The Poetic Edda LE

>1 EclecticIndulgence: Oh dear god, that looks beautiful. I feel ill.

>1 EclecticIndulgence: This deserves it's own thread.

Absolutely. A thing of beauty. One has to wonder out loud how they talked Joe out of making (yet another) tombstone out of this.

I need this. Medically.

Ordered mine. Price very reasonable, but at the cost of a separate commentary which I'd have preferred to a crowded page. I've grown to love the solander box, having seen what years of exposure do to fine bindings.

>6 Jayked: It would be criminal to hide a spine as beautiful as that in a solander sarcophagus. I want to see that brooding, blood-red skin, those protruding, polished ribs and that unblinking gilt, on the shelf, at all moments :)

>5 EclecticIndulgence: I don't have air resistance, let alone ground friction.

D**n instalments

.. or the lack of them. Since this will run out the window, i have to transfer some of my savings when i get home. Did not want to do that .. but have to

MOLE. Instalments!!

Just placed my order.

>9 Pellias:
Email them and ask for payment by instalments. I requested that on a recent large order and they obliged.

Thx mister, i`ll try just that ..

I don't get it? What about this particular title is so appealing that people are prepared to part with so much money in an instant??

>13 leemeadowcroft: The leather seems so sublime you can smell it on your screen.

(>13 leemeadowcroft: also, less importantly, the Edda is a major work of north European mythology in its own right, highly influential on numerous writers of lyrics, poetry and prose, not least one J.R.R. Tolkien)

ordered!!

ooohhh yes please!

I am in strict saving mode, and will be for months. There are two exeptions .. Edda (ordered - nice to get that one out of the way) and Alice - I presume (with fingergefulen that there are ca just above 100 left of that one, still holding off - much easier to swallow because of instalments)

If there should pop up another LE, then there will be no stress with those .. but this Edda, i do not think it will last long. The Golden Ass had a momentarily launch, but haultet significantly ..

As >13 leemeadowcroft: Cronshaw mentioned. Edda is also for Tolkien fans, and them, there are many of .. Candide, anyone? Mort? This one is to sexy to not be picked up at the bar

PS: Are there any active vouchers to use on this one?

(not thinking about the loyalty gift blablabla, i have used that one up)

No. Even M0RD0R doesn't work.

>18 Pellias: Installments are still available? It doesn't give me as an option.

>20 cronshaw: Haha. Thx

>21 JuliusC: No instalments here my friend

Very tempting, but FS's irritating regional pricing means a 26% markup. Aussie dollar pretty strong against the pound at the moment, may wait for this on the secondhand market.

A must have. The leather looks to be the most exquisite of all leather-bound FS LEs.

>21 JuliusC: I placed an order by phone last month and they gave me instalments on request - just said they weren't available on the web orders.

I must have this one! I held off on Hansel & Gretel and now I think this pips it for first place and H&G will have to wait a while.

Jeez, no instalment plan?

I shall contact FS and see if I can get the plan via email.

UPDATE: Have obtained the instalment plan, and have thus placed my order.

>26 scholasticus: Order via phone and ask for installments. It's what I'll be doing!

Does anyone know who/where the printing and binding were done? Was it the German combo of Memminger MedienCentrum AG (printing) and Lachenmeyer (binding)? They seem to have had their hands involved with several of the most impressive recent Folio Society editions, e.g., The Vision of Piers Plowman, Walden (2009), Leaves of Grass (2009), etc.

Just curious.

P.S. This new LE is, of course, a no-brainer and I have ordered my copy as well.

The FS is clearly on a roll with regard to their Limited Editions in 2016. The Door in the Wall, the Hansel and Gretel facsimile, and the Poetic Edda are exceptional editions, all at a very reasonable price point for the quality of the publication and the care taken in properly reproducing the photographs or Kay Nielsen illustrations. You have no idea how close to the original copy the FS facsimile of 'The Door in the Wall' is.

>28 dlphcoracl: All I can find regarding the production of the Edda on Joe Blundell's blog is the following, from February:

“I returned to Stuttgart via a visit to Frieder Mayer at his bindery in Esslingen. Frieder is an expert in all aspects of fine binding. He knows all there is to know about types of leather, and one of his arcane skills is hand polishing the skins to produce different effects. I asked him to produce something for the binding of the Elder Edda which would appear antique without looking ‘fake’ and here is his first trial.”

>30 gmacaree:

Thank you.

It appears as if the book was produced in Germany although not by Memminger/Lachenmeyer.

Can't believe I missed this thread today. Ordered without hesitation; better late than never, even though it's been less than a day. It's a lot cheaper than I thought, had it in my mind it would list for £395.

I can't wait to put mine on the shelf without box and completely naked; all that leather is just begging to be exposed and caressed.

>13 leemeadowcroft:
I've been using a dog-eared copy of the 1983 Carl Winter Heidelberg paperback for thirty - some years, and waiting for a more handsome edition. I see from the flyleaf that I paid $82 for it, a scandalous amount back then even for a hardback. I had a 2 hour each way drive to Toronto to find it, paid $14 parking, and wore out a lot of shoe leather till I found a bookseller who stocked it. No online listings back then. Ordering the LE was a no-brainer.

Ouch. I thought I'd be able to resist this LE, as I already have a nice, Norwegian copy of the Poetic Edda.

However, seeing those wonderful photos on the FS website and being pleasantly surprised by the price point (While trying not to contemplate the absurdity of considering £345 (with shipping) 'reasonable' for a book...) has made me reconsider.

Oh well. I guess it is one of those Town called Malice situations, as observed by the great Paul Weller - "To either cut down on beer/or the kids' new gear/it's a big decision in a town called Malice"

Tough luck, kids. Your father will be buying a book. And some beer to ease the pain.

Slippery slope indeed. I'll try to steel myself into waiting until the last day of the introductory pricing; if it hasn't sold out by then, I'm in!

>32 wongie: How much is this LE in the UK? US pricing is $475 + $45 or $520 which would be about £425 (including shipping) at current exchange rates.

>35 kdweber:

UK price is £295 with an additional £12.50 postage bringing the total to £307.50.

wow that's $112 markup to CAD.

>3 folio_books: >7 cronshaw:
Hear, hear! I hate Solander sarcophagi.

I have to say I'm disappointed with the binding, though. The first thought was that it's rather boring. It does remind of the Codex Regius binding with the 5 spine bands, but it's not an attempt to replicate, as the front board of the Codex is actually ornate. I don't know, perhaps it will grow on me, after all I don't mind an occasional antique-looking volume. I wish I could see it in person... I like the illustrations and I think I rather like the page layout, as I generally prefer footnotes over end notes/appendixes; would be good to flip through the book to see more than one page.

And I wish we could just pay the UK/ROW prices plus shipping...

The Australian shafting mark up is $125.

You could buy an Olive Fairy Book at that price.

>36 wongie: Wow, a $100 premium! Plenty of room for arbitrage.

>41 kdweber: Exactly. For example, the Pearl Manuscript is currently on sale from FS at £345, USD595 and AUD745.

A seller on Abebooks currently has a copy listed for £375, a price no sane buyer in the UK would accept — yet represents a saving of USD135 or AUD145 at current exchange rates. Book dealers could markup current FS stock even more aggressively while still remaining attractive internationally.

No wonder FS's international sales are declining.

>42 Rodomontade:

Yes. Folio need to price in GBP globally. For international buyers, some years we will pay a premium, some we will pay a discount. But that's a much better system. Dare I use the word 'fair' without being scolded about capitalist mechanics and business ethics?

>43 LesMiserables:
Yes, please FS let us choose to pay in Sterling or local currency. Australians and Canadians would be far better off paying in Sterling. Unfair that ROW can do this, but not us.

It looks like a very beautiful volume, but unfortunately the content does not interest me (so my wallet is safe).

I can't wait for the day when FS publishes a LE that is both beautiful and is on a topic I find interesting.

>45 Diglot:

One of the few that does interest me as a Tolkien nut, but the lack of a solander box and a commentary put me off quite a bit, as well as the feeling of getting a very raw and unnecessary deal as an AUD customer.

Thank god I don't like this LE much. My wallet rejoices!

If you count Mort, this makes seven LEs this year, a record only equaled by the FS in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
See -
http://www.librarything.com/topic/192880

A clear case of a beautiful binding around a text having little interest for me. Will not be buying.

Well that was painless. Confirmed it's in stock at the warehouse and placed my order, paying by four instalments. With luck I should have it by Monday. The most charming man who took my order told me it is the first - evidently they hadn't yet looked at the web orders when I spoke with him. I told him he could expect a few more ;) He suggested I might get a low number, but I'm not anticipating single digits :)

I can smell it already ...

Edited to correct clumsy phrasing.

(Clumsy phrasing that remains is just my usual writing style)

I'm safe, I think, from any urge to buy - just once or twice the arrival of the physical prospectus for a new Folio publication has shattered such confidence - but highly pleased that an apparent triumph of a volume has been produced and seems to be finding and delighting a good many customers.

Mole take note - this LE doesn't appear on my Ipad.

>52 scratchpad:

I know nothing of the ways of tablets, but the book doesn't feature yet on the main Limited Editions page, http://www.foliosociety.com/limitededitions , nor does it appear on the Folio homepage. It seems usual lately for new releases to be ferreted out by the diligence of Devotees some while before they begin to receive any general promotion.

It's odd that Mort, at a very low limitation of only 500, never made it to the LE page.

>52 scratchpad: Are you logged in? It is only appearing to pre-existing customers.

>54 cronshaw:

Perhaps the same would befall any LE of which the whole limitation was spoken for within a few days. There doesn't seem much motive for moving a book to the page with Sold Out already under its description. I suppose it could at least be added to the Past Limited Editions page, but that's a strangely sparse and neglected selection, http://www.foliosociety.com/category/9235/past-limited-editions .

>55 Rodomontade: Yes, that worked for me, thanks. I only log in when I'm buying something, perhaps I should do it routinely.

Most of the Poetic Edda is contained in the FS publication "Legends of the Ring." I'm not inclined to spend $495 for a second copy.

I ordered yesterday, from the link here. The LE still doesn't show up on the website, logged in or not, unless I use the search function. That seems to happen more and more.

Especially with the favourable exchange rate, this is a must have. 3 LEs this year, Folio, what have you done to me?

>58 jroger1:
I googled Legends of the Ring and came up with Mike Tyson ;(.
Apparently LOTR used the Patricia Terry translation, the only one I've seen, which struck me as pretty pedestrian. The Larrington has had better reviews, though translations that try too hard to reproduce alliteration all tend to hobble themselves. I don't think I'd be buying this if it didn't include the original text, squeezed into the margin.

this is the same translation as the Oxford World's Classics edition if anyone is curious.

>61 Jayked:
That's correct - LOTR uses the Terry translation. I haven't seen Larrington or any of the others. None of the translations of Scandinavian or Icelandic literature sound wonderful to me. Perhaps the originals weren't wonderful either, or perhaps the best scholars prefer to spend their time on more common (and lucrative) languages.

>63 jroger1:
It's fiendishly difficult to translate OE or ON poetry for anything but the sense, which stripped of the metre sounds banal. Even Heaney's Beowulf, while admirable in its own right, cannot duplicate the effect of the original. OE and the oldest ON verse uses no rhyme, but in each halfline a combination of 2 stressed and 2 unstressed positions. Alliteration is allowed only on certain parts of speech, in a stressable position, so the syntax is highly formal, with word combinations invented to allow alliteration. All this to be chanted (?) aloud to a musical accompaniment, from memory. Most translators are inevitably academics who are going to be judged by their peers on accuracy rather than art, and many of those peers leave metre to a handful of experts. Usual result is a dull translation, though I don't want to prejudge Larrington's.

>60 susanne-27:
You must be outside North America and Australasia in order to be benefiting from the favourable exchange rate. You are indeed fortunate.

>65 wcarter: Maybe some of the more "established" members here can buy and then forward this LE to our American or Australian friends. Someone should do the math and check if it makes sense.

>60 susanne-27:

God help us if the exchange rate was not favourable. Here in Australia, the dollar is the strongest it has been against the pound in years, yet the cost they are charging Australian disMembers is quite frankly embarrassingly avaricious.

My enthusiasm for this volume remains undiminished, but I am a bit surprised that FS did not use a higher-grade paper, like Zerkall mould-made. While Abbey Wove paper is very nice, FS uses it for many of its standard editions. I thought they would have opted for something a cut above for this LE.

>68 ultrarightist:
I believe the only other LE that uses Abbey Wove is the 2 volume Bible, whose 1900 pages might have dictated the choice. With the notable exception of the binding, Edda does seem to be tending towards the economical: no commentary volume, an ungenerous page layout, no coffin. It follows Duke's Children (Caxton wove) in favouring scholarly concerns over aesthetic values.

