Which 'Complete works of ' would you like to see?

The Society has done Trollope (46 volumes!), Dickens (3 times, I believe), Austen (3 times at least), as well as numerous Complete Shakespeares. There is also a big amount of Conrad in print (not sure whether it's a complete collection or not), and I'm sure I missed some. Who do you think should be added?

The one I personally would love to see receiving a Folio treatment is Agatha Christie. Besides being one of my favourite authors, I believe she also holds the second place in the list of bestselling-authors-of-all-times (after W. Sh. of couse) which means the books would probably sell. And since the Society has done Trollope, the size wouldn't be as unprecedented.

I was a bit surprised, in fact, that besides the short stories, the Society hasn't printed any of her works at all. So even if they start out slowly, maybe with the best-known novels, it would be a very nice addition to the catalogue.

Wow, really surprised they did 46 Trollopes!

Milton, including the prose, letterpress with additional commentary volumes (like the Shakespeare).

Kafka - very easily done, and perfect for illustration.

As I've said elsewhere, the Standard Edition of Freud's Complete Psychoanalytical Works (around 24 vols).

I can think of too many I'd like, so just one more, which is largely desirable because rare - Disraeli!

I keep begging for the Folio Society to bring out The Complete Works of Barbara Pym since they made such a splendid start with Excellent Women, but I fear they have no intention to do so. Her books are marvelous, and anyone who enjoys Jane Austen owes it to himself to read Pym.

Although it wouldn't be a matching set (which I'm not sure I'd like--something about matching sets bothers me), I wish the Society would complete their nearly complete important works by Waugh by publishing a nice edition of The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold.

The more I think about it, the more I think I prefer to not have matching sets--every book has its own personality, even books by the same author, and to dress them all alike is, I think, a bad idea.

Didnt they do an Agatha Christie set?

I would personally like to see more theological works. One novel one would be to do a complete Summa Theologica by Aquinas, or to do a complete Augustine. Speaking of which, I would like to see them publisher The City of God by Augustine and some of Luther's works.

I also like the Freud idea, but have a gripping fear that the set would easily spiral into the $2000+ range which would hurt my little heart to know such a thing existed yet be unable to buy it.

I am sure they have done Pepys, but have they done Boswell?

And how about Isherwood and Powell (Anthony not Enoch)?

Yes, in fact they did the most complete Pepys extant (wish I couldv'e afforded it!)

Boswell: The Folio Society has given us A Journey of the Western Isles, the London Journal, and, of course, The Life of Samuel Johnson, but that leaves at least 5 other journals (judging from my paperback copies of Pottle's editions) which are excellent reads--Boswell in Search of a Wife, Boswell for the Defense, etc. The entire Private Papers of Boswell, from the Malahide Castle find totaled over 20 volumes. There was undoubtedly a lot of chaff with the wheat, but why not a Complete Boswell? Especially since additional Boswell papers were found after the Malahide Castle discovery, and I'm not sure these were included in the Complete Works published from the 1920s to 1934.

Isherwood: Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin. What else would you want, with the exception of A Single Man?

Anthony Powell: A Dance to the Music of Time. Again, what else would one really want?

Id like them to finish the Dostoevsky set. He is such a great novelist and it really is a canonical body of work.

At the risk of asking for a book most people haven't read (and may never want to), I'd like to see Finnegans Wake. The FS has done Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses. So I'd like to have a nice, new edition of the Wake to go with the others. I'm with Django and don't necessarily care that it matches.

They might want to do a limited edition since they probably won't need very many of them! 8^P

While this wouldn't be "complete" necessarily, it would cover all his major works.

#6 thanks for the definitive answer.

As you can probably tell from my last post I am a late (and occasional, having left twice and been drawn back in by offers) convert to folio society books.

However, is there a list somewhere which shows all books the society has published? If nothing else it might make my posts a little more knowing.

Folio did do a complete short stories of Ms (Miss?) Marple--it's currently available on their website for around $40.00. I agree it'd be nice to have some of the full length Marples (and I suppose some stuff featuring "Little Grey Cells" Poirot would be OK, too)...The Murder at the Vicarage, which is probably one of the greatest mysteries of all time, would be nice. The Body in the Library and The Moving Finger, too. The later Marples--when suburbs get built and there are fast cars and planes and the post-WWII world means no one has servants anymore--are a bit depressing to me.

