Folio Archives 14 : The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio 1998

The Folio Society produced a magnificent single volume limited edition of the Decameron in 2007, but for those with smaller purses, they also produced a delightful two volume edition in 1955. This was reprinted in 1969, and again in 1998 with a new binding. I have the 1998 edition.
The Decameron is an entertaining collection of 100 tales, many of which are quite raunchy, first written by Giovanni Boccaccio nearly 700 years ago in Florence. A group of friends, five women and five men, retreat to the country to escape the plague, and compete in telling each other tales to pass the time.
The two volumes are housed in a slipcase that is decorated in gold outline with the title amongst stylistic flags. Each of the two volumes has an identical cover, blocked with the same flag theme by David Eccles, but infilled in red and gold. The blocked flag streamers extend across the spine and onto the back cover of each volume.
The books are printed on Balmoral Wove paper by St Edmundsbury Press and bound by Hunter and Foulis in full buckram.
There are ten aquatints by Buckland-Wright in each volume.
The translation is by Richard Aldington.
The first volume is significantly thicker (394 pages) than the second (324 pages) and in the slipcase they measure 26.2x17x7.6 cm.
I read the stories at the rate of one or two at a time over a couple of months, in bed, before sleep. A great way to have pleasant dreams.

























An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed at : http://www.librarything.com/topic/266300

Delightful illustrations, though I far prefer the binding of the 2007 Limited Edition which you mention, and which I don't own. I do own a two-volume translation with saucy illustrations by Louis Chalon, published (n.d. - c. 1925?) by the Navarre Society - identical with the Casanova Society, I believe.

Thanks again for this, Warwick. Several years ago, fellow Devotee Appaloosaman noted that the aquatint illustrations were superior in the original 1954/5 first printings in which he explained they were reproduced by collotype, compared to later reprints (including the 2007 LE) which have lithographic or half-tone reproductions that lack the full shading definition of the original. I had acquired the 1998 printing. When, thanks to Conte Mosca's threads on early Folios, I developed an urge to collect the first few dozen earliest Folios in their dustjackets, I came by the two volume 1954/5 edition and found that the latter indeed had higher resolution illustrations. I then dispensed with my 1998 set, as the finer illustrations for me were more important than the more modern binding (I'd also developed a considerable soft spot for those early Folios in their DJs). However, I imagine that for many Faddicts having to choose between superior illustration quality and a more striking or higher production quality binding design could prove quite a conundrum!

It's the 1969 edition which had some copies bound in cream leather; these are the subject of much enthusiasm by those fortunate enough to come across them. I, at least, prefer this binding to the LE.

One of the 1969 cream limited edition,leather bound sets has just come up on Ebay for £300.

>5 EclecticIndulgence: Yes, Buckland Wright.

>6 wcarter: There's another on ebay : buy-it-now for £175. UK delivery only though.

>8 trickytrix:
Which being in Australia, is why it did not come up for me :-(

>9 wcarter: I'm in Canada - hi there :)! I always use ebay.co.uk to search for my FS books. Naturally, there are many more FS books available there than on the Canadian site. Even if the listing specifies they don't ship to Canada, I'll send a polite inquiry. Quite often I'm successful!

>10 trickytrix: >11 Rodomontade: I used to use this strategy when looking for LEC books (searching .com rather than .co.uk), but the shipping costs from the US are too large now, so I've stopped looking and have returned to mostly collecting Folios.

>13 Rodomontade: They were a product of their age in terms of what was published, but in terms of how they were designed and made I don't think anyone has come close to consistently producing such a wonderful blend of concept matching content on such a scale - 1500 copies over a period from 1929 to the mid-eighties. In my opinion the Folio Society rarely matches it in these terms.

Edited for typo.

>15 Rodomontade: "Their war poets series is a feint in that direction."

Yet, this series has been unsuccessful for them. They're dropping the last book of the series and they aren't selling many of the Rupert Brooke even with a substantial discount in the LE sale.

