Content / Essays – (10 Pages / 2 Essays)
Full Page Illustrations (Colour) – (31 Pages)
Full Page Illustrations (B&W) – (89 Pages)
Other Illustrations – (0)
Bibliography Pages – (55 Pages)
Av Number of Books per Bibliography Page – (4.4)
Weighted Av Number of Books per Page – (4.4)
Index Pages – (11 Pages)
Appendices – (0 Pages)

Essays

The Style Is The Book – Francis Meynell (4 Pages)
Historical Note – Charles Ede (6 Pages)

Conte Mosca Awards Won:

Best For Full Page Illustrations; Best For Book Descriptions

The reason for choosing this (and its equivalent volumes, Folio 25 and Folio 1968-1971) as “Best For Book Descriptions” is that, whilst Folio 60 may objectively be more accurate and complete, the space dedicated to each book description in Folio 21 is impressive, as is the added bonus that many entries include personal supplementary notes by Charles Ede. Obviously this only applies to the relatively small number of titles published up to 1967!

Next up, we have Folio 1968-1971. Published in 1972, this was not so much a stand-alone publication, but rather a supplement to Folio 21 covering the four years since that publication.



Folio 1968-1971 includes descriptions of FS publications 244-306, with a further 31 pages devoted to colour (8) and monochrome (23) facsimiles of text, display and illustrations from the books, and photographs of the bindings.

Analysis

Total Pages – 60
Editorial Content / Essays – (5 Pages / 2 Essays)
Full Page Illustrations (Colour) – (8 Pages)
Full Page Illustrations (B&W) – (23 Pages)
Other Illustrations – (0)
Bibliography Pages – (14 Pages)
Av Number of Books per Bibliography Page – (4.5)
Weighted Av Number of Books per Page – (4.5)
Index Pages – (3 Pages)
Appendices – (0 Pages)

Essays

Historical Note – Brian Rawson (1 Page)
A Continuing Exploration – Hugh Williamson (4 Pages)

Conte Mosca Awards Won:

Best For Full Page Illustrations; Best For Book Descriptions (won jointly with Folio 25 when read in conjunction with Folio 21. See comments on Folio 21 and Folio 25)

Truly a stakhanovite endeavour, Michael - but welcome. Your efforts have the bonus of not leading me into temptation, as I already own F25 (especially recommended), F50, and F60, and haven't seen any need to add to that basic kit.

Michael, you certainly have far too much time on your hands, but your excellent efforts are appreciated.
I have Folio 50, but think I will hang out for Folio 70 at this stage (only four more years to go).
Looking forward to seeing the details of the rest of the collection.

>4 affle:, 5

Alan, Dr Carter, I was definitely a little bored over the Easter break, that's for sure! Mind you, it doesn't take much of an excuse for my thoughts to turn to books about books!

Also published in 1972 alongside Folio 1968-1971 was the rather rare Folio 25. This publication saw the unsold sheets from Folio 21 combined with the sheets from 1968-1971 to create a single volume version of the two titles. (From Folio 60) ”The very small number of copies issued in this form (only 445) makes this one of the rarest of the Society’s publications”.



I haven’t provided any statistics for this volume, simply because it is exactly the same as Folio 21 and Folio 1968-1971 (one volume following the other, including title pages and indices).

Conte Mosca Awards Won:

Best For Full Page Illustrations; Best For Book Descriptions; Best For Collectors

As this is exactly the same as the combination of Folio 21 and Folio 1968-1971, it clearly has the same merits as those volumes, but with the added convenience of being in a single volume. However, given the likely difficulty in tracking this one down, Folio 21 and 1968-1971 combined is likely to be a better option for most. Collectors of course will also value Folio 25 for its rarity.

A very worthwhile effort and useful too as a reference. I move that a link to this topic be included in the FSD wiki when the research and evaluation are complete.

I have Folio 21, 40, 50 and 60 and I believe that all have their merits. Thank you, Michael, for this contribution to the well running and organization of the group.

Wonderful work Michael. I agree with you about Folio 40 as the "Best For Portability". I just simply love it and find myself reaching for it first for looking up information about a given volume and then Folio 60 for additional information. It's just that I really don't like large volumes such as the Folio 60 - it's just so cumbersome.

Great stuff, Michael and many thanks. I hadn't twigged that Folio 25 was a combination of 21 and 68-71 (Doh!). A copy of 25 sold very recently on ebay for a very reasonable price - not to me alas. Whilst Folio 60 is a wonderful reference work which sits on my desk rather than in a bookcase, I do have a preference for the style of 21 and 25.