I would LOVE a complete Boswell diaries. I have the Folio Ed. of the London Journal, which I think is the best of the lot (though I'm only at Boswell Takes a Wife so I might be premature, especially since he has yet to collect a great deal of the Johnson anecdotes he'll use for the bio. London seems to have some magical effect on Boswell, and I think any volume that puts him there deserves a Folio edition...

I think it'd be wonderful to see Georgette Heyer in Folio glory...I know this is unlikely, but they did Raymond Chandler, and Heyer is to English romance what Chandler is to detective fiction, anyway.

The current version of Dickens is, IMO, the best they've yet done. A few years back I ordered a Folio Pickwick Papers from the 80's. It was decent--the cover was a rather unpleasant green and yellow, but the illustrations were great--but when I saw they were releasing replicas of the Nonesuch Dickens it was out with the old Pickwick and in with the new.

They just came out with the Bros. Karamazov, but I'd like to see them use the Pevear/Volokhonsky translations, which are pretty much unbeatable.

I also think a version of the adventures of Raffles couldn't hurt...
And maybe a collection of Gothic fiction, like The Castle of Otranto, The Monk, Vathek, The Vampyre, etc.
And since they did a great MR James ghost story collection, what about doing a collection of Sheridan Le Fanu or Algernon Blackwood's stuff? It's really great and creepy.

Oh! And Christopher Marlowe's plays.

I'd love a nice set of Virginia Woolf - one novelists work that gets better and better with the rereading.

Re #10 - the magical effect London had on Boswell was recognized by Dr Johnson when he observed, "The finest prospect a Scotchman beholds is the high road to England."

Re #10: The Folio Society has actually done quite well by Gothic fiction: they have published The Monk, The Castle of Otranto, Vathek, Le Fanu's Uncle Silas, the Complete Works of Ann Radcliffe, and, of course, Frankenstein. Neither Polidori's vampire novel nor Stoker's have made it yet, but I suspect Dracula will make his appearance soon; as the advertising slogan from Hammer Films' "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave' put it--"You can't keep a good man down!"

I'd be all over a Boswell diary set, if it were complete. Ironically, the Folio Society price would probably be lower than the prices that some of the scarce later volumes command. Boswell in Extremes, Boswell Laird of Auchinleck and Boswell The Great Biographer, for example, generally sell for over US$100. While Yale and Macmillan appear to have done quite well with Boswell's London Journal and the next few volumes, the last several volumes of the series seem to have had very limited print runs. But in my view they repay whatever expense one sinks into them.

To Django: I had no idea about this gothic surplus!--that's part of the problem of dealing with old FS books: my methodology for searching pretty much consists of going to abebooks and typing "folio society" and seeing what pops up, and doing something similar on ebay. I have vague recollections of finding a complete list somewhere, but for reasons I cannot recall, it was unsatisfactory. Then again I might be getting reality and fantasy confused again...

I just bought a dimestore edition of Uncle Silas, though I must admit Le Fanu makes me itchy--I never know, as Michael Dirda has remarked, what genre I'm in. A Le Fanu book called The Rose and the Key, for example, starts off with romance, humor, and a deformed stalker, but I felt it kinda sank from that point.

I really want to get my hands on Otranto. I've also heard that Walpole (Horace) wrote wonderful letters. Anyone read these? The problem with letters, though, is that many times the editor doesn't put the responses into the text. It seems like it'd save a lot of explanation if you had a little back and forth....

I forgot to comment on jfclark's message: I had the good fortune to find hardcovered, dustjacketed editions of Boswell's Journals from Boswell in London through Boswell in Search of a Wife in The Bookshop Inc. in Chapel Hill. But those later volumes do sound tempting, especially Boswell the Great Biographer. I don't know if you or anyone else has read Jenny Uglow's bio on Hogarth, but she seems like just the person to write a social bio of The Literary Club, especially since she covered another 18th century club in her book The Lunar Men (Wedgwood, Darwin's grandfather, James Watt, and others).

Or if not Uglow, SOMEONE...It seems like such a no-brainer of a history book, following these witty, ale-swigging, world-altering men in and out of each others' lives... You could rotate from member to member, do a sort of interlinking thing. There must be hundreds of documents and sources available. Actually, Jenny Uglow did write a little volume for the National Portrait Gallery entitled Dr. Johnson, His Club and Other Friends, which has bios and portraits of Fanny Burney, Hester Thrale, Reynolds, Hume, Boswell, etc etc.

