Folio Archives 61: The Folio Book of Carols 2007
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1wcarter
The Folio Book of Carols 2007
So far in this series, I have reviewed FS books that I like. By contrast, out of my nearly 600 FS books, this is the one I like least.
When it was released 11 years ago, my thought was that this would be a delightful book to have at Christmas. I am no musician, but I can pick out a tune on a keyboard, and I pictured myself playing the tune while the family gathered around on Christmas Eve and sang along.
My dream was to be shattered when I received the book.
This is a book of carols with no music. How could anyone ever imagine producing any form of song book without the music?
What we have is the words of the carols, some familiar, many not. These are not meant to be read, but sung. You cannot read a carol aloud like a poem, nor can you read them for pleasure. The book makes no sense.
As with all FS books, it is well produced, it is just the contents that annoys me. There are three double pages of tipped in colour plates illustrating carolling scenes from famous, and not so famous, paintings. The dark red slipcase is also pictorial on the front.
The 138 page book is introduced by Percy Dearmer, and the compilers of the original Oxford University Press edition of 1928 from which this book is copied are Percy Dearmer, R. Vaughan Williams and Martin Shaw. The contents are arranged by the century in which the carol was composed, and there is an index. There is only one carol per page, regardless of length.
It is bound in a mottled green cloth embellished on the front cover with five red and gilt rosettes. The endpapers are plain gold. It measures 27x19cm. in the slipcase.
Do you have a FS book that you dislike, or even hate?
Prospectus clipping
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
So far in this series, I have reviewed FS books that I like. By contrast, out of my nearly 600 FS books, this is the one I like least.
When it was released 11 years ago, my thought was that this would be a delightful book to have at Christmas. I am no musician, but I can pick out a tune on a keyboard, and I pictured myself playing the tune while the family gathered around on Christmas Eve and sang along.
My dream was to be shattered when I received the book.
This is a book of carols with no music. How could anyone ever imagine producing any form of song book without the music?
What we have is the words of the carols, some familiar, many not. These are not meant to be read, but sung. You cannot read a carol aloud like a poem, nor can you read them for pleasure. The book makes no sense.
As with all FS books, it is well produced, it is just the contents that annoys me. There are three double pages of tipped in colour plates illustrating carolling scenes from famous, and not so famous, paintings. The dark red slipcase is also pictorial on the front.
The 138 page book is introduced by Percy Dearmer, and the compilers of the original Oxford University Press edition of 1928 from which this book is copied are Percy Dearmer, R. Vaughan Williams and Martin Shaw. The contents are arranged by the century in which the carol was composed, and there is an index. There is only one carol per page, regardless of length.
It is bound in a mottled green cloth embellished on the front cover with five red and gilt rosettes. The endpapers are plain gold. It measures 27x19cm. in the slipcase.
Do you have a FS book that you dislike, or even hate?
Prospectus clipping
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2folio_books
Yes, it's a strange beast, but at least the illustrations are Christmassy. And far from the best, but not the worst Folio book in my collection.
3boldface
>1 wcarter:
I dismissed this book for the same reason you have given. The 1928 Oxford Book of Carols (with music, of course) was a landmark publication, in print for many decades, and Folio would have done better to reproduce it properly. The New Oxford Book of Carols (with music), dating from 1998, is also very good, if somewhat large and unwieldy. Publishing a carol book without the tunes is rather like issuing Gibbon without all the footnotes, and who would do that?
I dismissed this book for the same reason you have given. The 1928 Oxford Book of Carols (with music, of course) was a landmark publication, in print for many decades, and Folio would have done better to reproduce it properly. The New Oxford Book of Carols (with music), dating from 1998, is also very good, if somewhat large and unwieldy. Publishing a carol book without the tunes is rather like issuing Gibbon without all the footnotes, and who would do that?
4AlexCo
Gibbon without all the footnotes - FS and EP editions, and others dating back to the turn of the century. At the risk of straying from the topic, does anyone wish the FS would reissue their standard Gibbon as a LE with 'all' the footnotes (meaning as many as the penguin or everyman editions) and with a vellum spine and leather labels - i.e. the kind of thing the elephantide spine apes? Thanks as ever for the above review.
5gmacaree
>4 AlexCo: The footnotes thing was a joke :)
As for the LE you mentioned, a little while ago Folio sent out a survey about doing just that. I, for one, was an enthusiastic 'yes'.
As for the LE you mentioned, a little while ago Folio sent out a survey about doing just that. I, for one, was an enthusiastic 'yes'.
7wcarter
>6 podaniel:
Maybe I should do a Folio Archives illustrated review of YRTTD for those who missed out on a copy ;-)
Maybe I should do a Folio Archives illustrated review of YRTTD for those who missed out on a copy ;-)
8wdripp
This looks like a lovely book. It's a shame the music is lacking.
>7 wcarter: You should definitely create an archive entry for YRTTD. It needs to be immortalized. I somehow don't own it but have heard so much about it from the group.
>7 wcarter: You should definitely create an archive entry for YRTTD. It needs to be immortalized. I somehow don't own it but have heard so much about it from the group.
9shdunne
There are one or two copies to be had on the secondary market for those disappointed FSD who missed out
10wdripp
>9 shdunne: It seems the number of copies devotees have in their libraries are either none or too many.
