The Greek Myths - volume size ?

Do Folio sometimes publish the same book in different sizes ?

I ask because I bought a copy of Robert Grave's The Greek Myths in the Reading Room today. I am delighted with it but it is a lot smaller than I anticipated (about 9 x 6). It was also a lot cheaper - about £14.00 (not in the sale). The one on the website is both larger and more expensive and, I imagine, more sumptious.

Although I like the books I feel a bit cheated now. Do Folio make smaller editions for introductory gifts I wonder ?

>1 Quicksilver66: -
The answer to your question is, yes, sometimes.

'The Greek Myths' was first published by the Society in 1998 and looking exactly like the one on the website, except that it is in ONE volume and the brown quarter-binding is in artificial leather instead of buckram. The illustrations are printed in two colours, black and terracotta. In 1998, they brought out a smaller and cheaper version in two volumes and with the illustrations printed in monochrome. This sounds like the one you have. Folio 60 (which only goes up to 2006) gives the last printing of the superior original version as 1998 and the 2-volume version as 2006. However, it would appear from the website that they have now produced a third version which is back to the original size with the 2-colour illustrations restored.

I'm not sure why they would offer you the one you bought without mentioning the one on the website, but I should definitely query it with them.

I was caught out once with their Kipling set. The first two volumes were originally published in a slightly larger format than the subsequent volumes. The two I had bought were then reissued in the smaller format to match the later ones, so now I have a 'wonky' set on the shelf. However, it has to be said that the vast majority of reprints, even of volumes originally published ten or twenty years ago, are reissued in the original size and very often in superior versions. Query it with them, though, if you are unhappy. In my experience they are always eager to keep their customers happy.

Thanks Boldface.

Following your advice I phoned the Society to query this. They think that the copy I picked up in the Reading Room is the current published version and the larger dimensions advertised on the web site are incorrect and refer to a previous edition. They are going to look into changing the web site entry.

It's very strange. Looking more closely at the website, although the blurb says the illustrations are in two colours the examples shown are in just black and white. Let us know how you get on.

I have a different question about the Graves' Greek myths (one not even pertinent to the Folio edition specifically)--does anyone else find them pretty much unreadable?

I have to admit I read them as a bedtime read, with energy and concentration on ebb--but even so... (after all, I've been known to read reports and papers on biochemical pathways in the same circumstances)... it struck me as much of a muddle. It's as if he's pursuing multiple traditions and references, all at the same time, generally resulting in an incoherent mess. Yes, it is true that mythological figures and stories are going to have a myriad versions, different origins, clashing traditions--but is there really no way to represent that multiplicity in a better way than Graves's? Or perhaps even--dare I say it--use critical judgement, as one comes to expect from experts, and place some interpretations above others, instead of everything on the same plane? The question is largely rhetorical, I have other sources of Greek myths, just wondered if anyone else was disappointed by him.

Well, Graves' Greek myths are not like Bulfinch's (or even Michael Grant's) in that they are not primarily concerned with telling the stories, but are historical-anthropological studies along the lines of Frazer's The Golden Bough.

I actually found them fascinating, albeit demanding, reading, but I certainly would not use them as an introduction to the Greek myths.

LolaWalser - on the Folio site they have The Penguin Book of Classical Myths by Jenny March as part of the summer sale. I found this book to be an excellent bedtime read, the myths are more straightforward, not as cluttered as Graves.

#6

It's precisely as "scholarly" studies that they disappointed me; and yes, they certainly also fail as "story-telling". A strange hybrid, unsatisfactory as one or the other.

#7

Thanks, I have other editions of myths, I especially like the classic German ones.

You might like to consider the Loeb Classical Library edition of The Library by Apollodorus translated by James G Frazer - he of The Golden Bough. A second century gathering of nearly all classical myths gathered in a single (2 volume) work. It has, as you would expect, lots of scholarly footnotes.

That's a great thought, I never read Apollodorus. I'm sure Graves consulted it (and just about every classical source he could find). It'll be fun to compare it to Homer and Ovid.

I think many come to Graves expecting a slightly more sophisticated version of Bullfinch. The truth is that Graves approaches the myths rather as an anthropological jigsaw puzzle (a bit like in his The White Goddess). This makes for fascinating but demanding reading - but I agree he is not for beginners.

I love Bullfinch but he is quite antiquated now. A good introductory volume on myths - and one which deserves "Folioisation" - is Edith Hamilton's Mythology.