I have just ordered / received #16

Put a bid in on eBay on Friday more as a place marker to remind me to check the final price. Lo and behold turns out mine was the only bid so I'm now waiting for A Man on the Moon at only £90. A bargain, I think. For those who care about such things (I don't) it's a first print, too. I had intended to order it from Folio today along with the Cinderella/Sleeping Beauty LE so instead I coupled the Rackham with Italian Folktales

>1 folio_books: Congratulations that sounds like a great bargain.

I received a copy of Scarlet and Black (1965 edition) late last week, which is in great condition bar some very slight sunning to the spine and came to only €20 including postage. I also have ordered two of what will be my first Folio Press Fine Editions, Dorset Poems and Motley and Other Poems. I intend to pick up a few more if I am happy with the first two when they arrive.

>2 assemblyman:

Bit of a niche market, the Dorset Poems. If you want an idea of the Dorset accent, to know how the poems should sound, I suggest listening to Ralph Wightman - he's been dead fifty years, but you can hear him on YouTube eg narrating a documentary Round the Island. He was much on the radio in my younger days, both in person, and lampooned by Kenneth Williams as Arthur Fallowfield in Round the Horne. The Barnes poems are worth the effort.

>3 affle:

I didn't know I was that old, Alan. I do remember Ralph Wightman (just); Kenneth Williams is unforgetable. I think he's better known these days for Rambling Syd Rumpo. Hello me dearie-ohs.

Thanks for the pointer I shall look him up. I read a few Barnes poems online before I decided to get it but hearing the authentic accent will be very helpful. I will also have to look up the Kenneth William's version as well as I love his Rambling Syd Rumpo routine from the show.

>1 folio_books:

A wonderful price for man on the moon a great find.

I got a sealed Tomb of Tutankhamen for 170 aud last week.

I am playing catch up on both the Aubrey Maturin series, as well as Dickens 1/4 leather bound. I am not doing too bad, although it is getting rather expensive.

I have just got both the Dickens Christmas Books and A Tale of Two Cities. I spent too much, but they both have special significance for me. That is my justification anyway!
I love Christmas, favourite time of the year and I have a tradition of making sure I always either watch or read A Christmas Carol. It gives me the Christmas spirit!
As for A Tale of Two Cities, it was my grandmothers favourite book and although she did not have much she wanted me to have a copy and gave me hers. I was a child at the time and it wore out quite quickly. I will think of her as I read it.

>7 Hamwick: Bravo! It's lovely to see such personal fondness expressed for particular books. I doubt you'll regret treating yourself to good Folio editions of them, even if they were on the expensive side. Enjoy :)

>8 cronshaw:

Nice to see you back again.

>7 Hamwick: I just received The Christmas Books to complete my Dickens set. For me, this set is absolutely perfect for Dickens. Lovely story about your grandma. My mom was a Dickens fan when she was younger and handed down David Copperfield to start. I look forward to passing my Everyman’s (from which I reluctantly upgraded, as I personally love this set) to my children when they’re older.

I found the 1997 eight volume Complete Works of Shakespeare set today for £40, pretty chuffed with that! I don't own any of them and after seeing Much Ado at the theatre last night, it'll be a nice way to catch up.

I've just received Thoreau's 'Walden', printed in 1980. Though it is 40+ years old it looks as new. It is a beautiful volume.

>11 lagartija23: Sounds a good buy.

I admire your fully fledged bibliomania but I could not sit down with an eight volume work of Shakespeare with the intention of reading his Collected Works.

>1 folio_books:

Glad the book reached you safely today and thanks for the review. I ordered one copy and was given the second as a present. It’s a fine edition I think

I was expecting more but it’s the luck of the draw on eBay!

>14 pse1: I was expecting more but it’s the luck of the draw on eBay!

Oh hello, I didn't realise you were a Devotee. I was astonished my bid won it, especially with the number of watchers you had. I thought it would be at the very least into three figures, more likely £120-130. In similar circumstances I've seen books go for more than the current Folio price. But as you rightly say a lot of eBay is down to luck. In this case your bad luck is my good luck and I'm delighted with the books - thank you!

>10 RRCBS: very well done on completing the set and finishing with The Christmas Books is finishing with a bang! You were also handed a copy of Dickens, I wonder how many people have had Dickens passed down to them. I am sure your children will love the Everyman’s versions and hopefully encourage a new generation.

My very first Folios actually from Folio, instead of eBay came today: The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness. They're gorgeous--and they match each other on my shelf much more nicely than I was expecting.

>17 ambyrglow:
Welcome to the slippery slope of Faddiction.

>15 folio_books:

No problem. I very much enjoyed reading the two volumes and know far more about the Apollo Program now. The photography is outstanding. I’m glad it went to another Folio person!

>17 ambyrglow: However, A Wizard of Earthsea does not match.

>20 kdweber: That's okay--since Folio shows no sign of completing the Earthsea series, I'll stick with my first editions there.

>21 ambyrglow:

They confirmed to be releasing more of Earthsea.

>22 Charon49: do you by any chance have a link to the confirmation? I haven't seen anything conclusive about this (and I would probably buy any Earthsea book Folio publishes).

>23 abysswalker: I suppose they could change their mind but I was referring to them announcing from the fantasy survey that they were going to do the dark tower Stephen king series, book of dust from Pullman and continue the Earthsea series.

I finally succumbed, and bought Andrew Chaikin's Man on the Moon this week. It's very (very!) rare for me to buy one at full price (£150) from Folio Society nowadays (only the second since they dropped the membership model), and I know folio_books managed to find one for under £100, but whilst this is a fairly whopping price for a 2-volume 'SE' set, I actually think it's one of the best 'value' books they've published recently, particularly with those photographs. Have just spent a very pleasant half-hour or so browsing. I read this a while ago - really good read - but only had a fairly worn paperback. Definitely a good exchange for some of those folios I've sold off recently!
Edited to give folio_books' correct name!

>25 Willoyd: I know folio_society managed to find one for under £100, but whilst this is a fairly whopping price for a 2-volume 'SE' set,

I think you mean me :) And I was quite astonished to find my bid had won. I doubt many people will be picking that one up under £100. I agree with you entirely regarding the quality. I would have been delighted with it if I'd paid Folio's price.

>26 folio_books: I did!! Whoops, and changed - thank you!

I just placed an order for a good number of books.

Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy
The Silmarillion and The Hobbit, to round out my Tolkien collection
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.

I'm pretty excited about this one. Another book that nearly made the list, and now looking back I wish I had just bought it, is I Am Legend. I'll pick that one up if I have a good number of books I want to buy from the Winter Collection.

Anyone else looking forward to a recently placed order of FS beauties?

>28 Tyler_ghaskjd: Definitely seems like you have a bevy of goodies coming. Also, I can definitely recommend their edition of I Am Legend. I have it, and it's terrific. Very high-quality standard edition of a limited edition they did a while back, and it's printed on thick and lovely Abbey Rough Pure paper.

And I do have an order I'm looking forward to. I have the following on the way:

The Great Gatsby
Middlemarch
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
and the 2nd and 3rd Bond books

By the way, I'm an SFF fan also but have loaded up on those quite a bit on previous orders. :P

>25 Willoyd:
Love insights like yours!
I'll buy it as soon as I can! I was pretty much on the fence all this while.

>4 folio_books:

Drat, too late to this party. I missed a perfect opportunity to worble my nadgers. ;-)

>29 whytewolf1: That's a nice order as well! I seem to go back and forth in my orders, in one it'll be non-fiction dominant, and the next it will be mostly fiction.

A non fiction book I'm looking forward to ordering once it becomes available again is S.P.Q.R. by Mary Beard. Really liking the look of that book.

My current order:

If Not, Winter: Sappho
Selected Poems: Anna Akhmatova
Great Gatsby: Fitzgerald
Defeat into Victory: 1st Viscount Slim
(NFB): The River War 2v: Churchill (St. Augustine's Press)
(NFB): Voices of Marrakesh: Elias Canetti (Arion Press)

A reading suggestion:

For those FSD-ers who enjoyed reading Isabella Bird's 'The Yangtze Valley and Beyond' and are interested in the memoirs of intrepid women travelers, I strongly recommend the following:

Golden Inches: The China Memoir of Grace Service, University of California, 1989.

Briefly, Grace Service and her husband Robert ("Bob") answered the "call" in 1905, shortly after graduating U. of Cal Berkeley and recently marrying, to perform Christian missionary work in remote Western China for the Y.M.C.A. During the next thirty years, she and Bob would start and raise a family of three young boys, witness three of the most turbulent decades in Chinese history, and travel into parts of remote China that had never seen a white person. This is NOT a religious book - rather, it is an extraordinary historical document, describing the conflicts and changes in China culminating in Mao Zedong's Communist revolution which eventually led to their expulsion from China in 1934. It is also a memoir of a woman with remarkable dedication and courage.

Of particular interest, their eldest son John S. Service became an important Foreign Service Officer in China from 1933 to 1945 and a member of General Stilwell's advisory staff. He was the first of the "old China hands" purged from the State Department in the Joseph McCarthy era and anti-Communist witch hunts for advising (correctly) that Chiang Kai-shek was corrupt and not to be trusted and Mao Zedong and the Communists would prevail over Chiang's Nationalists. A link to the NY Times book review in 1989 is given below.

https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/05/books/advance-guard-for-the-ymca.html

>34 dlphcoracl: Wow, that sounds absolutely fascinating.

>35 Tyler_ghaskjd:

It is.

This book flew under the radar when originally published in 1989, but it was included in the NY Times 'Top 100 books' in their end-of-year book review.

I just ordered two older sets: Bewick’s History of British Birds and Rowse’s Elizabethan Age. Really looking forward to both of them. Researching them also came with a bit of nostalgia for the kind of chats that used to be had on here 3-4 years ago. Miss those days and some of the contributors.

>37 RRCBS: I wholeheartedly agree. It was an interesting time. All things must pass.

>37 RRCBS:
Both cracking sets. As I've said elsewhere, the Bewick is probably my favourite Folio publication of all time, whilst the Rowse is classic history reading - and typical of the fine, slightly understated (and all the better for that!) non-fiction that the FS excelled at.

>39 Willoyd: just received the Bewick books. Truly a beautiful set. And I love the size of them, perfect for reading. I’m one of those who are not so much into the big books. Elegant and understated set. Perfect to dip into!

My last order from Folio was placed October last year. Since then, I have been trying to determine how new rules due to Brexit affect my purchases. Among other uncertainties, Folio's ordering online kept telling me that no estimate for shipping charges could be shown so, consequently, I didn't follow through. This latter issue has now been solved, and I have placed an order for Mythical Beasts. Sales tax was applied directly by Folio at ordering time. I have now received the book, have not incurred any other charges or fees, and am very happy with it. Superb Folio standard production.

I placed a pretty big order (for me) for my birthday.