Oh, I thought of another FS book I want, but I think this one is REALLY unlikely: Thraliana, the Diary of Hester Thrale Piozzi...this book seems to pop up in every bibliography of books concerning 18th C. social life, and Mrs. Thrale is in the LIfe of Johnson, Fanny Burney's Journal, etc etc...she even put out her own reminisces of Johnson--but Thraliana (it's a two volume set) is always priced at something like $150.00, and I can't even get a sample to see if they're worthwhile.

Sorry if I rambled, I just have little opportunity to talk about this stuff and so I guess I get a little wound up when the opportunity presents itself. Thanks!

Re #15 & #16: uncultured, if you are a Folio Society member, the quarterly magazine lists in the book booksellers who specialize in Folio books, and who will do searches. I think that might be a better way of tracking down specific wants. (One caveat, as these sellers are usually in the UK, prepare for postal shock!)

Thraliana is a splendid idea! I don't believe the Society hasn't done it. I have been fascinated by Mrs. Piozzi since I acquired my Heritage Press edition of Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson which includes her marginalia from 2 separate copies which she annotated.

I remember that one of my English literature professors (LONG ago) had written her MA thesis on George Bernard Shaw, so, naturally, we read a couple of his plays in this class. Their humor really appealed to me. My alma mater even has a Shaw Festival every spring which is well attended. So, are there any other G.B. Shaw fans in our midst?

I definitely agree on Shaw (although I think he's sometimes more interesting to read than see). I also would love to see a great version of the complete works of Yasunari Kawabata.

Marguerite Yourcenar would be interesting as well.

Re #20: Marguerite who?

Actually, I have heard of her. (I had to get back at varielle for blaming moi for her Folio addiction). When I was reading The Quest for Corvo and doing desultory research on all historical Hadrians, I read that her novel about the Roman Emperor of that name was the model of what historical writing should be.

But I still think I prefer the Folio Society to stick with English language works, avoiding the problems of translation, and honoring works in the native tongue that have been unjustly neglected. More Barbara Pym, Rose Macaulay, SOME Ronald Firbank (who truly deserves fine bindings and appropriate illustrations), well, the list could go on and not even touch the American language works I would like to se in Folio garb.

Who said blame? Maybe it's gratitude.

How about Mary Renault for a complete works set?

Re #23: Oh yes, I second the motion! The Bull from the Sea was my very first Book of the Month Club selection when I was 14 years old. When the BOMC had a sale a few years later (they knew even then how to pry money from book addicts by cloaking their unsold stock as "Last Chance" items), I picked up the first Theseus book, The King Must Die, and thus began my fascination with Robert Graves' mythological interpretations.

I lost those books many years ago--probably when I went away to school. I didn't pick up on the homoeroticism back then--I'd be very interested to read them now.

What about A J P Taylor's histories? I assume at least some must be in the Folio list - but he wrote so many.

His autobiography was fun as well.

He seems to be out of fashion now, but I enjoyed his writing style and impish take on things.

What about Haruki Murakami? He has a fairly large body of work now and I have been fairly impressed with all of it except Kafka on the Shore. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is one of the great treasures of contemporary literature.

Marguerite Yourcenar as a person reminds me a lot of another french writer and essayist, Marguerite Duras. I have works by both of them and their writing fascinates me. Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian was an exemplary work of historical fiction and it would be a shame if we followed Django's suggestion and did not see such a work published by FS at some point. I am hoping Django's suggestion was mostly tongue-in-cheek? If not we would miss seeing 50% of the world's great literature in a Folio edition. I think we would be at a considerable loss (or at least I would) if we did not have Folio editions of Tolstoy, Pasternak, and Marquez. Let's hear it for more Folio translations!

Re #27: Have no fear, HisMajestyOKeefe (I love that movie!): no one pays any attention to my suggestions anyway.

Although I was, in fact, speaking earnestly when I said I prefer Folio books to stick to English language works, I certainly would not wish that they should never publish recognized classics, as long as they get the best available translation or, like the LEC used to do, commission a new one when there is no acceptable one. (I gather that the Folio Society in fact took this approach themselves in the past--see their forthcoming Les Miserables). What I find less than worthy of such a great organization is when they bring out a Tolstoy in fancy (and expensive) dress and use a translation that has been around 85 years instead of the new Pevear-Volokhonsky translation that is almost universally recognized as far superior (or the Rosemary Edmonds version from the 50s, for that matter). The limited edition Don Quixote is the ancient Jervas-Smollett translation which was superseded in the late 1800s by Ormsby and in the 20th century by both Samuel Putnam and J.M. Cohen.

