Folio Archives 181: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 2010
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1wcarter
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 2010
I suspect virtually everyone has read this classic science fiction novel. If you haven’t, you should, and if possible, you should read the beautiful Folio Society edition. It is a very easy, and amusing book to read.
The unlikely hero, Arthur Dent, is surprised to find that his long-time friend Ford Prefect is actually an alien, and he rescues Arthur (who is wearing a dressing gown and carrying a towel) from Earth just before it is demolished to make way for an intergalactic motorway. The two friends then hitchhike around the galaxy using the impossibility principle. This states that if you can work out how impossible something is (eg. leaping instantly from one passing spaceship to another at light speed), then you can use these odds to make it actually happen. After this the book actually becomes rather weird.
The book title is actually taken from another book, Ford Prefect’s copy of the most useful book in the universe, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which in its electronic format advises users that no matter what happens, “DON’T PANIC’.
Douglas Adams wrote five books in the series that continue to follow Arthur’s adventures, and all are published in the same glittery style. The books, in order of publication are :-
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 2010
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe 2011
- Life, The Universe and Everything 2014
- Mostly Harmless 2016
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish 2016
The first in the series, Hitchhiker, along with all the others, is bound in dark blue cloth blocked with a cover picture and highlighted by scattered embedded glitter. There are 174 pages, eight colour illustrations by Jonathan Burton, and an eight page introduction by Terry Jones. The slipcase (23.4x15.4cm.) and endpapers are faintly glittered dark blue.
The full set of five volumes
Life, The Universe and Everything
Mostly Harmless
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
I suspect virtually everyone has read this classic science fiction novel. If you haven’t, you should, and if possible, you should read the beautiful Folio Society edition. It is a very easy, and amusing book to read.
The unlikely hero, Arthur Dent, is surprised to find that his long-time friend Ford Prefect is actually an alien, and he rescues Arthur (who is wearing a dressing gown and carrying a towel) from Earth just before it is demolished to make way for an intergalactic motorway. The two friends then hitchhike around the galaxy using the impossibility principle. This states that if you can work out how impossible something is (eg. leaping instantly from one passing spaceship to another at light speed), then you can use these odds to make it actually happen. After this the book actually becomes rather weird.
The book title is actually taken from another book, Ford Prefect’s copy of the most useful book in the universe, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which in its electronic format advises users that no matter what happens, “DON’T PANIC’.
Douglas Adams wrote five books in the series that continue to follow Arthur’s adventures, and all are published in the same glittery style. The books, in order of publication are :-
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 2010
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe 2011
- Life, The Universe and Everything 2014
- Mostly Harmless 2016
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish 2016
The first in the series, Hitchhiker, along with all the others, is bound in dark blue cloth blocked with a cover picture and highlighted by scattered embedded glitter. There are 174 pages, eight colour illustrations by Jonathan Burton, and an eight page introduction by Terry Jones. The slipcase (23.4x15.4cm.) and endpapers are faintly glittered dark blue.
The full set of five volumes
Life, The Universe and Everything
Mostly Harmless
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2jeremyjm
Thanks for the pictures of these!
I'd love to see a nice version of his two Dirk Gently books, which are great fun as well.
I'd love to see a nice version of his two Dirk Gently books, which are great fun as well.
3CarltonC
>1 wcarter: Thanks for these.
One of the funniest and quotable books I have ever read and reread. The FS binding is glorious.
FS also produced a notebook with this binding.
One of the funniest and quotable books I have ever read and reread. The FS binding is glorious.
FS also produced a notebook with this binding.
5Dr.Fiddy
>1 wcarter: Thanks for posting this :)
I read them all in this wonderful edition this summer.
The binding and illustrations are really great!
So much better than my old paperbacks...
I read them all in this wonderful edition this summer.
The binding and illustrations are really great!
So much better than my old paperbacks...
7ubiquitousuk
I feel like a troglodyte for I could never come to enjoy this series, despite my best efforts. But the FS edition indeed looks nice and it seems Burton did a great job with the illustrations.
8junkaficionado
>1 wcarter: Wow. If you put "Hitchhiker's" at the end of the set, the "Folio" marks at the bottom of the spines will have the form of an almost perfect gaussian curve.
