Wish List 2023

For me, first and foremost, I'd love to see more poetry and drama. In the "Wish List 2022" thread, I posted an extensive list of modern and contemporary poets and dramatists whose work I'd love to see FS do, and I won't bother to cut and paste it here. I'll simply add that FS has never done Baudelaire, which is quite surprising, as Les Fleurs du mal is one of the most important works of lyric poetry in all of European literature. I'd love to see Richard Howard's translation of the complete Fleurs receive the FS treatment.

>1 CJDelDotto: I second this. Actually, more French in general would be welcome. Balzac, Zola, and maybe a Proust refresh.

>1 CJDelDotto: I too would like for them to do this one. And now that they've tackled a work by Zora Neale Hurston, I'd like them to also publish Silvina Ocampo. Either a collection of her poems or short stories would be fine.

>1 CJDelDotto: >3 Shadekeep: One can wish but I think Thornwillow or Arion would be more likely to publish such titles. Looking at Folio publications over the past several years I think it's fair to say without upsetting someone that they have taken a different path on what they're willing to publish. There's always hope...

>4 Joshbooks1: I agree, FS seems to occupy a specific niche by-and-large and I consider it unlikely they will ever splash out on a comparatively unknown name (in the English-speaking world) like Ocampo. I was honestly surprised (and very pleased) to see Hurston show up, but given that she wrote in English she had a leg up compared to translated authors. Given the forthcoming dispatch from Thornwillow, I concur that they are a likely home for such authors instead.

One title I've mentioned before that I'd really like to see FS bring out is The Phantom Tollbooth. That would be an immediate buy for me in a finely bound and handsomely printed edition.

>4 Joshbooks1: I have yet to purchase any titles from Thornwillow, but I'd love to acquire their Waste Land to have in tandem with the FS Waste Land that I bought back in October.

More new authors and titles they haven't already published.

Currently their focus is on a lot of series from the same authors or reprints/new versions of past titles and I would like to see more that are completely fresh and surprising.

>6 CJDelDotto: No Reply Press is also working on an edition of that which you may want to check out once it becomes available. (Also see item in this listing here.)

I would love to see Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder.

>2 L.Bloom: I think that if Folio were to publish something French this year, the most likely work would be Arsene Lupin thanks to the super succesful Netflix series.

>10 dyhtstriyk: That does fit the pattern of the snake eating itself decision model we have seen. Book gets made > film/TV adaptation gets made > book gets made again...

“Shall we for ever make new books, as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring only out of one vessel into another?”

― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

I still have hopes for The English Patient.

Or a facsimile of Red Magic, illustrated by Kay Nielsen. I don't have a clue why, but while a lot of his other titles have been republished, this one hasn't been.

>12 SF-72: The English Patient would be excellent, as it has some of the most beautiful prose of any novel I've ever read in my life.

And on the subject of outstanding contemporary fiction, I'd love to see editions of people like Toni Morrison beyond Beloved (e.g., The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon), Don DeLillo, Philip Roth, and Colson Whitehead.

>2 L.Bloom:
Actually, more French in general would be welcome. Balzac, Zola, and maybe a Proust refresh.
Not a chance. Well, one might get the odd reprint or rehash, but anything new, forget it. The excellent new Zola translations through Oxford World Classics (paperbacks, I know!) are where I've landed up.

Just a small edit and adding last year's list. A lot that I am still hoping for.

I would love to see them continue the Bronte collection with Agnes Grey, Villette, Shirley and The Professor.

Continue with any more Game of Thrones books and print all the Earthsea books.

Also:
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Stardust~Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book~Neil Gaiman
Dandelion Wine~Ray Bradbury
The Halloween Tree~Ray Bradbury
The Woman in Black~Susan Hill
Memoirs of a Geisha
Year of Wonders
Girl with a Pearl Earring
The English Patient
Out of Africa
The Sketchbook~Washington Irving
The Christian Year~John Keble
New Grub Street~George Gissing
The Odd Women~George Gissing
Seven Years in Tibet

I reserve the right to add to my list!!

As we're wishlisting...

Joseph Campbell - The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Robert Graves - The White Goddess
Knut Hamsun - Growth of the Soil
Hesiod - Theogony/Works and Days
Elias Lönnrot - Kalevala
Novalis - Hymns to the Night
The Tale of Heike

It seems there was a time when it wouldn't have been beyond the realms of possibility for FS to publish these titles. I still hold out faint hope for a couple of them.

