Favorite FS Books

Hi Everyone. I'm new to LibraryThing, and fairly new to collecting Folio Society books. I've gotten pretty hooked these past few months and was just curious to hear about some your favorite editions.

Thus far, some of my favorites are:

Dune
A Wizard of Earthsea
Three Kingdoms
Defeat Into Victory
North American Indians by George Catlin
The Bhagavad Gita

My wallet may despise me, but I've had a lot of fun with it.

Let me know what your favorite Folio Society books are and if you have any strong recommendations for me.

Cheers

My favorites are:

- Beowulf
- Piers the Plowman
- Folktales of Britain (6 volume)
- Voyage of Argo
- Paradise Lost (Martin)
- Egypt and Nubia etc

Lastly, although not in the same league as the others, I have a real soft spot for:

- Southern Gates of Arabia

Edit: Also "If Not Winter", "History of Western Philosophy (Leather)" and "Stones of Venice".

>1 jswift81:
If you are interested in the FS back catalogue, check out the 200+ Folio Archives illustrated reviews here -
https://www.librarything.com/topic/266300

>2 Jobasha: Paradise Lost with the Martin illustrations is beyond amazing, and Southern Gates of Arabia sounds really interesting. I'll have to check out the rest. Thanks for the recommendations!

>3 wcarter: Wow, this is really cool. I'm probably going to spend way too much time looking through these. Thank you!

Dune is also one of my favourites.

The Malay Archipelago is probably my favourite non-LE. Also a fan of the recent Montaigne Essays.

>6 EdmundRodriguez: I'm not surprised I've never seen The Malay Archipelago on eBay or AbeBooks before. I don't see many people wanting to part with their copies. Stunning.

Dune - favorite book overall and gift from my wife/kids for Father's day. First folio book
Dr Zhivago - New standard edition. Cloth feels so nice while holding and reading. Lots of artwork within.
Leatherbound Dickens set (not a book I know) - was a long adventure collecting the full series and reading them in a nice quality edition.
Dukes children LE - marbled endpapers feel and look beautiful

>7 jswift81: How much does Malay go for when it does pop up? Anyone know?

>8 trentsteel: Dune was my first folio book as well (it really stands out amongst the rest). The top two items on my wishlist are currently Dr Zhivago and The Master and Margarita. Thanks for the vote of confidence!

>9 Tom9019: Looks like one sold not too long ago on eBay. It was sealed and went for about $1,000, so it looks like there's a slim chance I'll ever get my hands on one.

>1 jswift81: in addition to the excellent reference mentioned by >3 wcarter: above, I would suggest browsing the old prospectuses and catalogs, all of which have been scanned and made available on the wiki (also linked in a pinned post at the top of this forum).

Many of the older books can still be found in excellent condition and quite affordably and some may fit your preferences. Many older releases are also less likely to be on the radar of discussions here and on Facebook or other social media platforms, which often drive demand.

>12 abysswalker: Those are the types of finds I like the most. I bought all of the ancient ruler series books for $15 a piece and they were all in great condition. I have I, Claudius on the way right now for $20. Can't beat it.

>1 jswift81:
Hello, welcome :)

My favourite books from the Folio Society are:

Most good-looking:
1. Dune
2. Montaigne's Essays
3. Master and Margarita
4. The Shining
5. The Little Prince

Sentimental value:
1. One Hundred Years of Solitude
2. Of Human Bondage
3. Lord of the Flies
4. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee
5. Anna Karenina

>14 Kainzow: That's a great way to divide your favorites. Lord of the Flies could probably be in that top list as well (though I don't have my own copy yet). And I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of The Master and Margarita. Thanks for sharing, it's a great list.

Having whittled a collection of just under 1000 volumes down to just over 300, I would say that they're all pretty much favourites, otherwise I wouldn't have kept them! However my favouritest favourites would include:
+ The Jane Austen set illustrated by Joan Hassall ( definitely not the others!)
+ The Dickens set illustrated by Charles Keeping ( Dickens 2, with illustrated covers)
+ The History of British Birds by Thomas Bewick (possibly my no. 1)
+ Bird Poems by John Clare
+ The Yangtze River and Beyond by Isabella Bird (Rockies up there too)
+ Mistress Masham's Repose by TH White
+ 18th century memoirs series, especially the Gilbert White
+ Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley
The Pepys diaries were the only LE I kept, so they could probably be included too!

I have a particular and growing penchant for the various memoir type productions that FS used to have one of their mainstays; old fashioned, so uncool, but delightful. Good value too: one of the cheaper Fairy Books bought me half a dozen or more of these.

I have a small collection but try to focus on books I love and/or interesting designs. My favorites from among the ones I own:

The Third Policeman
Eugene Onegin
In Parenthesis
Philip Larkin, Collected Poems (not a particularly well done FS book but I love the collection)

It's too hard to pick just one book so I'm going to go with a collection/series. I really like the "Travels/Adventures During the Victorian Age". Not sure that's the correct name for it but it includes books such as "Fatal Shore", "Source of the Nile", "Into the Dark Continent", etc...

Excluding the Limited Editions, my top Folio Society Books are:

1. Beowulf - Seamus Heaney translation
2. In Parenthesis
3. Walden (2009) - with the historic Herbert W. Gleason photographs
4. Montaigne. Essays (2019)
5. The Call of Cthulhu (standard edition)
6. Japanese Tales - illustrated by Yuko Shimizu
7. Long Walk to Freedom (Nelson Mandela)
8. The Master and Margarita
9. Ulysses and Finnegans Wake - both illustrated by John Vernon Lord
10. The Icelandic Sagas - Volume I (1999) and Volume II (2002)
11. If Not, Winter (Fragments of Sappho)
12. Paradise Lost (2 volumes) - with John Martin mezzotints and commentary volume
13. The Chronicles of King Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (3 vols) - with linocuts by Edward Bawden
14. The Vision of Piers Plowman
15. Leaves of Grass (2009) - the deluxe edition with wood engravings by Abigail Rorer
16. Dune

>6 EdmundRodriguez: and >7 jswift81: I’ve been looking for The Malay Archipelago after reading about it in Slightly Foxed

Malay Archipelago is my favourite.