China
La Belle Sauvage
Venetia
A Feast for Crows
Shackleton’s Boat Journey
The Man with the Golden Gun
Dostoevsky stories
Thermopylae
Folio Book of War Poetry
In Search of the Dark Ages

They’re all beautiful productions, no big complaints. I agree that In Search of Dark Ages could have been a lot nicer with a cloth binding.
I love the cloth binding on Venetia and just started reading it. Not a fan of the illustrations and find it ironic that the introduction talks about how her books have had ugly cover art when these illustrations are equally unsuitable in my opinion.
Either way, I’m one of those who collect standard Folios both old and new, and choose them for the content, and am quite happy with them.

>42 RRCBS: that is a very nice order. It should keep you occupied for a little while!

I am in the process of moving from the UK to the U.S., so I am waiting until I am in the U.S. before ordering anymore (and reading the discussions on other threads about the cost of buying from the U.S.).
My biggest concern at the moment is that all of my books are on a container ship going to Longbeach, I just hope they all arrive in the condition I sent them!

Choosing and buying one's main birthday presents has always seemed a good idea as at least you know you will be getting some presents you really want. It also gets round that tiresome and sometimes self-imposed restriction we all tend to make (especially if pressed by an exasperated partner ...) of 'No more books'. Anyway, Happy Birthday - or should that be Happy Bookday...

>44 English-bookseller: Thanks 😊 my husband encourages my book buying actually, but he’s not a great online shopper so I figured since I was picking something specific, I may as well order them myself.

I finally stopped admonishing myself for not buying Ridley Walker LE when it was on sale and bought a copy from Abe (still in an opened shipping box). When FS released the LE, I hadn't heard of the novel and it was only earlier this year that I read a paperback copy and discovered what a brilliant book it is.

The final catalyst for buying the LE was a recent reading of the FS edition of Candide and realising that I am definitely in the 'fans of Quentin Blake' camp. Having now received it, I can fully understand why the size is a deterrent for many people! Fortunately, I generally enjoy large format books like this and don't foresee it being a problem. All in all, I'm very pleased to have this in my collection, at last.

I got my first shipment in a while yesterday. Got The Road, Crooked House, The Godfather, Dynasty, and The Diversity of Life. Most seem to be fairly standard FS publications, but I’m really impressed with the production of The Godfather.

>46 GardenOfForkingPaths: Congratulations! One of my favorite FS books - and by far the best of Quentin Blake's illustrations I've seen

>47 jsg1976: I’m really impressed with the production of The Godfather.

"Stunning" is an over-used adjective but I can't think of a more appropriate one for the illustrations in this book.

Godfather looks nice but the constant refrain I see is that the film is better than the novel. Is the book worthwhile? For the record, I've never seen any of the Godfather movies.

I have just ordered these titles around two weeks ago (they have yet to arrived). I think this is my biggest order from Folio so far...

Selected Poems (Akhmatova)
De Profundis
Iron Kingdom
Dynasty
The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoyevsky

>50 adriano77:

I've read the FS version of The Godfather and, yes, the film is better than the book--but the film is one of the best movies of all time. The book is still a satisfying read but it is outdated in spots (such as the sexist scene with the plastic surgeon which will have readers cringing).

Similarly with Planet of the Apes, the movie (1968) was a cinematic juggernaut with arguably the most dramatic film ending ever, while the book, imho, seems rather small and underwritten in comparison.

I've just taken delivery of a trio of older FS books:

The Siege of Malta 1565 by Francisco Balbi di Correggio (1965)
The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1974)
The Witches of Salem (1982)

I'm enjoying working my way through the complete list of FS books and discovering the more obscure and esoteric publications.

When does it stop?

About four months ago I was looking at my thousands of cheap, faded, yellowing books and had a great business idea. What if someone were to start making *good* books again? Like the ones they used to make? Why, I bet there'd be a huge market for that!

Yes: Despite being a massive bibliophile my entire life, I'd somehow never heard of The Folio Society or anything else like it. My idea of a 'very nice book' was this '50th anniversary edition' of LOTR (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618517650/) retailing at about $45. It has a slipcase!

Needless to say I was in for a big awakening. And when I discovered Folio and other higher-end presses, it hit me pretty hard. Just that perfect combination of something I love, something beautiful, something appreciable, and *extreme* FOMO when it comes to LE.

So, yeah, I've spent about $20 grand on books in the last two months, mostly Folio. Some Easton, some Subterranean, some misc. Lots of old Limited Editions Club volumes. But mostly Folio.

The big three Folio expenditures were The Stranger, last year's Dune LE, and that gorgeous Lovecraft LE. Spent about $5.5k just on those. Then several other current LEs (man let me tell you the shipping on those sucks!). And literally dozens of retired and current Folio items, mostly via eBay. Do I really care enough about Shackleton to justify buying that awesome reproduction? Probably not, but I didn't want to *not* have it. Did I really need all the James Bond books? Who can say? But if you have one, you're gonna want the rest...

I think -- I *think* -- I've managed to snap up all of my must-haves by now. It's nice to imagine that, having secured the ones that are really important to me, I can regain control and start making more responsible decisions.

But almost every day I find out about yet another cool niche press. And almost every day somebody here brings up a really neat retired Folio edition or set. And once again the little voice inside of me says,

"If you don't get this now, you'll never be able to..."

>56 AtlantisLostAndCold:
Welcome to Faddiction - it has hit you hard! Unfortunately there is no cure except buying more books!

This will seem an odd post coming from a bookseller but I have being a keen book buyer for over 50 years now and I personally own more books than I will ever have time to read - even in a very long life. I do not even know to the nearest thousand how many books I personally own.

It was only recently that I understood this behaviour was an addiction.

We over-keen booklovers should perhaps think about how we can control our book-buying habits and then strictly follow such rules and controls as we devise. 'One book in: one book out' might be a good start.

Another rule could be to set a budget for that year limiting expenditure to a fixed sum or a total number of books.

I have recently re-joined The London Library which has extraordinary collections of books across many areas and am hoping that post-Covid (whenever that is) I can borrow their books to read rather than having to buy a copy of my own. The jury is out on that one until I can use public transport safely.

Another option is to become a bookseller, as I have done setting up a small business or (this is much easier) just selling books via third party booksellers or personally on eBay etc.

>58 English-bookseller: This is very true. And is not limited to the book collecting/reading hobby. It is the same with fountain pen/inks/notebooks collecting as well. Everywhere I see people buying way more of something than they will ever use. And one of the things I do not like about that is others egging them on. I believe that we are all in a sort of community and it is our duty to tell the newcomers to always take it a bit slow. The urge to buy a lot right from the start is almost irresistible, but some caution ought to be exercised nonetheless.

I tell myself this all the time and whenever anybody asks my opinion, I tell them to always go in slowly. Not only does one make more prudent financial decisions in this way, one gets to savour every purchase all the more.

Besides, I have always believed that collecting something is the easier part. The harder is actually using the tools...writing with the expensive Mont Blancs, filling the beautiful Paperblanks, reading the exquisite Folio Society books. This is the part which is what makes the hobby of collecting something worth it.

I too have been selling some of the books I either won't ever end up reading or have read and don't plan to read again. I don't want my possessions to start owning me and when I own too much of something, I feel bogged down.

Another thing that helps me is looking at other people's collections. It somehow repulses me and makes me want to cut down on my own collection.

>58 English-bookseller: I think becoming a book seller/dealer is great advice. But I have the problem that "I can sell it for a profit" is the perfect excuse to buy even more books that I, inevitably, don't want to sell.

Unless a purchase is time critical - such as a fast selling LE - I limit myself to only buying new books once I've finished reading a book I already own. It's a slow way to grow a collection, but it certainly suits my finances.

The Arthur Trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland at approx. £10.00 a piece plus shipping. Hopefully my last impulse buy for 2021 thanks to a recent review by wcarter here.

I stick to three rules (besides "don't buy junk books", which hardly needs to be mentioned in this group):
1 - no LEs. They look wonderful, but the cost is just too much for me;
2 - only buy a Folio (or other high quality book) if owning a high quality edition is justified. There are plenty of books for which a paperback, or a library borrowing, is sufficient. This rule has an always-moving line when it comes to the definition of "justified";
3 - only one edition of any book is allowed. I have a very few exceptions to this rule - I have four Bibles, for instance.

These rules have slowed my book buying only slightly.

Thought of a fourth rule - I never buy a book I can't read. Hence, no facsimiles in Latin, or any language other than English.

>59 sekhmet0108: Another thing that helps me is looking at other people's collections. It somehow repulses me and makes me want to cut down on my own collection.

'Fraid that doesn't work for me :-( Several happy afternoons have been spent slobbering over Warwick's wonderful and superb catalogue! Then I have to persuade myself I don't really need that superb LE I just spotted. Latest must haves were the various Extraordinary Edition's LEs but I've finally managed to convince myself that I don't really want them after all! That took some doing I can tell you :-)

Perversely my own library has "ordinary" (but often very well-produced) books neatly shelved and the Folios stacked in any odd spare places I can find! Even the recent Dante LE is still in its delivery box on the floor whilst I'm proudly displaying the likes of "The Water Supply of Byzantine Constantinople" on the shelves! Must do some photos of my weird and wonderful library sometime.

I think I’m the exception these days whose FSD is still going strong with both new releases and the backlog. Just ordered three older FS volumes from the secondary market:

The Fall of Constantinople
The Art of Love
Monks of War

>66 RRCBS: I sometimes wonder how many bookcases you fill a year… IKEA must be your go to store.

>67 NLNils: I do have okra bookcases…should probably have gotten something nicer, but needed something with doors and only had one shelf warp in 15 years. I don’t have that many, maybe 13? I buy a lot of books, but not into LE’s.

>68 RRCBS: It’s kind of you to answer! I have 6 bookcases and that’s where the line is drawn by my other half. 5 Billy’s and one gifted antique bookcase. All of them warp and that’s due to overstocking the shelves… I did start last year with donating books to the communal book stall(s), mostly paperbacks to make room for better quality editions, but also a slipcaseless Lives of the Engineers and the first thus of Scott’s Last Expedition. I actually like the idea of somebody else being able to enjoy the book(s)!

>69 NLNils: I often feel guilty for amassing so many books! I do share them with a couple of friends and have two young children (3&5) in whom I hope to inspire a love of reading and learning.

>71 Bamf102:

A warm welcome to FSD. You'll not be disppointed with either of those. Just be prepared to live with a diminishing bank balance as the Folio bug takes over.

>73 Bamf102: Congratulations on starting an expensive new hobby. Be sure to give the secondary markets on abebooks and ebay a look. We're right around the corner for the summer collection being released, and sometime in July is usually where there's a summer sale from FS directly.

>75 Bamf102: The teaser on FS instagram account was 5th May last year and the reveal a week after that. Expecting similar timing this year.

Here's FS instagram account if you want to keep watch: https://www.instagram.com/foliosociety/
Though any news will quickly find its way to the LT thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/341238

I found a cheap Frankenstein - no slipcase, but the book is in perfect shape and only $50.

I am in love with the Harry Brockway woodcuts! I really need to pick up that Dostoevsky short story collection on the next buy.

>77 rsmac:

Brockway is my favorite. There are some extremely talented woodcut artists out there, but something about Harry's style fits me well.