Travels in Arabia Deserta is another LE printed on Abbey Wove.

>69 Jayked:

And The Sound and the Fury. And Moby-Dick. Neither low on aesthetic values.

>71 affle:
Should have made it clear I was referring to those still available.

Some more of the illustrations are up now on the webpage http://www.foliosociety.com/book/EDD/the-poetic-edda

>70 terebinth: I haven't dug out my copy to check, but I have the firm impression that the paper in Travels in Arabia Deserta is thicker than that of the run-of-the-mill (if there even is such a thing) FS editions.

Does Abbey Wove come in several different weights, or am I just suffering from a case of wishful thinking (After all, it IS an LE, hence it MUST be special? ;))

>74 odderi:

This is curious: I thought it would be a simple matter with internet access to check who makes Abbey Wove paper and whether it's produced in different weights, but I'm finding it hard to come up with any reference to it at all that doesn't involve its being used in a Folio Society book. So is Abbey Wove just whatever the Folio Society say it is?

>69 Jayked: I don't see that twenty specially commissioned and tipped-in illustrations (which are beautiful - I viewed them all yesterday in the dMR), a very handsome, sturdy slipcase covered in what seems a decidedly smart, smooth canvas, a twenty-six page introduction and further scholarly apparatus are in the least a tendency towards the economical. For one, I vastly prefer the look of this sumptuously bound volume in its slipcase to yet another solander box-file.

"The majority of our text papers, the ‘Abbey’ range, are produced at a paper mill in western Sweden"

So it seems that the Abbey is a range of papers per FS specifications.

http://www.foliosociety.com/media/design/folio-books-good-on-paper/

>77 ultrarightist: Anyone else got curious about which paper mill that would be? My guess would be for Arctic Paper but there are lots of paper mills in Sweden.

>78 alvaret:
Istros publish their paperbacks on Munken Premium cream - I was very surprised by the quality of a normal paperbacks so I asked the editor. The paper instantly reminded me of Folio books so it would be no surprise if Folio's Abbey Wove came from Arctic.

>79 Santas_Slave: That's interesting!

>75 terebinth: - Yup, I had the same problem - not that I spent much time trying to find out, mind - but a quick Google left me with the impression that Abbey Wove was used by the FS and that was that. >77 ultrarightist:'s post was most illuminating.

Picture time. Forgive the quality and lack of shots of other sections of the book, they were taken in a rush as I went home on my lunch break to receive the book.

Based on a rushed 10 minute oggle and caressing session I feel compared to the only other LE being sold for 295, Metamorphosis, the Poetic Edda somehow feels like he fell short of the mark. It's still undoubtedly a handsome volume and while I have only handled Metamorphosis in the dMR from what I recall it just seems better in every way for the price point; the leather felt more supple, the pages felt more premium. The Edda din't give me as much of a rush the first time I handled it in the same way Metamorphosis did and if someone were looking buy either one and wasn't too concerned about whether they prefer Norse or Roman epics I would, at this moment, definitely recommend Metamorphosis over the Edda. I might reevaluate this perhaps hasty initial opinion once I finish work for the day.

.

.

.

Well that was fast ;) Beautiful book and I'm in love with those hub spine. Metamorphoses use Nigerian? Goat leather but this uses Polished Leather Cases? Not to sure what that is but will have to look it up. I'm not sure if Abbey Wove comes in different thickness but this looks really thin.

>82 wongie: It's worth bearing in mind when making a comparison with the LE Metamorphoses that The Poetic Edda has a far lower limitation and specially commissioned artwork.

>84 cronshaw: Wouldn't price parity, combined with a lower limitation and specially commissioned artwork, indicate lower production values for the Edda relative to the Metamorphoses?

I like metamorphoses more. It looks more luxurious and I like Ovid Roman poetry more than Nordic.

>85 ultrarightist: You would certainly think that a higher limitation offered at the same price would offer something extra, since the cost base is covered by a greater supply, and I personally find the LE Metamorphoses an exquisite binding, but I wasn't making a direct comparison of production values and the current price of the Edda does include an introductory discount of 10% for existing non-members. I think overall that the significantly lower limitation plus specially commissioned artwork perhaps make The Poetic Edda the better value of the two, though Metamorphoses is undoubtedly better value at £295 now than when it first went on sale in 2008.

>85 ultrarightist: Wouldn't price parity, combined with a lower limitation and specially commissioned artwork, indicate lower production values for the Edda relative to the Metamorphoses?

I don't know. One might think so, but sat here as I am with this beautiful, gorgeous, sumptuous feast of a book in front of me (yes!) I find myself disinclined to fuel doubt as to its production values.

This was a book long-heralded, a book I had no intention of buying, until the moment I saw the photographs on the Folio website. I am very far from disappointed.

I can compare it directly with Metamorphoses, which has graced my shelves for a little while now, and which I like very much. First thing to say is I believe the illustrations in Metamorphoses are clearly superior. Of course they are - they're by Titian! The Edda's illustrations have so far failed to move me. They remind me more of cave paintings than medieval art. But that's it - illustrations aside, for me The Edda wins in every other sense, quite comfortably. Oh, wait - the paper. A belated point to Metamorphoses. with its classy Vizille Ivoire Laid versus The Edda's more prosaic (though entirely serviceable) Abbey Wove.

I struggle to find the words to describe what I feel about the binding. It's a work of art in itself (just look at the pictures - is it not obvious?). If you're in any doubt I can assure you the genuine feel and, above all, smell of beautiful leather comes close to overpowering the senses. I don't know exactly what "polishing the case" entails but I can tell you the end results are magnificent. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Ovid, the superior quality of the leather on The Edda is immediately obvious, to me, anyway.

But that's not all. As some here may know, I'm rather fond of slipcases. The Edda comes in the mother of slipcases - tall, sturdy, covered in canvas. This slipcase will outlast many the Folio books in my collection. Now to persuade Folio all of their books deserve this treatment. They do, but I fear Folio will never subscribe to it.

For those who like these details, "the text has been printed on Abbey Wove and the illustrations on Natural Evolution ivory papers at Memminger Mediencentrum, Memmingen. It has been bound by Josef Spinner, Ottersweier, using polished leather cases made by Richard Mayer, Esslingen."

>82 wongie: chose to compare the Edda with Metamophoses based on sharing the same price point. I must admit when I first saw the web page I thought the price was generous. I was thinking around four hundred (old-fashioned rapidly going down the drain British pounds) so 295 seemed very tempting. I suppose some might argue that the paper could have been better, and quibble about the illustrations, and lop a bit off the true value (whatever that might be) accordingly. But here I am with both books in front of me. I pose the question: if Metamorphoses is worth £295, what then should The Edda be worth? I'd have to say rather more, and even when it loses the introductory discount it will be cheap by in comparison.

PS As you very likely will have realised, I make no reference to the text, the quality of the translation and all matters not directly related to the aesthetic appeal of the book. I am no expert (a rank amateur, in fact) when it comes to the myths and legends of the Norse and Icelandic peoples so I leave those kind of value judgements to those Devotees more qualified than I am to make them.

>88 folio_books: Thank you for the valuable feedback.

>88 folio_books:
"They remind me more of cave paintings than medieval art"

They better! Google for images of viking runestones. You'll change your mind about appropriateness of the style of the illustrations.

>90 elladan0891: Google for images of viking runestones. You'll change your mind about appropriateness of the style of the illustrations.

I did, and you're quite right, so thank you for that. This is a good example of why I rarely involve myself in other's specialities.

Metamorphoses cost me $455 (with an LE discount coupon) including shipping while the Poetic Edda will cost me $520 (with 10% discount) including shipping. I'd buy it in a shot if I could pay in pounds. I'd probably buy anyway even with the horrible exchange rate if I could buy it on installments over the web (it's a pain to call from the the west coast of the US because of time zones). I still might buy it eventually but the FS should know that they're making it more difficult for their customers - an interesting approach when playing with solvency.

>92 kdweber: I'd probably buy anyway even with the horrible exchange rate if I could buy it on installments over the web

Yeah, their marketing strategy is arcane, to say the least, and transatlantic phone calls are not cheap. I'm pretty sure they'd accept instalments if you dropped them an email, though. And if you do, let the rest of the world know the outcome?

>88 folio_books:
Did you get that elusive #1, being first on the scene, or does that fall to JWB? Best I ever did was #11 for Ulysses, and I don't know how I managed that.

>94 Jayked: I was told on several occasions by different members of staff that no.1 of every LE always went to Lord Gavron, so we can perhaps assume it now goes to Lady Gavron.

>94 Jayked: Did you get that elusive #1, being first on the scene, or does that fall to JWB?

No such luck - I got number 134. I think the best I ever did was number 15 for Alice.

>95 cronshaw: I was told on several occasions by different members of staff that no.1 of every LE always went to Lord Gavron, so we can perhaps assume it now goes to Lady Gavron.

Yes, that was my understanding. It is also apparent from previous issues of LEs that they are not despatched from the warehouse in strict numerical order.

>95 cronshaw:

I'm sure we've had this exchange before: the hors commerce copies are lettered, not numbered, as it says in all the LEs; 20 in this case. So I assume number 1s are available, and may well come our way if we buy a thousand or two LEs.

I have acquired a couple of lettered copies in the s/h market - one as low as D.

>96 folio_books:

I had an early delivery, too - number 132. And as >82 wongie: (I hope you've bonded with it now, wongie) had 136, there was probably a batch of consecutive numbers sent out - but I assume just from the top of one of the warehouse piles.

I have different experience regarding this. "The Door in The Wall" I just order 3 months back, mine is no. 19. Alice I got probably later than 600+ other people, mine is numbered 59. Mort I got 34 or 3x sth. And "The Golden Ass" I panic buy when it was down to 40 copies, and mine is 788.
I think this is shipped very random. Except those hors commerce and some very specific number reserved for very special customers. I would do same thing if I were FS.

My lowest limitation number is 14 of 500 for the Mort LE, while the highest is 1240 of 1250 for Toilers of the Sea.
I was a very early purchaser of both books.

To me, the limitation number matters not a whit, as long as there is a number and it is within the limitation range. For LEs printed offset, I doubt that the numbers correspond to the order of printing.

>83 JuliusC:
Assuming Folio's "Abbey Wove" does come from Arctic, and I have good reason to believe it does, there are different grades of paper within the company. It is not necessarily true that Folio's "Abbey Wove" is uniformly the same paper. What we do know is that Joe has specifically picked this paper for this edition.

>98 affle:

It has definitely grown on me over the weekend!

Mine arrived today; ordered on 1 Nov., delivered on the 7th to Canada. Same pile as everyone else, #140.
The binding is plain but impressive, none the worse for lacking fussy gold ornamentation.
The three sides are painted a matte ecru, more practical than ornamental.
For me, the paper is too thin, allowing the print on the following page to show through. That's true of some other LEs such as Ulysses, but given the other economies practised here they might have gone the extra mile on the paper.
I had hoped that I would warm to the layout of the text, but I don't think I ever will. The ON lines up with the English text at the beginning of each stanza but is printed in half-lines rather than the full lines in English, so that it dribbles messily down the left margin below the translation, not in unison. It's hard to tell at a glance which type of stanza is in use (There were 3 main ones.)
That won't concern most people at all. The translation will. Patricia Terry's translation (mentioned in an earlier post) did its best to reproduce both the form and the poetic nature of the original. Each line was separated into half-lines and alliteration used as in the original. Occasionally the precise translation of a word would be shifted to allow for poetic effect.
Larrington is more literal. You can tell it's poetry because it's divided into four-line stanzas, though with no half-line hiatus, and there's some alliteration. Otherwise it's accurate but uninspired. It's the one to choose if you're looking for a crib for ON101, but I don't see it firing anyone's imagination.

Mine arrived today too and I've got number 141.

>104 Jayked:

I agree wholeheartedly with your dislike for the page design and the inclusion of the original Norwegian language along the left margin. Without knowing how to properly pronounce the words or phrase the sentences properly it is utterly useless to me. I would MUCH rather have had the entire page devoted to the English translation with the footnotes at bottom of page.

I also agree that the paper used for the text is thin, uninspired and not appropriate for a limited edition or private press book. The paper quality is not the place to skimp or cut costs. The money saved by excluding the Norwegian version of the poem should have been used toward a higher quality of handmade or mould-made paper.

I am not sorry I ordered this book but it is not in the same league as many of the other FS limited editions. At a cost substantially below this book, the FS facsimiles of 'The Door in the Wall' and the Kay Nielsen illustrated 'Hansel and Gretel' put 'Edda" to shame.

On a positive note, I think the leather binding with weathered appearance and the tipped-in set of original illustrations are wonderful.

I wonder how much this edition would have cost if it had been printed letterpress (minus the illustrations) on handmade or mould-made paper. I think the paper FS used for its letterpress Shakespeare would have been wonderful for the Edda.