Olaf Stapledon - Last and First Men / Starmaker
Robert A. Heinlein - Have Spacesuit, Will Travel
Healy & McComas - Adventures in Time and Space
Pollard & Reid - The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind
Sir Walter Raleigh - History of the World
Ariosto - Orlando Furioso

Since they've done a good job publishing sci fi authors I'd love to see some great but less well known books from that genre.
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Roadside Picnic or Hard to be a God by the Strugatskys

Fear and Loathing was high in the charts in the earlier thread about best 2022 releases and is one of their best sellers, so I'd love more counterculture classics in a similar vein.
Naked Lunch by Burroughs
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.
It's probably way too niche for FS but I'd love someone to make a fine edition of Illuminatus!

More McCarthy would also be nice, hoping for Suttree there.
It'd be great if they published some of Mishima's books as well (he was featured in the japanese short story collection they made).

Maybe a dash more of historical fiction on top of that. Wolf Hall seemed well received as a title here. I'd love to see Pillars of the Earth. Maybe some of Gore Vidal's historical novels. Or even Clavell's Shogun.

>15 Lady19thC:

I'd like to second the Brontes and the Gaimans, especially Stardust with new illustrations by someone other than Charles Vess.

After some more thought, I'd also like to add Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Something by Robin McKinley would also be wonderful, especially The Hero and the Crown, The Blue Sword, and / or Deerskin.

>18 A.Godhelm:

Someone on here kindly mentioned the Collector's Edition of Shogun by Blackstone Publishing on a previous wish list page. It's not Folio Society, but I'm quite happy with what I got for my money. Here's a link to the publisher's website with a video:

https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/shogun-bhdr.html?#541=4129

I hope they'll continue the series with Tai Pan.

>16 SyllicSpell: Elias Lönnrot - Kalevala

Been wanting a good edition of this for a long time. Held off on the Easton Press edition because of some warnings against it, but no one else seems inclined to tackle it at the moment.

>18 A.Godhelm: Roadside Picnic

It still astounds me how this foundational and respected text has managed to escape the quality publishers. I would love to see this get the FS treatment. Same with Solaris, though that might be a slightly harder sell to people who only know of it from the botched American remake of the Tarkovsky film.

>21 Shadekeep: I've considered the EP Kalevala myself, but I'm not keen on the presentation of their "signed by the illustrator" series.

>17 Betelgeuse: Olaf Stapledon is a good choice.

>16 SyllicSpell: I'd love to see the Kalevala published with the paintings of Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Not sure how difficult that would be to do.

>18 A.Godhelm: Definitely more transgressive/counterculture titles!

A few I'd be excited about:

Venus in Furs - Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Our Lady of the Flowers/Querelle - Jean Genet
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Crash/Concrete Island - J. G. Ballard
Post Office/Ham on Rye - Charles Bukowski
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Junky/Queer - William S. Burroughs
Temple of the Golden Pavilion - Mishima
Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi
The Buddha of Suburbia - Hanif Kureishi
Justine/Salo - Marquis de Sade
The Life of Insects - Victor Pelevin
The Leftovers/ Election - Tom Perotta
Life After God - Douglas Coupland
The Complete Maus - Art Spiegelman
Hollywood Babylon - Kenneth Anger

Alone on Berlin/Jede Stirbt für sich allein.
Another Murikami in series.
Another of the S T Joshi Lovecraft collections.

>16 SyllicSpell: Joseph Campbell - The Hero with a Thousand Faces

+1 wish

>24 NoBueno: I could certainly get behind Concrete Island (or Super-Cannes). Another author for your list is Joris-Karl Huysmans, and they could tackle either A Rebours or La-Bas.

>14 Willoyd: Agree that the Oxford Zola project is superb. I have about half of them at this stage, and plan on getting all eventually. The work they are doing on refreshing existing translations, as well as bringing several neglected volumes into reach for current readers, is wonderful and deserves support.

Wishlist? - there will obviously be a good deal of "usual suspects", i.e. continuing series, SF and fantasy fare, war and exploration, etc. What I'd like to see is interesting contemporary fiction (not just big-hitters and award winners), neglected classics (a vague and arguable term I suppose), and the occasional surprise or choice from left-field.

>27 Shadekeep: Good call on La-Bas.