>16 Willoyd: One of my favorite things about finding the FS has been the exposure to books I may not have otherwise considered. I can't wait to check out your list. I've seen the Jane Austen set listed at very reasonable prices, and after looking up some of the illustrations, I have to agree that they are excellent. Yet another item on the wish list!

>17 LBShoreBook: Really nice list with good variety. Eventually, I really want to hunt down a copy of In Parenthesis. Seems pretty unique.

>18 Eastonorfolio: I don't yet have any of them, but they look like beautiful books. Thanks for the recommendation!

>19 dlphcoracl: Japanese Tales is in the running for my favorite illustrations. Wish I could find a copy!

>20 ironjaw: After seeing previous second-hand prices for it, I dare not even dream of trying to hunt it down at a reasonable price. I think I'm going to have to let this one go.

>25 jswift81: I have seen occasional copies for sale, but at totally ridiculous prices.

>27 antinous_in_london: Yeah, me too. The second-hand market is nuts right now. It also doesn't help that it had a smaller printing. I think only 2,000 of them were made.

>19 dlphcoracl: I see only 3-titles from your response to What FS books are must-buys here:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/195047#5258724

While I hold your earlier post in the highest regard and continue to build my FS collection around the general themes and reasoning elaborated therein, may I enquire whether you still consider those titles must-buys or is there a distinction between your new favourites-list versus the recommended must-buys for newcomers to the Folio Society?

My favourites from my admittedly small collection:

Paradise Lost (2014)
Beowulf (2010)
The Song of Roland
The 2 volume Icelandic Sagas
The Golden Bough
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas
The Knight in Panther Skin

>30 SyllicSpell: Another great list. I wish FS would reprint Beowulf!

Of the standard editions, Dune, American Gods and Anansi Boys come to mind. But a lot of limited editions are also gorgeous, for example The Faerie Queene, The Kelmscott Chaucer, or Odes of Horace for facsimiles, and The Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland (both with van Sandwyk illustrations) for original editions made by FS.

>29 mr.philistine:

"So many books, so little time........"

I revisited my earlier list and please note that it was posted over six years ago!! Since then, the FS has published hundreds of books and many have been superb. In looking over my previous list, however, there are several glaring omissions that SHOULD have been included in >19 dlphcoracl: above and I have added them. Better late than never.

You do raise an interesting point and there IS a distinct difference in the overall guiding philosophy behind each of the two lists. The earlier list from August 31, 2015, highlights what I believed were the most interesting of the FS titles in my collection from an intellectual and reading interest point of view, books that were inspired selections by the FS. However, the list given above in >19 dlphcoracl: gives much greater emphasis to The Arts of the Book - those books with superb illustrations, beautiful book design and higher quality of materials and workmanship.

With regard to your question, I consider ALL of the books in the two lists as "must buys" for the avid Folio Society book collector, albeit for different reasons. I have not changed my mind with regard to any of the books recommended in my earlier list from 2015.

"So many books, so little time........."

Beowulf
Anansi Boys
Farenheit 451
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Montaigne's Essays - Most recent Version
Dune - My first FS book
Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb - This is not the greatest FS production ever done but it's one of my personal favorites
Treasure Island - Most recent publication - The last but certainly not the least. I think this volume is terribly underrated and is a really great example of traditional FS values and production.

If I could only keep a dozen Folios, and standard/non-limited editions at that, upon waking from my electro-convulsive therapy I'd probably keep:

The Yangtze Valley and Beyond - absolutely stunning edition, publishing perfection
Japanese Tales - gorgeous binding and illustrations
The Malay Archipelago - beautiful all round
Mrs Dalloway
84 Charing Cross Rd
Dynasties of China
Dr Zhivago - the latest edition with Leonid Pasternak's paintings (a real coup by Folio here and fair value at £80 compared to other titles)
Ulysses & Finnegans Wake - with John Vernon Lord's exquisite illustrations
Jane Austen novels set - with Joan Hassall engravings (must be the first printing where each volume has differently coloured boards)
Dickens set - the first Folio edition illustrated by Charles Keeping (again each volume with differently coloured boards)
Aubrey-Maturin series - great bindings, wonderful illustrations
Sherlock Holmes 9-vol set of complete novels and stories - fantastic binding design, a Folio classic

Edited to add a thirteenth must-keep Folio, The Diversity of Life - simply beautiful, I smile every time I take it out of the slipcase

Edited to add a fourteenth, there's no way I'm not keeping The Tale of Genji.

A few of my favourites:

-Riddle of the Sands. The 1992 version bound in "Feincanvas". It is wonderful to handle and the use of maps as endpapers really make it easy to refer to them while reading.

-The Floating Admiral. The story is OK, but the whole presentation with the retro illustrations by Mark Thomas, the lettering on the spine, and the map are really well done. Mark Thomas also illustrated Princess Bride, but I think his work is better suited here.

-The Day of the Jackal. I can't get over how much I like the slipcase effect. And the integrated drawings and text work really well.
https://crimefictionlover.com/2014/05/first-look-the-day-of-the-jackal-deluxe/

-South Polar Times. I have the overlarge SE. It the the most impressive book I own. Ubiquitous books made a youtube video that will be much better than any description I can give:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TPl9DboU-Q

>35 cronshaw:
Aubrey-Maturin series - great bindings, wonderful illustrations
Sherlock Holmes 9-vol set of complete novels and stories - fantastic binding design, a Folio classic

I love the way FS took pictures of real events and people and used them to illustrate the books - fudging the boundary between reality and fiction just like O'Brian.
I should have included the Holmes set(s) in my list: a cracking example of old-style FS at its best.

