1Fierylunar
After going through FSD topics that might be considered ancient, and looking through old FS sites, I've managed to compile a list of limited editions with their published and sold out date. Some older information is most probably lost in the mists of time, but the list is complete roughly from 2008's Alice's Adventures Underground up to yesterday (barring some more detailed information).
Before going into details, massive kudos to this group as a whole and Warwick especially for the amazing treasure trove of information that can be found here. This group's discussion forum and wiki is actually a more than perfect replacement for Folio 70 that was never published. Warwick, huge thanks for all the hard work you're putting into this group and the wiki!
Now, for the file: link to Dropbox
Statistics
On the first sheet, you can see the following information:
- Launch year, month, day (if known)
- Author/Translator and Title
- Limitation and Published Price
- Availability (sold out, low stock or in stock)
- If sold out: sold out date and time taken (years, months and days, if known)
- Total days till sold out (note: this is an estimate, this does not take into account leap years or variable month length)
- Notes, if any
For most older LEs, I was able to get a before or after date, sometimes even a between two years. These serve as an indication of when the LE might've sold out, but have not been taken into account for the statistics.
Charts
On the second sheet, there are two graphs displayed:
- Limitation Number
- Published Price
A few nuggets of information
1. The limitation number of LEs has most definetely gone down over the years.
2. The published price average has been more or less constant at around 400 GBP. However, the fluctuation from that average was much more prominent in the first few years (some LEs selling under 100 GBP, some over 800).
3. The oldest LE still available is The Royal Choirbook, second place goes to Gulliver's Travels, whereas Thomas Gray's Selected Poems take third.
4. Fastest to sell out was, unsurprisingly, Mort: within a day. Other fast sellers include: Dracula (16 days), Book of the New Sun (12 days), I Am Legend (13 days), The Count of Monte Christo (10 days), Vincent van Gogh's Sketchbooks (16 days) and possibly The Kelmscott Chaucer.
5. Slowest to sell out was The Queen Mary Atlas at a whopping 14 years. Second place goes to Liber Bestiarum (11 years and 4 months), third goes to Metamorphoses (10 years, 7 months and a few days).
Feel free to share any feedback, possible improvements or lacking data. Also, if there's some interesting information you found, I'm sure other Devotees will be interested as well. (Oh, and please don't ask for The Letterpress Shakespeare. We do not even know the actual limitation for most)
Discussion topics:
- What is causing the downward limitation number trend?
- Are LEs selling out quicker and, if so, why? ('downward limitation trend' without further explanation is not an answer!)
- Does the data confirm any suspicions you had?
- Any other discussion topics that arise...
Before going into details, massive kudos to this group as a whole and Warwick especially for the amazing treasure trove of information that can be found here. This group's discussion forum and wiki is actually a more than perfect replacement for Folio 70 that was never published. Warwick, huge thanks for all the hard work you're putting into this group and the wiki!
Now, for the file: link to Dropbox
Statistics
On the first sheet, you can see the following information:
- Launch year, month, day (if known)
- Author/Translator and Title
- Limitation and Published Price
- Availability (sold out, low stock or in stock)
- If sold out: sold out date and time taken (years, months and days, if known)
- Total days till sold out (note: this is an estimate, this does not take into account leap years or variable month length)
- Notes, if any
For most older LEs, I was able to get a before or after date, sometimes even a between two years. These serve as an indication of when the LE might've sold out, but have not been taken into account for the statistics.
Charts
On the second sheet, there are two graphs displayed:
- Limitation Number
- Published Price
A few nuggets of information
1. The limitation number of LEs has most definetely gone down over the years.
2. The published price average has been more or less constant at around 400 GBP. However, the fluctuation from that average was much more prominent in the first few years (some LEs selling under 100 GBP, some over 800).
3. The oldest LE still available is The Royal Choirbook, second place goes to Gulliver's Travels, whereas Thomas Gray's Selected Poems take third.