>107 ultrarightist:

The cost of using letterpress printing would have been prohibitive because the 'Edda' suffers from what I call the "Arion Press Syndrome". What do I mean?

Nearly all private presses in the English language are 'Mom and Pop' affairs, i.e., they are owned and operated by 1 or 2 people. It is extremely difficult for them to publish books of substantial size (no. of pages) in an edition of 1000 copies using letterpress technique. Because the Arion Press owns its own typefoundry and employs a staff of somewhere between 8 to 10 people it is the only private press I know of that can consistently produce letterpress books with substantial content.

The Edda is a large book. It is large quarto size (nearly 12 x 9 inches) and contains over 400 pages. 'Nuff said. However, that still does not excuse the use of the rather ordinary and thin text paper.

P.S. The happy exception to my "Arion Press Syndrome" rule is a book the Barbarian Press is feverishly working on with a target date for publishing sometime in 2017. The book is entitled: "Bordering on the Sublime: Ornamental Typography at the Curwen Press". Because the Barbarian Press was able to acquire:

1. The entire Curwen Press collection of Monotype ornaments.

2. Over one hundred standing border designs used in their work for other presses and

3. Over one hundred packets of new ornaments still in the original foundry wrappings.

......this will be a monumental work, on a scale similar to their landmark 'The Play of Pericles'. That said, it will certainly not be issued in a limitation of nearly 1000 copies.

>109 dlphcoracl: Thank you for your illuminating comments. On a side note, I wonder if a FS and Arion Press collaboration (the former sourcing letterpress printing from the latter under the former's imprint) would be feasible and beneficial for any future, large LE works. Just a thought.

>110 ultrarightist:

The logistical problems and cost argue against this collaboration. Remember: the FS would need to send the materials for 1000 books to San Francisco, a distance of nearly 5400 miles. Then there is the problem of doing the bindings, the tipped-in illustrations, etc.

I certainly do not object to the book not using letterpress. I DO object to the poorly thought out page design and uninspired paper used. Both 'The Door in the Wall' and 'Hansel and Gretel' are books I am ecstatic about and letterpress printing technique was not necessary in either instance.

I agree on the poor paper quality as well and is quite frustrating for a £300 book. The leather binding is too gorgeous and the only reason I am not returning it :)

>112 venkysuniverse: What about the illustrations?

>113 ultrarightist: The illustrations didn't inspire me as much as other LEs typically do. Maybe once I start reading each of the poems I will be able to apply more context to each illustration and appreciate the nuances in them.

I will comment that I expected worse after hearing the complaints regarding the paper. Its not that bad, but certainly not opaque. IT seems like the kinda "phoned in" a bunch of the design elements. Its a shame because I have been looking forward to this edition since January.

I received number 138. More troubling is there are a few holes in the text block - literally hole-punched holes scattered throughout the book.

Whats weird about this LE is they went with a sort of archaic look in the binding and the illustrations but then they went with a cribbed "scholarly" layout.

It would have been better to use thicker, better paper and a similar format to Piers Plowman. IMHO.

I definitely do not think it is worth what I've paid.

Just popped by the dMR today, to have another perusal of The Edda LE. I learned which country has ordered the most of the new edition since launch: little Iceland!

>116 cronshaw:

With one of the highest literacy rates of any country in the world (only Finland and Norway are higher), this is surprising but not a total shocker.

>116 cronshaw:
There's been so little change in the language since the Eddas were written down that most Icelanders would have little difficulty understanding them. I wonder what they make of the cramped presentation.

>104 Jayked: Appreciate your honesty - another look at the photos up-page shows the extent of print being visible through the paper. I'll check in the dMR, but, shame, looks like I'm out.

>117 dlphcoracl:
I think it's quite a shocker considering Iceland's total population of only slightly above 300K, comparable to a single American suburb.

But I have to say that while they might be #3 in whatever rating you checked in terms of literacy (however literacy is defined), they would have to be absolutely the #1 literary nation, as 1 in 10 (!!!!) Icelanders publishes a book in his or her lifetime.

I was also quite surprised by the number of bookstores I saw in Reykjavik, a city of only 100K (double that for Greater Reykjavik), and I'm sure I missed more than I saw. And even more surprised by what I saw inside - large bookstores full of books in their native Icelandic (again, language spoken by only 300 thousand people), with relatively large proportion being very nice quality hardcovers (comparable to regular cloth-bound Folios).

A little article on the literary situation in Iceland:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24399599

>120 elladan0891:

All of that, of course, is quite remarkable. It definitely sounds like a country I would feel quite comfortable living in.

>42 Rodomontade:

Wouldn't you have to pay import duties on an Abe purchase, though (whereas these are included in the localised FS pricing)?

>122 stubedoo: Not if the book is worth less than AU$1000. I believe it's calculated by volume, as I certainly paid over that for the two volume Johnson's Dictionary, but no import duties were forthcoming. The worst I get hit for is a foreign transaction fee from my bank.

In Australia it is total shipment value, including postage -- currently $1,000. I believe there is a move afoot to reduce it down to zero. NZ is $400-ish (including postage). I think the limits are low or zero in many other locations.

>124 stubedoo: Shipment value only applies if the value is already above $1000. Eg $900 book + $120 postage = no customs duties. $1010 book + $50 postage = customs duties on the $1060 total.

Mine has just arrived. Number 137. The leather is wonderful but the paper is very disappointing. Suitable for a standard edition. USA politics renders me incapable of further comment at present

>125 Rodomontade:

Ahh, that is better. It used to be the case when I lived in Australia that the shipping and insurance were included for the purposes of determining if you exceeded the threshold -- I got charged in such a case.

In NZ, shipping and insurance ARE included in the threshold -- which is already low. Because they charge about $60 collection charge on top of the duty and GST, anything that only just goes over the threshold isn't worth importing, as yoi pay as much fees as tax.

>120 elladan0891: - I, too, found the sheer number of bookstores in Reykjavik puzzling (And most welcome!) You've got to do something during winter, I suppose - might as well be reading!

As for the hardcovers, I have a theory - with Icelandic being such a tiny language, the production cost of the physical book is probably just a very small part of the cost of publication. Might as well do it properly, then.

I really enjoyed myself there, and plan to go back shortly. (This time bringing my 4x4 for a round trip.)

I thought Island Books on abe were slipping, with no recent addition of Folio's The Poetic Edda LE to their reassuringly expensive stock list, but they have added it now: £642 for those attracted to numbers so large and even they should be polished. P&P is regrettably extra.

>129 cronshaw: P&P is regrettably extra.

Damn. I was up for it before you said that.

>129 cronshaw: They are slipping, they normally have FS limited editions 'available' for sale before FS have any.

My modest The Poetic Edda arrived today.

>133 EclecticIndulgence:
Poetry written by a poet. There's a novel idea. And one who knows his fornyrðislag from his ljoðahattr. Good choice.

I received my Poetic Edda LE last week. I must respectfully disagree with >111 dlphcoracl: regarding the page design. I have no objection to the page design. I do no think the old Norse text crowds or crimps the English translation, which I think has ample room to breath. The paper, however, is truly a disappointment. FS should have at least used Caxton Wove paper, if not mould-made paper (preferably). I recently finished the FS MR James Ghost Stories, and the Caxton Wove paper used therein is definitely superior to the Abbey Wove paper used in this LE. Overall, I am pleased with this LE.

Technically this is an off-topic question, but given that the nature of this thread is such that you are all the right people to ask, I am unable to resist:

I would like to assemble a list of significant works and collections to eventually obtain, and one category is for things like the Poetic Edda, by which I mean existing collections of pre-modern (I have no specific cut-off date, but generally at least 500 years old) legendary myths/sagas/poetry (generally, the type of material said to have influenced Lord of The Rings). By "existing," I mean works were already considered a collection and weren't compiled by the latest publisher or editor (as is the case with the Poetic Edda). Contrast this with FS' The Icelandic Sagas, which (I believe) were recently compiled and weren't connected works in the sense that those of the Edda were and in which, therefore, I have no interest (unless those works were not collected prior to current times, in which case I will eventually put together a new plan for obtaining those).

As for individual editions, while I enjoy FS and other fine publishers, my primary criterion for selecting a particular edition is completeness: if an FS edition of a collection contains the "core 40" (for example) tales/poems but a thick cheap paperback is the only edition with all 50 (again, for example) of this collection's tales/poems, I will go with the cheap paperback. My secondary criterion is inclusion of the original language (in addition to the work(s) in English) whenever possible, as with the Poetic Edda.

The actual question is:
Besides the Poetic Edda, what collections of such works are out there to pursue? If I know what to look for, I can sort out which edition I favor (although any recommendations will be gladly received).

Because I don't know what I don't know, I appreciate that this question may not have one straightforward answer, or that I may have simply clouded the issue with my own ignorance. I would appreciate any nudge in the right direction for learning more about this type of thing.

Thanks.

I think you are making a series of artificial distinctions, e.g.., existing collections vs. compilations, that will severely limit your ability to collect some wonderful fine & private press books. Additionally, the insistence on only editions with complete collections AND of inclusion of the original language will SEVERELY limit your collection further.

Bottom line: You have painted yourself into a corner and are now searching for unicorns. You need to rethink this.

>136 St._Troy:
Had you seen this: http://www.sagas.is/yfirlit.htm ? No original language but as >137 dlphcoracl: said, you are painting yourself into a bad corner.

Thanks.

Re: inclusion of original language:
This is secondary and won't prevent me from purchasing where it doesn't exist or exists only in prohibitively expensive editions.

Re: compilations:
Mainly I'm interested in saving myself the experience of buying a collection of (for example) 10 poems and then, two years later, learning of the existence of another volume that includes those 10 plus others. Additionally, I consider this process (of acquisition and reading) an education as well as entertainment; I would like to know that I have the "full course" as opposed to the "partial syllabus" to the extent that I reasonably can.

Given that I don't intend to spend the rest of my days hunting individual sagas/poems (in an alternate universe, I would be happy to do just that), I seek the broadest, most complete collection of a given type (Icelandic, Norse, etc.) when buying of that type. A compilation that was made and then lasted centuries carries a greater weight than one determined by Folio Society's recent market research.

To take FS's Icelandic Sagas as an example: have these been compiled (with other works) elsewhere? Or only available individually? Or perhaps they have occasionally been compiled, with no compilation emerging as definitive? In such cases, I'm content to avoid purchasing such works for the foreseeable future, as I am pursuing other things and deliberately choose to stick with definitive, existing compilations. If the day comes that I have developed a pronounced taste for scattered works, I may pursue them at that time.

If you are saying that the Poetic Edda is the only existing unicorn, at least that knowledge will save me some time.

Tolkien didn't need an English translation of the works that influenced him, mostly Old English and Norse, and for many ON sources none exists. Side by side translations are rare.
Almost all OE poetry is contained in the original language in the 6 vol. Anglo-Saxon Poetic Record. First published in the 1930's, it has undergone a number of minor revisions. If you're not worried about scholarly quibbles, you should be able to pick up a hardback set quite reasonably. It's also widely available in the latest revision online. There is a prose translation of the ASPR, "Anglo-Saxon Poetry," by S.A.J.Bradley that was published as an Everyman paperback for many years, but doesn't seem to be around still. A bit pedestrian, but complete.
There is a vast amount of ON material, published usually in multi-volume sets in Iceland, some of it rarely translated into English. Translations of the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda are readily available, though editions of the latter often leave out technical sections such as the Hattatal. Later medieval Skaldic court poetry is rarely translated. Its form is infernally complex and hard enough to appreciate in the original. I don't know of a fuller translated saga collection than the FS one, though I've never really looked for one.
For Arthurian legends, complete translations of Malory are common, but French sources are more controversial; I leave those to others who know them better.

>136 St._Troy:
Caveat emptor: my completegitis and collectionmania have been lingering at the stages not nearly as advanced as yours, so sincere apologies if I "just don't understand" )

Now, I do think that 'cloudy' is a good word, and the issue is definitely not very straightforward. Personally, I also don't really get the urge to go for series/compilations only, let alone only ancient series/compilations, but again, to each his own, so I'm not going to ask "why?", but try to share my thoughts on points relevant to the question asked. Also apologize for the lengthy answer.

I'll start with the Poetic (Elder) Edda. So what IS the Poetic Edda? Well, it's a collection of old Norse scaldic poems (I find a common division of Old Norse poetry into Eddaic and Scaldic very superfluous and unnecessary). Originally, they were passed down orally from generation to generation for centuries. Were they even considered "a collection" back then? I doubt it. As far as I'm concerned, they were about as connected to each other as the sagas are. Eddaic poems tell different stories, with many reoccurring characters, but loosely united by the same overall theme - the Norse cosmology and tales of their gods and ancient heroes. Sagas, and Sagas of the Icelanders in particular, tell independent stories from the time of settlement of Iceland, also featuring many of the same characters. So I already think that saying that you're interested in the Eddaic poems because they're connected and not interested in the sagas because they're not is not only odd to me because I don't understand the underlying logic of such division, but also is based on the assumption that I don't consider true.