Well my research has resulted in me having to correct my first post. I in fact appear to have all seven bibliographies. I thought there was a Folio 30, but I must have imagined it. Not only could I not find it in any of the other bibliographies, but the Folio 34 introduction confirms that Folio 34 is the "third occasion on which the Folio Society has brought its profile up to date. Folio 21 was published in 1968. Four years later it was found possible to extend the published record in the same format by adding a four year section so that the resulting volume, Folio 25, covered the Society's first quarter of a century. Both these productions were conceived on a more lavish scale than seems sensible at the start of the 1980s".

Well given the demand for Folio 50 and Folio 60 I think they got that wrong! Anyway, I c an now make this "history" more complete than I had originally thought I could.

>10 HuxleyTheCat: Thanks Fiona. The purchaser of that copy of Folio 25 on ebay was me I think! It completed my collection, having been on the lookout for a copy for a number of years, never having seen one before (not on ebay, Abe, Biblio, Alibri or any of the other usual sources). I got very lucky!

>8 drasvola: That's a good idea Antonio. I wonder if Dr Carter might help with that?

Very nice ! been looking for such information for a while.

Next up we have Folio 34 published in 1981. This is the first of two books which FS describe as “checklists” rather than bibliographies. That however feels as though it is downplaying the value of these editions. They are far more than checklists, and include valuable bibliographical detail (albeit abridged compared with Folio 21 and Folio 25) for all publications.

Folio 34 has no full page illustrations, but does include 38 vignettes (mostly wood engravings) embedded within the text.



Analysis

Total Pages – 128
Editorial Content / Essays – (11 Pages / 2 Essays)
Full Page Illustrations (Colour) – (0 Pages)
Full Page Illustrations (B&W) – (0 Pages)
Other Illustrations – (38)
Bibliography Pages – (91 Pages)
Av Number of Books per Bibliography Page – (5.2)
Weighted Av Number of Books per Page – (5.8)
Index Pages – (18 Pages)
Appendices – (0 Pages

The space devoted to each book may not appear that much lower than that within Folio 21, but it should be remembered that the page size is much smaller!

Essays

Introduction – John Dreyfus (5 Pages)
Exfoliations – John Letts (6 Pages)

Conte Mosca Awards Won:

None. It is not that this volume has no value, but it has little to recommend it over Folio 40 which includes almost exactly the same content – including the same 38 vignettes – but with information covering a further six years. The only difference, which will be of value to some (including myself), is the introduction by John Dreyfus and the essay on the diversity of FS texts (“Exfoliations”) by John Letts

Moving swiftly on, we have Folio 40 published in 1987. This is almost exactly the same as Folio 34, but brought up to date to include all publications to the end of 1986.

As with Folio 34, Folio 40 has no full page illustrations, but does include 49 vignettes embedded within the text, the first 38 of which are the same as those included in Folio 34.



Analysis

Total Pages – 160
Editorial Content / Essays – (11 Pages / 1 Introductory Essay)
Full Page Illustrations (Colour) – (0 Pages)
Full Page Illustrations (B&W) – (0 Pages)
Other Illustrations – (49)
Bibliography Pages – (116 Pages)
Av Number of Books per Bibliography Page – (5.2)
Weighted Av Number of Books per Page – (5.8)
Index Pages – (23 Pages)
Appendices – (0 Pages)

Essays

Introduction - Nicolas Barker (7 Pages)

Conte Mosca Awards Won:

Best For Portability. Self explanatory I think. The most comprehensive of the two small portable bibliographies.

After two very useful, but not hugely exciting, bibliographies we come to Folio 50, published in 1997, which is a favourite not just of mine, but also many others judging by previous comments on the FSD boards. The main reason for its popularity is its fantastic editorial content, with no less than 10 introductory essays over 56 pages (excluding full page illustrations). If you add to that over 200 illustrations, including 32 full colour plates, this was a refutation of the earlier comments in Folio 34 about inappropriate lavishness!