>77 rsmac: >78 CobbsGhost: Me too, and over the years I've collected pretty much all of the Folio work that I can . And now for or the first time I have just looked at his website (www.harrybrockway.com) and seen not only the woodcuts, but also his work as a stone carver and memorial mason. I had no idea...

Have you seen how reasonably priced his original woodcuts are? Often cheaper than a copy of the folio they were made for!

>78 CobbsGhost: >79 red_guy: sorry to be pedantic, but I think Brockway does wood engravings (made with fine gravers on the end grain of dense wood blocks), not wood cuts (made with gouges on side grain, often of softer wood). I mention this because I know when I finally learned about the difference it helped me achieve a new appreciation for the art form.

>80 ubiquitousuk: Of course, you're right - I was even looking at them on woodengravers.co.uk, so there is no excuse!

>80 ubiquitousuk: Fair enough, and certainly if there's a place for "pedantic", this is the forum.

I had a witchy theme going this month. A few weeks ago I picked up The Devils of Loudun by Aldus Huxley and this week got in nice copies of The Witches of Salem and the 1968 first edition of The Malleus Maleficarum.

Not that it makes much difference, but I am often surprised by the size of a title when it finally comes in. The Witches of Salem, for example, is smaller and more slender than I had imagined. I was likewise surprised by One Hundred Years of Solitude when I got that - it was quite a bit larger than anticipated. The sizes for newer ones are listed on the website so no surprises there, but with older ones you never know.

>85 rsmac: but with older ones you never know.

You could always take a look at the complete list of books published by the Folio Society on the FSD Wiki (or see below), which includes dimensions.

https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Groups:BOOKS_PUBLISHED_BY_THE_FOLIO_SOCI...

Edited to add:

Or even invest in a copy of Folio 60 if the book of your desires was published before 2007. Yes, I know, so very old but trust me, there were Folios around before then.

I just received a copy of "Defeat Into Victory" off ebay. Although fairly standard, I really like the presentation. A lot of maps and a lot of black and white photos. The cloth binding is really tactile and the spine really pops on the shelf. I will be reading it over the holidays.

For anyone interested, this volume is currently on the last chance page.

>88 PartTimeBookAddict: I've been waiting for this to be included in a sale, and it appears it never will. I may have to go the Ebay route as well.

>89 coynedj: Good luck. I paid about 2/3 the asking price and am happy with the purchase. If it hits the sales snap it up!

I just finished Howards End. I’m very surprised that Folio hasn’t reprinted it, not even once, while Brideshead Revisited has been reprinted several times.
The latest adaptation, from the BBC, has a cast filled with actors and actresses that have since appeared in super popular media franchises.

>91 dyhtstriyk: I love that book, one of my favourite novels. I have the Folio as part of my Forster set, but treasure my first copy, which was Everyman’s.

>92 RRCBS: I didn't see there was a complete set, thanks. Super interesting and (relatively) not expensive on eBay. My reading was on the Everyman which is nice and compact enough.

I managed to nail some box sets at reasonable prices in 2022:

- Eyewitness History of the Crusades £55
- Mongol Warlords £60
- Byzantium £70 BUT I then sold my non-Folio set of the same work for £45 so really it only cost me £25 to 'upgrade'.

All were works I was really glad to cross off my (infinite) wish list, so I was really glad about that.

>94 Retronaut78: You’ve done well for yourself. Congratulations!

eBay purchases in 2022: ($ inc. postage AUD)
- The Good Soldier ($35)
- Lucky Jim ($40)
- Doctor Zhivago 1997 Ed. ($60)
- Birdsong ($57)
- Oliver Twist ($65); III Nonesuch

None are ‘bargains’ per se, I’d say…but I feel good about having them all!

eBay recently -
Candide limited edition (250£)
Rochester, Perfect & Imperfect Enjoyments. (250£)
Letter press Shakespeare - sonnets and poems (400£)
Leaves of Grass (green leather version) (250$)
As I walked out one midsummer morning (50$)

Directly-
The Waste Land LE
Frankenstein LE
The Gormenghast Trilogy LE

Never ending story
Byzantium
Norwegian Wood
A walk in the woods
In search of the dark ages
The Man in the high castle
Neverwhere

Earlier this year or last…

>97 jlallred2000: I’ve thought about Byzantium, have the Norwich Byzantium in the FS edition which I have in the TBR pile though…

Just received St Augustine’s confessions (the cloth edition illustrated by Simon Brett) and what seems like an off-kilter gothic story titled “The Monk”. St Augustine has been on my radar for quite a while. The Monk was a spontaneous grab but I’m extremely satisfied with both binding and illustrations - I believe I got the last reprint.

Both for 4.99 GBP, so wouldn’t complain either way.

Just picked up a really nice copy of Joyce's Dubliners for AUD $26 inc. postage. Looking forward to reading it. I loved Portrait of the Artist, and was really enjoying Ulysses until a busy life intervened - will get back to it very soon. The Folio Dubliners is lovely - understated but seems to evoke the times and subject matter.

Ordered the currently available Agatha Christies and some items from the sale:

Crooked House
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Sparkling Cyanide
The Farthest Shore
The Stories of English
Joan of Arc

All was shipped and delivered very fast.

My cats had a field day with the packaging! 😂

>101 woodstock8786: I've seen your pictures passing by on my Instagram ;)
That stack of book reminded me of something I read before.

>102 David_Mauduit: I still haven’t cleared away all the packaging, didn’t want to rob the cats of their new favourite toy.

What did it remind you of?

I just ordered two Dickens IIIs - Bleak House and Pickwick Papers. I don’t have shelf space or really the inclination to collect the whole set. I already have:

Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
David Copperfield
A Tale of Two Cities
Dombey & Son

My last planned target is the Christmas books. I think that’s a reasonable approximation of his greatest hits, but I’d be interested and grateful for any other heartfelt recommendations!

>103 woodstock8786: I meant that when I saw the picture on Instagram it reminded me of your post here.

>105 David_Mauduit: Ahhh! Understood ;)

I’ve just ordered The Book of the New Sun. This one has been on my list for a while and I’m finally taking the dive.

I took the recommendations from this forum to get Dickens III, glad I did!

Yesterday, I received the three WWI poet (Brooke, Owen, Thomas) LEs that were 50% in the sale. They're gorgeous, and I'm glad to finally have them. I took several pictures of them and posted them on my IG (handle: cjdeldotto).

>104 GusLogan: that looks like a great selection - the same as mine, although I also have Nicholas Nickleby but regrettably I don’t have ToTC which I’ve read and loved (in a teeeeny pocket sized edition when my eyes were young and perfect).

People do rave about Little Dorrit, but I haven’t read it (yet).

>109 CJDelDotto: Thank you for the handle! I do so like admiring others' collections and they are indeed very fine volumes. You also had me at the BP Petrenko Tchaikovsky & Beethoven.

>111 FitzJames: I have around 10,000 books sitting in waist-high stacks in the guest bedroom in my basement. At some point, my wife and I are planning to turn the large (27' x 37') open space down there into our library (i.e., hiring a carpenter with experience carrying out such projects). When it happens, there will be pictures galore. In the meanwhile, the IG will be dedicated mainly to the missus and the kitties, with only the occasional excellent book purchase making a cameo.

>110 Jeremy53:
Thank you!

I just received The Book of The New Sun and wouldn’t you know it’s damaged. I’d heard there were issues in the past with this one. I was just hoping I’d get lucky. Hopefully the replacement will be fine.

>114 Geo135: Fingers crossed. Was it damaged in production or delivery? I was intending to finally order it this year having been put off initially by the production issues on the first run.

Major purchase for me: just received a set of the LE Pepys. I’ve wanted the set since I discovered FS about 15 years ago, but couldn’t afford it, then could afford it but all sets including shipping to Canada were about 1500 CAD and I thought that was too much. Finally randomly found a set that ended up costing 1K CAD (600 pounds) including shipping. It really is a treasure and the books fit well in the case. The case is great bc it can go on top of a bookshelf, thus saving badly needed shelf space.

I can’t wait to start on this set. Love the reasonable size of the volumes and the lighter weight compared to some current FS books. And the parts of his diaries I have read were fascinating so very grateful to have the whole set.

>116 RRCBS: Congratulations. That set is gorgeous. The more I see it the more I like it.

>117 assemblyman: it really is. I’m not one to buy LEs usually, but this one was always on the top of my wants list. It is combined aesthetic beauty with scholarship and a fascinating text. The other LEs I might buy if prices come down are The Toilers of the Sea and Gulliver’s Travels, but the size and heft of the volumes (and the current very high prices!) hold me back.

>116 RRCBS: just received a set of the LE Pepys.

Congratulations! It's a lovely set and you got it for a reasonable price. I'm sure you'll love it. For my own copy I looked for a set in slipcases as the wooden case was of variable quality. In some instances the books were just too big for the case. The books sit beautifuly in the hand. Enjoy!

>115 assemblyman: production issues. They replaced it in a matter of days and the new one is in perfect shape. Customer service was great

Just to echo the others with my congratulations. It is a beautiful set, whether on the shelf or in your hand. I do enjoy, every now and then, opening up on the date of the day, just to see what was happening a few hundred years ago.

>120 Geo135: Good to know. I will keep it on my list for later this year.

>118 RRCBS: It’s funny that late last year I spotted a set for sale and posted it here. Another devotee bought it but you commented ‘maybe next year’.

Toilers of the Sea has been also on my wish list before I even considered buying LEs but like you it’s high prices have held me back. But I recently found one at a price I’m reasonably happy with and it should hopefully be with me next week (fingers crossed).

>123 assemblyman: That’s funny! Nice about the Toilers, congrats on finding a good deal!

The Greek Tragedies have just arrived and I couldn't be more pleased. I've been lusting after this set for some years. Worth the wait.

>125 L.Bloom: congrats! I acquired the set years ago when it first came out and it is a treasure.

After some patience, I've finally ordered and received a nice affordable copy of "Claudius the God." Now that I have both in the series I can finally start reading them.

The family tree endpapers have a really unique embossed texture. I don't know if I've run across any other FS book with that feature before.

I received The Savoy Operas boxed set, 2001 reprint.

I already had the Heritage Press edition, but it is unwieldy, much older (they generally kept well but this has an excessively musty smell) and all the G&S parafernalia it contains looks like a gimmick. I definitely prefer the folios.

>104 GusLogan:

Finally found the FS Nonesuch Dickens Christmas Books!

My order of Kafka On the Shore, Roadside Picnic, and Syria: The Desert and the Sown just arrived. They were superbly packed and arrived with no damage, and all three look wonderful - fine examples of what FS can do and why I still buy their books. Many days of pleasant reading await me.

Made use of the free shipping last weekend and picked up The Wind in the Willows, 1984 and The Great Gatsby. Unfortunately, WitW came with one of the endpapers folded, but other than that - wow. Absolutely beautiful production from FS. I've wanted it for a long time but always passed in favour of other stuff. The art, layout, thickness of the paper, so forth, are all fantastic. Definitely one of my new favourites as an overall package.

Purchased a couple of recent-ish FS and an older one. Midnight Children and The War at the End of the World are both very handsome buckram-bound world literature productions. Also, the 1992 reprint of Cold Comfort Farm, so well made and in excellent condition.