4. Fastest to sell out was, unsurprisingly, Mort: within a day. Other fast sellers include: Dracula (16 days), Book of the New Sun (12 days), I Am Legend (13 days), The Count of Monte Christo (10 days), Vincent van Gogh's Sketchbooks (16 days) and possibly The Kelmscott Chaucer.
5. Slowest to sell out was The Queen Mary Atlas at a whopping 14 years. Second place goes to Liber Bestiarum (11 years and 4 months), third goes to Metamorphoses (10 years, 7 months and a few days).
Feel free to share any feedback, possible improvements or lacking data. Also, if there's some interesting information you found, I'm sure other Devotees will be interested as well. (Oh, and please don't ask for The Letterpress Shakespeare. We do not even know the actual limitation for most)
Discussion topics:
- What is causing the downward limitation number trend?
- Are LEs selling out quicker and, if so, why? ('downward limitation trend' without further explanation is not an answer!)
- Does the data confirm any suspicions you had?
- Any other discussion topics that arise...
2wcarter
A link to this very useful data has been added to the FSD wiki at the foot of the Limited Editions list here.
3vmb443
>1 Fierylunar: This is tremendous! Thank you! And you too >2 wcarter: for all the information you have compiled and the organization of it!
4terebinth
>1 Fierylunar:
Thanks, excellent work. Might be worth a note, though it's fairly common knowledge around here, that Temple of Flora only sold out in its reduced limitation of 600 copies rather than the intended 1980.
Not that it explains much, but reduction in limitation numbers seems mainly a response to a reduced market, with likely further marginal causes including a more commercially-oriented and shorter term approach on behalf of the FS itself: hence a greater reluctance to have books sitting around for ten years or more, and hence the newish phenomenon of LE sales. Of course £400 today in purchasing power isn't what £400 was almost twenty years ago, so the average LE today is more accessible to purchasers, but a less lavish production, than of yore.
Thanks, excellent work. Might be worth a note, though it's fairly common knowledge around here, that Temple of Flora only sold out in its reduced limitation of 600 copies rather than the intended 1980.
Not that it explains much, but reduction in limitation numbers seems mainly a response to a reduced market, with likely further marginal causes including a more commercially-oriented and shorter term approach on behalf of the FS itself: hence a greater reluctance to have books sitting around for ten years or more, and hence the newish phenomenon of LE sales. Of course £400 today in purchasing power isn't what £400 was almost twenty years ago, so the average LE today is more accessible to purchasers, but a less lavish production, than of yore.
5folio_books
>1 Fierylunar:
Many thanks for this excellent and most useful resource and for the hard work and diligent research that brought it into being.
A note for Devotees who followed the Dropbox link, as I did. I found the "Price" and "Availability" columns were merged and difficult to read. I solved this easily by using the "Download" link at the top of the page to download a fresh copy to my computer, which displays perfectly.
Many thanks for this excellent and most useful resource and for the hard work and diligent research that brought it into being.
A note for Devotees who followed the Dropbox link, as I did. I found the "Price" and "Availability" columns were merged and difficult to read. I solved this easily by using the "Download" link at the top of the page to download a fresh copy to my computer, which displays perfectly.
6Fierylunar
>4 terebinth: I did not know about Temple of Flora, I don't think I was around when it sold out. Did this happen for any others in the list?
I might check if I can adjust for inflation as well. I'll get back on that.
I might check if I can adjust for inflation as well. I'll get back on that.
7terebinth
>6 Fierylunar: I did not know about Temple of Flora, I don't think I was around when it sold out. Did this happen for any others in the list?
Not that I'm aware of - nearest thing is perhaps the mysterious disappearance of the Bayeux Tapestry from availability. There may also be some among us who doubt whether the full limitation of the Herefordshire Pomona was ever sold. With Temple of Flora the move was open and explicit, the amended limitation was made public, and the 1380-or-thereabouts sets of leftover flower plates were offered in a portfolio, less the text pages and unbound, at a much lower price. I believe I bought the portfolio a little later when it appeared in a sale, before eventually acquiring my own copy of the book on the secondary market for less than half its published price.