Anyway, back to the Poetic Edda. Every scald would know and perform a set of poems, some of which would be considered Eddaic now, most not. I'm sure the "set-list" of Eddaic poems differed from bard to bard, and I'm sure there were different versions of the poems. At last, they were written down as collections in Iceland. But what IS the Elder Edda? Which poems should be considered part of it? And in which order? I don't think there is a straight answer. The most important manuscript is Codex Regius, written in Iceland in the 1270s. It contained 53 vellum pages, but only 45 survived, so there is 8 pages worth of writing that we will never know. It consists of several mythological poems dealing with Norse cosmology, gods, giants, dwarves, etc, and several heroic lays. It is the sole surviving manuscript for many of the poems it contains. But there are overlaps, and that's where it gets tricky. So do you consider poems from OTHER manuscripts that have some overlaps with Codex Regius as part of the Poetic Edda? Do you include poems written in the similar style dealing with similar matters that appear in other manuscripts? Which ones? Do you include Baldr's Dreams from AM 748 I 4to manuscript? The surviving part of the manuscript contains 7 poems, 6 of which are also in Codex Regius + unique Baldr's Dreams. So sounds like a sure candidate for inclusion, right? But then most pages are missing, all of which could contain material different from Codex Regius, so it could have been that only 6 out of many more poems were overlapping. Do we still include it? Do we include Eddaic poems from other manuscripts that consist for the most part of other things? Do we include poems that exist in manuscripts slightly younger than Codex Regius? So there is not even a single definition of what exactly the Elder Edda is. Just Codex Regius; Codex Regius + a differing number of other poems from other sources in different orders. Modern publications in English differ depending on the editor. I can't predict the exact number of poems in the Folio LE, for example. There is no such thing as the "definitive" answer to what exactly the Poetic Edda is. So you see, even the Poetic Edda doesn't fit your criteria exactly. Does this knowledge mean that you're not interested in it anymore? Whenever you speak of centuries-old literature, you will constantly run into problems like this, so if it bothers you, you will have to stick to only modern compilations of modern literature, which, frankly speaking would be a shame, as you will be missing out a lot.

And again, why compilations only? The Prose Edda, for example, is a stand-alone work, just as most of the sagas, Nibelungenlied, Beowulf, The Iliad, The Odyssey, etc,. etc., etc. Are you really not interested in any of them simply because they're not part of some kind of series/compilation?

Ok, so I did ask "why?" despite my promise, sorry about that )

I just read the posts after the original question. If your main goal is not to miss out on things, then it's an entirely different matter. Then your take on the sagas, for example, should be completely different: not "Icelandic sagas are stand-alone works that haven't been compiled centuries ago, so I'm not interested", but rather "what is the most comprehensive edition of the Icelandic sagas?" This would be a much easier question to answer.

First of all, "Icelandic sagas" and "Sagas of the Icelanders" are not the same thing, and are often confused. Even Wiki redirects 'Icelandic Sagas' to the Sagas of the Icelanders page. The latter is a subset of the former. Icelandic sagas are the medieval sagas written in Iceland. They consist of several different types, like Legendary Sagas, Kings' Sagas, Chivalric sagas, Saint sagas, Bishop Sagas, and last but certainly not least - Sagas of the Icelanders.

Sagas of the Icelanders are considered by many to be the pinnacle of medieval Icelandic literature and are dealing with historic events at the time of Iceland's settlement, knowledge of which were passed down by oral tradition by several generations before being written down. Folio's 2-volume set covers Sagas of the Icelanders pretty well (and only Sagas of the Icelanders - no legendary/kings'/other sagas included), but not fully. However, the 5-volume leatherbound set in Annie's link above (>138 AnnieMod:) is the complete set of all surviving Sagas of the Icelanders, so even such a completist as yourself has no excuse not to acquire it! ;)

There are no full collections of other types of sagas in English.

Sorry for the lengthy post again

>136 St._Troy:
>141 elladan0891:

What elladan0891 is saying - and I heartily concur - is that what you are looking for rarely (if ever) exists in a fine or private press format, especially for a relative obscure topic such as the Icelandic sagas and other myths and legends. This may be possible with something as popular as the Arthurian legends and Le Morte Darthur but anything else in this realm of myth, legend, and folklore is clearly well off of the beaten path with regard to the general population of readers.

One concrete suggestion: consider scouring and doing searches on the websites of the major academic publishers, e.g., Oxford University, Cambridge University, Univ. of California, Harvard (Belknap), University of Texas, etc. They are more likely to have extensive collections (complete or otherwise) than fine & private press publishers.

One final suggestion:

Several wonderful private press books on the Norse and Icelandic sagas were written by William Morris (of Kelmscott Press fame) and Eirikr Magnusson, as follows:

1. The Saga Library, 6 volumes: published by Bernard Quaritch (1905).

2. Volsunga Saga & Three Northern Love Stories, published by Longmans Green (1901).

3. The Story of Grettir the Strong, published by Longmans Green (1901).

The two Longmans Green books were printed on handmade paper in black and red ink by the Chiswick Press using the Golden type found in Kelmscott Press books. The presswork is superb and these two books are highly collectible.

Thanks for the input everyone; it is all very helpful.

Basically, I would like to eventually obtain all of this material (and if there's too much for that to be realistic, that's just my ignorance rearing its ugly head again) in as few volumes as possible. I suppose it will be a gradual process; the information here will be invaluable as I move forward.

>144 EclecticIndulgence: the leather is exquisite and the tipped-in illustrations are very nice. You will not get either in a standard edition.

>144 EclecticIndulgence:
I'd have been happy to pay more for a more expansive presentation, so I don't think it's seriously overpriced at $600. It's rather curiously described as a "reading edition, discreetly scholarly," as though the content were more valuable than the presentation. To me the best parallel is with The Duke's Children, which also had scholarly pretensions. The Edda is priced midway between the standard and deluxe versions of TDC. It has slightly thinner paper, no separate commentary or solander box, comparable binding to the deluxe, but does have illustrations.
The advertising does give a pretty good idea of what the volume is like. The binding is handsome. The coloured edges are bland. The paper is slightly opaque. The illustrations are stylized line drawings on dark backgrounds. Up to you whether you like them or not.

>144 EclecticIndulgence: Anyone want to sway me either way?

>5 EclecticIndulgence: I will not be able to resist this one despite the $600 price tag. OH THE PAIN

You're just playing hard to get. You know you're going to buy it. Give in to your heart's desire.

As I sit here here caressing the leather, luxuriating in the scent, I can say with certainty you won't regret it.

>144 EclecticIndulgence:

I'd wait for the standard edition. In fact, the current standard edition IS better than what FS' standard edition likely will look like, because it gets rid of the bizarre typography by omitting the Old Norse entirely.

I'm not sending back my copy, but I am certainly not proposing that others buy it. The $600 tag is mainly for the leather and the utterly asinine typography; what FS really should have done was either (a) put the Old Norse on the verso and the English on the recto, or (b) dispensed with the Old Norse entirely.

This was not one of FS' better productions, and I hope that if Joe is considering the Prose Edda, that the Old Norse will be omitted entirely so the typography can really shine. Also, better paper! I'm essentially reading a leatherbound academic work, with all the production values of the same.

>148 scholasticus: I agree about the sub-standard paper (for an LE), but disagree about the typography and page design. Let me ask you a question. If the Old Norse were removed, or placed on the verso with the English on the recto, would you change the typography of the English text? If yes, how? Increase the font size? Increase the leading? Do neither and simply place more text on a page, thus reducing the number of pages? Would you prefer interlinear text, like the Grabhorn-Hoyem Press did with the Pearl?

In my opinion, the English text in the FS Poetic Edda has plenty of room to breath. The font size, kerning, and leading are all sufficient. I do not understand the objections.

>149 ultrarightist:

Thank you for your questions: they forced me to consult the dictionary: I conflated the terms 'typography' and 'typesetting' in my original post. What I was really objecting to was the typesetting itself, not the typography.

My objection to the typesetting is that the ON is cramped into an expanded margin with the English translation getting the lion's share of the page. It makes for odd reading, and essentially treats the ON as a gloss rather than treating it as being equal to the English.

My points in >148 scholasticus: still stand: if the ON is retained, follow standard practice of providing the texts facing each other, thus there's no need to allow a generous left margin to squeeze the ON into. If the ON is removed, typeset that normally, also without the generous margin.

I don't think that interlinear text would work well here, given the amount of text in the Poetic Edda, and I wonder what the cost of printing half a book in colour would be, though I suppose typography could come into play here to distinguish the ON and English without resorting to colour. Interlinear text does work beautifully in G-H's edition of the Pearl, though.

>150 scholasticus: Thank you for the considered response. I now understand that your objection is to the unequal space devoted to the ON text. Although it does not bother me, I see your point. On a side note, I had not given much thought to the difference between typography and typesetting. I consulted the web, and I think your objection is to the typography rather than the typesetting. If "Typography was the art of designing, setting and arranging type whereas typesetting was the process (or craft) of actually setting the type," then the textual design of the page is typography rather than typesetting. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the application of the terms.

Source: https://gettingpublished.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/what-is-typesetting/

>144 EclecticIndulgence:
>148 scholasticus:

I agree with >150 scholasticus: entirely. The paper is not up to par and it seriously detracts from this LE. More importantly, the original Norse language is cramped and crowded on the left-hand side of each page occupying about 25% of the page volume and it is an absurd idea. I cannot read or appreciate the Norse language , it is not poetic to read aloud, and it correlates quite poorly with the English translation to the right of it, i.e., the Norse words do not give a hint of the English words in the translation.

The Norse language should have been omitted and the English translation printed in a spacious manner. Although I will keep my volume, it is not worth the money and if I had been able to see and handle an actual copy prior to ordering and purchasing it, I would not have done so.

This is a distinct "miss" for the FS and it could have and should have been MUCH better.

The question of page layout and content seems one respecting which every reader will have his or her own preferences, partly aesthetic, partly from the kind of reader he or she is. The folk responsible for designing the book will have acted according to their priorities, Joe Whitlock-Blundell and others will have had oversight at various points.

For myself, the only reason I won't be buying (though comments here about the suitability of the paper would have weighed with me if I'd progressed that far) is that I've no particular expectation of reading the Edda. If I had, if anything else in my reading had happened over the years to move me toward conviction that I would read the work: then I'm the sort of reader who wouldn't rest without endeavouring to gain some approximate experience of the texture of the Old Norse, of its sound and movement, of some of its words and what they do. This edition seems more or less exactly what I would wish for, probably in conjunction with an additional commentary on the work: a compromise between, on the one hand a translation presented alone, offering no access to the language of origin, and on the other the usual form of bilingual volume, which (to my thinking) is only quite justified for a reader whose active interest in the original text at least equals interest in the English translation.

A Loeb volume, say, is never a comfortable place to me as reader unless I'm actively attending to the Greek or Latin, whereas this book does seem to offer the option of simply reading the English text whenever that is what the moment requires. We're ever so various, though, we humans. To me this book makes the best of its material, whereas for instance the current Folio Paradise Lost doesn't: if the commentary volume there had included the text of the poem, each book thereby offering a very different self-contained presentation of the work, I would have been a customer. An oversized commentary volume requiring the equally large text volume to be open at the same time, no way.

>154 terebinth:

I will state my objection succinctly: reading the original Norse language in the cramped left-hand side of each page added absolutely nothing to my appreciation of the FS 'The Poetic Edda'.

>155 dlphcoracl:

I believe you, of course, but, unless you're convinced that the same will be true for every other reader, or at least for every other reader who isn't a dedicated scholar of Old Norse, that doesn't amount to evidence that the format is misjudged.

>155 dlphcoracl: I understand and respect your opinion. For me, the typography of the ON is sufficient to glance at it and occasionally focus on a word or phrase. If I were to endeavor to actually read the ON, then I may share your objection.

Out of curiosity, what do you thin of the leather?

>156 terebinth: No one's making the case for every reader, each are stating their individual preference. Which opinions, while they don't amount to evidence the format is misjudged, don't amount to evidence that it isn't either.

Speaking personally, the typography does this title no favours, but it's the disappointing choice of paper that will keep it on my 'await for aftermarket' list, despite a keen interest in reading the Poetic Edda.

>158 Rodomontade:

I've really no stomach for a quarrel, but I can't find a way to read the last two paragraphs of post 152 above as a statement of individual preferences. They simply declare that the format of the book is a mistake.

>157 ultrarightist:

The leather binding on 'The Poetic Edda' is wonderful, by far the nicest aspect of this LE. I also think the illustrations are unusual and elegant.