But leaving the thorny problem of translation to one side (because it's sometimes hard to say what makes a "better" translation, let alone the "best"), I wonder how many of the works being discussed as Folio contenders truly merit the admission to the Folio Pantheon based on their literary merits? I find Duras' work more frustrating than fascinating (although I like Hiroshima, Mon Amour as a movie), and although I have fond memories of Mary Renault's novels, I wonder, if after reading them today, I would understand better why I failed to hang on to them over the years but kept all my copies of the Rick Brant Electronic Adventures.

Django, I guess you mean Anna Karenina & the Short Stories, since the LE War and Peace is Rosemary Edmonds. I don't know the Maude translations, having read both these novels via Edmonds - I assumed the Maudes were fairly decent, as Tolstoy himself apparently promoted them. True, the translations are old, but that needn't disqualify them. And doesn't Tolstoy's own approval in some way canonize them?

I too suspect and regret translations, but with so much great foreign literature we have to make do with them (or devote long years to language study!).

Florio's Montaigne was certainly a welcome addition - such translations become primary and source texts in their own right. I'd love to see an FS (unabridged) version of North's Lives, another rich mine for Shakespeare, and itself a translation of a translation (Amyot's Plutarch).

Re #29: As a matter of fact, leonb, I was referring to War and Peace as I just bought The Collected Stories and knew that they were bringing out a new Anna Karenina, both in the Maude translation, and (like an ass) assumed the War and Peace followed suit. Mea culpa. And I actually like the Maude's translations; I have the LEC's War and Peace and Anna Karenina and enjoyed reading both--though not being able to speak a word of Russian, I can't vouch for their felicity as translations--only that I wasn't left frequently wondering why Tolstoy is considered such a great writer--as I often wonder reading Garnett's translations of Dostoevsky. As for Tolstoy's approval: the Maudes were close friends, Tolstoy himself seemed so little interested in non-Russian speaking people reading his works he waived all translation rights, and I wonder how fluent was Tolstoy's English that he felt qualified to judge how well he may have been translated? These 3 facts, I confess, make me cast a jaundiced eye on Tolstoy's canonization of their work.

I'll still stick with my Ives' Montaigne rather than dealing with Florio's circumlocutions and archaic spelling, though I admit he is an important source for Shakespeare scholars. Possessing as I do the LEC's Plutarch's Lives in the North translation from Amyot's French versions, I will attest they are loaded with material Shakespeare cribbed in Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, et al., and though somewhat laborious to read, are worthwhile for that reason alone, if not for his often elegant language.

Django - I hope you can find the Mary Renaults, I enjoy them more and more. Her interpretation of myth is so compelling. She actually came to speak at my school (c1976) and I remember her being a thrilling speaker. Sadly, I hadn't read any of her books then and so didn't ask any questions - about a year later I would have had lots to ask!
I'd certainly buy folio eds.
(I haven't got to the folio shelves yet in my cataloging - in case you were wondering!)

Re #31: What a wonderful opportunity--just hearing her speak! I have had occasions such as yours--never with Mary Renault; what school was this?--and I confess I never have asked a question, feeling that I didn't want to impose on the speaker's time. Much later I realized that most wouldn't have considered interest in their work as such. How I'd like to go back to the time John Barth spoke at my school!

I'd love to have them do the complete works of Kazuo Ishiguro. I'm new to the Folio Society, and I was beside myself to see The Remains of the Day (I have ordered it and am excitedly awaiting its arrival). I've read 4 of his 6, and each one was excellent. More Ishiguro!

I'd love to see the other 8 Lang Fairy Books, too, though I've read on another thread that they aren't currently planning to publish any more.

Courage, Medellia12! I won't say the Society wasn't telling the whole truth, but they have been known to surprise their members before.

Ooh, I'll get my hopes up, then. ;)

Do you hint at secret insider knowledge, Django? :P

Au contraire--the FS sometimes reminds me of the Court in Orson Welles' version of "The Trial"--arbitrary and impenetrable.

George Orwell?

And what about Somerset Maugham? Does anybody know why he is so poorly present in the FS catalogue? (Only a couple of short stories published in the 60s or 70s if I remember correctly.)