>16 kdweber:
Yes, a shame they decided to drop Rosenberg. But how do you know they aren't selling many Brookes in the sale? Because there is no counter yet? But they might have sold hundreds for all we know and still have plenty left. Or do you know something? I do think they were a little overoptimistic with the limitation of 1750.

But I agree, wonderful series that's apparently not very popular (or they wouldn't have dropped Rosenberg), which is a shame...

>17 elladan0891: I'm guessing because there's no counter. I agree it's a high limitation but it's a great edition at a relatively modest price. I'd hope it would fly off the shelves.

>19 Rodomontade: 500 - an interesting choice as the FS decreased the Edward Thomas limitation by 500 books to 1250. I wonder if the Wilfred Owen will have an even smaller limitation, perhaps 1000?

>wcarter
I have the cream bound 1969 decameron and it remains my best ever second hand find. Oxfam £3-50

>21 frostymaxim:
Deal of the decade!!!

>22 wcarter: Deal of the decade!!!

For sure. That price is unlikely to be beaten. I have it (paid a little more than >21 frostymaxim: ) and in my opinion it's easily the best of Folio's variations on this work. Beautiful.

Edited for afterthought.

>22 wcarter:
It was one of my first FS books, I only started collecting about four years ago, the lady managing shop always told me when she had FS books in. I had no idea of its value at time and over about 18 months I bought maybe fifty books from there, got me off to a start for sure. It was one of my favourites from the start, and has pride of place on shelf. Recently I was looking at some online auction rooms and saw the Pepys set in the wooden case, toilers LE and about twelve other good quality books, few sealed, and starting bid was 80-120 pounds..I procrastinated about putting in a max £400 bid but didn't.....it went for hammer price of £340....gutted lol

I managed to get the old 1954 Folio Society Decameron by Boccaccio in 2 Vols. for the grand sum of £3.39. No slipcase but at that price, it's not something to cry about.

NB It remains unread.

Thank you to >3 cronshaw: for pointing out the better reproduction quality of the Buckland-Wright aquatints in the 1954/55 two-volume set. As a consequence I have just bought a nice set of these and I love the subtlety of tones in the illustrations. (I also enjoy the general feel of these earlier FS publications - they have a quiet charm that to my mind is sometimes missing from later publications.)

According to Folio 60 the 1954 edition had a white dustjacket. By the time of my 1960 5th impression they'd dispensed with it, and not replaced it with a slipcase. It's aged rather better than some early publications.

>27 Jayked: My copies of the 1954/55 volumes have green and red printed dust jackets, not white, with the same design as is printed on the buckram boards, (but with different colours).

>27 Jayked: According to Folio 60 the 1954 edition had a white dustjacket.
>28 edgeworn: My copies of the 1954/55 volumes have green and red printed dust jackets

"White dust-jacket printed in red and green". (Folio 60)

>29 folio_books: Thank you, that clarifies things. (It does seem a little over-precise, however, for the FS to give the colour of the inside of the dust jacket. Perhaps such things mean something to true book fanatics.)

Actually the pictures reproduced and shown in this thread seem to be better quality than my 2007 FS LE version. The binding and design is quite nice but the reproductions of the aquatints are disappointing for a LE. I thought that perhaps our postal service took a damp sponge to them to protect my virtue.

>32 Forthwith: seem to be better quality than my 2007 FS LE version.

I had the original but then bought the LE, believing it was an "upgrade". I was so disappointed. The "upgrade" went to eBay and I bought another copy of the original. But then I discovered the original in a cream leather binding and that is the one I have now. The War and Peace LE was similarly disappointing, basically a copy of the 1978 single volume, reduced format, photo-litho reprint of the original, albeit in a beautiful leather binding (and this applies to the Decameron too, of course).

>33 folio_books:
It is like the FS went full Eastman Press on us on those two.