If they wanted to get some of the more devilish classics, Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out or The Magician by Somerset Maugham (with a lead character based on Aleister Crowley) would be interesting choices.

After my long wished for Neverending Story was published, here are the remaining books on my wishlist that I consider FS material:

Fiction
- Watership Down
- Pedro Páramo
- My Name is Red
- The Prisoner of Zenda (reprint with updated artwork)

Nonfiction
- Waterlog
- Into the Wild

Following on from the excellent FS editions of the Poetic Edda and Wanderer, one of the following would be nice:
- Heimskringla (the Circle of the World) by Snorre Sturlason
- The Sagas of the Icelanders ed by Viđar Hreinsson

And to go with the recent Shackleton and Palin volumes:
- Erebus by Michael Palin
- Farthest North by Fridtjof Nansen

My list:
The Razor's Edge - Somerset Maugham (thanks >29 NoBueno:, The Magician looks interesting, I've never read it)
Narziss and Goldmund - Hermann Hesse

A series that they could perhaps attempt is Alan Furst's Night Soldiers series (15 books). I was put on to this by English_Bookseller and was very impressed with the first book. IMO the best war fiction I've ever read and not simply focussed on the usual suspects (England and Germany) like so much other war fiction is. The main character was a Bulgarian and the novel covered most of Eastern Europe plus France and Spain. Excellent writing and a series I would seriously consider collecting...

+1 for The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
+1 for Joseph Campbell

I note we're exactly a year from Hugh Kenner's centenary: a timely celebratory edition of The Pound Era would probably suffice to lure me out of Folio-buying retirement, and doesn't seem completely fantastical, or at least it wouldn't have a few years ago.

EDIT: Darn it, a senior moment there: the timely celebratory edition of The Pound Era would have appeared today...

I'd love to see a nice version of Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. There aren't any nice versions out there and I think that would help bring additional attention to this fantastic historical novel about feudal Japan.

>35 ExLibrisDavid: +1 on that. It is on my wishlist for years. I have the standard hardback which is relatively good but a Folio edition would be amazing.
Would you prefer that they have the 7 books separately bound?

I just checked and saw that FS has never done an edition of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays. A collection, either complete or selected, would go well with the other books by American Renaissance authors whom FS has published over the years.

>36 David_Mauduit: That's an interesting idea that I hadn't considered. While that would be nice, I suspect the corresponding increase in cost would make it prohibitively expensive and cause a lot of people to miss out on this wonderful novel, so I think I'd rather have either a single or at most two volume set.

Personally I would like them to continue reprinting the Andrew Lang Fairy books. From when they were originally published, I'd expect 1-2 per year until they all come out. These may have already been announced and I just missed it.

Other than that more folktale/mythology type books would be interesting. I've enjoyed the japanese and Italian versions.

>39 Luke.w:
That's unlikely to happen. FS have said before that all the setup was done with previous software, and it can't now be used. There were one or two exceptions, eg Blue Book, which is why that's been the only one reprinted.

>40 Willoyd: That's really unfortunate. Seems like they would have verified that any new system would allow them the ability to reprint past items if they choosed.

I was thinking of starting a new thread, but I obviously have not. My biggest wish list item for 2023 is finding a copy of Kitagawa Utamaro’s Studies of Nature LE for sale on EBay or AbeBooks. The new thread would have been greatest regrets on missed L.E.s! Another wish, I would love to see a facsimile of the Domesday book.

>42 Hamwick:
Domesday Book facsimiles exist, but cost many thousands of dollars.
The Folio Society did a full transcript of the Domesday Book in three volumes in 2003.
See https://www.librarything.com/topic/287308

>43 wcarter: thank you for that and the link to one of your great reviews. I am not surprised facsimiles exist, nor that they cost many thousands. I shall do some research. Interesting that there was a 2003 edition, perhaps they included Milton Keynes (listing the number of roundabouts). In all seriousness, thank you, I shall read up on that transcript.

One idea I had some time ago was a series of first literary biographies - ie the first biography published of the person. Examples would be Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell, Dickens by John Forster, and Keats by Richard Monckton Milnes, but not Johnson by Boswell, as he was beaten to the line by John Hawkins. There are no doubt many others. First biographies have both the advantage and the disadvantage that people who knew the subject will still be alive. That's an advantage as they can provide personal witness (and so can the biographer, if they knew the subject), but a disadvantage as their sensibilities have to be considered. Forster's biography of Dickens draws a discreet veil over the less savoury aspects of CD's life, for example.