Love W. Somerset Maugham - I'll second that one.

They did a four-volume collection of the complete short stories of Maugham at some point. The set pops up on eBay from time to time (not at a very cheap price!)

And what about Gerald Durrell? I read five or six of his books, and every one of them was an absolute blast.

Re #41: I second the request for more Gerald Durrell--I like him even better than his brother.

Re #39 & #40: The Complete Stories of Maugham was one of the Folio treasures, and they did Cakes and Ale many years ago that I found in a bookshop in Victoria, B.C. Strangely missing are Of Human Bondage, of which the LEC did a memorable edition in the 30s with etchings by John Sloan, but which is outrageously expensive these days (and there wasn't a Heritage reprint). Nor did Folio do The Moon and Sixpence, of which the Heritage Press did a splendid version that, oddly enough, never was issued by parent LEC. And although there have been two major film adaptations of The Razor's Edge, it has yet to have been given a fine press edition, as far as I know.

Re W. Somerset Maugham: Yes, I'd like to see all his work—not only short stories—published by Folio.

Re Gerald Durrell: My first contact with him was through an extract given in the pages of A Traveller's Christmas. It lead me to buy My Family and Other Animals which I found extremely funny (especially the description of his relations with his elder brother) and so well written. I don't know his other novels, but I third Gerald Durrell les yeux fermés.

oh yes, Birds, Beasts and Relatives is also very funny (and also set in Corfu). He wrote 37 books, quite a collection!

37 books!! I didn't realize that... Well, the Trollope edition had 46 books, so the FS it seems has had some experience with large scale projects *innocent look* But even if not all of them, a few more would be nice.

I've only read 5 or 6 - one is My Family and Other Animals (the Folio edition), and the rest were books about his trips for Cameroon, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and South America. He has a very vivid and memorable way of writing, together with a generous dose of delightful British humour. (And you learn a lot :p )

Durrell wrote a third Corfu book, The Garden Of The Gods (Family And Fauna in the US) which is just as good as Birds, Beasts And Relatives. I would buy Folio editions of either in a shot although I don't think either of the sequels balanced the the two halves of the equation quite as perfectly as My Family And Other Animals. I would be less excited about his other books though.

Django:

I second the request for more Gerald Durrell--I like him even better than his brother.

Me too! By far!

I would love to see Hyemeyohsts Storm's trilogy of books on the Plains Indians and the Medicine Wheel. Seven Arrows, The Song of Heyoehkah, and Lightningbolt. Even if they kept the original artwork it would be great.

I'm a huge fan of The Alexandria Quartet, counting Lawrence as one of my favorite writers. If Gerald is better, then I will definitely order My Family and Other Animals when I renew.

#49

They write about entirely different subjects in entirely different styles.

And I can't abide Lawrence Durrell, but given the lack of (literary) commonality between the two, antipathy or sympathy for one does not necessarily result in the same feeling about the other!

Re Maugham,

If anyone is interested, there are a few sets available on Abebooks: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=maugham&bsi=30&kn=folio... (results 54-58)

As well as one on eBay, where you can also see what it looks like: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Somerest-Maugham-4-Volumes-Folio-Society-Short-Stories_W0Q...

#50 Point taken.

What is it about Lawrence Durrell that makes you react so strongly against him?

Oh, sorry, missed your question... I'm not entirely against him, I think he had a definite knack for description and reportage (which is why I moderately value his travel books), but I see him as a minor literary talent, dated (very fifties-sixties of the last century), hopelessly overreaching himself. Maybe it's least controversial to mention that his own opinion of his work and gifts was in fact rather low (and if this is a compliment to his insight and self-denying fairness, so much the better). He knew that he suffered from (IIRC) a "damnable facility" with words, yet was incapable of rendering much worthwhile meaning.

#53. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Obviously, I see The Alexandria Quartet quite differently than you. I would argue it's one of the great works of the last century. Durrell is a tremendous stylist (the positive way of saying "damnable facility), he evokes a strong sense of place and he has a stunning ability to shift perspectives in each of the four works of the Quartet. No doubt the book is more a triumph of style and technique than "meaning," but that would certainly make it very much of its time.

Obviously, I'm a fan, but what would be the fun if we all agreed all of the time?