Analysis

Total Pages – 368
Editorial Content / Essays – (56 Pages / 10 Essays)
Full Page Illustrations (Colour) – (32 Pages)
Full Page Illustrations (B&W) – (16 Pages)
Other Illustrations – (157)
Bibliography Pages – (209 Pages)
Av Number of Books per Bibliography Page – (4.2)
Weighted Av Number of Books per Page – (5.1)
Index Pages – (35 Pages)
Appendices – (4 Pages)

Essays

A Brief History – Sue Bradbury (10 Pages)
The Folio Society Today : A Profile – Valerie Grove (5 Pages)
On Building A Library – Frank Delaney (3 Pages)
A Lifetime's Membership – Robertson Davies – (2 Pages)
The Folio Society & The Art of Illustration – Douglas Martin (10 Pages)
Some Thoughts on Book Illustration – Charles Ede (4 Pages)
Illustrating For The Society Today – Quentin Blake (4 Pages)
Fifty Years Of Folio Books – Roderick Cave (6 Pages)
Design And Production In An Age Of Change – Paul W. Nash (6 Pages)
Bibliography Introduction - Paul W. Nash (6 Pages)

Conte Mosca Awards Won:

Best For Essays / Editorial Content. Of course!

Excellent! I'm pleased that it went to "one of us".

I've seen a copy of Folio 25 before, and held it in my hands not once but twice and on both occasions put it down; foolish woman that I am! Not only did I have an opportunity to purchase this, absolutely pristine copy, but it was priced at a meagre £10! Such were some of the bargains to be had at the 'mince pie event' 2011. Apparently all that 'stuff' has now gone, so who knows what we'll be tempted with in 2013.

Just a photo to load up for Folio 34 and the entry for Folio 60, both of which I will try and complete tonight.

May I add my thanks to those of others for this invaluable and inspiring threat? As it happens I only very recently acquired both Folio 50 and 60 and have been immersed in them. And through sheer serendipity I found online this past weekend a copy of Folio 21 (still in the post), so this thread could not have come at a better time! The analysis, and the excellent photos, will be most useful in deciding about future purchases of FS bibliographies. Folio 40 sounds most desirable....

Thanks again, and I second the insertion of a link to this useful thread for easy future reference.

Thanks so much for this, it's great to see these reference volumes which don't get much exposure.

> So much enabling, so little cash. Those look wonderful.

Many thanks for this wonderful piece of work. These summaries almost negate the need to actually purchase these reference works...almost but not quite. Again, thank you!!

Last, but my no means least, we have the King of Bibliographies - Folio 60! This is perhaps the most dangerous book in FS's armoury, guaranteed to increase your book buying pleasure many times over! Until we get Folio 70, this will remain our most complete reference work for out of print FS publications, covering the period from 1947 to 2006, items 1-1348.

Photo Montage To Follow

Analysis

Total Pages – 472
Editorial Content / Essays – (28 Pages / 4 Essays)
Full Page Illustrations (Colour) – (11 Pages)
Full Page Illustrations (B&W) – (3 Pages)
Other Illustrations – (247)
Bibliography Pages – (359 Pages)
Av Number of Books per Bibliography Page – (3.8)
Weighted Av Number of Books per Page – (4.5)
Index Pages – (56 Pages)
Appendices – (5 Pages)

Essays

A Brief History – Sue Bradbury (8 Pages)
Folio: The Glory Days (8 Pages)
The Folio Society And The Making Of Books - David McKitterick (7 Pages)
Bibliography Introduction - Paul W. Nash (5 Pages)

Conte Mosca Awards Won:

Best For Total Number Of Illustrations; Best Overall Bibliography.

OK, so Folio 60 cannot compete with Folio 25 in respect of the number of full page illustrations, or with Folio 50 in respect of its essays. But it has a huge number of illustrations in total, and most importantly of all, it covers the most ground. It is probably the single most referenced book by FSD members!

> 8, 12
No sooner said (allowing for time 10 hour difference from Europe) than done.
This thread now has a link from the group wiki under the Folio 60 topic.

> 24

Thank you, Dr Carter!

> 1
Thank you so much for sharing this information with the group. You remind me of myself once I get started on a research and/or categorization project, they tend to just get out of control. I previously owned only the Folio 60 having only been a member since 2000. Based on the high praise the book received on FSD, I picked up Folio 50 at the beginning of this year and find myself consulting it often, particularly when looking for info on the older Folio books that I sometimes see for sale in bookshops and online. Then quite recently I was able to snag Folio 21, which is still en route. Ever since I leaned that this bibliography contained several entries by Charles Ede it was a must buy for me.

Unfortunately Folio 25 is simply not available in the USA at any price and I can't even find a copy of Folio 1968-71 to supplement my Folio 21. I will just have to make do with your stories and pictures in the meantime.

