Folio Summer Sale 2022

Is there a Folio Summer Sale around the corner?

Should we expect our wallets to get lighter? :-)

Insights from fellow devotees would be much appreciated!

There is an entry in the FSD wiki about sales here.

>2 wcarter: As someone newer to this, reading the sale flyers in that link is downright painful considering how much a lot of that is going for on the secondhand market now. It would probably be cheaper to invent a time machine to go back to June 2019 than pay the current ebay/Abebooks prices.

>3 rsmac: I feel your pain. I've been collecting FS for about 4 years. One gets the sense that FOMO is integral to their business model. There is definite feeling that we have cleanly missed the good old days of FS, especially in regard to sales.

>4 L.Bloom: One gets the sense that FOMO is integral to their business model.
...how? I mean apart from some of their recent limited editions, FS books can be on stock for years.

>5 HamburgerHelper: I tend to agree with this. Apart from a few popular limited editions, their print runs are fairly high. A lot of highly sought after/expensive after market books had previously been in FS sales.

This is certainly true for some titles but I humbly submit the advertisements I receive from FS riddled with words like "exclusive" collectors edition" or "last chance." This is evidence of the company directly leveraging FOMO marketing. Not that there is any thing wrong with it but it is clearly part of their model.

Let us also note the phenomenon of the last chance to buy counter which invariably has an acceleratory effect on titles selling out. Perhaps that's not intentional on FS part but it is evidence that FOMO is part of our culture as FSD.

>7 L.Bloom: I don't think you can have a fear of missing out when you had lots of time to buy it lol but ok.

Just keep an eye on the low stock/last chance to buy page at -
https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/miscellaneous/last-chance-to-buy

>7 L.Bloom: How is saying something is an “exclusive collector’s edition” with a print run of thousands equal FOMO marketing?

>8 HamburgerHelper: If you’ve got £2,000 of books on your wishlist and a max £50 per month budget to spend on books, you’re going to start finding yourself missing out.

>11 LondonLawyer: If you’ve got £2,000 of books on your wishlist...
All on Last Chance to Buy?! dang

>12 HamburgerHelper: Sigh. You discover Folio Society and make a wishlist of £2,000-worth of books. You start working through it with your £50/month. At some point, books are going to appear on Last Chance to Buy and you’re going to start missing out.

But I suspect you know this already and are just getting a kick out of winding everyone up.

>13 LondonLawyer: Hamburger Helper, helps the hamburger... make a great meal.

>13 LondonLawyer: I am sorry if it came that way and I see what your saying, but that's not how I see the term FOMO. Out of all the publishers I follow, FS is the only ones that reprint their books(not everything obviously, but still..). It's not like other presses where I had to wake/stay up a certain time just to make an order or else I'll miss out forever. I mean if you still didn't have the funds for like the four years that it was available and ended up on Last Chance to Buy?! I guess you can always hope for a reprint.

>14 CobbsGhost: lol

Worth noting that books don't always make their way to the Last Chance to Buy page before selling out.

Really hoping to see Yangtze Valley in the sale!

When does the summer sale begin?

>18 MillicentI: That's the $600,000 question (40% off $1,000,000!).

😂

Wish they could get on Taschen's level as far as sales. Even if they can't be as robust as Taschen's, adopting some of their transparency would go a long way.

Taschen sale = HEY! WE ARE HAVING A SALE ON THIS DAY AT THIS TIME! WATCH THE COUNTDOWN ON OUR SITE! LOAD UP YOUR CART!

Folio Sale = We will likely have a sale this summer. That is all.

>17 L.Bloom: Not sure if you've noticed yet, but just in case - only 86 copies left. So if you're interested, do keep an eye on it to pull the trigger before it sells out. Great book, Folio at its best. Don't think it will be in the sale, but even if they do throw it in to clear shelf space, it will be gone within an hour.

>22 elladan0891: I didn't feel like risking it selling out and ordered Yangtze Valley soon after it landed on this list, along with the now out-of-stock Life in the English Country House. Both are beautiful books and the FS catalogue will be a little bit poorer when they're no longer available.

>22 elladan0891: Thank you sir. I snagged it last month along with Europe and Syria to avoid folioregretus :)

>22 elladan0891:
Don't think it will be in the sale, but even if they do throw it in to clear shelf space, it will be gone within an hour.
Don't see why not. I bought my copy in one of the sales.

>25 Willoyd: Because it's almost gone. It hasn't even been a full day since my last post, but 4 more copies are gone. Assuming the sale starts right after the magazine code expires on July 28th, at this rate it will be OOP before the sale even starts.

Even if some copies remain by the start of the sale, the chances are still close to zero, in my opinion. Normally they don't include books that are about to sell out in sales. I do remember an example of the contrary, but that was a few years ago, so I'd dismiss it as a one-off. There were a few titles close to selling out, and they decided to clear shelving fast and included them in the sale. They weren't officially advertised in sale catalogs, just discounted online. They were gone by the time US devotees woke up.