>33 dlphcoracl: You do raise an interesting point...

Thank you for elucidating me. Six years or 60, it matters not so long as one has done one's finest. I believe one has!
If you permit me one jest, I'm glad you took the way out. I didn't want to be accused of entrapping the Oracle of FSD :)

I enjoy reading your posts because they are so far and few between but mostly because I enjoy your explanations. And while for the most part your playing field in the Fine Press Bureau is out of my league, I relish the rare occasions when you suggest 'lesser' titles within the reach of mere mortals like myself. My one complaint however, is your negligence lately in the 'shelfies department'.

>37 Willoyd: Indeed! I keep thinking of other titles I can't possibly live without, including plenty of older Folios: the early quarter leather poetry series; the entire 37-volume full-cloth Shakespeare set, an absolute gem of a Folio series (two colour printed letterpress, illustrated, great introductions); the classic Hardy volumes with their beautiful wood engravings (just about the perfect reading volumes to my mind); Folio's first edition of Saki short stories coupled with The Unbearable Bassington; Augustus Carp (!); all the Graham Greene novels; the Mapp and Lucia set (first printing obligatory, with each volume a different colour of cloth); and then there are all those very early Folios in their magnificent dust-jackets: Jekyll & Hyde, Candide, A Sentimental Journey, Two Tales from the Congo just to mention a few of the most indispensable!

Some that spring to mind:

Graeme Green novels
Elizabeth Gaskell novels
Thomas Hardy novels
Dickens (quarter leather set)
Willkie Collins novels
Chekhov stories
Tolstoy stories
Anna Karenina

>38 mr.philistine:

Two Folio Society shelfies for the road. Many other worthwhile FS books contained in them not mentioned in my list above in >19 dlphcoracl:.

>41 dlphcoracl: Fantastic! Much appreciated.

Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6PkDHuaXi8

>41 dlphcoracl: I like the AP and Thornwillow sprinked in there, nice collection. I am on the lookout for Melville's complete shorter fiction, that looks like a good one.

My list from what I own (not in any order):

1. First Love
2. Outlaws of the Marsh
3. Montaigne’s Essays (latest one)
4. The Third Policeman
5. The Folio Treasury
6. Niroot Puttapipat Jane Austen Set (only 3)
7. Anton Chekhov Collected Stories (4 vol)
8. Eugene Onegin
9. In a Glass Darkly
10. A Wizard of Earthsea

I have not included LEs in my list. There a are others which I love but do not own some of which have been included by others above.

Some great titles in this thread - really nice to hear other people's faves.

I'll qualify my list by saying I stopped buying new Folios back in 2019 after about 15 years of buying as a member, and for a couple of years prior to 'quitting', I mostly bought in the sales. I've bought on the second hand market since, but lately that has dried up a bit for obvious reasons! And I've never stumped up for LEs - they're awesome but so pricey...

So, those in my collection (184 titles) that I really, really love:

- Dickens collection: maroon leather bindings (Nonesuch). They're just so...Dickensian...I only have 6 at this stage, but am eyeing off a seventh on eBay right now
- Hitchhikers Guide series: only have the first three and really should complete the set...lovely to hold and read, great illustrations, sparkly covers
- One Hundred Years of Solitude: one of my top 5 all-time novels, probably my favourite, and a great edition from Folio
- The Remains of the Day: love this novel, and just beautiful artwork, especially the cover design
- Fear and Trembling: such a thought-provoking read and again, great art and cover design
- To the Lighthouse: my copy is a little worn on the outside, which seems to add to the charm and vibe of the book - it evokes that feeling in the middle section as the world moves on and then nostalgia and resignation takes hold in the latter half. I love the illustrations too.
- Plato's Symposium: Great cover, great design, love the book - so interesting
- Lord of the Flies
- The Once and Future King

I love most of them, to be honest...but these are particularly special. In thinking this through, I realised how important the actual contents were...I mean, my copy of Lives of the Later Caesars is amazing, but the contents are a bit meh. So, the edition really augments the love of the book, but if I'm a bit so-so about the book itself, I'll still really appreciate the edition but not form that close, sentimental attachment to it.

A few I'd still like to own and may well pull the trigger on: (enablement welcome)
- Ubik
- Dune
- The Great Gatsby
- Breakfast at Tiffany's
- A Clockwork Orange
- Last two in the Hitchhiker's set

I've sold or gifted a few over the years, but not many.
- Herzog by Saul Bellow (loved Henderson the Rain King but had a very negative reaction to this novel)
- Robinson Crusoe (slight regret...although didn't love the edition)
- The Age of Innocence

>45 Jeremy53: You should definitely get Breakfast at Tiffany’s…it’s the kind of little gem FS excels at!

>46 RRCBS: Thanks a lot - appreciate the enablement...

>45 Jeremy53: >46 RRCBS:

Second this recommendation on Breakfast at Tiffany's. Close to perfect, IMO.

Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" DLE
Boethius' "Consolation of Philosophy"
Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy"... for the beauty of the set, more than the content
The Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin series for its beauty
Sir Philip Sidney's "Astrophel and Stella" (1959)
Chaucer "Canterbury Tales" facsimile of Golden Cockerel with Eric Gill illuminations

Big thank you to everyone for all the wonderful suggestions. I appreciate you sharing them with me!

>1 jswift81:
If you are really keen to see what some of the FS, both past and present, look like, you can peruse the illustrated catalogue of my 800+ FS books here.

>51 wcarter: What an amazing reference. I will absolutely be utilizing this. Thank you so much!

>35 cronshaw:

At last, some love for Dickens 1 and the incomparable Charles Keeping illustrations. Although Dickens 2 is the same set in different clothes I find the binding designs a tad busy.