Not that I'm aware of - nearest thing is perhaps the mysterious disappearance of the Bayeux Tapestry from availability. There may also be some among us who doubt whether the full limitation of the Herefordshire Pomona was ever sold. With Temple of Flora the move was open and explicit, the amended limitation was made public, and the 1380-or-thereabouts sets of leftover flower plates were offered in a portfolio, less the text pages and unbound, at a much lower price. I believe I bought the portfolio a little later when it appeared in a sale, before eventually acquiring my own copy of the book on the secondary market for less than half its published price.
8folio_books
>6 Fierylunar: Did this happen for any others in the list?
I realise they are specifically excluded from this exercise but it happened with the Letterpress Shakespeare. The original limitation was 3750, later reduced to 1000. The first twelve published still showed a limitation of 3750 to their dying day, including several of the rearguard who haven't died quite yet. There are suspicions that a number of the titles remained unbound and never attained the 3750 target, for example "Twelfth Night" has been extensively discussed here previously.
>7 terebinth: There may also be some among us who doubt whether the full limitation of the Herefordshire Pomona was ever sold.
Indeed there may. Put me down as a staunch sceptic.
I realise they are specifically excluded from this exercise but it happened with the Letterpress Shakespeare. The original limitation was 3750, later reduced to 1000. The first twelve published still showed a limitation of 3750 to their dying day, including several of the rearguard who haven't died quite yet. There are suspicions that a number of the titles remained unbound and never attained the 3750 target, for example "Twelfth Night" has been extensively discussed here previously.
>7 terebinth: There may also be some among us who doubt whether the full limitation of the Herefordshire Pomona was ever sold.
Indeed there may. Put me down as a staunch sceptic.
9boldface
>7 terebinth: "There may also be some among us who doubt whether the full limitation of the Herefordshire Pomona was ever sold."
Only an incider would know that.
Only an incider would know that.
10jroger1
I realize that private publishers have no legal obligation to release their sales figures, but publishers of collectible books really should do so especially of their limited editions. Otherwise, they are not being fair to their customers.
11terebinth
>8 folio_books: There are suspicions that a number of the titles remained unbound and never attained the 3750 target...
I'd put it more strongly than that, and lay a hundred to one for instance that the stated 3750 copies of Coriolanus, or Titus Andronicus, haven't all sold while copies still remain out of the 1000 printed of Comedy of Errors and Merry Wives of Windsor. I would be quite surprised, were figures to emerge, if more than two or three of the plays have ever passed 1500 copies sold. Indeed, didn't Folio announce at some point, a few years ago now, that no more than a certain number - was it perhaps 300 - of further copies of any of the plays would ever be available for sale? Wouldn't surprise me at all if some of the titles didn't even reach 1000 copies bound and available. Maybe even one or two of those with a 3750 limitation.
About the Pomona I can't hazard a confident guess at all. I was intrigued enough to buy a copy on release, it seems not very many of us here were, but I'm not familiar with the fruit-growing community where, for all I know, the title may have received a rapturous welcome.
I'd put it more strongly than that, and lay a hundred to one for instance that the stated 3750 copies of Coriolanus, or Titus Andronicus, haven't all sold while copies still remain out of the 1000 printed of Comedy of Errors and Merry Wives of Windsor. I would be quite surprised, were figures to emerge, if more than two or three of the plays have ever passed 1500 copies sold. Indeed, didn't Folio announce at some point, a few years ago now, that no more than a certain number - was it perhaps 300 - of further copies of any of the plays would ever be available for sale? Wouldn't surprise me at all if some of the titles didn't even reach 1000 copies bound and available. Maybe even one or two of those with a 3750 limitation.
About the Pomona I can't hazard a confident guess at all. I was intrigued enough to buy a copy on release, it seems not very many of us here were, but I'm not familiar with the fruit-growing community where, for all I know, the title may have received a rapturous welcome.
