Folio press Fine editions

I need to tell this group because friends and family don't understand the excitement but I have just completed this set of twenty lovely books. My favourite year group is probably 1988 because of the marbled binding. My favourite overall are The Aspern Papers and Peter Grimes because of the lovely illustrations. They are all really special and I thank those of you who spoke of them and encouraged me to seek them out. Prices do seem to be rising but I got them all delivered for about £1200. Most were from U.K., two from Australia and one from a fellow devotee who is very close to completing his set.
All are in very good to almost like new condition and all with the glassine cover in good condition It took some patience and some lucky finds and sometimes paying more than I had told myself I would

Congratulations! It's a set well worth completing. Prices are clearly rising, based on your average cost per book, which is a shame for people who are looking to collect the set but are still some volumes short. But you can now bask in the glow of a worthwhile task completed. Well Dunne!

>1 shdunne: Yes, very well done indeed. At those prices I will have to be content with just the handful I have - luckily they include Aspern Papers and Peter Grimes.

>1 shdunne:

I own 13 of the 20 books in this series and do not care to add the remaining seven books. That said, this series is a small treasure of beautifully crafted books. My congratulations on acquiring the entire set.

I am in Australia where postage adds considerably to costs. I expect people in UK and USA could collect these books much cheaper than I did.
I now plan to collect some of the lovely folio press miniatures Folio_books kindly sent me one and they are well worth looking for

>5 shdunne: I now plan to collect some of the lovely folio press miniatures

An appropriate choice after the Folio Press Fine Editions. Very glad I have been able to enable! After I responded to your post yesterday I spent a long time remembering the warm glow of contentment, satisfaction and delight I experienced after I added the final volume to my shelf. I hope that's still with you.

I just managed to get a fine Peter Grimes for $53.99 including shipping. So far I have 9 and hope to get the rest.....My favorite so far is Anglo-Saxon Elegies. I definitely prefer those with deckled edges and larger typeface. But they are all beautiful.

>1 shdunne: Congratulations on joining a select band! I remain one short but live in hope.

It will be interesting to compare the Thomas volume with the upcoming Thomas L.E. I suspect it will make the £1200 seem good value!

It's also good that you're now chasing the miniatures, so you still have a hunt to enjoy.

William Barnes £38 and WB Yeats £75, BIN on eBay UK, today.

The usual disclaimer.

The Rape of the Lock and Lays of Ancient Rome just up on Ardis

Usual disclaimer

>10 shdunne: The Rape of the Lock and Lays of Ancient Rome just up on Ardis

Perhaps following the bulk delivery he supervised during Huxley's visit, I thought, so I hied me there pronto. He's down to six LEs now. More worryingly, his latest acquisition is The Dark is Rising (the single volume, not the set) for £220, with members' discount "only" £198.

>11 folio_books: I can quite categorically say that those two vols had nothing whatsoever to do with the bulk delivery, and rather more to do with the considerably smaller delivery which arrived in the boot of my car.

Appreciate there's probably another thread covering this, but as I am still relatively new to Folio Society collecting, could anyone tell me which books comprise the Fine Editions set? Thanks!

>13 LondonLawyer:

http://www.librarything.com/publisherseries/Folio+Press+Fine+Editions

>11 folio_books: £220 for the single volume The Dark is Rising? Signed by the author, the illustrator and Bob Gavron for good measure, perhaps?

>12 HuxleyTheCat: I do hope you got better credit for those volumes than Ardis normally gives, Fiona; otherwise you could have advertised those fine press editions here and cut out the middleman!

>15 cronshaw: Given the scale of my 'purchases' that day I was happy with the negotiation, what I walked off the premises with and what I handed over to get it. Of course selling privately would yield a better price, but along with that goes a deal of effort and potential aggravation which is negated by simply putting books in a box and handing them over to someone who runs a business which many of us find useful. In addition, I've quickly gained some spaces on my shelves by disposing of books which I don't really want (have other / better editions, know I'll never read etc) and that, in turn, has renewed my Folio acquisition enthusiasm.

ETA - I have never sold a FS book, although I have given many away, and the echange with Ardis was something which I preferred to simply parting with the books for cash.

>13 LondonLawyer:
Everything you could possibly want to know about the FS and this forum can be found on the FSD wiki.
The fine editions are covered on the wiki at -
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:Folio_Society_Devotees#Folio_S...

>16 HuxleyTheCat: £220 for the single volume The Dark is Rising? Signed by the author, the illustrator and Bob Gavron for good measure, perhaps?