Your (various) list(s) demonstrate your excellent good taste and any aspiring newbie to Folio would do well to follow the template you have provided. They would soon acquire the foundations of a great Folio collection.

Of the standard editions, the ones I like best are those that are a sort of halfway house between standard and limited, or have a special look and feel. Good example in my collection are:

The Aztecs
Tutankhamun
David Roberts Holy Land and Egypt (the standard edition)
Around The World in Eighty Days (because of the map that comes with it)

Standard Editions these may, but they are most definitely not the run of the mill standards that Folio regularly churns out.

>45 Jeremy53: Full shelf of 16 Dickens Nonsuch editions here. took some time to get them all, bought most direct from FS on launch and picked up the remaining few on eBay.

>55 N11284: nice. I wish my shelf was that long. I have all 16 on 1 shelf but 2 are resting on top of others. I don't have Europe or London. For additional non folio Dickens I recommend and have the LEC American Notes and Short Stories and Hand and Eye Christmas Carol. At some point I am hoping to get pictures of Italy from allen press, but that will require some savings and finding a good secondary copy

> 55 Actually there are only 15 on that shelf Martin Chuzzlewit is lurking on the shelf above.I also have the edition of Dickens' American Notes.

>45 Jeremy53: I agree with practically your entire list, which just shows how hard it is to whittle down a Folio library. How could one omit the superb Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe series, the Once and Future King set, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Remains of the Day, A Clockwork Orange, Plato's Symposium (latest edition) etc. etc.? The 3-volume Canterbury Tales, Cakes and Ale, Melmoth the Wanderer, Heart of Darkness, The Deptford Trilogy, The Third Policeman, The Dark is Rising series, The Midnight Folk/A Box of Delights, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Golden Bough, and The Baburnama are just a few others I couldn't possibly part with :)

>53 folio_books: You're far too kind, Sir. I do love my Dickens I, though I know it's not the favoured CD set amongst Devotees, most of whom seem to prefer Dickens II or III, probably because the spines of the binding design of Dickens I do look dated, but to me that forms part of their Dickensian charm, Dickens I also (sort of) includes the Dickens Encyclopaedia (it's bound in the same green cloth), and I love that the boards of each title are all coloured differently like the original Nonesuch series.

>55 N11284: That's a very handsome row of leather spines there, and congratulations on having acquired all twenty of the 1987-91 Fine Press series!

>58 cronshaw: Well spotted.

>58 cronshaw: Dickens I also (sort of) includes the Dickens Encyclopaedia (it's bound in the same green cloth)

Exactly!

>55 N11284: The Dickens shelf looks great and I'm looking above it with envy at the your Folio Press Fine Edition collection. I'm five in now and thinking I have a long way to go.

These are standard editions, but my favorites are the Folio Society Agatha Christie books.

>57 N11284: what publisher is your American notes?

>63 trentsteel: That edition was published by Westvaco, available on abebooks for a few dollars :)

>45 Jeremy53: "In thinking this through, I realised how important the actual contents were...I mean, my copy of Lives of the Later Caesars is amazing, but the contents are a bit meh. So, the edition really augments the love of the book, but if I'm a bit so-so about the book itself, I'll still really appreciate the edition but not form that close, sentimental attachment to it."

I very much feel the same way, or perhaps even more. If I don't believe that I will enjoy and admire the contents of a fine press book, I won't purchase it, even if its physical qualities are impressive. Happily, that still leaves plenty of titles that I want to own.

A few personal favourites would be:

Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, 3 vols. 2005.
Montaigne, Essays trans. John Florio, 3 vols. 2006.
Milton, Paradise Lost, illustrated by Ian Pollock, 1991
St. Augustine, Confessions, 1993
Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
Walter Pater, The Renaissance
M.R.James, Collected Ghost Stories 2007;

all of them texts I don't expect to outgrow, to my mind most admirably presented. There's also of course Folio 60.

>53 folio_books:
As mentioned above, and as you will possibly already know, I have and love Dickens 2. The Keeping illustrations are IMO one of the triumphs of FS book illustration. I bought Dickens 2 because that was the edition most easily available soon after I joined. Whilst I delight in the illustrated covers, I can totally see where you're coming from. TBH, I'm not sure which set I'd go for of the two if starting afresh. I suspect it might even be Dickens 1, as I suspect the bindings may hold up better on older books. Whatever, however good subsequent editions have been, none quite live up to these two for me.

>58 cronshaw: Ah! The 3-volume Chaucer with parallel translation. How could I forget. Very close to the top of my favourites pile. Even with all the excellent facsimiles, LEs etc that subsequently arrived in the lists, and most of which I bought, this is the set I kept as the rest were sold off. It was an easy choice.
I love the Hardy's too, although the ease with which the non-leather spine titles scratch is a tad dismaying. The art work in these is so in tune, and the books are delightful in the hand.

>67 Willoyd:

I'm another very happy owner of Dickens I, bought in a single batch for a modest price not many years ago. My set has been well treated generally, but is showing a little wear to the black blocking on the spines, just on the volumes likely to have been most read: so that at least doesn't seem very resilient.

>55 N11284: That is a thing of beauty...I just wanna touch it...run my fingers over the spines...ok, I'll stop now.

My wife's name is Venetia, so I'm going to have to put in an order now. Thanks for all the enablement and wonder.

>66 terebinth: Great list, both for the beauty of the physical books and the content of the texts. I own the Burton volumes as well, and have really enjoyed them.

My spreadsheet tells me I own 50 Folio Society books. Of these, nine are limited editions. Which I find interesting; I am surprised the proportion is almost 10 20 percent (thanks >85 Eumnestes: for noticing my silly arithmetic error). Of the non-limited editions, with older publications first, I would highlight the following:

The Lord of the Rings 1977
Nice paper, nice printing, quirky 70s bindings that I might get redone at some point. Illustrations from before the look of Middle-Earth had solidified into brand identity. I like the Alan Lee illustrations as well, but I don't like the style of any of the Harper releases that contain Lee's work.