P.S. If I remember correctly, Yangtze was on sale only once, and at a very modest discount. I remember not ordering it back then because I was focusing on titles that were either closer to selling out or had larger discounts. Ended up paying full price when I added it to my NY Sale order earlier this year.

>24 L.Bloom: Smart move!

>23 Shadekeep: I agree! I also ordered Life... once it hit the Last Chance list, and I bunched up Yangtze with the New Year Sale titles.

>26 elladan0891:
Fair points. Yes, it was just a 20% discount, but enough for me! One of the few FS books I think worth full price though, now I have it. Reckon it's one of their best SEs to date. I have their older edition of Bird's trip to the Rockies, and would love to see that given the same treatment, if the photos are available. Their travel books are about all I'm buying nowadays, now they've pretty much given up on any of the fiction I would pay FS prices for (other than rehashes of books I've already got, or LEs, which I won't buy!).

Hopefully this week??

Surely this week.

I'm tired of waiting.

>29 Lady19thC:

I don't think so.

>29 Lady19thC: I'm still predicting tomorrow since they have started it in June for the past several years (and do their announcements on Tuesdays), but as many have pointed out the magazine has a 10% discount code valid until Thursday, July 28th so they may not want those concurrent.

So if not tomorrow, next best guess is starting Tuesday, August 2nd.

>32 rsmac:

What is the 10% discount code in the magazine? I did not receive the most recent one.

I suspect it won't work on sale items, but I figured I'd ask because when I buy from sales, I often add in non-sale items to save on shipping.

>32 rsmac:

July or August? Good grief. Unless you are buying an extreme amount of books, the 10% doesn't even scratch the surface of shipping. Summer will be over by then. Well, guess I will put my summer spending money elsewhere.

There was a discount code that was active during last year's sale. However, it wasn't eligible to be used on sale items.

Is the sale page always accessible or is it a sign they're preparing to launch? It currently has 50 books listed.
https://www.foliosociety.com/row/sale

Ah, ok so maybe sooner. I have a very short list of things I both want and that might actually show up in the sale so I'm prepared to be disappointed in any case.

>36 A.Godhelm: Interesting and thanks for sharing. I see two in there I would buy, assuming this is valid.

>36 A.Godhelm: >38 LBShoreBook: This has come up a number of times in recent years. Folio sets up (or keeps up?) a dummy page prior to sales, and it usually just shows items that were on the previous sale. It shouldn't be taken as indicative of what will be on sale this time around.

It looks to me like the dummy page they set up in advance of a sale, waiting to be populated with the actual sale items. My reasons for believing so - this is standard pre-sale practice for them; only 50 books listed; all at current full prices. I've emailed Customer Services to confirm this but they might not want to divulge anything yet.

>39 whytewolf1:

Yeah, sorry. I was engaged in writing my opinion at the time your post appeared.

The January sale had 54 books on sale. Four sold out, leaving these 50 books. Most of these are likely to be on sale this time around. But, because most sales include at least a few new titles, I think everyone is correct that this is just a dummy page. Hopefully, it means that the sale is close.

>41 folio_books: It's okay. I do it all the time. :P

The Folio Society might have better advised to hold this sale earlier.

Consumer spending at least in the UK is facing severe challenges and many here are looking forward to their first proper holiday.

>33 icewindraider: The magazine discount code is SMAGM. I used it this morning when ordering The Foundation Trilogy. Strangely, I couldn't get it to work a couple of days ago.

>40 folio_books:

It was a placeholder, and has now been removed.

>46 folio_books: Perhaps a sign they are preparing it for the real thing. Let's hope!

I asked on Instagram, if they can disclose the starting date of the Summer sale. Answer:
„While we can’t reveal the date quite yet, do keep an eye on our social in the next couple of weeks for the announcement.“

So this can probably mean everything from sale is starting tomorrow to sale is starting late July 🙈 Sorry.

>47 Shadekeep: Perhaps a sign they are preparing it for the real thing. Let's hope!

Undoubtedly it's a sign the sale will be with us in the foreseeable future. "When" is the issue and only Folio know that. Endless speculation makes no difference.

I used to get similarly excited as the sale approached but not so much lately. Going from memory I think I've bought a total of two books from the last five sales.

>49 folio_books: My FS collection is still quite small, so I welcome the opportunity to affordably grow it. As it fills in more I suspect there will be fewer purchases in my future as well.

>45 GardenOfForkingPaths: Does this code work in the US? Or is it UK only?

>51 Inceptic: I am not sure. I am in the UK, so perhaps a US-based member could confirm.

>51 Inceptic: yes, it works in the US

honestly where is this sale? do they ever hold it so late?

>53 elladan0891: Thank you! I just tried it myself, and it does exclude recent titles and reprints.

>54 new_collector: honestly where is this sale? do they ever hold it so late?

Searching through the archives:

2021 June 22
2020 June 22
2019 June 11
2018 June 20
2017 June 22
2016 June 20
2015 June 16
2014 June 17
2013 June 11
2012 June 13

This year is certainly an outlier.

The pain of waiting for the sale is excruciating :-D

>57 bookaroo: possibly delayed because of the sample sale in London over the next three days ? So maybe next week ?