So I went back to the Ardis site to see if there was maybe something of that nature attached to the book and ... it's gone! I'm sat here struggling to believe that some deprived soul has actually parted company with £220 for it. That's half a very decent LE, perhaps not from Ardis on the evidence of current prices. Though, looking ahead, by the September catalogue £220 might buy you a Folio fine edition. By next March, a standard "core" edition.

Thank you.

>18 folio_books: Indeed it is, I just bought a used Holkham Bible LE for $250 including shipping from the UK (but not from Ardis).

>20 kdweber: I just bought a used Holkham Bible LE for $250 including shipping from the UK (but not from Ardis).

An entire decent LE for the same price as that one volume. I hope the purchaser thinks it's as good value as a Holkham Bible.

And congratulations, that's a very nice LE at a competitive price.

>18 folio_books: >20 kdweber: Some random thoughts based upon my recent visit: one of the books I picked up on Thursday was Carthage; for that title the prices from Ardis are the cheapest on Abe (and that's before the 10% previous-buyer's discount), the condition reports are accurate and, if requiring posting, they will be packed well. As far as I am aware Ardis is the only shop in the world that specialises in Folios (but if anyone knows of anyone else then please post about them). Colin Page in Brighton at some times, possibly, has as many Folios and the prices are dirt cheap, but you will have to squeeze amongst the tottering piles in the warehouse to see what's there because the shop staff don't have too much clue, the condition is variable to say the least, and the vast majority of the titles which I have seen there are of the pre-2000 vintage. I didn't see a single book on the shelves in Titchfield that I wouldn't be very happy having on my own shelves. Large collections (such as the 50ish cases, which I believe came from London) have to be collected, boxed and transported, and when each box arrives its contents are carefully unpacked, examined and catalogued. The book then goes on a shelf where it sits in proper storage conditions until someone buys it. If the price is egregious then it will continue to sit there, and, as any librarian or bookshop owner knows, a book sitting on a shelf is a cost. To repeat what I stated in >16 HuxleyTheCat:, I had a number of books which I wished to let go, a few that I wanted to acquire, plus an LE which I had thought would be forever beyond my reach. The transaction was a negotiation which fully took into consideration the less than perfect solander for WitW, and the price was one which I know I will never be able to improve upon. When all the other books were taken into consideration I was very pleasantly surprised indeed at the value which was placed upon the books I had taken for trade.

>22 HuxleyTheCat: Some random thoughts

I have no axe to grind with the condition of their books, never having had a problem with them. I am simply suggesting £220 puts that particular book into the ripoff category. I'm still quite happy to buy from Ardis but only, to repeat my mantra again, when the price is right.

>23 folio_books:

I suppose I'd reserve the term "ripoff" for such antics as are performed by the dealers who seek to sell in-print Folio titles at substantial premiums above the prices they can be had for direct from Folio. Ardis are judging the present market for the books and pricing accordingly, and in this instance clearly weren't over-ambitious: I see they've some to my mind very steep Fairy Books currently on offer too, among them the Orange for very little less than I paid them a few months ago for The Temple of Flora. It's a weird creature sometimes, the market. I fully expect the virtue of patience which you frequently recommend would reward any would-be purchaser of The Dark is Rising: presumably there are hundreds of copies out there of the titular book in the hands of erstwhile Folio members who bought only that volume, and most of them won't even know its current market standing, and those copies will still be drifting back into the second-hand marketplace when the frenzied seeking for them has abated.

I too doubt whether anything on earth could move me to buy any recent book at a high multiple of its price when in print. £220 or thereabouts has just netted me the 19 volumes of the collected Ivy Compton-Burnett from 1972, limited to 500 copies and contained in four buckram-bound slipcases. Then, if someone out there would rather own The Dark is Rising than those, or than the Holkham Bible, they don't have to be deluded that they're getting equal value, it's quite enough if the book is of more use than such alternatives to their own life or purposes. Enough, but still downright strange to you and me.

I declare this thread off topic, which is in keeping with the traditions of this forum.

>25 xrayman:

Ah, yes, there's a topic, isn't there? I do tend to forget about those.

Reverting to it, I see Fiona's Lays of Ancient Rome appears to have found a new home almost as quickly as the Susan Cooper volume: as it ought to have done, at about a seventh of the price.

>26 terebinth: A bargain for someone, I can make no judgement, as I am travelling from Yorkshire to Dublin to pick up my penultimate title in the fine press series.

>25 xrayman: I declare this thread off topic

Help, help, the Off-Topic Police have arrived ...

Getting back off-topic ...