The Divine Comedy 1979
Restrained take with tasteful Flaxman engravings printed in blue. I like the translation, though it is not my favorite. A nice size in the hand despite containing all three cantiche, many illustrations, and a layout that does not feel cramped.

The Hobbit 1979
Same deal as the 1977 set above. Flawed by imitation leather binding. Despite that flaw, my favorite edition of the The Hobbit I have come across.

The Gormenghast Trilogy 2000
Profusely illustrated in a style that suits the story perfectly for me. Hard to imagine that any upcoming limited edition will be able to beat this effort.

Faust, Parts One and Two 2005
A respected modern translation with, most importantly, both parts. The art is attractive as well, though I prefer my Faust depictions to be a bit edgier. Forward! forward! faster! faster!

Legends of the Grail 2007
Purchased based on the Simon Brett engravings, but the tales are fascinating as well. One day someone more knowledgeable will explain the symbolism involved in the profusion of severed heads. Seriously, they are everywhere.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra 2012
One of the two best English translations of one of my favorite books, with flawless design.

A Wizard of Earthsea 2015
Only in silence the word, / only in dark the light, / only in dying life: / bright the hawk's flight / on the empty sky
An excellent example of the LEGO/SpA standard edition releases.

Paradise Lost 2015
Best reproduction of my favorite illustrations (John Martin mezzotints) for my single favorite literary work. The commentary volume is somewhat unwieldy, however, and not just in terms of size.

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories 2017
Iridescent color changing green-purple synthetic cloth binding. What could be more perfect for binding H. P., apart from the skin of some deep sea creature? I prefer the standard edition over the limited edition. Impressive illustrations as well, which manage to avoid the hazards of pop culture cliches that have come to afflict anything mythos associated.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 2020
Excellent modern book design. Printed and bound by C&C Offset, so proof that they can do quality work.

>67 Willoyd: The 3-volume Chaucer with parallel translation.

The 1986 first printing has large gold fleurons on all three covers. It is easy to recognize this edition by the blue creased slipcase and black spine labels for the title. Subsequent reprints have done away with the gold fleurons and come in a maroon creased slipcase with red spine labels.

A full review here with lots of eye-candy and various contributions from FSD-members:
https://booksandvines.com/2012/07/25/the-canterbury-tales-by-geoffrey-chaucer-th...

>69 Jeremy53: I just wanna touch it...

Here is another visual aid to help bide the time on your journey to realize full touch-functionality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1KmIOKXsQk&t=0h1m24s

After a quick look at my shelves I’d say these are my personal favourites, all for both content and execution. Almost all of them were first reads, which makes a difference...

Love Lies Bleeding (great story, perfect illustrations)
Dracula SE (still not entirely convinced by the illustrations, but a standout read in this format)
Montaigne’s Essays (the new one)
The Meaning of Hitler (Sebastian Haffner's insight and clear writing style is enlightening)
The Day of the Jackal (a gorgeous package)
Never Let Me Go (not read yet, but looks great)
King Leopold’s Ghost (my favourite book of 2018)
Othello LE (wonderful to hold and read)
The Door in the Wall facsimile LE (this would be the last FS I would part with - great stories and perfectly executed, and light to hold - lovely surprise for a large format book)

>70 Eumnestes:

Thank you: yes, I came late to finding reading a pleasure worth indulging in voluntarily, and that almost began with the Anatomy, which a half hour radio programme by the late Frank Muir inspired me to seek out at our town library in the summer before I started university. By the time the Folio version appeared I already owned the work in secondhand Everyman and Bohn's Library sets, but was sufficiently surprised and delighted at the prospect of the new edition that I bought it anyway.

You probably know, but the first Folio Montaigne is more or less in a mini-series with it presentationally, as is the also excellent single volume "The Voyce of the World" selection of Sir Thomas Browne. The shelf occupied by the two sets and the 1928 Shakespeare Head Plutarch is one of my favourites both for style and content. The eight volume Plutarch was limited to 500 copies, but can still be had for much less than the going rate for an Olive Fairy Book, such is this funny old world of ours.

>71 abysswalker: The Nietzsche is a superb book, and one that should have been on my list.

I would also add the 1994 Rime of the Ancient Mariner, printed on Albatross Wove paper and illustrated with Garrick Palmer’s evocative wood engravings.

>71 abysswalker: The Hobbit 1979
Same deal as the 1977 set above. Flawed by imitation leather binding. Despite that flaw, my favorite edition of the The Hobbit I have come across.

This made my eyebrow twitch so I looked it up in Folio 60: "Quarter dark red leather". My own favourite Hobbit is the first Folio edition from 1976 using sheets from the Allen and Unwin deluxe edition, featuring coloured illustrations.

>76 folio_books: Folio 60 is wrong! There is a thread here about this somewhere.

I believe the catalog for that year also says art leather.

Here is the thread.

Reading the thread again, it seems like there might be remain a small amount of ambiguity, but the text in the colophon and the feel in the hand lead me to believe artificial.

My favourites would be:

• Fragments of Sappho - love the format, and tipped in the Brothers and Kypris poems discovered in 2014 at the back


• Yangtze Valley - I really like all the historical women's travel books - I find them much more interesting than male travellers, but the production value of Yangtze Valley is miles ahead of A Lady's Life in the Rockies, Peregrinations of a Pariah, and Southern Gates of Arabia.


• Religion & the Decline of Magic - first read it during A-Level history when we were studying the witch trials and loved it, so was happy to find a folio version. Same with the Golden Bough, but whilst I love the content I'm not a fan of the cover art.


• Rendezvous with Rama - my favourite FS fiction book, partly because it was the first one I got that I hadn't read before, partly because I like the design, but it also seems just right - fairly compact and easy to read, not overpriced or overblown like some folio Fantasy/Sci-fi books, and the design/art seems in keeping with the period. It just is what it is.