On the way: The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven. I decided to buy this one after reading the reviews and finding out that Niven had entered my personal list of 'real life candidates to be the most interesting man in the world' alongside Dahl, Christopher Lee, Leigh Fermor and Chatwin.

>133 dyhtstriyk: The Wiki biography of David Niven is a very good read.

>133 dyhtstriyk: I've had my eye on the Niven book for a long time - let us know what you think of it! I might have to track a copy down.

Arrived home yesterday to a large box from Folio. Was surprised as I was only expecting two books and it was well over a foot tall. Didn't realize that the two books I ordered (Consider Phlebas and PKD's Selected Stories) were so large -- about 550 and 650 pages respectively -- and both at an oversized trim. Great packing job by Folio helped ensure a safe delivery overseas as well.

>135 coynedj: I highly recommend The Moon's a Balloon. I happened upon a non-Folio edition of it years ago and found it very entertaining. I was glad to upgrade to a Folio edition when I found one for a reasonable price on the secondary market.

I find I have little enthusiasm for FS release dates these days but I am still excited when an order arrives.

I picked up The Pale Horse, Dynasty, The Farthest Shore and The Tombs of Atuan as well as The Neverending Story which is certainly the standout of the group.

Tehanu and Pet Semetary arrived today in time for the weekend :)

I have just received a copy of The Scarlet Letter - 4th printing dated 2007, purchased for a fiver, and I have just ordered a copy of The Exeter Riddle, at the princely sum of a tenner, (I pushed the boat out for the latter as the volume was described as fine). I have been on the search here, to pick up wcarter's reviews, and I pass on my thanks for the wonderful write up, and thread discussion, as they provide a very interesting insight into the the volume.

I don't think this volume of the Scarlet Letter has been read. I'm very taken with the black full cloth and crimson end papers, plus gold/crimson motif, and I adore woodcut illustrations.

Just received the Wyndham boxed set, which I bought with the coronation free shipping offer. I hadn't ordered standard in a while, but everything came out all right. Took three weeks, though. EMS is very slow compared to the 3-day DHL, and in normal circumstances you save only 16 pounds. The boxed set is one of those Folios that doesn't look half as good on the website as it does in real life. Similar to the Dahls.

I'll also receive tomorrow a copy of The Thirty Nine Steps & The Power House. I have the Everymans Library Children's Classics edition and, though it is very nice and sturdy, I wanted to upgrade it even further.

I've just received the new Folio edition of Maya Angelou's 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'. I first read the work in Folio's first edition with its peculiar, unfathomable binding design and no illustrations, and though I loved the read, I quickly donated the volume to a charity shop on finishing. On seeing the new Folio edition on-line I knew I'd have to have it at some point, and I can vouch that it's even lovelier in the hands than it looks on the website. The binding style and illustrations are both perfect for the work. Well done Folio for (finally) doing Maya Angelou justice. This one's for keeps.

I just picked up the Christopher Hibbert matching set of "The Rise & Fall of the House of Medici" and "The House of Borgia".

They look really great, but weirdly the slipcases don't match. Also, so many of the copies of Medici listed on ebay have really chipped away spine labels. Does anyone have advice on how to read it without ruining the look? Brodart cover?

>143 PartTimeBookAddict: there are two printings of Medici. On the latter printing, the slipcase does match the Borgia one.

Just received "Vision of Piers the Plowman". A very, very handsome production. With chapter heading illustrations by Harry Brockway.

I don't have the Heaney Beowulf, but this appears to be of the same production quality and twice as long.

It's selling for about 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the FS Beowulf on ebay and abe. That must just be due to the familiarity of this title (I confess, I didn't know about it before FS brought it to my attention).

I'm very happy with this purchase and would highly recommend it, especially as the secondary market prices are currently in a slump.

>145 PartTimeBookAddict:
It took me a couple of years to find it below £50 which I thought was terrific value. I see someone recently bought a copy on eBay for £45! Patience is profitable. I wonder if there is a similar quality Folio Society Pilgrim’s Progress… off to research that now.

Just received Syme's Roman Revolution and Plutarch's Lives in 4 volumes. Both are really nice editions and make elegant shelf candy.

For anyone waiting on the Rubicon reprint, I would highly recommend checking these out on the secondary market as they are very undervalued right now. I bought them both for just twice the price as the Holland book, including shipping.

Picked up the Moby Dick LE from the secondary market. It arrived like new. Very happy. Having just received the 1984 LE, this one feels like a value for only a little more.

>148 User2024: congrats - if I ever bought one LE it would be the Moby Dick. Beautiful and such a good read.

Recent purchases on the secondary market: (all quite cheap, but not as cheap as they used to be - factoring in inflation)

- The Last Grain Race
- Peter Pan and Wendy (Fine edition)
- The Blind Watchmaker
- The Good Soldier
- A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
- The Physiology of Taste
- Les Enfants Terribles

>148 User2024: nice one.

I should have dug deep at the time and bought it, and Les Miserables too.

They don't make them like that for that anymore.

Finally broke down and purchased a copy of Lord Byron Collected Poems, completing my Folio Poets set. Hooray!

I just received Montaigne’s Essays (2006 3-volume edition, £30) and The Knight in the Panther Skin (£5), both in mint condition. The shipping fees from the UK admittedly cost as much as the books. Montaigne’s Essays will be a welcome challenge to read.

I just received The Other Wind which completes my Le Guin Earthsea set. I used a birthday code that was about to expire so I happy to have them all now.

Since the latest FS price increases I decided to try using the U.K. site and a forwarding service instead of ROW. It’s saved me about £20 overall.

>154 assemblyman: May I ask which forwarding service did you use and are you based in the EU? I have been contemplating on something like that since the increase

>155 drizzled: I am from Ireland and use Addresspal. It’s a forwarding service connected to my national post service An Post so it is just for parcels to Ireland as far as I know.

I have been using it for secondhand book buys from the U.K. since Brexit so others here may be doing the same to the rest of the E.U. and have reliable suggestions.

>158 jsilver2: start to colonize the drawers.

>159 abysswalker: And closets. 😂

>158 jsilver2: You could always swap it for the smaller reprint, though the latter lacks the charm of the original tipped-in colour plates.

>158 jsilver2: my largest volumes are displayed horizontally

I've been exploring a bit beyond FS lately and I have discovered an immense love for century laid cotton paper. This paper is for me what letterpress may be for some others.

I finally succumbed and bought the Moonstone LE. I own just a handful of FS limited editions. Arrived today.

It's not even vaguely in the league of 'Shadow of the Wind'.

>165 DukeOfOmnium: How so? One is full leather and the other is quarter leather with cloth sides but apart from that what is the big difference. I don't have either so I'm just curious to know from someone who has both.

Hardly unsatisfied, but Moonstone isn't 'lovely' in the way SotW is.

I regard the SotW volume as quite wonderful, so to be less than that isn't a criticism.

>165 DukeOfOmnium: Aw I'm sorry to hear you don't like it. That's never fun to find out.

I really love both my Moonstone LE and The Shadow of the Wind LE but I get that not everyone will feel the same.

>164 Ragnaroekk: While I'm not the biggest fan of letterpress, I don't mean to put it down in any way. I'm just excited that I have found a paper that consistently makes me go oooh the way letterpress makes some people go oooh.

>171 jsilver2: "Anyone have any other tricks for searching Amazon?"

Use vialibri. It checks the various regional Amazon sites along with eBay, Abe, etc.

isbnsearch.org is also not bad

https://www.librarything.com/topic/130591#8645883
> 83 podaniel: I think this is a superior production by FS and am quite happy with it.

Just bought this second hand but 'like new' for a tenner. My previous comments on the exterior, now that I have this in my hand I would stick to, however as with many things, it's what's inside that matters. Glorious illustrations to accompany the content. Over the last dozen years my appreciation of GMH has grown considerably, and now very pleased to have this, especially at the price I paid.

You can definitely be called a devotee with such a great haul in a month!

>176 jsilver2: “I bought 80 FS books so far this month”

Thanks, I can now show this to my partner and explain that I’m not out of control at all.

After a while of not getting many books, I came across a few on the secondary market that had been on my list for a while. And I've been diversifying away from Folio lately...

- Montaigne Essays (Franklin)
- Aristotle Rhetoric and On Poetics (Franklin)
- Plato Selected Dialogues (Franklin)
- Look Homeward, Angel (Franklin). This one cost a bit more, but I really like the edition and have been meaning to read it for ages, as hard as it will be.
- A Room of One's Own (2007 Folio). I rarely see this and it was buy now for $27 inc postage which suits me fine
- Speak, Memory by Nabokov (Everyman)

I just received my copy of the Tales From 1001 nights Limited Edition and my god is it a monster (albeit a beautiful one). I'm not sure how or where I'm going to store it as I did not internalise the measurements when I read them. Shall I buy it its own illuminated pedestal?

Chartres, The Making of a Miracle by Colin Ward arrived today.

What a stunning gem!

I recently discovered Folio Society through a chance find in a local charity shop, googled Folio Society and happened upon this lovely forum. The book was Patrick O Brian's 'Master and Commander'. I've always wanted to read his work and now I shall do so in style.

>185 podaniel:

Welcome, but a word of warning: Patrick O'Brian is highly addictive and there are certain volumes of the FS series that are absurdly expensive on the secondary market due to their limited print run.

>184 SpottedDick:

Good to have another O'Brian fan on board. Welcome!

>185 podaniel: >186 folio_books: thank you both!

Just found a very reasonably priced Toilers of the Sea (570 CAD including shipping from UK to Canada). Have wanted this book for a while, but always feel guilty and conflicted buying LEs. Excited, as I’m sure it will live up to my expectations though!

Congratulations. It’s a beautiful LE. I remember you mentioning it when you picked up the Pepys set a couple of years ago. It will be well worth the wait.

>189 assemblyman: thanks! I’m sure it will, and I’m due for a reread!

After not buying direct from Folio for about a year, I acquired Gormenghast, Jonathan Strange, and Shakespeare.

While I have found the price increases difficult to swallow, these editions really are excellent, even for the money in my opinion - especially Gormenghast and Shakespeare. When the binding materials/design and illustrations are done well I think the value for FS is still there. Maybe it’s just these LE to SE productions that really work well. I did also pick up a couple more Earthsea books which were up to $80 from $65 since the last time I bought one…

I am not a Shakespeare expert so curious to see how much I can enjoy without notes and context, but I suppose I can just get a companion if needed.

>191 PJ-Reads: Nice! I bought all three trilogies last year as well and they are now among my Folio favorites. Beautiful books and well worth it, imo. (I also have all six Earthsea books, and they look great together as well - you have good taste!)

>192 HonorWulf: likewise - good taste! They really are beautiful and make me want to dive in to each immediately. The all-star illustrators outdid themselves.

I think the boxed trilogies appear to be epecially good values when compared to say the Dune or Wolf Hall series. On the other hand I probably have to factor in the cost of a new bookshelf.

>193 PJ-Reads: Yes, when you divide the trilogy price by three, they seem like great bargains! :)

>191 PJ-Reads: Gormenghast and Shakespeare really benefited from their LE predecessors. It seems they decided to use the same paper for the Standard editions.