Right, I couldn't disagree more about his stylistic merit, nor did I ever see any value in the "shifting perspectives" of the narrative in AQ (assuming he managed to do that, of which I'm doubtful). To me his characters are wholly unrealistic figures, midway between juvenile fantasy and rank stereotypes, and as someone who spent some time in Alexandria (and Egypt and the Near East in general), his impressions of the city were very disappointing. As is his xenophobic "orientalising" and sexism. But as I hinted, in that he was very much the product of his environment.

True, disagreeing is much more fun than agreeing!

I think that the works of Terry Pratchett would make fantastic FS editions . His Discworld novels alone would make for wonderfull illustrations with his wierd and wonderful characters.

John

#56

Oh yes, please! And they're bestselling, most of them, too! *hint, hint*

What about a complete Smollett? I think Humphry Clinker is as good as Tom Jones, but has the same great "wandering about wacky Georgian England" feel. I think I mentioned him in a separate Folio post, but I shall continue to agitate for him (just in case an idle Folio employee is bored at work, perusing these boards). Am reading Roderick Random right now, and though it's not as good as Clinker, it's still really great stuff. Dickens said that Smollett was one of his main influences, though he's relatively unknown today...how sad.

Also, I really liked Fanny Burney's diaries. I have a new Penguin edition of excerpts, but it's pretty short. There are two scholarly editions of her journals, published in full and very expensive, by the U's of Oxford and (I think) Montreal, Oxford handling her adult stuff and Montreal her younger stuff. I bought the first two volumes of her adult life, but was disappointed with them--they seemed aimed at the specialist, and there were far fewer footnotes or character descriptions than the Boswell Journals, which seemed to be done with a lot more affection...the Burney diaries felt clinical in contrast. The second volume of the adult set chronicles the romance of Fanny Burney with the French aristocrat she eventually marries, D'arblay, which is entirely in French...and there wasn't even a translation! I know it's very American of me to shout "English english nothing but English!" but really, you'd think they could at least oblige me with an appendix or two....Rant rant rant.

And I'm thrilled they've released Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in time for Christmas! And for free, too, if you renew, and they even used the new Armitage translation. If anyone has yet to read this, give it a shot. It's very fun and Christmasy and though it has some melancholy bits, it's more fun than most of the outings of King Arthur and Co. Michael Dirda did a great write-up of it for his book Classics for Pleasure.

I have to agree about Maugham. In fact, I've often wondered why the society has published so few of his works. I have the four volume set of his collected short stories and they are wonderful books!

I, too, would enjoy more Agatha Christie from Folio. I've even suggested doing a boxed set of the Mary Westmacott/Christie novels, since those have been neglected in other Christie "luxury" sets (both the Bantam and the Heron sets omit most of these titles).

Fanny Burney's novels would make a terrific set.

Mary Stewart's Gothic romances deserve the Folio treatment. Besides du Maurier's work, they are the best Gothic romances of the twentieth century. Sorely neglected by film and television (where are you, BBC? Masterpiece Theatre?), novels like "Nine Coaches Waiting" and "The Ivy Tree" would be very welcome in finely bound editions. Genre fiction, yes--but the best of its kind.

Other "cozy" British authors I enjoy are Dennis Wheatley, John Wyndham, and John Christopher. I know the Tripods trilogy by Christopher would probably never happen, but it sure would be fun.

Some of Bram Stoker's or Sheridan Le Fanu's more obscure novels would be welcome.

I'd love a reprint of the "Horrid Novels" boxed set inspired by Austen's "Northanger Abbey." This set collected together the Gothic novels referenced in Austen's text, many of which were extremely difficult to find at the time.

More E. Nesbit would be marvellous! At the very least, a reprint of the boxed sets they did earlier.

More good translations of Jules Verne works. "20,000 Leagues" was a good start, but many of the more obscure titles would be so very welcome (to a lot of people, I think).

Paddington Bear! I can't believe they haven't done a Paddington set yet. I just love that bear.

Okay, I will stop now. I could go on for hours. I guess you can see I'm less interested in obvious classics or important books that have already been published in numerous finely bound editions. I'd like to see some of the more obscure stuff or near-classics get the royal treatment.

Wesleyan University Press has been publishing an Early Classics of Science Fiction series which currently has five titles by Jules Verne. Two are the first new/modern English translations and three are the first English translations. I have yet to read them, so I cannot say if they are good or not. The URL for the list of all 24 Early Classics currently available is:
http://iaspub.wesleyan.edu/wespress/!v1i_upne_search.search_call?v_action=&v...