I did buy the Edda for the ON original -- wouldn't have bought the translation alone -- and am just as disappointed in the layout, which relegates the original text to an awkward sidenote. It's a compromise that seems to have pleased nobody.

>159 terebinth: But how could those two paragraphs be anything but the statement of an individual preference?

If someone says that the format of the book is a mistake, there's an implicit "I think that" preceding. After all, if there wasn't, how could the mistake be proved? The claim is invalidated as universal truth by the first person who says the format isn't a mistake.

Anyway, no quarrel, just pointing out there can be no objective basis to a subjective claim (as all aesthetic judgements are), regardless of wording.

>152 dlphcoracl:

I cannot read or appreciate the Norse language , it is not poetic to read aloud

Eh? How can you say poetry written in Norse is not poetic in Norse....?

When I received the mailing for this book, with the reproduction of page 241 (stanzas 4 to 8 of "A Short Poem About Sigurd") not speaking or reading Old Norse but wanting an idea of how the original sounded, I wondered if a recording was available.

I haven't checked to see if the entire Edda is on YouTube, but this poem, at least is there, and it's really quite easy to follow the recital with the text to hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55asO74HzKU

Personally, I value having the original text when I can supplement it with a reading or performance such as this.

I don't want to get into an argument about the typographical decisions taken with this book, but I can't help noticing that the Old Norse is quite simply in shorter lines than the English translation, and takes up less space on the page. I think I'm right in saying that Old English was a highly inflected language - different word endings doing a lot of the work and thereby making for a conciser language than is modern English. I would assume Old Norse was the same.

I'm going to try to see the Old Norse text not as a secondary, crowded out sidenote, and the Modern English text not as a sprawling, wordy interloper elbowing the original aside.

>162 Rodomontade:

The distinction is between preference and opinion. Between, say, "BMWs aren't for me", which is a statement of personal preference and uncontroversial, whether or not enlarged upon with personal reasons, and "BMWs are bad cars", a statement of opinion with an implied claim of universality, likely to invite or provoke anyone finding BMWs well adapted to their needs and wishes to controvert it. I know nothing about cars, but I'm sure there are such people.

Between Devotees who've bought the book wishing the presentation were conventionally bilingual, and Devotees who've bought the book wishing the Old Norse weren't there, just maybe the FS has it right after all. My wife, who has an aversion to purchases of expensive books, but hasn't killed me yet, studied Old English for a while and was immediately intrigued by points of similarity in the Old Norse reproduced in Folio's publicity material. Like me, I'm sure that if drawn to reading the Edda she would welcome and make use both of the availability of the Old Norse text and of the volume's hospitality to being read just as a translation.

>151 ultrarightist:

I don't think I misunderstood the terms, but I know a few folks in the graphic design world, so I shall ask them to define these terms precisely and let you know: now I'm curious!

>159 terebinth:

dlphcoracl clarifies his points in >152 dlphcoracl: by explicitly employing the personal pronoun 'my' to qualify his dislike of the cramped ON as impacting upon his ability to enjoy the ON at >155 dlphcoracl:; this isn't a generalised statement, as >158 Rodomontade: correctly points out.

>157 ultrarightist: My turn to agree with >160 dlphcoracl:!

>163 stubedoo: I think >152 dlphcoracl: answers your question by admitting his inability to read Old Norse. Being told that such and such a passage or work from a foreign language is poetic is quite different from appreciating why and how that passage is poetic, which requires some familiarity with the language in question.

Edited for an incomplete sentence at the end.

>163 stubedoo:

It is not poetic to an English reader. This is in marked contrast to reading the Italian language or the French language, even if one cannot understand it.

>165 terebinth: You are ignoring the implicit yet self-evident preferences in dlphcoracl's opinions, the presence of which is why I'm conflating while you're distinguishing the terms.

If I might use >167 dlphcoracl: as an example, to say "(Old Norse) is not poetic to an English reader" is to say "I think/believe/feel (Old Norse) is not poetic to an English reader", which is a negative preference for Old Norse vis-à-vis 'poetic-ness' for English readers.

Again, were it otherwise — that is, a genuine claim of universality — dlphcoracl would be placed in the absurd position of having to prove Old Norse is not, objectively, poetic to all English readers. You say yourself the claim to universality is implied, but it doesn't exist. The wording, as a result of rhetoric/register/tone/etc, does not change its subjective status.

Which goes back to my post #158 in response to your post #156 — no one's making the case for all readers, ie, no one's making any universal claims, regardless of wording.

> 167

I disgree, to be honest. I far prefer Old Norse to either Italian or French, and I only understand quite a small amount of Old Norse (I've translated a few passages from time to time with the aid of dictionaries).

I don't think one can make claims that pertain to all readers.

Some English readers will find it poetic, despite your absolute claims to the contrary. Some won't, but for those who are interested, the Norse is present in the book. For those who don't want it, buy another book or just read the English bits.

>168 Rodomontade:

I expect many reading this thread would find themselves at least metaphorically rolling their eyes at one or both of us, but I confess myself intrigued as to why we're on different sides of the fence, so I'll venture at least one more post.

"A negative preference for Old Norse vis-à-vis 'poetic-ness' for English readers" is surely an absurdity, unless it signifies, which would itself be very peculiar, a wish that English readers encountering Old Norse might not find it poetic. Imagine, say, a negative preference for apples for vegetarians. One might be a vegetarian who dislikes apples, that's fair enough, but "Apples are unpalatable to a vegetarian" is not a reasonable conclusion to draw. Pedantically one could argue that it's true, so long as there is one vegetarian to whom apples are unpalatable, but that is not the meaning any English reader would take: the structure of the statement makes it a claim about vegetarians in general.

"I think/believe/feel (Old Norse) is not poetic to an English reader" is, then, a statement not of preference but of opinion, the two words being by no means synonymous. It's about English readers in general, not oneself in particular. "As an English reader knowing nothing of Old Norse, I can find no poetry in the language", would be incontrovertible. "There is no poetry to be found in Old Norse by an English reader", on the other hand, would be an assertion asking to be controverted by any English reader who either has found poetry in Old Norse or is persuaded that others might.

And, well, English readers are a wide variety of persons. Joe Whitlock-Blundell, who, as he tells us, leapt at the chance to study Old Norse at university, is himself an English reader. To quote from the letter accompanying Folio's prospectus for the book, "I thought it essential", he says, "that the Old Norse text should be presented alongside a translation: even if one does not understand the original (and I can no longer pretend to do so in any great measure), it is only through listening to its gritty alliterative music that one can feel close to its elemental nature". I've mentioned my wife, who had scarcely if ever looked at Old Norse before but who studied Old English at the same university, to whom that music was immediately in some measure available. Some English readers will have encountered Old Norse before, many more at least among the customers for such a book as this will have encountered languages quite as close to it as to our own, and more again will want to grant various amounts of attention, perhaps of study, to experiencing whatever they may of the Old Norse even if they've no prior acquaintance with any language older than Shakespeare's English.

I believe we need Frigg the Goddess of Wisdom to decide this saga.

I'll stick to Noggin the Nog, who is the wisest of all kings (in my opinion).

>172 boldface: you know I'd never seen an episode of Noggin the Nog, so you prompted me to have a quick peek at an episode on YouTube, 'The Saga of Noggin the Nod' (BBC, 1959, B&W) to fill that lacuna of ignorance. Fabulous stuff, King Canute's death is very moving. Who needs overacting and modern special effects?

Now you've gone and supplanted my urge to buy The Poetic Edda with a stronger, more affordable one to watch Noggin's further adventures on YouTube.

>170 terebinth: It seems our discussion is tracing the path of those metaphorical eyes as we go around in circles. But a whirligig is great fun for those on board, right? :-)

Aesthetic judgements, being up to personal taste, are subjective, and so cannot be proven. De gustibus non disputandum est. So when, in matters of aesthetics, an apparently objective claim is made, such as "There is no poetry to be found in Old Norse by an English reader", one has a choice:

A) Interpret the speaker literally, and hold them to the absurd position of not only speaking for all English readers, but of also of knowing objectively of what poetry consists — which is of course untenable, as you rightly point out in your last paragraph.

or

B) Acknowledge the speaker as a rational interlocutor (as I am entirely confident dlphcoracl, for example, is), and therefore unlikely to express an absurdity to that degree. As a result, the statement's wording must be interpreted as one of rhetorical effect, whereby a subjective opinion is imbued with cosmic applicability.

If one chooses A, then one goes down the redundant path of pointing out the absurdity, reminding the speaker that such things are subjective, that they can't speak for English readers everywhere; all of which is manifestly obvious and never actually under dispute (because how could it be?).

If one chooses B, then the aesthetic discussion can continue, voicing one's similar or opposing views as desired, with all the satisfaction that may (or may not) entail, without getting caught up in irrelevancies.

Noggin's only slightly dizzy, another spin?

I like the tone setting in the leather. Leather is as mentioned soft, like say in a `liber bestiarum` kind of way. The craftmanship on the spine is outstanding. Tipped in plates a good bonus. Slipcase is classy. The only but, for me really is the paper. It feels to modern, shines to much, i miss structures in the paper feel, for such an old book. I would like it even more old - ish.

I would also mention, with books like `Hemskringla` & the `Eddas`and it`s like - i must read primarily in norwegian, or else i (naturally) feel alienated because of the language. English doesn`t do it for me with these kind of books, though i most enjoy it. Just not as much. The quotes sing better to me in old/updated norwegian. Edda either way was a must have, i am really happy i own it, it`s really good looking - even with it`s "flaws" - conclusion: i would gladly have paid more for the little extra for complete satisfaction.

>175 Pellias: Your opinion echoes mine. Even if FS did not use mould-made paper for this edition, they could have at least used a thicker, antique laid paper, which would make it feel more 'oldish' to your point.

I proved unable to resist despite the reservations of some on the thread -- placed my order just now

>177 gmacaree: I proved unable to resist

Bravo!

After a bit of a mess with USPS and their delivery, my copy finally made it here (#33 :) ). I am not sure why almost everyone hates the layout - I actually find it to be one of the highlights of this edition...

>179 AnnieMod: I like the layout too :)

I told my mother about this edition, her eyes went big and she said:

"Have they anyone left? Order it for me, I do not care what it cost, just get it."

Ordered now.

>181 Ardagor: Cool mother. Probably a shieldmaiden in past life ..

>182 Pellias: Pellias: Could not agree more, she is very interested in the old sagas, Japan (in particular Hiroshige and Sumo), Robert Burns (Tam O`Shanter) and Snooker (John Higgins and Ronnie O`Sullivan) among other things.

I received my copy yesterday and had a good time leafing through it. While I too wish the paper had been thicker or higher-quality, I don't mind the page layout as much as some here. I'm no linguist, but it's fun to compare the compressions and styles different languages use compared to English, and my preference in all translations would be to keep the original if possible.

What really pleased me about the Edda is the binding. It feels, unlike any other book on my shelves, like an artifact of an earlier time, without giving the impression that it's trying to. The look and feel of the leather is magnificent, and the decision not to place this edition in the usual LE solander case was very wise. I have larger books in the library, but none with the sheer weight of the Edda.

All in all, I'm quite happy. But, friend mole, I would have been even happier had I had the opportunity to spend a few hundred extra for higher-quality paper.

>184 gmacaree: But, friend mole, I would have been even happier had I had the opportunity to spend a few hundred extra for higher-quality paper.

I couldn't agree more. And the binding is a thing of wonder, not to be hidden in a solander sarcophagus.

One of the reviews on the FS website raises an interesting point: that the leather corners of his copy are already subject to wear from contact with the slipcase on insertion and removal. The slipcase is indeed a tight fit, and the rough canvas cover extends inside, where it inevitably rubs against the fine leather. It's not a problem that would arise from a solander box, which would also protect from light damage.
Red, which seems to be the favourite colour for LEs, perhaps because of its richness, is notoriously the fastest to degrade when exposed to light. I'll be pushing up the daisies before my copy of the Edda shows major damage, but all the same I'll be keeping it out of the bookcase and the light.

For some weird reason, The Poetic Edda has dropped off the FS LE page, but it can still be found by doing a site search.
Mole - take note!
As a Tolkien fan, I have given in and ordered it.

Thank you Mole. Poetic Edda now back on the LE page. 😃

Now that many of you have had Poetic Edda for a while now, how does it feel? Does it feel like an LE or closer to a FE? Does it really need a solander box and possibly a commentary?

I ordered my copy almost two months ago and it still hasn't arrived. Talked to customer service and another copy is supposedly on its way. One would think with a $45 shipping charge there would be some tracking.

>190 kdweber:

That's strange that an LE should be able to disappear itself without any trace of when and where last seen. Tracking I would have thought would should have been a must.