>24 terebinth: I suppose I'd reserve the term "ripoff" for such antics as are performed by the dealers who seek to sell in-print Folio titles at substantial premiums

It did occur to me to say that this particular Ardis price reminded me very much of Island Books' pricing "strategy" (for want of a better term), I do hope he blushes all the way to bank, taking that customer's money.

But, as you rightly say, it's the market, and at any time there are plenty of foolish people wandering around on the cobbles displaying a disconcerting gap between money and sense. If you have more than enough of the former then the latter is a non-essential. These people don't require patience.

>24 terebinth: Enough, but still downright strange to you and me.

I think it's called utility. Doubtless our resident economist can confirm that. And when you need an economist to explain something you know you are treading the inexplicable.

>24 terebinth: >29 folio_books: To put some perspective on things, I had two copies of The Lays of Ancient Rome and neither cost me more than £10; one was part of the trade at Ardis and the other I gave away. The value of each to me was considerably less than to whoever has bought my old copy - good luck to them, I hope it makes them happy. As you both say, it all goes back to supply and demand and some people's lack of patience when it comes to buying a particular must-have or completing a set. Likewise, value has different meanings to different people and there will be those for whom a few hundred pounds is just a decent night-out. I look at prices of second-hand books and sometimes they make me laugh, but they never make me angry, because no one is being forced to buy anything and if the book is as described then there is no rip-off.

>28 folio_books: I must caution you...

>29 folio_books: 'If all the economists were laid end to end, they wouldn't reach a conclusion' GBS

Just got my first Folio Press Fine Edition - Domestic Manners of Sir Walter Scott. Fortunately, I'm not big on poetry, so won't be jumping down another completist's rabbit hole. Will only get maybe 3 more. Or 5. Or 10. Oh-oh.

>32 elladan0891: Good luck and bon voyage :-)

>32 elladan0891: Congratulations! Welcome to a further threshold within the madhouse. The 1987-91 Folio Fine Press series is a well lubricated slope that I thoroughly enjoyed sliding down during my regular Occupational Therapy sessions on the secure ward. It's a gorgeously produced series, and I still believe that after a full course of Easton Convulsive Therapy.

Try to stop at one. Good luck ellandan0891. I was happy with my first the Henry James. Now I have the complete lovely set
Sandra

They're an interesting test of, among other factors, how much of a collector you are, or, as in my case how much of a skinflint. I'm not really a book collector at all, but I see the loveliness of these, and I now have seven: only six different titles, though, as when I saw a second fine copy of the Scott memoir for something like £4.50 delivered I couldn't justify passing it by. There'll be someone to delight with it sooner or later. Whether I'll ever pick up a seventh title I don't know: my present ceiling is something like £20, and I don't foresee raising it. Possibly someday I'll even have half the series. I'm not especially looking for them, though, and most likely never will.

Thank you, all. Just felt strangely excited after opening the box with this little gem and had to share. They're just lovely. My wife, who is used to the constant trickle (well, a roaring stream, sometimes) of nice books into the house and doesn't normally acknowledge every new arrival, noticed the Scott Memoir on the table and commented how nice the new book is.

Question: does anyone know what the overlap is between the recent Edward Thomas LE and These Things Are Also Spring's?

>37 elladan0891:

When the LE arrived I was pleasantly surprised to find less overlap than I expected. These things also are Spring's has about 45 poems, and perhaps half are not in the LE; even if you're 'not big on poetry' this would rate high on the acquisition list. Among the four prose titles, De profundis and, especially, The Aspern papers are unmissable.

I didn't rate myself a completist until I acquired some of these editions.

>37 elladan0891:

Many of the books in the Folio Society Fine Press series (1987-1991) were extensively reviewed with photographs in the now dormant 'Books and Vines' website for fine & private press book collectors. Links below.

Part One: https://booksandvines.com/2015/01/26/affordable-treasures-and-pleasures-5-the-fo...

Part Two: https://booksandvines.com/2015/02/09/affordable-treasures-and-pleasures-5-the-fo...

Part Three: https://booksandvines.com/2015/02/23/affordable-treasures-and-pleasures-the-foli...

>38 affle:
Thank you! All 3 are now high on my wish list, along with Anglo-Saxon Elegies, Poems from the Greek Anthology, and Owen. There is also some risk of acquiring The Rape of the Lock, Life of John Donne (is it an interesting read?), Graves, Kipling, and maybe even Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome if collector's gene really kicks in all of a sudden.

>39 dlphcoracl:
Yes, I read these posts before placing my order for the Scott memoir and then again after receiving it, when checking what other volumes I might be interested in. Books and Vines is a very useful resource, too bad Chris doesn't appear to have time to continue with it.