I agree with Medellia12 - I'd certainly purchase any Ishiguro releases. I think The Remains of the Day was probably the clincher to get me to join FS.

Thanks Lucas, for pointing out Wesleyan's good work. I've got four of their Verne titles (last time I checked, that was all they had, so I'll have to look again). Verne wrote 54 titles in his Extraordinary Voyages series, so there are still lots of titles for someone like Folio to get involved in. I'd love a complete works of Jules Verne by Folio, but I suppose that's a pipe dream.

I'm told by one of the employees of Folio that larger sets are much more unlikely to happen nowadays. For financial reasons, they do much better with single titles than sets, unless it's something that's guaranteed to sell in a Harry Potter kind of way. The Elizabeth Gaskell series didn't sell well, and even the plans for a complete Dickens set were ultimately aborted. It's unlikely that we'll see things like the Trollope project again (unless bookselling and the worldwide economy improve drastically).

So the most I generally hope for is multiple volumes of an author's best known work. But I can dream. . .

re: #60
I, too, would welcome a reprint of the E. Nesbit sets. Even just the Five Children set would be lovely.

Charles Darwin
Richard Dawkins

#13 I never realized that Folio did the Complete Works of Ann Radcliffe. I will have to keep an eye on Ebay for them. I vote for a reprint.

#13 ((Ann Radcliffe)) certainly, and the ((Rider Haggard)) ('Allan Quatermain') novels for re-issue.

the Chatham Bookstore in Madison N.J. has nearly a complete Trollope in the Society edition, in fine condition, for several dollars each, if you are interested. i saw them just recently.

#13 Ann Radcliffe certainly, and the Rider Haggard 'Allan Quatermain' novels for re-issue.

Wildside Press has done several Radcliffe novels. I have their Mysteries of Ud. Still not read it.

Wildside press - went there fast. Only found one and it was a paperback. :(

I own the hardcover of Wildside Press's Mysteries of U. It is quite handsome. I purchased it on amazon a year ago. I believe WP is a print on demand company.

The Folio Radcliffe set is quite nice. I purchased mine on ebay for around $100. I recommend searching for it. It took me a few years to get it at that great price, but it was well worth it.

An author who has only had one work published may not necessarily qualify under this topic but I personally would love to see a FS version of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. His descriptions of Igantius J Reilly, his mother and other characters from New Orleans would, I think, make perfect material for good illustrations. The fact that it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction would surely help with sales !

John

I second that

FS are trying to pull me back into the fold by offering the first 5 Aubrey Maturin novels. Does this mean they are intending to publish the whole series?

Given that I am on my third reading of the 20 novel series, a FS hardback option to replace my battered paperbacks seems quite attractive.

My wish list for "complete works":
1. Complete Works of Cornell Woolrich, including letters, diaries, photos, etc.
2. Complete Works of Theodore Dreiser (there is one, hideously expensive, each volume almost $100)
3. Complete Works of R. R. Ryan (a completely now-obscure horror writer whose books were pulped during WWII when Britian emptied many of its libraries in the need for paper; her books now go for hundreds on abe, if they can be found at all).
4. Robert Aickman, The Collected Strange Stories (Tartarus Press, a great double volume)
5. Complete Works of Oliver Onions.

Tartarus Press puts out beautiful, perfect editions of many hard to find books. They have free shipping from the UK. Each book runs about $50.

Has Folio ever done their own publication of The Narnia Chronicles? I would love a set of these.

They did a while ago and I really liked the set. It is sort of hard to find, but you can buy it second hand from $120-150

I would also love a complete set of Scott's Waverly novels.

I have a set of the Waverly novels from 1910. I think it is time too!

OK, you are allowed to laugh and point fingers at me, but I think it is time to resurrect some Bulwer-Lytton.

The Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce would be nice.

Have not join yet because I was not able to find any Jules Verne book on the F.S. site >.

I'm not saying it should be "complete" (that might be a bit too much to ask), but a large set of the adventure novels of Jules Verne would be very welcome. Say the 20 best / most famous books, including the Children of Captain Grant, 20.000 leagues, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and many more.

The original Hetzel illustrations are often not reproduced in a very high quality in current mass-market publications. Folio Society will probably do a much better job on some decent paper. The size of each book should be more moderate than what they did with Dickens though, since my shelf space is slowly running out. ;-)

#81

Yes, I would definitely purchase the Waverley novels should they be printed.

I would also like to see Nigel Tranter's works too.