>195 foliolibrary: Yes, I'm reading Titus Groan from the new SE set as we speak and the first thing I noticed was the superior paper stock compared to the typical SE's.

Just received the late Girouard's Life in the English Country House from eBay, one I sat on getting from Folio overlong. I've had the Yale U.P. first for years and this is rather a stunner.

Just won the letterpress Shakespeare Sonnets & Poems at auction at what I think is a reasonable price. Not my first edition of this particular content but I am always willing to build bard redundance!

>199 GusLogan:

Congratulations! That's a beauty.

I had taken a break from buying last March but not from reviewing my wishlist. A few 'unmissable' deals (titles to the left in the photo below) quickly led to a gentle but controlled slide down the slippery slope of FAD!

I am beholden to Dr. Carter for reviewing nearly all my choices in his "Folio Archives" series.

>203 johnny1991:
1. Bummer!
2. Good deal!

$50 for Thus Spake is amazing. I ordered that when it came out but they’d sold out before they could pack it. Still hurts, esp with the secondary prices!!

>203 johnny1991: One of my favorite FS books. Master and Margarita is a very suitable shelf companion to this..

Use of Weapons, ordered!

I have just received "An Illustrated Journey Round the World" 2007 in pristine condition, for a very reasonable price. What a volume! Definitely one to keep on a table, but I will be poring over this on the weekend.

>212 Thwack:
Agreed! See https://www.librarything.com/topic/265910

>213 wcarter: Another excellent showcase, as usual.

>201 mr.philistine:, that Tales from Shakespeare looks nice and is definitely on my list to hunt down.

Use of Weapons, received!

(I'm really very very happy - Use of Weapons in a Folio hardback edition! Wow! There is a risk I may explode when and if they do Excession!)

I received Alan Moorhead's Desert War Trilogy in 'as new' condition for £44. It has always received praise whenever I look it up so, since I've had my eye on this for a long time, I finally decided to buy a set in excellent condition. Looking forward to getting stuck into it as I recently finished Ill Met by Moonlight by William Stanley Morris which has put me in a WW2 frame of mind.

>220 Thwack: Nice. So have you read Patrick Leigh Fermor?

>220 Thwack: It really is a great set of books.

>221 LesMiserables: Despite everyone loving his work I've always rather failed to connect.

>222 DukeOfOmnium: What have you tried?

>223 LesMiserables: Time of Gifts a couple of times. I'll have to have another run at it though - in principle it should be right up my street.

>224 DukeOfOmnium: Okay, yes that is an excellent book, as is the whole trilogy. For a much shorter sense of his style and erudition, I'd recommend A Time to keep Silence, or for his creative imagination The Violins of Saint-Jacques.
Recently I read Mani and Roumeli, both incredible.
Honestly, I just think he's brilliant. His life, his courage, his indefatigable nature. In many ways his adroitness and determination remind me of Enoch Powell (I highly recommend Like the Roman by Simon Heffer), or St Paul.

Ordered a couple more "LEC" swiss family robinson's that will probably not be LEC. I'd be content to get a HP copy (for free).

This past Monday, May 19th, I received the FS Jane Austen set. This is the seventh impression set in the red slipcase from 1989. I started Pride and Prejudice Tuesday night before bed and am thoroughly enjoying it. I have the volumes on my shelf without the slipcase because trying to get one volume out of that thing is heavy!

Also, some FS ephemera was included in the form of an advertisement for the FS, stating that this Jane Austen set was an introductory offer for prospective new members, who, could get the set for $5 when joining at the time. Included is the offer of a free FS almanac. There is a card with the detachable portion missing, presumably sent in to the FS for membership. Finally, a member’s statement from the FS to the lady who joined listing her payment of $25.95 in February of 1991.

>224 DukeOfOmnium: Coincidentally on A Time to Keep Silence... Just posted a normally behind paywall (Slightly Foxed) review on the PLF.

https://patrickleighfermor.org/2024/11/09/studying-to-be-quiet/

>229 LesMiserables: Thanks. I've just ordered a copy. Perhaps the 'less Baroque style' will be easier to embrace.

>230 DukeOfOmnium: You'll enjoy I'm sure about it. Despite his non-belief his charity and open-mindedness is a reminder of the way society once was.

Today:
I ordered Stanford Nietzsche vol 17 hardcover for $50 USD new from Amazon. I'd like to get the whole series in hardcover some day, but waiting for deals.

And I picked up "Travels with Charley" for $3 at a thrift store. Will probably never read it, but for that price why not.

Finally found a copy of 84, Charing Cross Road for a reasonable $30US.

I got to keep a VG copy of Eugene Onegin for free because it had been wrongly graded as Fine.

I ordered Gulliver's Travels LE for sub $100... it would be awesome if the right book arrives but more likely I'll end up with a free SE (or junk, or nothing).

I ordered Sayers Crime Collection w/ split slipcase for $52 USD, seems like an OK deal as they've been going for $100+ on eBay lately.

Found Shackleton's Boat Journey and Machiavelli's The Prince. Both books I wanted to read at some point but were a low priority. But for 25 bucks, why not.

I ordered Tolstoy Collected Stories set for $45 USD shipped.

I ordered The Odyssey (Fagles translation) from ThriftBooks for $15 USD shipped in VG condition. I wonder if the right book is going to show up.....

>236 newbiecollector17: If the condition is good, that Tolstoy collection is an excellent purchase.

In the last week I ordered two editions from ebay (84 Charing Cross Road and Anne of Green Gables. AofGG never arrived and the seller refunded my money, then relisted the book for $20 more than I had paid. 84 got here today and it isn't a folio society book.

>237 coynedj: Yea, lucky find on Facebook Marketplace. Appeared excellent condition with an excellent slipcase. :-)

>236 newbiecollector17: I found the Tolstoy collection for a good price from an overseas seller, and when it arrived it was packaged in only a covering of brown paper - not even a cardboard box. The slipcase has a huge split along one edge but luckily the books themselves miraculously arrived in very good condition. One of the most bewildering book purchases I have received.

Aside from that, a lovely set that I look forward to reading through!

This is a friendly reminder to ignore poster 239 above, until our admins ban him again.

Received fine copy of Alexandria Quartet via eBay for 87 usd delivered. Well packaged and speedy delivery to boot.

>241 BorisG:

Thanks for that. The usual advice for dealing with trolls and other nuisances applies - just ignore them. Unfortunately any infrequent visitor to FSD may not be aware that the various iterations of newbiecollector are the same person.

>240 PJ-Reads: Nice! It's a big risk to buying sets second hand, but I don't care that much anymore as I've repaired a number of slipcases already so what's another one. The big book sellers I find are the worst.

I’ve recently purchased from Django6924 copies of Boswell and Johnson’s Journals of the Western Isles and Austen-Leigh’s Memoir of Jane Austen.

"Tales of the Unexpected" by Roald Dahl. I've always considered getting the paperback boxed set of this, as I love the TV shows and can still remember them vividly - modest production budget and all, but I'm glad I held off and acquired a fine copy of the Folio edition for a very good price.

Piranesi, Player of Games and User of Weapons. I was on the fence about Piranesi because of the paper cover but it does seem right up my alley and I guess that FOMO email FS send about it selling out worked.

I blind ordered "very good" condition LotR 1979 edition for 50 pounds. Fingers crossed the leather won't be too damaged or discolored.

>253 rogerthat2: at that price the risk is pretty reasonable.

I've had a bit of a fill-in of my FS desires.

So ordered;
Dune trilogy
A Night to Remember
Japanese Tales

The first to replace my completely decayed old paperbacks, and the latter two because I'm a weak person subject to temptation!

>255 DukeOfOmnium:

You won't regret either of the latter two. Succumbing to temptation is not always a bad thing.

I didn't think I was going to make any further direct purchase after the whole "ROW"/price increase thing but then there was Dispatches - by Michael Herr with photography by Tim Page.

It's on the way.

Really a very small price to pay to remember what was; The Vietnam War, and keep it real.
History recorded as it should be, I think. Respect.

I'm pretty sure this one is going to end up tear stained.

>254 snottlebocket: Arrived today and unfortunately it's a junk copy. Not Folio Society, not 1979, not hardcover, etc. Dsappointing as I've ordered from the same bookseller a few times before and recieved the correct editions.

Big box from England arrived at my doorstep! If you are going to ship books, make it a big order!

The Bertrams (Complete Novels of Anthony Trollope)
Trollope, Anthony
ISBN 10: 1870587286 / ISBN 13: 9781870587280
Published by Trollope Society, 1993

Castle Richmond (Complete Novels of Anthony Trollope)
Trollope, Anthony
ISBN 10: 1870587359 / ISBN 13: 9781870587358
Published by Trollope Society, 1994

Cousin Henry (Complete Novels of Anthony Trollope)
Trollope, Anthony
ISBN 10: 1870587308 / ISBN 13: 9781870587303
Published by Trollope Society, 1993

The Kellys and the OKellys or landlords and tenants
Anthony Trollope
Published by The Trollope Society, 1992
ISBN 10: 1870587235 / ISBN 13: 9781870587235

Is He Popenjoy? (Complete Novels of Anthony Trollope)
Trollope, Anthony
ISBN 10: 1870587642 / ISBN 13: 9781870587648
Published by Trollope Society, 1998

The Last Chronicle of Barset (Complete Novels of Anthony Trollope)
Trollope, Anthony
ISBN 10: 1870587693 / ISBN 13: 9781870587693
Published by Trollope Society, 1997

Cousin Henry (Complete Novels of Anthony Trollope)
Trollope, Anthony
ISBN 10: 1870587308 / ISBN 13: 9781870587303
Published by Trollope Society, 1993

Dr Wortles School
Anthony Trollope
Published by The Folio Society, 1989

The Belton Estate
Anthony Trollope
Published by The Folio Society, 1991

The War of the End of the World
Mario Vargas Llosa
Published by The Folio Society, 2012

Lady Anna
Published by The Folio Society, 1990

Rob Roy
Walter Scott
Published by The Folio Society, 2001

Just received Pandaemonium and Piranesi. The former has a beautiful thick paper, used for both text and illustrations. This allowed FS to be quite creative with the layout.

FS is usually too expensive for me to buy anything but an absolute favorite, but things have been rough for me lately, and an absurdly generous friend means I'll have Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell next week sometime.

Bit the bullet and bought an SE edition of the Heaney Beowulf. It is an extremely elegant book inside and out.

Does anyone know if there is a name for the type of shimmery cloth used? It has a two-tone look to it. It is similar to "In Parenthesis" and "The Call of Cthulhu".

Very happy with this purchase.

>262 PartTimeBookAddict: Folio 76 describes Cthulhu as 'full green-purple cloth'. Another example would be the 2017 Defeat into Victory. I assume a two-tone effect would require at least two colours of yarns and fabric treatments like calendering, mercerization or starching. Thank you AI! :)

>261 Watry: that sounds like a wonderful friend, and a great pick!