>189 LesMiserables:

Since nobody has answered your questions, and I just got my copy today, I'll try.

The look and feel of the book are more like the LEs I have than FEs. The leather binding is very nice, and it feels good to hold and read it. As for commentary, it is in the book, as it has an extensive introduction, footnotes on nearly every page, a short introduction to each poem, and an extensive annotated index of names, both of people and places. The slipcase seems to be the best one I have ever seen, and I have a lot of FS books.

All in all, I think it is worth its LE price.

>192 garyjbp:

Thanks Gary

>193 LesMiserables:
Steve, I have a copy if you wish to inspect some time.
You can see lots of source material for Hobbit and Lord of The Rings in the Edda with ideas, place and personal names reproduced.
A must for all those who are deep into Tolkien addiction.

>194 wcarter:

Thanks Warwick. Did you have it there at the Faddict Function? I can't recall.

>195 LesMiserables:
Unfortunately I think it arrived the next day.

>196 wcarter:

Just as well ;-)

And now, Neil Gaiman gets into the act:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/04/neil-gaiman-interview-books

>200 drasvola: Neil Gaiman gets into the act.

Oh, interesting. Will keep an eye out for that. The article as a whole was very good too, I felt.

I've recently started collecting fine print books and new to this group, just received by copy of this book and it does look brilliant.

Does anyone have any other mythology recommendations from the FS?

>200 drasvola:, >201 folio_books:
I haven't heard it yet but the BBC were plugging his Norse Gods this New Year. Have a look on BBC Sounds.

>202 AnthonyDean:
Two nice volumes of Sagas were released; not LEs so not quite as drool-worthy as the Edda but worth tracking down if that's your thing.

Alternatively, try a bit of Jon Leifs if you want to get the truly earth-shaking Icelandic effect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AQ24wuylqI.

edit, apropos of not much:

youtube, for its own inscrutable reasons, then led me (via Bax's Tintagel - yay!) to Xenakis's Jonchaies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryiu2MYmmBY

Equally earth-shattering in its own way, if not much to do with books :-)

>203 Cat_of_Ulthar:

I investigated it when it was first published. Sad to say I was a bit disappointed. It's a very quick read, considering he allegedly spent eight years working on it. I might just give the radio version a listen - all hour and a half of it - but I think I'll stick with the Edda.

Another good option for the Icelandic Sagas is this publisher in Iceland. Books are in English in a nicely bound set in slipcase.

No association, etc.

http://sagas.is/vara.php

>202 AnthonyDean:

I guess it depends on what one considers mythology, but what came to my mind in addition to the Icelandic Sagas mentioned above is "The Wanderer & Other Old-English Poems", another limited edition by FS. The 'look' is different from The Edda edition, but they're both beautifully made and worthy of the content.

The edition linked to in post 205 is also beautiful and definitely worth the price.

The Icelandic Sagas are definitely on my reading list, I'll take a look at the FS and saga.is versions.

The Wanderer does look interesting, I'll take a look.

>202 AnthonyDean: >207 AnthonyDean:
Icelandic sagas published by FS and the 5-volume set mentioned by >205 chrisrsprague: are great books, but as they contain Sagas of Icelanders only (no legendary sagas) they are not mythology. Just thought I'd mention as you asked specifically for more mythology. Still great books worth acquiring, though!

Other Norse mythology options:
https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/the-norse-myths.html
This is a retelling of different myths, there will be overlap with your Poetic Edda (i.e. retellings based on Eddaic poems included in your LE).

Legends of the Ring (FS, now OOP)
this thick volume contains a wealth of Norse legends, including Prose Edda, Saga of the Volsungs, and Nibelungenlied

Beowulf (FS Fine edition, now OOP)
In my opinion, one of the finest books produced by FS. Beautiful book

For other Norse writings of possible interest, not necessarily FS, you can also check
https://www.librarything.com/topic/242843

Oh, and looking at the original question, "Does anyone have any other mythology recommendations from the FS?", I see there was no mention of the Norse mythology specifically. So if there is any interest in other mythologies, do let us know - FS published many mythology titles, including a whole Myths and Legend series, of which Legends of the Ring is part of.

I recently read Lady Gregory's Myths and Legends of Ireland in the Folio edition, which was a treat.

Thanks for the recommendation. The FS Beowulf is definitely something I want to get my hands, though I'll have to wait a bit as it looks costly on Abe Books and I've just bought The Poetic Edda.

Is Abe Books normally the best place for out of print editions?

The two different FS editions of Beowulf are reviewed and illustrated here.

>210 AnthonyDean:
You should search both abe and ebay. Ebay usually has more photos, but you can sometimes find better deals on abe. I’ve even found a few deals on Amazon.

>210 AnthonyDean:
Don’t forget Ardis and HC books, and for Australians, Gumtree.

Anyone purchased from the sagas.is link?

I did a few years ago: Fast shipping, safely packaged, and great quality of the book set and slip case. They also patiently answered the questions I had before purchasing. I was very happy with my purchase and would recommend them based on that.

>208 elladan0891:

'Legends of the Ring (FS, now OOP)
this thick volume contains a wealth of Norse legends, including Prose Edda, Saga of the Volsungs, and Nibelungenlied'

This is possibly just me imagining stuff again (I am something of an unreliable narrator), but was there a three-volume version of this? Or was that an Arthurian set? Dear me, memory is a treacherous thing :-)

Regarding the Myths and Legend series, there was a thread on all of Folio's 'series': https://www.librarything.com/topic/288021

It suggests these titles:

Aeneid, The
British Myths and LegendsFS
Celtic Myths and Legends
Epics of the Middle Ages
Greek Myths
Histories (Herodotus)
Icelandic Sagas I, The
Icelandic Sagas II, The
Iliad, The
Irish Myths and Legends
Legends of King Arthur
Legends of the Grail
Legends of the Ring
Metamorphoses
Myths & Legends of Russia
Myths and Legends of Ancient Rome
Myths and Legends of India
Myths and Legends of the Ancient Near East
Odyssey, The
Peloponnesian War, The

I think there might be a few more we could add, depending on how one defines 'series', but it's a good starting point.

I finally pulled the trigger on this one (what was I waiting for?); and what a book!
I really like the antique look of the exceptional leather binding with the 5 raised spine bands and the choice of the sturdy canvas slipcase.

The illustrations are really first-class and fit so well. I'm not a fan of the flimsy, tipped-in technique though (which has been discussed numerous times in other threads).

The presentation of the old Norse and English texts, side by side, is a must for me. Without it, it would have been a deal-breaker. However, I think it would have been even better if both texts were presented properly, line by line. I had old Norse back in high-school (ages ago), so this will be a great opportunity to see if I can still understand any of it... :)

>216 Cat_of_Ulthar: There was certainly a three volume Arthurian Legends, but I don't recall having ever seen a three volume Legends of the Ring,

>218 HuxleyTheCat:

The three volume sets are the Arthur books as well as the British Legends. Greek Myths in two volumes. All the rest as stand alone single volumes.

One reviewer noted:

The main failure of the volume is the text itself, however. The idea of a bilingual presentation is great. The layout is clumsy, but will do. The English translation is awful. Even if accurate, it's grammatically akward and stylistically incoherent, something like GoogleTranslate of a yesteryear might produce. Frankly, it's just embarassing to read. Carolyne Larrington is a first-rate scholar but no poet. Despite the occasional flourish of alliteration, the translation misrepresents the beauty and depth of the original and hardly deserves anything more than a paperback edition. For a book priced as this one, I expected something better.

Ouch! Can anyone else, with hopefully some background in the matter, speak to the translation and text?

>220 astropi:
I didn't write it, but I agree with it. Like most scholarly translators, Larrington is more afraid of laying an egg before her peers than of boring the general reader. The result reads more like a student's crib then a piece of poetry. I found Patricia Terry's earlier translation slightly better.
More annoying to me was the layout, which gave the translation precedence over the original text, scrunched into a corner like an afterthought. Best thing was the cover, in danger, however, of being mutilated by the gritty slipcase.

>221 Jayked:

I picked up a copy a couple months back. Haven't gotten far but I've definitely seen worse.
I think the real problem is how many living first-rate poets do you know who can translate even
a single sentence of Old Norse? The only dead first-rate poets I know who could have done it were Borges and Tolkien.

The only reason why I do not own this edition, is the utter detachment I feel while reading Larrington's work. It is a tragedy, as I feel quite drawn to the beauty of the binding more so than any LE ever produced. I would've overlooked the scuffs or the layout had the translation been to my liking.

I see Old Norse translations as similar to Sir Gawain. The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript attempted "to reveal what may loosely be termed the 'literal' sense of the text." This is a noble goal--whenever I want to read Gawain with facing text and work on my understanding of the original, I take this copy off the shelf. However I don't care about scholarly accuracy when I want to feel the poetry or to expose someone else to this for the first time, so I grab Simon Armitage instead.

As for the Poetic Edda LE, I don't understand a drop of Old Norse so I don't know what I am missing. I love the binding and I enjoy the tipped in illustrations. If anyone can recommend a translation that aims for what Armitage achieved, I am all ears.

>224 Powderfinger69:

Me either. You can read the Edda and sense that the person translating has nothing resembling a religious fervor. So, someone reading a book dealing with a people's religion, may expect to find a feeling or poetic approach to the work.

For anyone looking into the book, that may be concerned with the translation, I would read the first two poems that are available for free online, and if you like them, then you may be fine with the work. As it stands, those two works are the most important for me, but if you stumble along, long enough, you can find other poems that Larrington has translated and find they are a bit better.

I preferred Bellows translation.

There's a quite instructive comparison of a short extract done by the various translators on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetic_Edda

So the webpage for The Poetic Edda used to have an e-mail notification box for the remaining copies being made. It disappeared with the new website. What does that mean?

I actually emailed about this a couple of weeks ago. The reply was that the final copies are being bound, and should be in stock "next month - we don't have an exact date yet, but if you are signed up to the Folio newsletter, we will be sure to let you know". I do wish there was still an email notification box, as I am not confident in always receiving the newsletter.

Back in stock!

I find myself badly drawn to this due to the attractive binding and my love of Norse mythology and Icelandic culture specifically.

However can I ask from anyone who has this FS edition: how readable is this for a modern reader?

I received this yesterday - I had not paid attention to the size and expected it to be more the size of "Love is Enough" but uh. It's quite large. The text inside for the English is pretty big. I read some of it last night - having never read the Poetic Edda before - and am quite glad I bought it, though I will reiterate the earlier complaint that the paper quality is not what I expect from an LE.

I took the plunge and bought it (I knew I would regret missing it). Here are my initial impressions (apologies but many duplicating previous posters):

+ The leather is beautiful, very elegant and understated.
+ The size and weight are just right for me. Its large, but not uncomfortable like some of my other FS LEs.
+ The illustrations are primitive but in a wonderful way, and in-keeping with the ancient content.
+ I love the colour and quality of the slip case (and mine actual "slips" off for once...).
+ I love the grey page edges.

- The paper is too thin, with lots of bleed-through which is disappointing.
- Tipped-in illustrations feel fragile (in contrast, you got this exactly right with the "Zhivago" LE Mole, where the paper stock was heavy enough to take the paintings on page alongside the text, with no bleed-through, on a much more heavily-illustrated LE).
- No ribbon marker.

Overall I love it, and can't wait to read and enjoy it.

>232 didaho:

Yeah, I'm curious why FS loves tipped-in illustrations so much. It made sense for the books like Rubaiyat LE and Just So Stories b/c they have that golden age of book illustration feel. Doesn't make much sense elsewhere.

>233 MobyRichard: tipped-in illustrations allow a publisher to use a very smooth gloss paper for illustrations in order to achieve a higher degree of image resolution while providing a more tactile, visually softer matt paper for text, gentler to the reading eye and more seductive to the marauding finger.

I find with older illustrated books of any quality that full-page plates are often on sheets of a quite different type of paper from the text pages, sewn into a signature where required, and with a small stub of the illustration paper visible between the leaves on the opposite side of the signature. In my ignorance it seems strange if today's automated binding techniques couldn't handle such a method of production.

>234 cronshaw: but couldn't they attach the image on all sides, or four corners? Only being attached on one side is so weird.

>234 cronshaw:

Yes, I understand that. My point is that during the Golden Age of illustration tipped in plates were typically reserved for certain types of books. Also due to printing technology limitations there was an unambiguous luxury factor to tipped in plates. These days the wow factor isn't anywhere near as big. I think FS should be a bit more discriminating about when they use tipped in illustrations and when they do use them to glue them to the page a little more securely...Every Rackham book, for example, I've owned or seen had the plates firmly glued. FS books....feels like you're going to rip them off just by turning the page. The only one of their LE's I've seen where the plates are secure was the Rubaiyat printed back in 2009 I believe.