• Christie Books - similarly to Rama, they're just right, and I like how they've formed a series/style distinct from Marple & Porot with Crooked House and And Then There Were None. I only wish I'd been there when they started releasing them - I doubt I'll ever be able to afford them on the secondary market.

And if I had it, The Malay Archipelago would undoubtedly be my overall favourite - I'm still holding out hope for a reprint!

>79 Xandian97:

Are you saying that you tipped in the newly discovered poems? If so how did you print them?

>79 Xandian97: if you aren't familiar with Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, you are in for a treat.

I don't think there is a Folio edition, sadly.

>78 abysswalker:

I don't necessarily disagree, but I thought the Folio 60 view was pertinent. In any event I don't possess a copy of that edition (I have the first Folio edition of 1976) so can't comment on look and feel, etc.

>77 abysswalker: Folio 60 is wrong!

The colophon page of many Folio Society books use leather interchangeably with 'goatskin' or 'art leather'; same story with silk for 'Indian silk' or 'moiré silk'. Unless the colophon specifies goatskin like in The History of Western Philosophy, the words 'quarter leather' from The Greek Myths should not be assumed to mean genuine animal hide. However the stated 'quarter leather' in The History of Western Science also differs in look, feel and smell from Greek Myths and Western Philosophy.
I wonder what to make of this ambiguity and if there is a universal reference one might align with. Would it be safe to assume that unless stated as goatskin or art leather, all leather could be assumed to mean at best, high content leather composite? As you say, the Folio Bibliography is not always accurate in this regard.

Edit:
As always nothing new under the sun. This topic has already been discussed at length and this thread from 2010 has a detailed response by the compiler of Folio 50, Paul W. Nash. https://www.librarything.com/topic/86527#1856839
Bottom line is, FS has in the past inflated colophon descriptions and we might never have the final word on all outstanding matters regarding the use of materials. Also, the 'art' in 'art leather' or 'art silk' could stand for artificial!
I was surprised to read such a forthright but honest message from the Honorary Librarian to the Folio Society, no less!

It’s always nice reading these lists and seeing that the books I love are loved by others too. Putting LEs aside, my absolute favorite folio is Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf. Some others that I couldn’t see myself parting with include:

A Story as Sharp as a Knife
The Yangtze Valley and Beyond
Mani & Roumeli
In Parenthesis
The Snow Leopard
Fragments of Sappho
Japanese Tales
The Malay Archipelago

The one that got away is the Tale of Genji. I own the first edition of that translation—itself a surprisingly high quality edition by Viking, with the same two volume presentation and in-line illustrations. At the time the Folio version was published I decided that a few added plates and a fancy binding weren’t worth the cost. Sadly now that it is long gone and prices are outrageous, I find myself regretting not going for it.

>71 abysswalker: Interesting list with great comments. Based on the numbers you provide, it sound like your le holdings make up almost 20% of your FS collection, not 10%. I recently purchased the Faust edition you mention, and very much admire it, including the Delacroix illustrations, although its prodigious size will probably force me to read it on a desk rather than comfortably on a couch. I take it that the phrase "Forward! forward! faster! faster!" refers to the art that Harry Clarke did for Faust?

My favorite SE books tend to be some of my "fine" editions:

Beowulf, 2010
Montaigne's Essays, 2019
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, 2012
News from Nowhere, 2015
The Call of Cthulhu, 2017
The Golden Bough, 2018
The Tale of Genji, 2016

>74 terebinth: Yes, I see what you're saying: FS clearly had a single gestalt in mind when they produced the Burton and the Montaigne. Just beautiful, especially housed next to your Shakespeare Head edition of Plutarch. (Also impressed you read Burton before college; I didn't broach it until graduate school.)

If memory serves, the three volume edition of Montaigne is the Florio translation, yes? If so, that means you have Shakespeare's Plutarch and Montaigne side by side, an excellent resonance! I tend to go for modern translations, but those books do look pretty next to each other.

To join in on the theme of which ones I would part with last scanning the shelves I’ve landed on these titles.

The Three Kingdoms. Superb art silk binding which lots of character in the unique crinckles and a large amount of illustrations.

The Yangtze Valley. What everyone else has already mentioned.

Gormenghast trilogy- The binding artwork just works perfectly for me and the huge amount of illustrations set the atmosphere to a tea.

Anatomy of Melancholy. The three volumes are great sizes for reading and a lovely presentation with marble design boards.

Honourable mentions -
Tale of Genji
Call of Cthulhu
Steppenwolfe
Book of the New Sun
The Baburnama

My favourites,giving some love to the FS early years,and excluding Limited Editions,are:

-Grimm’s Folk Tales (1949)
-School for Scandal (1949)
-The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1955)
-The Malay Archipelgo (2017)
-Pinocchio (2014)
-Travels of Marco Polo (2019)
-The Worst Journey in the World
-The Wind in the Willows (2005)
-The Baburnama (2014)
-The Yangtze Valley and Beyond (2018)
-The Holy Land/Egypt & Nubia (2014)

A reading suggestion:

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

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

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

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

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

>87 Eumnestes:

Well, yes, I read Burton's Anatomy in the summer before starting my BSc in Applied Physics: quite a mixed-up life was bound to ensue, beginning with spending a significant proportion of the following three years in the "wrong" university library, whether in pursuit of 1930s poets or of Herbert Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy. But, yes, the Montaigne is the Florio translation, another perennial favourite for me.

Can’t pick a favorite, but I will say again (I’ve said it before, somewhere) that the FS production of A Clockwork Orange is exceptional, the textured paper binding is luxurious and the illustrations are perfectly appropriate.

>85 Eumnestes:

I take it that the phrase "Forward! forward! faster! faster!" refers to the art that Harry Clarke did for Faust?