>263 mr.philistine: Willing to be entirely wrong in the matter, I assumed it was a combination of a warp thread in one colour, and the weft in the other. For Cthulhu therefore, the threads of one direction will be in green, and the threads perpendicular to the green will be in purple.

>263 mr.philistine: Yeah. Defeat into Victory is another great example. I really like the effect.

>265 FitzJames: That makes sense. But the metallic sheen visible in the covers of these titles would require some level of processing/ polishing, unless metallic threads were used.

>266 PartTimeBookAddict: Yet another 'shimmering' example might be the 1957 Salome reviewed here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/328960

or the slipcase (to mine eyes!) of the undated 2018 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam reviewed here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/331986

>265 FitzJames: >267 mr.philistine: The type of cloth for Cthulhu and other 2 tone covers is most likely some Dubletta or Coloretta from Van Heek Textiel.
https://www.vanheektextiles.nl/en/products/cover-materials/qualities/natural-fin...
https://www.vanheektextiles.nl/en/products/cover-materials/qualities/natural-fin...

I received a fine copy of Rumi for $20 CAD. Thanks thrift books! They are now 3/50 for sending the correct book.

I ordered the Hercule Poirot set for $60 CAD shipped from UK from WeBuyBooks via Amazon UK. They have yet to not honor an order so I'm hopeful, but I see they shut down their Amazon CA store and raised shipping cost to Canada on abe by 10x recently, probably due to our postal strike, so we'll see if they honor this.

Ordered the LE Aedeid for $300 CAD.

Ordered:
Canterbury Tales LE for $200 CAD.
Foucault's Pendulum for $60 CAD.

>270 rogerthat2: that’s a steal for Fouccault’s Pendulum! How did you manage that?

>271 PJ-Reads: I check new listings once or twice a day when I'm not busy and it happened to have just been listed, so I ordered it. There were no pictures on the listing so I won't celebrate until it actually arrives and is the correct book!

>272 rogerthat2: You order any old stuff and wait until it arrives before deciding it's actually what they were selling/what you wanted?

Is your house full up with piles of crap?

>273 Cat_of_Ulthar: If not the folio society edition as advertised, I would get a refund and either keep it discard the book. Hopefully it will be the correct book!

Ordered:
Sutcliff 3 books - $130 CAD.
Chronicles of Narnia sealed (not sure which version) - $150 CAD.
Jane Austen 7 set sealed - $65 CAD.

Ordered:
Just So Stories LE - $350 CAD

This book collecting is getting to be too expensive. I need to start selling some to free up funds.

Just received my copy of Shogun and A Wizard of Eathsea. Very nice.

Ordered 2014 Treasure Island for $25.

Received my sealed Austen and Narnia. Struggling to decide which version of Narnia set to keep. The blue spines look very smart, but the green spines with gold slipcase set has more character.

Listed some books for sale to free up funds... 101 dalmatians sold... Now I regret selling it! But I know I'll find another copy at a cheap price some day....

Received the new SE of 1984. Very nice and I no longer regret passing up the LE at half off. Could do without the sprayed edges but they're in-keeping with the overall design aesthetic and I do like what they've done with the binding. Happy with it but would be interested to hear a comparison with the previous SE if anyone ends up with both of them.

>280 cyber_naut: There is a really detailed video from a youtuber going by Upgrade Your Books on two older editions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeowuCw4NCE

There's a teaser at the end of the video about the LE as well. He has many FS overviews worth checking out.

I recently ordered a copy of "Slaughterhouse-Five" because of the review he did on that book.

>281 PartTimeBookAddict: Thank you - always interested to find new YouTubers that do good book videos.

>282 cyber_naut: He gets into some pretty granular details about font and margin sizes. Well researched.

It would be nice to have Ubiquitousuk come out of retirement. His videos are also really good.

I ordered Black Beauty for $25 USD, a decent deal that popped up on eBay the other day.

I just happened to see it 10 seconds after it was listed.

I've seen a number of other deals recently that sold within minutes before I noticed them. Clearly you'd have to monitor eBay in real time if you wanted to beat the regulars to those deals.

I received a £15 discount code by email. They got me! I ordered my number one want, God Emperor of Dune. Looking forward to Heretics.

>285 NLNils: any chance you could share the code?

Received my second winter collection order today (Shogun, Poe, The Lottery) but, more importantly, this one came with the new Winter Magazine, which is at a larger size than recent magazines. The second notebook should come in handy as well as I gave the first one to my wife who happened to notice it laying around on the counter...

I won the 1971 War and Peace LE for $180. More competition than I was hoping considering that I got a bid in before the seller could fill out the listing information. Lots of losers who watch eBay all day!

I received a very nice collection of Folio Society books for Christmas.

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
The Castle of Otranto
A Bright Shining Lie
The Once and Future King
and the 8 volume set of The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire (when I'll get around to reading this set, I do not know.)

This will give me lots to get to this winter. Hopefully everyone here got some nice books for the holidays.

Santa gave me God Emperor of Dune and the last two Eathsea books. I’m quite happy.

>290 Noel_G: Santa always comes through!

>291 Goran: Yes!

Ah darn it, I wanted to wait for the New Year Sale for ordering, but A Night to Remember was down to 4 items…I had to place an order, because I probably would have hated myself to miss it. So I ordered it together with the last two Earthsea volumes I was still missing and the Endless Night by Agatha Christie.

Now I hope there isn’t anything good in the sale, because the Express
Delivery of £32 is really a bit too much for ordering one or two books from the sale.

Which is the reason I missed the Ernest Shackleton book when it was just £10…still hate myself for not ordering it. 🤣
Especially as it is now sold for more than £70 on the secondary market

>293 woodstock8786: Got left out in the cold on that Shackleton?

>294 Cardboard_killer: well I probably left myself out in the cold. In the end it was stupid and I learned my lesson. 😅
And A Night to remember is now sold out. Even if it will be back in print at one point, I think it was better to buy it this time around

>295 woodstock8786: Yes, you didn't miss the boat on that one!

My December order of A Canticle for Leibowitz, Piranesi, and God Emperor of Dune has arrived! They look wonderful - now I need to start reading my FS books more often, so I can compete next year with the lists being posted in the How Many FS Books Did You Read in 2025 thread.

Its been a busy (and expensive!) December and January! I had collected a handful of Folios over the years but the collecting bug has seriously bitten me recently. Over this month and a half I ordered and received:

(I hope pictures are ok in this thread)

- Both Fagles Homer volumes
- All the Austen SE books except for Mansfield Park—will get it later as I balance want vs stock levels.
- Wuthering Heights and Wildfell Hall—Jane Eyre as above.
- Consider Phlebas and The Use of Weapons by Banks (the trauma from reading the later still lingers years later).



- Piranesi
- Dostoyevsky stories
- Gatsby
- Turn of the Screw
- Two of the Earthsea books—rest to gather up within this year



The Gormenghast Trilogy
Bonus: Mervyn Peake's Mr Pye by Extraordinary Editions—which certainly lives up to the namesake of its publisher.

The Left Hand of Darkness
Bonus: The Gollancz Emporium anniversary LE of The Dispossesed—Seems to be on par with Folio SEs in terms of quality.



Took advantage of the sale for a couple of non-fic books which would not have been very high priority otherwise

- Everest
- The Right Stuff (I do want Man on the Moon as well but I decided to pass for now)



- Songs of Innocence and Experience—This is a beautiful volume, love the facsimiles of Blakes hand illuminated manuscript and you also get easier to read print versions of the poems at the back.



- Rupert Brooke: Selected Poems— I took advantage of the sale here. I can't believe there are copies of this gorgeous, letterpress printed, true fine press edition is still available 10 years on. I shall be on the hunt for the other two volumes in the series.





Time to take a breather whew! Will focus on some second hand acquisitions in the near future.

>298 zorg2099: Wow, that’s a great haul. You have been busy.

>299 assemblyman: Haha indeed! You may guess from the background in some of the pictures I need new bookshelves urgently :P

>298 zorg2099: Really nice selection. Beefs up the shelves quickly.

I'm curious . . . in-hand, what are the top three of this bunch that seem like they are a step above the others?

>301 BreakBeatDJ: Hmm, top two is easy:

Rupert Brooke is a gorgeous volume. The paper, the slip case, the letterpress printing, the leather quarter binding, the artwork, and the gorgeous paste paper on the boards all add up to a truly fine book.

Gormenghast is another real standout. I love the covers and the slip case. The artwork and type setting is where it really shines though. I think the artwork is a perfect fit for the tone and content of the book and there are over 140 illustrations across the 3 volumes. The way most of them are integrated into the text and the creative use of the margins make for a really delightful reading experience.

I'm leaving out Mr Pye here since its from a different publisher but if we count it then its definitely in the top 3 of the bunch. Top 2 even.

For the third slot I think although Everest looks great its more of a coffee table book. Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience feels more special with its solander box, the gorgeous facsimiles and the paper is very nice with a distinct texture too. I don't know if the fine press connoisseurs consider a bona fide fine press edition like Brooke but it feels at least close to me in many ways though I'm still learning first hand I guess.

>302 zorg2099: Thanks so much for the detailed reply. There seems to be a lot of love for Songs of Innocence and Experience. Sorta wish I'd grabbed it during the sale. Congrats on all the great editions.

>303 BreakBeatDJ: Thanks and you're welcome too! I just took a look and there's still 411 copies left of Blake so it will probably make it to the summer sale at least if you're not keen on it at full price.

Received Man on the Moon and Neverwhere yesterday from the winter sale. Both are beautiful and I'm looking forward to reading them. It might just be me, but the ink used in Neverwhere seems to pop out from the page like I've never seen before in another book.

>298 zorg2099: Thanks for sharing your lovely photos!

I received my three sale purchases today. Venetia is the stand out; the binding cloth seems to shimmer and shift hue when you tilt it side to side.

>305 Goran: Congrats! Man on the moon is definitely on my wish-list, I pushed it down the list a bit though since there's plenty of stock. The eight-folds look especially spectacular.

>306 BooksFriendsNotFood: Glad you enjoyed the photos!

Just ordered, yet to receive, a used and inexpensive A Spy's Bedside Book.

Letterpress Hamlet just arrived! I'll post some more pictures in a separate thread when I have the time to take a few more.

>310 zorg2099: Nice! I also got my first letterpress Shakespeare the other day and it was Hamlet too as that was the one we did when I was at school and I actually enjoyed it. The letterpress production is gorgeous and I really appreciate the companion book.

>311 anthonyfawkes: I never participated in a school play but I started with Hamlet since its my favourite, not a very original choice but I guess there's a good reason its Shakespeare's most popular play :P

I also have Macbeth and Julius Caesar coming in soonish but that will probably be it for a little while.

The Oxford University Press companion might be almost a little overwhelming for me! But it is definitely nice having one of the most comprehensive commentaries alongside such a pure rendition of the text. In practice I may refer to a more concise commentary when needed as I pick up some of the less familiar works eventually.

My sale order arrived today. The Hitchhiker books are smaller than I thought they would be for some reason, but glitzy! Also, a very generous amount of illustrations, like the FS of old. An illustration every 25 pages.

I ordered Fahrenheit 451 for $50 CAD shipped.