A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller - classic post-apocalyptic sci-fi, with a strain if satire at the expense of Catholicism as well.

>45 StephenHorsfall:
The FS did an edition of Mrs Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte as recently as 1971, reprinted in 1973. I don't think it would be hard to find secondhand.

Edited to try to get the touchstone to work, apparently without success

Edited again to say I was surprised by the success. Touchstones having a wonky moment

For a biography, my most wanted would be Hayden Herrera's biography of Frida Kahlo. Herrera also did a follow up "The Paintings", a picture volume of all of the works with explanatory text - those would make a great two-volume set. Herrera's still alive so maybe they could get her involved for a new introduction or something.

With that subject and themes I'd love to see what Folio would do for a binding and slip design and it would be great to get another Latin American book.

>48 NoBueno: Now this would be wonderful, especially the two volume idea that you suggest. I hope Mole is paying attention!

Illustrator Charles Vess posted the following on Facebook: "Just signed a contract for a very exciting book project with the Folio Society. I'm not allowed to say what book it is (sorry for vaguebooking) but it's a favorite one and I'm so happy."

>50 icewindraider: C'est bon!

Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, which was published 50 years ago today, would make an excellent Folio edition.

>50 icewindraider: I am hoping for Watership Down!

>53 woodstock8786: Me too! Would love a FS of Watership Down. Also, the complete All Creatures Great and Small, from either FS or Slightly Foxed would be fantastic.

As a nonfiction title, a good edition of Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb (which scored the trifecta of American literary honors, winning the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and National Book Critics Circle Award when it was published) would be very desirable and a good complement to all the other WWII titles that FS publishes.

>55 CJDelDotto: wouldn't normally be something I would look for from FS, but I agree this would be a good fit. I could even imagine a two volume version "in series" with Greatest Gift to Mankind, but in black. It's so perfect it almost designs itself.

>55 CJDelDotto: >56 abysswalker: Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is also being released later this year.

>56 abysswalker: My impression is that FS is increasingly releasing titles to coincide with major films coming out. Given that Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is one of the more highly anticipated films premiering later this year, I could see FS being interested in doing Rhodes' book. Alternatively, FS might consider publishing an edition of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the basis for Nolan's film.

>57 assemblyman: Yes, absolutely. And I could absolutely see FS wanting to capitalize on Nolan's film in some way, producing an edition of Rhodes' book or Bird and Sherwin's book.

>56 abysswalker:

Fantastic idea on Rhodes’s History. What a wonderful book. Andrew Roberts’s Napoleon would also be timely, given the movie in production. These would both be immediate purchases for me.

Had to drop in an do my yearly addition of Shogun and Tai-Pan to the wish list. I’m not holding out a lot of hope but the Hornblower(which I’m reading right now) did happen, so there is a little hope!

A likely commercial success might be the Society re-publishing the Mick Herron 'Slough House' series. It is quite difficult to find hardback copies of the early books in the series and they are usually in poor condition.

I recently stumbled across a couple of old paperbacks of Leslie Charteris’ ‘The Saint’ books & found them far more entertaining than Ian Fleming. I believe he produced 35 novels - far fewer than Simenon which FS has taken a couple of shots at in box set form.

Has anyone ever produced any decent editions of Charteris’ work or is it just too unfashionable now?

A nice set of The Collector / The Magus / The French Lieutenant's Woman.

Or did I read somewhere that Fowles didn't want illustrated editions ?

>65 red_guy: "Or did I read somewhere that Fowles didn't want illustrated editions ?"

Suntup has done an illustrated version of The Collector and The Magus is coming soon.

>66 NoBueno: >67 AlexBookshelfFrog: Thank you both for the pointer! If Suntup currently has the rights to the three most famous Fowles books, then they would not be available to Folio anyway. I think I may well dive into Suntup next month when funds allow. The Artist editions would suit me nicely.

Just discovered James Joyce's letter to Nora Barnacle. When do we get a collection of letters? Hopefully no illustrations.

Black Cloud would be a welcome addition to my sci-fine collection

>70 bacchus.: Hoyle's work does seem largely overlooked these days. I fear fellow hard-science writer Hal Clement is facing a similar fate. Surely Mission of Gravity is worth a quality edition as well?