>237 MobyRichard: sorry, I missed the point you were making. I assume Folio judge that there's still a wow factor to some degree since few publishers offer tipped-in plates nowadays. I agree that glueing at four corners would feel more secure than at just two. Perhaps they use only very premium glue and it's terribly expensive.

I imagine that you "tack" on tipped-in plates for the same reason that you attach a table-top to its frame loosely; the two parts expand and contract at different rates, leading to failure of the joint or damage to the parts. Glue will be absorbed differently by different grades of paper. Some grades of glue deteriorate badly over time, so the less used the better. Some of the glues or pastes used in Folio books of the 40s and 50s to fasten endpapers to boards have turned the white papers an unattractive shade of brown.

I would have preferred (I think) that the Edda had more the feel of an old manuscript. In this case, not so glossy paper as the one chosen (this edition is more for those nipping to cognac rather than the ones drinking a beer). I hardly drink, but am capable of both roles. Anyway, thicker paper gets my vote too, and maybe a more distinct font, more bite. It`s too nice. To delicate.

Other than that, except from maybe a ribbon. I love the edition FS published. Really nice German press quality publication.

But for me, Edda makes more sense, and are more entertaining on my native tongue. Which is far from always the case, I like and often prefer to read in english, but in this case it needs a feel closer to home.

Had to have it though. Besides Snorri.

>240 Pellias: I agree with your assessment, especially about the thicker, less glossy paper (mouldmade from cotton rag would have been very nice), but how would a more distinctive font result in a more of a bite with offset printing?

Is the paper as thin as the Abby Wove in Starship Troopers?

I don't have many Folios (just joined the club this summer), but that's the one with the thinnest paper in my collection.

>242 Inceptic: So I finally ended up buying it - it's beautiful (and huge). The paper is really not as thin as I worried it would be based on this thread. I only own two LEs (this and Dune), the paper is a little thinner than Dune, but it's much, much thicker than India paper and you can't really make out the words on the page overleaf. I personally think the paper is perfect - any thicker and the volume would be too thick.

>243 Yohannas: Thanks for the feedback!

I just placed my order for it; my very first LE.

>244 Inceptic: Happy to have been able to enable 😁

there are only a few copies left, anyone want to enable me on this one, or should I just wait as planned to pick up some standard editions in the sale?

>246 stumc:

A better plan: buy the Edda or you'll regret not getting it when you could, then celebrate a great acquisition by buying some standard editions in the sale.

>246 stumc: If you need enabling you must ask yourself why :) What is it that is making you hesitate? Materials, price, not sure you will like it? Another way to look at it is to access if you will feel bad if you don't have this book in your collection. Is it something you really need in your collection, do you really intend to read the sagas, is this an interest of yours? I think if you are ready to purchase a LE you should not have any hesitation.

If you have Icelandic Sagas, Beowulf, Prose Edda, Volsunga Saga, etc in Folio Society or other publisher copies, or the new standard edition of Folio Society Ring of the Nibelung then I think you should purchase this LE because you will regret not purchasing it if this is one of your interests.

>246 stumc: I’d say even if you have a passing interest, it’s probably still worth buying as it will likely increase in value once sold out. It’s beautiful quality and places the old Norse text next to the English, so extra value for linguists too (if that’s your thing). Personally I hummed and ha’d for weeks about it, but now that I have it I don’t regret spending the money. It’s totally worth it in my eyes!

I ordered my copy when it first came out. Unfortunately, it never arrived. After two months I contacted the FS and they sent me another copy which arrived in about a month (USA).

>247 folio_books: >248 Comatoes: >249 Yohannas:
thanks for the enablement, I love the FS Beowulf, and The Wanderer, so have been tempted by this for a while, but tried to keep my LE purchases more focused to either my likes, or the odd left field choice (book of the new sun, kama sutra in the sale)
looks like I will succumb to FAD again as this looks like (hopefully not one of the last) traditional FS LEs

>247 folio_books: >248 Comatoes: >249 Yohannas:
Your comments have enabled me as well, thank you. 15 left

>251 stumc: I’m very envious of your copies of The Wanderer and Book of the New Sun! I only discovered Folio this year, so I missed out on both.

>252 ranbarnes: I sincerely hope they will keep releasing traditional LEs, and less of the Letters from Fairyland kind. I feel like I’ve missed the golden years of FS!

>251 stumc: I am in the exact same position. I own The Wanderer and Beowulf, and have been eyeing the Poetic Edda for ages. I kept waiting and waiting for it to appear in the sales, but it never did, so today I ended up paying full price right before Christmas. Such is the strength of the fear of missing out.

>254 mnmcdwl:

Oh, this is awful. I, too, am in the same position. And now have done the same thing. There's just 10 copies left thanks to my stupidity of looking at this enablement thread.

I had been considering buying this for a while, almost succumbed to temptation but found a copy (number 35) out of Italy for 230 euros which I felt was a good deal, looks to be in excellent condition. Very excited to get my hands on it after reading through this thread.

>256 Raxyll: Wow that is a good deal! Did you find it on eBay?

>256 Raxyll: he’s a good seller, I’ve dealt with him before.

>254 mnmcdwl: >255 podaniel:
just placed my order, I think this will sell out tomorrow

>257 Yohannas: Yes it popped up on eBay for me, I was somewhat surprised not to have any competition!

>258 stopsurfing: That is great to know, thank you!

>260 Raxyll: It must have been misnamed or something, my search alert didn’t bring any hits 😂

It's now sold out as of a few minutes ago!

I had interest in this when it first came out but the price and illustrations kept me on the fence and I never bought it. I was also hoping to acquire it in an LE sale eventually. I have mild regret at missing out but haven’t changed my equation that my interest level could not justify the price. Maybe someday I can pick it up on the secondary market for less than full price. Rare is the Folio LE that retains its full value.

The start of this thread made me realize that it's been 4 years already since this LE was released. Time flies.

>264 UK_History_Fan: Out of interest, and because I’m still pretty green when it comes to Folio pricing, do LEs generally lose their value over time?

>266 Yohannas:
I was also a bit surprised when I read that. My understanding, as well as the understanding of other people in this thread, is that most LE's gain in value or stay roughly the same.

Maybe it is just that the LEs that I look for are the ones which gain in value and that may have skewed my understanding.

>266 Yohannas: It varies from LE to LE. There are some that, over time, have dropped below their original sale price (some of the Letterpress Shakespeares, Metamporphoses) and others that have catapulted 2-5x above their original value (e.g. Alice in Wonderland, Wind in the Willows, Book of the New Sun, Night Thoughts).

I’d say it depends on the level of enthusiasm for a given LE and the size of its limitation.

>266 Yohannas: >267 Jobasha: I have several LEs, and have only paid full price for the one I bought from FS directly. All of the others I purchased in fine condition for less than FS sold them for. In my (admittedly limited) experience, the only ones that have actually risen in value are Wind in the Willows and the Sandwyk Alice, and maybe Liber Bestiarum. Also a couple of the recent sci-fi/fantasy releases (as >268 const-char-star: points out above), which seem to have a different pricing trajectory. I haven’t been at this long, but from what I’ve seen, as long as you aren’t trying to buy something in the first year after it has sold out, most LEs can be found in the secondary market at less than FS’ asking price.

>269 jsg1976:
>268 const-char-star:

This is great info, thanks guys. Although it’s making me a bit nervous about the future value of my Poetic Edda copy!

>268 const-char-star: My used copy of Night Thoughts was substantially below list price.

>266 Yohannas:
>267 Jobasha:
Certainly there have been exceptions but most of my Folio LEs were bought at full price direct from Folio. My comment is based on seeing nearly every one of these titles trade for less on the secondary market after I paid full price. I do own some of the exceptions and memorably in the case of Wind in the Willows I was an after market premium purchaser seeing how I missed out on it when initially offered. Well technically I missed nothing, I simply couldn’t afford it and wouldn’t contemplate spending so much on a single book. Famous last words....

>271 kdweber:

May I ask how much it was originally and how much you paid for it? Night thoughts is at the top of my list.

>269 jsg1976: I've only bought 2 Limited editions directly from Folio and the others (maybe 18) from the secondary market for much cheaper in fine condition. In my experience the books that hold and gain value are trendy fiction like Dracula, Monte Cristo, The Call of Cthulhu, anything sci-fi/fantasy in Dune, Mort(?), Book of the Sun, or children's novels in Wind in the Willows or Alice (albeit the illustrations are beautiful, but 2,000+? eh) . There are a few outliers like the Rubaiyat (which I badly want but do not think its worth $1000usd,) and books like Kelmscott Chaucer and Faerie Queen which, in my opinion, are absolutely gorgeous and their prices are justifiable. The eye of the beholder I suppose.

My strategy now is if it's a book I absolutely must have I'll buy it from Folio like Gargantua and Pantagruel and do not care one bit if it depreciates in value but for others i'll wait and if they increase in value on the secondary market, whatever. Maybe it's just me but a lot of the newer limited editions aren't as nice or well made as the older ones.

>274 Joshbooks1:

Interestingly, I was able to buy the Faerie Queene for AUD$750 including shipping which was significantly less than from the Folio Society, but I had assumed that I was lucky.

It's a very mixed scene - the Moby-Dick LE is another book that can't generally be bought for anything close to its original price of £175 (or briefly £125 with a voucher), and it's a not especially trendy book (as far as I know) which was available for several years. Probably any title that sells like hot cakes will hold its value for at least a few years after publication: that was the line of thought which persuaded me to buy the Mort LE which sounded interesting though I'd not read a word of Terry Pratchett. If I didn't care much for it somebody would and I needn't wind up any the poorer.

>276 terebinth:
I think the only reason why the Moby Dick LE holds its price is because the original price was that low, compared to current LE prices.

>277 joco30:

I think the price of Moby-Dick was pretty much in line with a kind-of-series of LEs with comparable production values and limitations at the time - Ulysses, War and Peace, and the Decameron before it, the Aeneid after. Haven't been watching any of those at all closely, but as far as I know they're not nearly so highly valued on the secondary market. It just seemed that word of mouth slowly persuaded many folk of the particular delights of Moby-Dick, visual, tactile and olfactory.

Moby Dick is the last LE I'd have expected to be in demand. It was one of those that were grossly overproduced at 1750, and seemed to linger on the list for ever. It dated from 2009, and I got number 1684 in 2016, when a combination of incentives reduced the price to where I made a pity purchase. It still hung around for a while after that.

>274 Joshbooks1: I think on average LEs seem to hold their value, with fiction books seeming to perhaps increase in value, sometimes by a large amount, whilst some of the non fiction titles are much cheaper on the secondary market.
>270 Yohannas: I believe the Edda will at least hold, but more likely increase its value, due to the quality of production and its content

The worth of an LE has everything to do with timing. Probably any LE is at least worth what one bought it for, if the seller is in no sort of hurry and don`t have to sell, it will be more valuable (because the seller will likely only accept what it is worth, in his/hers own mind. Some call that the market price).

In my mind, economy does matter. Some older sellers f.ex are more likely to sell of their books for a very generous sum, whilst younger often need money more and are more bloodthirsty, which is why people flip books (buy cheap, sell expensive) - Cicero would back me on that

I remember back in 2014 (when new at LT (librarything). "Many spoke about the Moby Dick LE as their whale" Not as many does that these days, market has changed littlebit (but will likely come back)

Who knows, maybe this one will raise in value, most likely not, but that is neither what I bought it for, as is likely with the Edda also.



If a collector could choose to spend he/she would always splurge on a book like Book of the New Sun rather than the Codex Regius in my mind. Whilst it is cool to own `the Sun` - Edda is more elegant. Flippers would not buy a book like Edda to resell to earn, but they would with `The Sun`(in my mind).

From what I've seen, most Folio LE prices are variable - even prices for the same volumes over time. If you happen to buy at a time when there are several on the market, you can get a good price. But if only one is on the market, you'll be paying more. A Poetic Edda sold for 358 gbp in October, a month before the final copies were released and sold at 345 gbp. I've certainly bought quite a few LEs for less than retail on ebay, but being in the US, they come up less often than I think they may if you are in the UK since I always have to add a zillion dollars in shipping.

I also agree that Faerie Queene doesn't usually sell for a ton? I bought mine for half of retail, even once you included shipping.

I do agree that "trendy fiction" as Joshbooks1 calls it is what gains value, though I would call it "popular fiction with a base of fans who have a lot of money" (see: science fiction, often the preferred genre of engineers and software developers). Books with more attractive bindings (or boxes) also seem to sell for more.

Other book prices are somewhat mysterious - see a copy of The Sound and the Fury LE selling for $626 while the standard edition has recently sold around $450 and around $550, making the LE a comparatively great deal. IMO, the standard edition is considerably more attractive than the LE, which could explain it. The Beowulf fine edition has been selling around $450 recently, again I suspect due to the attractiveness of the spine.