You paid 5 times retail, haven’t followed actual market prices.

A few more additions!

Got the Doctor Zhivago standard edition translated by the Pasternak-Slaters who just did the recent Anna Karenina LE. I think its quite a handsome looking set and I'm hoping the Anna Karenina SE that everyone is expecting will be of a similar style and spec.



The Goblin Market and Selected Poems by Christina Rossetti. I think the artwork in this volume is quite beautiful both inside and out. Plain slipcase not pictured here.



This was a little bit of an impulse buy since it was quite cheap. A small 2cm tear on page 26 was one reason but its a lovely Folio Press fine edition. The moiré silk is very nice and the moiré (the wavy interference pattern) shimmers very pleasingly as the light plays across it. I think the marbled paper also looks fantastic with a dense peacock feather type pattern. Apparently the woodcut illustrations were printed directly from the wooden block for the first time in a while for Folio and its letterpress printed on mould made paper. It was never sold with a slip case unfortunately, just a clear plastic dust jacket not pictured here.



I also managed to find the other two volumes in the WWI poets series to add to the Brooke volume I picked up during the New Year sale. The Edward Thomas book shares 15 out of 50+ poems with These Things are Also Spring's (42 poems). All three are printed letterpress on Zerkal smooth paper and have paste paper sides. I like the binding of Rupert Brooke the most but I'm most impressed by the artwork in Wilfred Owen.



And finally! I picked up two more volumes of the Letterpress Shakespeare. Macbeth and Julius Caesar added to Hamlet.

>317 zorg2099: That must have been an expensive haul ! I'm keen to get the WW1 poets set too - got the Brooke in the sale but the other two especially Wilfred Owen are quite expensive in the secondary market. I suspect Brooke will finally sell out in the next sale unless FS raise the price again. Enjoy your books !

>318 RavenSeeker: Thank you and yes it was a bit of a hit to the wallet hehe but quite worthwhile. Good luck with your search for the rest of the set!

Just bought an ebay sale copy of Anne of Green Gables for a very low price of 18 USD. Keeping my fingers crossed that it is real. Seller has good feedback and lots of it, and has what looks to be an actual picture . . . RR The World Wonders RR

Edit: nope. junky puffin copy.

I got a voucher earlier than anticipated so The Lottery and Other Dark Tales came today. Very nice matching set all together with WHALITC and THOHH. I feel a little guilty for starting to read what was planned to be my birthday present but I can't resist an excuse to read more Shirley Jackson. I did notice that the slipcase feels a bit tight and the print on the board is staining the inside of the slipcase but oh well.

A Bear called Paddington is back in stock. I regretted missing it before it sold out at Christmas because my 18 y/o son has always loved the character and stories. A late Christmas gift but hopefully he'll like it!

I just received The Book of the New Sun SE. I have wanted it since it’s release but the quality issues at the time put me off. It’s currently made at L.E.G.O. S.p.A. in Italy and I am very happy with the quality. It took a funny bit of FOMO for me to finally pull the trigger. The Gormenghast SE was on a low count and while I had decided to get the older edition I started having second thoughts when I saw the count run down. In the end I let it go but found myself buying The Book of the New Sun instead. I’m glad I did it. The older Gormenghast is also on the way in the post just to scratch that itch.

>323 assemblyman: I love my copy of the older Gormenghast. It may not have the bells and whistles of the new version, but it comes at a much lower price, especially considering that I already own it. I try not to reach for ever higher levels of superbness - the old one is plenty superb enough for me.

I do like the current edition but I just found that I preferred the aesthetic and illustrations of the older version. Picking it up for half the price of the current one helped too :)

Just received a nice copy of Longitude by Dava Sobel off of ebay. Its been a while since I read it but I remember really enjoying it and so just picked up the Folio edition after seeing it for $35.

Ordered from ebay, Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford. Seems common in the UK, but prices are a bit higher here in the US.

>327 Cardboard_killer: It's a lovely edition. I picked it up myself a few weeks back. I really like James Albon's illustrations for it.

I had just ordered Canticle for Leibowitz (right before the big email blast!), Mansfield Park and Hamnet and was met with a minor miracle. I actually got an automated email telling me my order was dispatched with the tracking number and the order status on the website shows as dispatched!

For my last 7 orders, I didn't get a dispatch email and had to obtain tracking numbers by writing in. And in fact the order status for the older orders still shows as "processing" despite having being delivered a while back :P

Its a minor thing but I appreciate the convenience now that they've fixed whatever the issue was with their system. I don't think I was the only one not receiving the automated dispatch emails.

Should have received Canticle for Leibowitz and Shogun a few hours ago. Apparently my imaginary self signed the delivery and received it already - hope he is satisfied with both books :).
(Already contacted Fedex, hopefully just a mistake)

After this small hiccup, my order arrived. I am especially pleased with Canticle - really nice production as a LE-derived SE.

>331 bluerx: Glad you got it safe and sound! That "delivered" status must have been quite concerning. Looking forward to my copy of Canticle by Tuesday hopefully.

Just ordered "Children of Dune". Now I have a dilemma. What next:

"God Emperor of Dune"
One of the two Murakami's I don't have
"Consider Phlebas", to start the Banks collection

I just received my two copies of The Last Unicorn here in the US. Unfortunately, the top rear of one of them is fairly well crushed, both slip case and one corner of the book itself. Having reached out to customer service toward the end of the workday in the UK, I did get a quick response asking me to send photographs, which I did, but haven't yet gotten a reply.

Can anyone give me a sense of how they'll handle the complaint?

EDIT: Apparently I posted about a minute too soon. I just received an email saying they're sending a replacement with expedited shipping. What a class act!

I ordered letterpress The Tempest which popped up on eBay for $40. The book is warped (bent), but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to straighten it out. Is the slipcased version without commentary volume. I'm mostly just curious what the letterpress Shakespeare are like.

>335 rogerthat2:
This version has the same printed pages as the Letterpress Shakespeare, but a different binding and is housed in a slipcase rather than a Solander case.

>336 wcarter: I think the binding is the same. :-)

>337 rogerthat2:
Nope.
See
HERE.
and
HERE.

>338 wcarter: New to me, but:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/117084741601

Yup, the early letterpress Shakespeare volumes were optionally slipcase or box.

>340 rogerthat2:
Confusing because the Letterpress Shakespeare originally came in slipcase and Solander, later ones only in Solander. The FS then release the unused printed pages of Twelfth Night as a stand alone volume that was not very successful and no more were bound in the same way.
Mea culpa, I thought you had ordered Twelfth Night, not The Tempest.

>329 zorg2099: "I had just ordered Canticle for Leibowitz (right before the big email blast!), Mansfield Park and Hamnet"

With Hamnet in stock numbers coming down, I'm thinking about grabbing one. How is it in hand? Anyone else have an opinion on this edition? Versus other editions of this book?

>342 BreakBeatDJ: All my packages from Europe and North America transit through the middle-east hubs, the war broke out before the package could get to me so the Folio order is still languishing in Paris CDG. One of my other packages from Conversation Tree made it to me today (was just writing a review in the Fine Press Group) but I have several other packages stuck while UPS/Fedex/DHL figure out alternative routes.

I'll have to wait a while before I can give any thoughts on it!

Edit: However, as far as I know, the FS edition is the only high quality production of Hamnet so I don't think there's much to compare to if you want a nice edition.

>343 zorg2099: That's a bummer bud. I hate hearing that, on a lot of levels, tbh. Thanks though. Someone else will hopefully chime in.

I just got my order on Friday of . . .

• Gatsby
• Martian
• Unicorn

So, I have three to read.

>342 BreakBeatDJ: I really like the FS Hamnet, classic FS experience. Can’t compare to other versions, sorry!

>345 RRCBS: Thanks for that. I have a strict - no books on the shelves I haven't read - rule. I've read Gatsby, so that only leaves me with two to enjoy before Hamnet would arrive here in Virginia, USA, which is completely doable.

I want to read Hamnet before seeing the movie. I'll probably wait until it gets down to 10 copies left and get one of the first printing run. I believe it's down to 150-ish.

>346 BreakBeatDJ: There's always the danger they send out an email when they're down to 50 or so copies. Last couple of times that happened they got snapped up rather quickly (like with Canticle). Just to keep in mind if you're keen on a first impression copy.

>347 zorg2099: Yeah, thanks for the reminder. That's exactly what happened to me with Canticle. I think I got one of the last 10. Appreciate it.

The Last Unicorn arrived damaged, the slipcase was not assembled correctly causing ripples and folds. I sent The FS an email with pictures and they’re sending a new one, both slipcase and book. They did not ask for this one back. That seems generous and a bit unnecessary. All I needed was a slipcase. But that’s great customer service.

>349 BreakBeatDJ: I've had a couple of damaged slipcases and the offer was new book or money back. FS customer service is generally great.

>350 A.Godhelm: Okay, thanks. So what do you do with the extra book? I'd donate it somewhere but . . . feels odd to put a $100 book at goodwill.

My Ulysses LE arrived with a damaged slipcase. FS sent a new slipcase.

>351 BreakBeatDJ: Give it to a book loving friend? Or give someone a real treat at a book swap shelf at a library.

>351 BreakBeatDJ: I've had a couple replacement copies over the years. I give them to my library and they've sold them in their annual fundraiser.

>354 PartTimeBookAddict: Great idea. Our goodwill and other thrift shops have a lot of ebay treasure hunters. I see them in there when I drop stuff off. I would hate for this just be bought for $10 then sold for $100 by a flipper.

Just received a small order. Was going to wait and bundle international shipping with a summer order, but wanted to get a copy of Weird Tales before it sold out.

Ordered Perdido Street Station, Conrad’s Fate and H is for Hawk along with Weird Tales. Hawk and Weird Tales are classic FS, very happy to have them. Perdido is really nice too and grateful they do a standard edition! The Wynne Jones volumes are beautiful as well. Small but impressive order! Only downside is that now I’ll have to wait til October to place another order, as I refuse to pay international shipping more than twice per year!

Ordered Band of Brothers and Hamnet.

Made a couple of eBay purchases: S.P.Q.R. by Mary Beard plus The Once and Future King by T.H. White. They are going to my package forwarding service for consolidation though, I might wait to add a couple more items before initiating shipping so won't be in hand for a while.

>355 BreakBeatDJ: You think we treasure hunters aren't buying from the library sales as well ;-)?

>359 dhowarth333: Haha!!!! Well, I ask for the secret password to find you out, but so far no one knows it (Don't Dog-Ear, Don't Break-The-Spine, wink wink), so I assume they're ebay-ers. :)

After exactly 1 month since I placed the order, Fedex finally managed to deliver these! With Mansfield Park my gold set is complete and I'm quite looking forward to reading Hamnet and Canticle soon. I flipped through some of the earlier pages in Canticle and it does look like a standout production in a similar vein to Gormenghast.

>361 zorg2099: Nice set of books. I finished Canticle last week and ordered Hamnet right before it went oos, so should have it in hand in a couple of weeks.

I was going to start grabbing the gold Austen's but someone suggested they may do an SE set based on last years LE, so I decided to hold off (I hadn't gotten any of them yet). But, they look like lovely editions.