Yes, exactly.

How could I have forgotten the sublime Folio Wodehouse sets, illustrated so magnificently by Paul Cox? Essential in a FAD library, let alone among the bookshelves of any admirer of exquisite writing or unflappable butlers. The titles alone are priceless. Does any novel rejoice in a name better than 'Aunts Aren't Gentlemen'?

>94 cronshaw: If someone was a Wodehouse fan, I do love the Everyman Wodehouse. It is a complete collection of 99 hardbacks of Wodehouse’s writings

>95 DMulvee: I've never read Wodehouse, but have seen the Everyman's - they are noticeable and very attractive covers.

A few highlights of mine:

Treasure Island (2014)
The Call of Cthulhu
Steppenwolf
Moby-Dick (2017)
Dune

The 2014 Treasure Island would probably be my top pick.

>96 ironjaw: based on your posts, I think you would enjoy them! Especially the Wooster and Blandings books!

>80 Jobasha:
I didn't do anything too fancy - just downloaded the right fonts, put the poems into MS Publisher, and printed them off on a couple of acid-free pieces of A3, although I didn't use acid-free ink so not sure if it was worth using the paper.

Then I just trimmed the pages, folded them, and glued them in with PVA. Was my first time tipping in more than a loose page, so not sure if it was the best way to do it, but it seems to have worked.

>81 abysswalker:
Thanks for the tip! Just googled it and it looks really interesting. I don't know all that much about Yugoslavia, so it should be enlightening.

>89 gmurphy: Worst Journey in the World, huh? Nice one.

I've always been a fan of Scott and his team - amazing story. And I love this edition which I bought new from Folio - I have the Scott diaries edition too. But on first reading I only got through about half of it. I reacted a little to their treatment of the animals, which I know is tad precious, but I just found they were too cruel or unthinking at times, and it grated on me. The author came across as not particularly likeable. I'll have another crack at it in time to see how I react.

All my FS books are favourites, but if I had to chose -

Canterbury Tales Eric Gill LE - it’s big and it’s beautiful. The paper is lovely and the binding perfect. The first LE that really blew me away.

Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner LE - it only contains a few poems (but what poems!). The aesthetic and production values of a true fine press book and a work of art in itself.

Moby Dick LE - the most aromatic book FS have produced. I can sniff that leather for days. Oh, and Rockwell Kent……

Metamorphosis LE - this LE flew under the radar of many of us for quite a long time. Beautiful tipped in paintings by Titian, wonderful binding and the classic Golding translation. A sublime book.

Beowulf - everything about this book is perfectly judged and perfectly executed.

History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell - it was my first FS book so it holds a special place in my affections. It’s rather understated, not illustrated and with an abstract cover design. Very classy and appropriate for the subject matter. Less can be more.

HG Wells Classic Science Fiction Set (3 volumes). Beautifully illustrated pastiches of Edwardian “Boy’s Own” books.

>101 Quicksilver66: Totally with you on the H of WP, I didn't include that on my list, but oh boy, it was close. Lovely edition and great contents.

Jealous of all your LEs - especially the Moby Dick. I have a SE of that, I think honestly the last one they produced (the blue one). My order at the time came in the mail without it with a note saying it had sold out. A week later it turned up! Boom! But the LE is next level.

>102 Jeremy53: Thanks Jeremy. Folio also produced a lovely Moby Dick before the Rockwell Kent version. I forget the illustrator, but well worth hunting down if, like me, you love Melville.

The problem with this game is that as soon as you stop writing you think of other books you can add to the list - like Scott’s diaries and the South Polar Times (although I have the non-LE version), the Poetic Edda and Arabia Deserta.

FS have a history of saying things are sold out and the finding copies deep in their cellars somewhere. About 9 years ago there was a period when they uncovered loads of hidden treasures which they sold of in their old Members Room (the Dismembered Room as Cronshaw aptly called it). God knows what else is lurking down there. Lord Lucan probably.

>101 Quicksilver66: I very much agree with your comment about Beowulf.

If the Folio Society ever republished it exactly as per the previous book, it would be very welcome news.

>104 English-bookseller: I’m surprised they have not republished it, EB. It wasn’t a LE and it’s so highly regarded. A reprint would probably fly of the shelves.

>41 dlphcoracl: May I ask about the stardust edition in your shelf?
>90 dlphcoracl: thanks for the recommendation

>106 kb-42:

The stardust is the standard edition by Lyra's Books last year. You will only be able to acquire it on the secondary market now, at great expense.

>106 kb-42:
Lyra’s Stardust was available in three formats, one of 100 copies (reviewed here - https://www.librarything.com/topic/327085), a standard edition in either mustard or dark blue quarter leather with marbled boards and limited to 500 copies, and a hideously expensive lettered edition of 26 copies.

Further details on Lyra’s website (https://www.lyrasbooks.com/stardust-editions/).

As mentioned by >107 Jobasha:, their prices on the secondary market are now astronomical!

>108 wcarter: As per Lyra's Books website, both standard editions quarter bound in mustard and dark blue cloth.

>106 kb-42: A few more photos to feast your eyes on..
https://www.librarything.com/topic/318039#7326301
https://www.lyrasbooks.com/shop/

>106 kb-42:
>107 Jobasha:

Jobasha is correct - the Stardust edition in the photo is the standard edition with 1/4 cloth-backed spine and marbled paper over boards. I also have the numbered full leather edition, one of 100 copies, but the standard edition is my reading copy. Similar to the deluxe leather edition of Mort, it had to be purchased within a matter of hours when it first became available prior to its publication. Both standard and deluxe editions are now prohibitively expensive in the secondary market.

Golden Inches: The China Memoir of Grace Service is an exceptional read that will take you into remote parts of China over one hundred years ago. It documents the dramatic changes occurring in China from 1905-1935 from the perspective of two people who lived through it, carefully edited by their eldest son John S. Service for historical accuracy. As mentioned, John S. Service was a China expert who later served in the State Department.