I agree that the best strategy is to buy from Folio if you really want the LE. That's what I do, and why I bought the Poetic Edda the moment it came back into stock.

>274 Joshbooks1: There are a few outliers like the Rubaiyat (which I badly want but do not think its worth $1000usd

May I recommend the 2012 Fine edition then? It also features the same illustrations by Niroot Puttapipat and is a gorgeous production overall. One of the more impressive Fine editions - supple goatskin spine, crushed silk boards, really nice thick and textured paper. Also, I compared it to the LE at the dMR when I lived in London, and I actually preferred the Fine edition. In particular, I think the page layout is much, much better than in the LE and provides better reading experience.

I know there are at least a few other devotees who also prefer the 2012 Fine edition to the LE. Here are more detailed (and fresh) impressions of another fsd who compared the two editions side by side at the dMR:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/182016#5120665

>284 elladan0891:

Couldn't agree more. The LE is far too much book for 300 lines of poetry, and one rubai in the middle of one of those huge pages is just poor design. It's a good (that is to say, bad) example of a series design being forcibly applied to far too wide a range of literature.

The fine edition is all you say - the only other book I have that uses the Old Mill Stucco paper is an LE (The Golden Ass), and it's a pity they don't use the paper more, being of a quality you look for in an LE but don't always find. The production is by the Memminger/Lachenmaier team, which does the FS's best work.

I own this 2012 edition of Rubaiyat, and it truly is a very beautiful book. It can also be found without too much effort.

>284 elladan0891: I couldn't agree more! :)

>284 elladan0891: Thanks for the insight - i'll check it out and if it's available i'll make the purchase. I was wondering how Folio could make a larger limited edition for such a short book. If the prices ever go down for the limited edition maybe i'll bite but if the fine edition is as good I see no reason to splurge on which likely would be a disappointment.

>288 Joshbooks1: You can find a video of it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyPoaisv3SA&t=30s

And a few more photos here:
https://stellabooks.com/books/edward-fitzgerald/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam-939452/...

So the Edda sold out - phew. It was a tough couple of days, by I held out. I love the illustrations, they couldn't be more appropriate. Obviously interested in content, and really like the look of the binding. Was a bit surprised to find my comment early in the tread stating I was disappointed in the looks of the binding. It definitely grew on me. But I couldn't get over the paper. Just couldn't justify spending that much on Abbey Wove. Especially considering all the price increases. So even in the UK they added £50 to the original price, plus the customary rip-off-the-colonists surcharge ($90 above the exchange rate), plus $60 delivery, plus now they're charging sales tax for my zip code??? Sorry, FS, but it's totally ridiculous for a British company with no US base to charge me the 4% Georgia state sales tax, 3% Fulton county sales tax, 1% sales tax for Atlanta water and sewer repair, 0.5% tax for funding Metro Atlanta Rapid Transportation Authority, and 0.4% Atlanta transportation bond sales tax to improve City of Atlanta infrastructure. That added another completely unnecessary $55 to the price of Edda. Btw, this silly sales tax collection will impact future sales, FS.

>288 Joshbooks1: I was wondering how Folio could make a larger limited edition for such a short book.

But very dubious and artificial page typography. For the LE, they printed a single quatrain per page. So the sequence is 4 mostly empty pages with a single quatrain each followed by a page with illustration. In the Fine edition the format is much more sensible, convenient, and handsome - 4 quatrains per page with a facing illustration page. So every spread had 4 quatrains and an illustration. Much better.

The Easton Press limited edition of “The Eddas” is still available:
https://www.eastonpress.com/deluxe-editions/the-eddas-3146.html

>290 elladan0891: I'm 100% with you. I live in Mass and it's 6.25%. Since they already screw us by not being able to pay in pounds, which still makes no sense to me other than just pure greed, with some suspect high shipping for limited editions (i've bought plenty of very heavy books overseas, Night Thoughts comes to mind, which is like 20 kilos, and is cheaper than what folio asks) and I'm not as eager to buy as many books. I love Folio but I don't love a company that I feel like is taking advantage of me. Gone are the days when I make purchases for a book I really want that is selling out. Now it'll just be the biannual sale and certain limited editions I like. I'm probably just cheap and grumpy and i've never looked at other presses, but for the first time last week I purchased a book from thornwillow press, simply due to the tax. I think initially Folio taxed the more tax heavy states in the US and maybe are taxing all states now? Anyway I'm with you on impacting future sales, that and the fact of some of the recent publications.

Don't know about US states, but Folio is bound by law to impose Canadian taxes on Canadian orders, and to pay them on to the Canadian Government. U.S. companies doing a certain amount of business are obliged to do the same. The taxman cometh, everywhere these days.

>294 Jayked:

This right here, it isn't on the Folio Society.

I would prefer to pay higher taxes and live in a functioning society but appear to be in a shrinking minority.

>295 kcshankd: I do agree and I do not have as much to complain about as other countries since the taxes are new to me. It does irk me, however that this is just an added cost on top of already not being able to pay in pounds. And I don't want to make this a political debate, but two of my best friends are Norwegian and I visit there frequently - if I lived a country like that I would gladly, even happily, pay taxes for the social good. But paying extra taxes in the US, what does that do? Even though it's a state tax, does it not just indirectly help subsidize mega corporations like Amazon and Walmart so they don't have to pay any taxes? Taxes in the US to help the poor? That's not American!

>294 Jayked: Those are probably import, federal level taxes? Here we have local-level sales taxes which are completely non-enforceable for foreign imports. Georgia state which collects the taxes and the City of Atlanta and Fulton County who get their shares of the tax have no means of tracking FS sales or going after them. I can understand when companies need to charge import tax and duties in order to get their product through customs into a country, but charging a sales tax to fix sewer lines in a specific town in a foreign country makes no sense.

Before 2018, states could not demand sales taxes from sellers without physical presence in their state. But after 5-4 Supreme Court ruling on South Dakota v. Wayfair/Overstock/Newegg case in 2018 which reversed that, a number of US states enacted various laws demanding collection of sales taxes on online purchases even from entities that have no presence in their state.

In case of Georgia, the law says that an out-of-state seller must collect local sales taxes if they made sales of over $250,000 in Georgia during previous year or conducted at least 200 separate sales. Now, the Georgia law is written in a way that doesn't distinguish between out-of-state American entities and foreign entities. Setting aside the questions of jurisdiction and enforcement means (none), the Georgia law, along with most of such laws from other states, if applied to foreign transactions with no local nexus might very well be deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court under the Commerce Clause if challenged (preventing the Nation speaking in one voice with foreign entities etc.).

But the reality is that seemingly everyone but Folio is happily ignoring these laws. I recently ordered from several British and other companies which I think make a lot more sales than FS, and none of them bothered to charge local taxes foreign to them. Hell, take Book Depository, i.e. amazon. I'm pretty sure they make more sales than FS in both Georgia and Canada, yet it doesn't bother charging neither Georgia state sale tax, nor Canada's federal import tax. If amazon subsidiaries can pull that off without attracting any attention, I don't see a good reason for such a small company as FS to be so proactive with very dubious and unenforceable foreign laws.

>296 Joshbooks1:

I also don't want to get all political as folks come here for books - but if you are in the US I would just encourage you to look for what you can do locally. Local parties everywhere need all the help they can get, and you WILL make a difference. I have.

>293 Joshbooks1: I think initially Folio taxed the more tax heavy states in the US and maybe are taxing all states now?

2018 Supreme Court ruling I mentioned above opened the floodgates and many states enacted new laws demanding out-of-state sellers with no physical presence in the state to collect sales tax if they're above some $$$ or number of sales thresholds. I think FS simply goes on case by case basis and checks if they're over the specific thresholds in those states that passed such laws.

The Federal tax in Canada is only 5%, but Provinces have the option of adding their taxes to it in a Harmonized Sales Tax, which in Ontario, the most populous province, amounts to 13%. Fortunately, for now, Ontario exempts books from their share, so we pay only the 5%. Only foreign companies that do a certain amount of business in Canada have to deduct at source; the parcels sent by others are supposed to be checked at customs, and the recipient billed. In practice the checks tend to be random, and goods of a value less than $100 allowed through because the game isn't worth the candle. Since the Book Depository sends in small batches, they usually avoid taxes. However the Canadian govt. is trying to extend its tax program, and has just started taxing online services such as Netflix. Given their Covid deficit, I don't see books escaping the blitz.

>297 elladan0891:

“But the reality is that seemingly everyone but Folio is happily ignoring these laws.”

Just because others ignore paying their taxes doesn’t mean a socially responsible company should also do so. We know Amazon are far from responsible, what is clear is that maybe Georgia needs much stronger penalties for failure to comply.

Of course companies will try to avoid loading their customers with taxes, and acting as unpaid civil servants for foreign countries. Folio however had distribution centres in Canada and the USA which generated a tax account. Changing to distribution from the UK apparently wasn't enough for the Canadian government to lose interest.

>301 Juniper_tree: It's not really a matter of companies paying taxes. Companies don't pay sales taxes. We, the customers, do. In this particular case, in my opinion it's a matter of states overreaching their jurisdictions. Can someone explain me why a British company, with no presence in the US, should collect local taxes for a place half across the world? Because Georgia, Atlanta, and Fulton County own my soul and because they can dictate other countries what to do when interacting with me? They are not in the picture in any way in a transaction between me and the Folio Society. They can eff off, this has nothing to do with my or Folio's social responsibility. How is it different from me going to the UK and buying stuff there? Should British merchants check IDs to identify if I might be a Georgia/California/Massachusetts/etc. serf and levy extra taxes on my masters' behalf? The connection is exactly the same - FS is still a British merchant, staying in Britain and conducting their sales from Britain, and I just happened to be a resident of a US state.

Then there is an issue of laws conforming to the US Constitution. Again - in my opinion - local governments imposing additional levies on international trade are going against the Commerce clause and being unconstitutional. Perhaps one could argue and have a different opinion, but my point is that it's not a simplistic matter of paying or not paying taxes and being or not being socially responsible.

Btw, the common view that not paying/finding ways to reduce taxes is socially irresponsible is too simplistic too, even in case of amazon. US federal tax code, for example, is very roughly around 5 thousand pages, if I remember correctly. Only about 100 pages are about collecting taxes. The rest of the code is about reducing taxes. Sure, it's not perfect by any means and there are plenty of perks there solely for the sake of making wealthy people wealthier. Nevertheless, the US tax code is basically a policy driver. You do something that the government wants you to do (create jobs, housing, whatever) - you get rewarded with tax reductions. So very often large corporations and rich people don't pay taxes not because they're socially irresponsible criminal crooks, but because they do what the government wants them to do, being socially responsible. Of course, in real life things in general are complicated, and often it's a mix of both. Anyway, it might sound odd, but finding legal ways to avoid paying taxes can actually be socially responsible.

>302 Jayked:
Feel bad for the ol' FS still being on the hook, while amazon managed to sneak in its tentacles unnoticed...

I'm not sure I see the Amazon versus Folio link on taxes. I'm in the US and pay taxes on anything I buy from Folio, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, or any other Amazon.xyz. Both entities avoided collecting them for a long time and now both do. My guess is that the various Amazon sites started collecting taxes before Folio did simply because Amazon is bigger and does more business. Did I miss something?

>306 treereader: We were talking about Book Depository, which is based in the UK and owned by amazon.

>307 elladan0891:

Ahh, thanks/sorry. My quick skimming missed that part. Agreed - subsidiary trickery is a way to circumvent taxes, at least to a degree. Once the trick gets large enough for people to notice, someone usually figures out a way to close the loophole.

Regarding companies (or their subsidiaries) I really only have one concern on taxes: if they collect them, how do I know they transfer the funds, correctly or at all? Regarding the tax collecting entities...well, they're largely made up of imperfect humans, so I don't have a lot of faith that the tax money they do receive is handled efficiently.

Returning to the original topic, my copy of The Poetic Edda came today and I am thrilled with it. The leather binding is just gorgeous. I was worried about all of the comments about the paper being thin, but I think it is just right considering the length and size of the book. Naturally, if some other private press were to attempt this in letterpress, on beautiful mould-made or handmade paper, with commissioned woodblock prints, I'd spring in an instant, but after seeing the length and size of the Folio version, I don't foresee that happening anytime soon.

>310 mnmcdwl: I've had mine for a couple of weeks and I'm still in awe with it! It's the first leatherbound book I've had (excluding the 'leather' Barnes & Noble hardbacks, but let's not count those). I had to move it to pride of place on the living room bookcase!

>311 Yohannas: Your first leatherbound book? Oh, you poor thing. You've been cruelly deprived until now. You're going to have to buy several more to make up for your previous lack, and to give the Poetic Edda some friends.

Just received my Poetic Edda. What a gorgeous book. The paper is not an issue at all. I'm glad for all the people who assured me not to worry. :)