>362 BreakBeatDJ: Thanks! And re. Austen almost certain at this point I think since the gold editions have been gradually going out of stock consistently labelled Last Chance with no restock notification. I think it must be a question of when not if they will launch new editions with the artwork from last year's limited edition which I do rather like and all by the same artist. I don't love some of the art in the gold editions but I do quite like the gold bindings.

Thanks to this thread https://www.librarything.com/topic/378750#n9164675 I just bought a copy of Mr. Norris Changes Trains and The Loved One to go with my The Pride of Miss Jean Brody from two sellers on ebay.

February's order took over a month but March's made good time. Received:

- The Last Unicorn
- Frankenstein
- Weird Tales
- The Farthest Shore

I briefly flipped through the early pages of The Last Unicorn (which I've not read) and it looks like a beautiful production with lots of nice little touches. As has been recently the case, SEs derived from LEs seem like very good buys. Same goes for Frankenstein too with extensive illustrations.

Weird Tales seems like a good spot to start my intention of more broadly exploring the genre of Weird literature.

The Farthest Shore adds to The Tombs of Atuan and The Other Wind to make it 3/6 of the Earthsea books. They are long time favourites I've read many times over. As such I'm collecting the Folio editions out of order with an eye on the remaining stock to prioritise them.

A bonus a non Folio book I received at the same time—The 1990 Unwin Hyman De Luxe Hobbit (1st and only Unwin Hyman, 5th impression overall). Its a lovely book bound in buckram with foiled detailing that contrasts very nicely against the black. Its comparable in size, thickness and reading comfort to the Folio Hobbit SE edition and features Tolkien's 13 original illustrations.

Also made a couple of Arthurian eBay purchases:
- 2010 History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth
- 1982 Chronicles of King Arthur by Thomas Malory (3v cloth bound SE)

Both were pretty reasonable prices (£38). They are waiting shipment to me in a package forwarding facility though.

>364 Cardboard_killer: Congratulations. Quite apart from the Beryl Cook illustrations, these are wonderful novels

>364 Cardboard_killer: Nice books. It's worth getting Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin as well, although they didn't do it in the same style as Mr. Norris Changes Trains.

Both books are usually collected together by other publishers as Isherwood's "Berlin Stories"

Just received one of a two-volume order: The Last Unicorn, which, alas, arrived with a punt to a corner of the slipcase and the volume within as well.

No fault should lie with the post here, squarely Folio: volumes whose slipcase measures 10 ¼" x 7 ¾" should never be sent housed inside a soft card box whose internal dimensions are 11" x 9", bare ⅜" of space to both north and south and ⅝" of space to both east and west.

Using such inferior card for their boxes, too soft and too thin, is a false economy when compared to the value of the contents.

>368 FitzJames: As I said above, exact same damage on mine although yours sounds a little worse. I don’t remember if I reported, but they sent me a replacement very quickly. I hope you get one too. I’m assuming they hold back some first printings for replacements, or will you have to wait for the second printing?

>369 BreakBeatDJ: You did indeed! I had assumed yours was sent damaged (or improperly made to begin with) and not damage acquired in sending. Mine was very much a previously perfect copy rendered imperfect through insufficient thought in packaging that is just so needless.

It'll be a second printing sometime next month for my replacement, 'tis only a SE, so no copies would be held back. I'd hoped the corner of the slipcase alone bore the damage and the book, unscathed, could be simply married to the replacement's slipcase, but no. Slipcase drove into at a north-westerly heading, and continued onwards with vigour into the tail of the spine.

>370 FitzJames: You know, I have two good copies (book) of the first printing (although one has been read gently without gloves). If you’d prefer a first printing I’d be happy to swap your second with one of my firsts, which will get sold or donated anyway. Not sure if that matters to you or not, or where you are located.

Received Hamnet and Band of Brothers. The box was not as filled with packing as my first two orders. More sliding around room. But from an initial glance they are both in great shape.

>368 FitzJames:, >372 BreakBeatDJ:
Is there more than one place packing items for despatch? For different parts of the world? I have never found my Folio parcels to be anything but well and truly stuffed with protective packaging (bubblewrap in the old days; the honeycomb stuff now).

It's not foolproof: I have had to return a couple of items recently which Evri had thrown around so much that the books got damaged. I couldn't fault Folio's packing, however: thick, sturdy cardboard boxes; multiple layers of honeycomb wrapped around the books, no room for them to move around within the package. But the outer boxes themselves were battered and crumpled, indicating their rough handling in transit.

>373 Cat_of_Ulthar: others will know far more than this newbie. I’ve had three packages of 1 , 2, 3 books. This last one with 2 is the one that the books moved around a lot in the box. The other 2 were well packaged. Small sample size so not a reliable data point.

>371 BreakBeatDJ: That is most kind of you indeed! Thank you! I am in New Zealand which will likely thwart your generosity however. I am well aware that there is no substantive difference between a first and second printing. A first would have been a nice to have, but between an imperfect first, and a perfect second, I'll gladly take the latter every time. It really is a gorgeous volume.

>373 Cat_of_Ulthar: As to point of despatch, (I assume) there is but one. This will make my third damaged-in-transit Folio volume, tho' this is the only one I would state that, inexplicably, Folio is wholly responsible for.

Gormenghast, my previous order arrived in a much heavier gauge and gsm card box, as befitting its size and weight, and was honeycombed to the hilt. I usually only order titles singly or in pairs, and the same level of wrapping had held true for at least the previous six orders.

The Last Unicorn is unusual (to me) in that Folio split a two-volume order w. The Great Gatsby, neither especially thick and side-by-side the same height, sending them singly. They used much less honeycombing than usual too. So even tho' the box was no more damaged in transit than many previous orders, the contents had not the slightest hope of being as unscathed. It's the only time Folio's usually fine packaging has been distinctly sub-par, and the damaged volume was no surprise as a result.

And then the following day, The Great Gatsby arrived pristine swathed in more than twice the length of honeycombing... in the same sized box. Swathed so greatly in point of fact, that the box bulged outwardly, and therein lies the rub and its preservation.

I ordered 2 copies of Box of Delights. For around $40 total. Will resell one and keep one.

Bought a copy of The Anatomy of Melancholy off ebay for $100 delivered. A bit of a blind buy based on what appears to be a really nice looking two {sic three} volume set.

>377 Cardboard_killer: ...The Anatomy of Melancholy...a really nice looking two volume set.

You mean 3-volume set?

>378 mr.philistine: Oops, yes, of course!

Well, after really being in a bit of a sulk with regards to Folio, and their apparent abandonment of the Banks series I was encouraged by posts on another thread (abandoned series) that they might not be doing so.

Thus I now own the 'Making of the Atomic Bomb' and 'Hidden Life of Trees' - in both cases they seem to be great acquisitions.

Got a whole bunch of books today courtesy of the package forwarder as well as direct from Folio.

From Folio I got:

- The Wilson Iliad and the Odyssey (to join the Fagles set).
- The Ladies of Grace Adieu & Other Stories
- Station Eleven


The answer to the raging debate on which Homer to read is of course to get all of them :P Caroline Alexander's Iliad is on loan and I still need to acquire the Everyman's Fitzgerald Iliad, the Daniel Mendhelson Odyssey and maybe a vintage Pope set.

And directly from TheFolioVault

- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner & Three Other Poems LE quarter bound in vellum. My first vellum bound book!



Various boxes from the forwarders included:

- Three Kingdoms 4v set in crushed silk (translated by Moss Roberts)
- In Search of Lost Time 6v
- Melmoth the Wanderer


I might do dedicated picture review post for this if wcarter hasn't already done so. The crushed silk binding looks fantastic.

And finally the last few books rounding out a full "circumnavigation" of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. I actually haven't read them all yet, having gotten up to The Yellow Admiral on Kobo e-books. So I will be finishing the series with Folio and will look forward to a second circumnavigation entirely with the Folio editions. I'm really delighted to have finally completed this set.


This arrangement is temporary. I have new bookcases coming and the full set should fit on one shelf on the new ones.

>381 zorg2099: A very impressive haul! Let us know your opinion on the various Homer translations!

>381 zorg2099: Wow! Are those Peter Greens the hardcovers from the box set or are they the paperbacks? Love your pick-ups!

>382 coynedj: Haha I doubt I can add anything too insightful to the mountains of what's already been said online :P

For what its worth, thus far I've read R.Fagles, E.Wilson (on paperback before the folios came out) and C.Alexander who is by far my favourite but she only did the Iliad and has no plans for the Odyssey. I take every opportunity to wish for someone somewhere to release a small press or fine press edition of her translation.

The others are on the TBR list. I'll probably try P.Greene, R.Fitzgerald and R.Lattimore in that order over the next couple of years or so.

>383 HonorWulf: Yup those are the hardcovers from the boxset. Not read them yet as mentioned above but I was pleased they at least have a sewn binding which is increasingly rare with mainstream hardcovers. I keep them out of the box as my sample was very loose with a substantial gap to the sides which were also bowed in, it looked quite odd.

>384 zorg2099: I was tempted to make my usual pitch for Pope, but as it happens I received my copy of The Wanderer today, and came across this in Michael Alexander's Note on the Translation:

"When scientific philology arrived from Germany, accuracy became the supreme criterion in assessing translation. It was already a dominant criterion for the classical scholar Richard Bentley. When his opinion of Alexander Pope's translation of the Iliad was sought, Dr. Bentley eventually had to say to the translator, 'A very pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but you must not call it Homer.' Yet Dr. Johnson, an excellent classicist, later judged Pope's Iliad 'a performance which no age or nation can pretend to equal.' Scholars since have decided to side with Bentley, but Johnson is the better critic."

>385 RickartAllen: Hehe I was aware of Bentley's infamous review! As I mentioned in the caption, I would like to pick up Pope one day but I think its probably a medium to long term goal. There are a lot of interesting vintage and antiquarian editions out there.

Though I've not read it in full, the poetry is masterful from the excerpts I have come across. I think my preferences still lean more towards the more modern scholarly approach although I think it will be an enjoyable read on its own merits.

>381 zorg2099: I adore your new Folio Homers, and I am sure I would not be alone in saying I'd welcome seeing your bookcases once they are no longer temporary.

>381 zorg2099: Nice hauls!

>387 FitzJames: Will do! The Folio collection has been growing rapidly of late :P

>388 PartTimeBookAddict: Thanks!

The hidden life of trees, god emperor of dune, children of dune, pax, rubicon and station eleven incoming.

I really hope to pick up Tom Holland's Dynasty second hand somewhere. It's a real bummer FS isn't stocking the middle book of the set.

To everyone who has championed the Rupert Brooke LE, you were all correct: it's exquisite. Also, if all paste paper is textured akin to this, then I understand the adoration.

Adding to my Fine Press collection: These Things Are Also Spring's for $50 CAD shipped. Unsure of condition as large seller, hopefully VG+.

>335 rogerthat2:
Amazing purchase, congratulations!

>393 GusLogan: Thanks! Just also ordered Barrack-Room Ballads for $43 CAD shipped. Both coming from UK.

I ordered the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary LE for $90 CAD shipped.