>107 Jobasha: >108 wcarter: >110 dlphcoracl: this will obviously depend on individual means and preferences, but re: "astronomical" and "prohibitively expensive" prices for Lyra's Stardust, both versions of the standard edition regularly trade hands for around $450 USD. Not cheap by any standard, but certainly less than the new price for many lesser productions, or various scarce in demand standard Folio releases. And this while being by an extremely popular author (Gaiman).

For anyone that wants a copy, I would recommend joining the Lyra's Books Facebook fan group. That's where I have seen the best prices. There are several copies on Abe in fine condition at the moment priced around $450 USD that remain for sale, so clearly that is an upper bound on the current market clearing price.

The full leather, on the other hand, almost never sells so any price is a bit imaginary. There is a copy on eBay for $5k USD with offers enabled, but it has been there for a long time and the seller is one who tends to list at, ahem, aspirational price levels.

Happily for me, my favorite edition in terms of aesthetics is the standard blue half-cloth. The marbled paper with metallic hints is wonderful, and you don't get that on the cover with the full leather. The text block is also very attractive for both states, though there might be a slight paper upgrade with the full leather (I forget) and some stain/star speckle to the page edges.

>111 abysswalker: I would recommend joining the Lyra's Books Facebook fan group.

I would be very interested but I can't find it on Fb. Lyra's Books yes, anything including "fans", not so far. Can you provide any further clues? TIA.

>112 folio_books: You can find it here, no affiliation other than also being a member:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/207562250682881

I worry about your joining though, as the prices people are willing paying for these books might extend your disdain beyond just the Folio Society buyers and sellers.

As I mentioned elsewhere, $3k is pretty much the standard price for the leather. I don’t know of a sale of a lettered edition.

>111 abysswalker: Also surprised that £1,600 would be considered "hideously expensive" for a bradel bound vellum book and raised band solander limited to 26 copies, considering the kind of purchases shared here, e.g facsimile maps and other fine press publications.

>111 abysswalker:

Partially agree.

The standard clothbound edition of 'Stardust' is quite affordable at between $450 to $500, which appears to be the current asking price from numerous sellers. However, paying $3,000 to $4,000 for the deluxe (numbered) edition with full blue morocco binding is a different matter, if only because it now puts the book in direct competition with some truly extraordinary private press books, both past and present.

>114 dlphcoracl: I believe it’s calfskin, not Morocco. Which makes the secondary market price hard to swallow for sure; I think it’s the 100 limitation that drives the price to such levels.

>115 _WishIReadMore:

Although not stated in the colophon, you are correct (see link).

https://www.lyrasbooks.com/shop/stardust/leather/

Quite surprising because the leather on Stardust has a distinct and pronounced grain pattern more like Nigerian goatskin. The finest calfskin I have seen came from J Hewit & Sons Ltd. for a custom binding I had made at Shepherd's Bookbinders (London) and it was smooth as a baby's ass.

Just to wake up the thread a bit. After a quick look at my shelves I’d say these are my favourites, almost all of them are first reads:
Love Lies Bleeding (great story and illustrations)
Dracula SE (the old one)
Montaigne’s Essays (the new one)
The Meaning of Hitler
The Day of the Jackal
Never Let Me Go
King Leopold’s Ghost (my favourite book of 2018)
The Door in the Wall facsimile LE (this would be the last FS I would part with - great stories and perfectly executed, and light to hold - lovely surprise for a large format book)
Letterpress Shakespeare (doesn’t matter which one, they’re all the same i.e. amazing!)
And one very recently acquired, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (folio doing what it does well; embossed cover, well-printed and prolific illustrations)…

Does anyone know why the pinned list of FS books and FS Wiki thread has disappeared? I found it really useful to have that information ‘to hand’.

>118 Caput_Lupinum:

I can still see it

>118 Caput_Lupinum: It is still pinned for me. Make sure you had not ordered the group in some weird way maybe? Nope - that's not it - it stays pinned.

What is the first topic on top of the group?

Also - pinned topics are only seen when you are on the group page - make sure you are not looking at "Your Groups" or something instead?

>119 affle: and >120 AnnieMod:

Thank you for your help and forcing me to look into the issue. It turns out that I'd somehow conspired to 'ignore' (effectively delete) the thread. Fortunately, there's a way of recovering it, which I've now done. I'll be more careful in future!

>121 Caput_Lupinum:

I've found that ignored topics are not actually deleted; they are sent to the very end of the topic pages.

>122 drasvola: Not anymore. There was a change when the new Talk was introduced and now they are in their own section instead (all ignored from all groups in one place).

>121 Caput_Lupinum: I find myself doing this every so often as I usually read LT on my tablet, which makes it very easy to inadvertently press the 'x' to ignore a thread while scrolling the page on the touchscreen, while not even noticing it's happened. I make a habit of checking my 'ignored topics' page every now and then, knowing there'll probably be something I've managed to vanish in there that needs rescuing.

>123 AnnieMod:

Thanks for letting me know, Annie. Wasn't aware of the change.

>124 agitationalporcelain: That's a good idea. I'll have to do the same.

The Andrew Lang rainbow fairy books are the most spectacular books Folio Society have done.

I have around 100 FS books so (relatively) not a huge collection.
There's two standard editions that stand out. I consider them perfect in all ways a book can be.

Master & Margarita
Thus Spoke Zarathustra

... honorable mentions:
Dune
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
From Dawn to Decadence

>48 adriano77: Ok, thanks you two; just to update, I ended up putting in my first direct-from-Folio order since 2019.

- Breakfast at Tiffany's
- The Great Gatsby
- Last two in the Hitchhiker's set
- Dune
- Venetia (my wife's name, couldn't resist)

Love them all.