I have no idea of what I'm getting into so I'll ask: what's a respectable price for a copy of Folio 60? They seem to be hard to find for less than $100 USD.

> 27 I've been looking for over a year and haven't found an inexpensive copy. However, Folio 50 can be found for a song and has helped assuage my longing.

There's one in a used bookshop I visit occasionally in London in fine condition for £45, you're lucky to fine one for much less than here in the UK. I could have kicked myself for not getting one for £12 in the Summer Sale about four or so years ago. If only I knew then just how steep and greased the Folio slope is...

So then a copy for $74 USD is not as bad as it may seem initially?

> 30
I don't think so. I can't recall how much I paid for mine (bought direct from Folio), but it is an exceptionally well-produced volume as their standard editions go and the quality of the paper and size gives it some heft and durability.

>30 mattwashere: I agree with Sean (#31). And irrespective of what some of the lucky ones (myself included) paid during an FS sale, $74 USD is still below the original issue price. But frankly, you won't be paying $74. More like $740. Or $7400. The initial outlay is just the start of your bank manager's woes!

Well I just snagged that copy for $73, enabled once again by the FSD! I seem to be blowing through the travel money I set aside this year on books, and I have no regrets (famous last words.)

Conte Mosca is so right. I picked up my copy of Folio 60 at what I thought was a ridiculously low price in one of the sales. Shortly after the book arrived I suddenly found myself almost $300 poorer (rich in books though) as I read about, tracked down and bought so many books I never knew existed before F60's arrival. Once I realized what I had done I put the book away and now I'm afraid to open it again because I know I'll find something else (many something elses probably) that I just have to have. A bargain is only a bargain if it actually saves you money, which was not the case for me.

My copy of Folio 60 arrived today (FINALLY), and I must say, I am extremely glad I now own this wonderful book! I've had it in my hands for about three hours and I've already purchased two books. I haven't even received my rather large lot from the FS sale yet either. Oh to be a young, newfound sufferer of FAD...

when do you think they will publish a new folio bibliography?

>36 d-b:
Probably (?) 2017 when the FS is 70 years old.

http://www.librarything.com/work/120347/reviews/82939313
This is a review of David Bland A History of Book Illustration Chapter 8 is on 20th C book illus and includes reference to the Folio Society and the Limited Editions Club. Published in 1958 by Faber and Faber it has a period feel, has aged well and really does belong in a bibliographic library. I've owned it for years but only got round to a close look and loved it all over again and moved it a lot closer to the FS books. If you do not have a copy, watch out for one. Do not confuse the author with another more recent David Bland. Our David B wrote beautifully on book illustrations .

Have just taken delivery of a pristine copy of Folio 50. I paid an absolute pittance for it - I'd have willingly paid more simply for the slipcase - and can concur with any and all comments that this is an absolute must for anyone interested in Folio Society books. Whereas Folio 60 is the absolute go-to for building a Folio book collection, 50 is just a wonderful book in its own right.

Congratulations Fiona. I have it too, it's lovely to see with the different bibliographies how the society progressed since its inception.

>39 HuxleyTheCat:

You're right, it's just as compelling a book as Folio 60 and there are a number of very interesting essays at the front as well as a different set of illustrations of FS editions.

I too went for the Folio 50 (and Folio 21) which can be had for a good price. Looks like I'll be waiting for Folio 70 if Folio 60 continues to keep its value.

I'm glad to report that I've joined the small but happy crew of Folio 25 owners, by courtesy of an eBay listing which I suspect only allowed me to buy the volume for £16.50 because the headline referred to its two component bibliographies with no mention of '25'. The Folio 21 pages on my copy at least are distinctly more creamy in hue than those of 1968-71, but it's not a glaring change except when looking at the side and lower edges of the book in good light.

Now I just need to refrain indefinitely from acquiring the two bibliographies I'm still missing, 1968-71 and Folio 34, to protect my claim that I'm not really a book collector at all, just a reader who prefers his books well produced and designed. Maybe, though, referring to them as "missing" means I've lost the battle already. And Folio 34 does look such a pleasant shade of green, and would cost so little...

i have seen folio 60 in very good condition for £30 though i have Folio 50 on its way to me! is the £30 good value would you say?

Just purchased today on eBay
Folio 1968-1971
Folio 40
Combined cost was £15 plus postage
Have neither so seemed decent price