>58 RogerBlake: this could be the reason.

Doesn’t sound like there’s any cross over in stock at all, but staff can only be in one place at once.

So the online sale could be coming next week.

>59 Uppernorwood: So the online sale could be coming next week.

Without wishing to ramp the anticipatory excitement up any further I'd say that would fit exactly, based on what we know.

If it is next week it is a bad time for US buyers since many will be on vacation as it is July 4th holiday week. People will be at lake and beach houses, swimming in the ocean, going to carnivals and watching fireworks. Not glued to the internet to stalk a possible sale. A good time to detox from our devices. Many will end up missing out on some bargains. Wish they had held it in June instead. Oh well...

>61 Lady19thC: There is a kind of symmetry to US customers missing a UK sale on the holiday marking the independence of one from the other. ^_^

>61 Lady19thC:

Bear in mind the sale will last for weeks so you don't necessarily have to be "there" on day 1. It might help in the case of scarce or very popular titles but I'd wager there won't be many that'll sell out on day 1 or even by the end of the week.

>58 RogerBlake: For Folio Society devotees, hope springs eternal!

>49 folio_books: I agree with this sentiment. Reading from others about sales of the past made me excited for the sales of the present day. Sadly the last few years have been lackluster in terms of both selection and discount.

>65 L.Bloom:

The last time I got anything from a sale was the summer of 2020. Golden Bough for 50% off, I think, and Fahrenheit 451 for... maybe 50% off too. Only regular purchases since, which I guess is kind of their intent.

I barely ever buy sale stuff compared to, say, three years ago. I find that the discounts aren’t great and now that I have a lot of current stock, not much point. Especially with shipping to Canada.

>61 Lady19thC:

That's silly. We Americans all have cell phones and such, even while on vacation. We'll pounce on the sale, rest assured. ;-)

Conversely, I've found that it usually pays to wait a day or three before making a purchase from the sale. Whatever voucher codes, hidden incentives, and quality concerns that manifest aren't generally known on the first day. Only items with a low stock count are at risk on the first day.

Same, same.

I don't know if it's because I am no longer a student, but I don't buy Folios on sale as much as I used to, mainly because the books are not that appealing and I would rather save the funds and spend them later on something that I really want, like the LeGuin books, I Am Legend, etc.

For me, the Folio sale is competing with the Folio secondary market. There's hundreds of books I'm interested in for a pittance of what a new one would cost. With cost increases and smaller discounts, you can stretch the same money very far with older books that tend to be in good shape thanks to the ubiquitous slipcases.

Just seen from Folio email- ‘you will be able to discover a wide selection of Folio editions with up to 75% off in the online Summer Sale, which begins next week.’

‘you will be able to discover a wide selection of Folio editions with up to 75% off in the online Summer Sale, which begins next week.’

Managing expectations... there will probably be one, perhaps two, titles offered for 75% off. lol

>68 treereader:

This will be my first summer sale—can you elaborate on the reasons why one might want to wait to place an order? What sorts of voucher codes/hidden incentives come up? Thank you!

>72 whytewolf1: I wonder what is so spectacularly unpopular they would want to try it at 75% off. Any ideas?

>74 rsmac: Twelfth Night. Soon they’ll be giving it away for free it seems.

> 74

'I wonder what is so spectacularly unpopular they would want to try it at 75% off. Any ideas?'

Well, I like it myself, but I know it's not been one of their big hits, so:

Rob Roy?

>76 Cat_of_Ulthar: I would guess that set of flower fairy books?

>74 rsmac: That one remaining leatherbound edition of The Prophet that stubbornly refuses to leave? They could mark that down and then put 5% off on the rest and still be technically truthful. ^_^

But yes, I suspect the previous guesses of Twelfth Night and Rob Roy are probably accurate. Especially since I've recently purchased Twelfth Night at full price. It's a gift I have.

>78 Shadekeep: Especially since I've recently purchased Twelfth Night at full price.

You're not the only one who paid full price for Twelfth Night. I have no regrets.

>79 folio_books: Nor do I, especially as it seems to be made with letterpress leaves.

>75 What_What: >74 rsmac: What_What is definitely correct. And it's a lovely production! So, if you like Shakespeare and don't have it, you should definitely grab it because it si going to finally sell out one of these days!

>73 bunnyisreading:

I think there is still an active code from the Spring release. However, it may or may not overlap with the Summer Sale. Similarly, there's a chance that a new voucher code will be printed on the brochure for the Summer Sale, which wouldn't likely be discovered until the early buyers in the U.K. receive their orders - so at least a day, but no more than three after the start of the sale. There's also the possibility of an automatic threshold discount - purchase more than $300 or 200 pounds or something. Do any of these things overlap? If so, do they stack? We usually don't know until day two or three of the sale.

Which day are we expecting the sale to start? Is it usually Thursday?

>83 Priyesh2022: Last year was Tuesday.

No banner link yet, but usual suspect titles are now showing discounts. Nothing special thus far and a general rehash of previous sales, unless something changes quickly. Prepare to be underwhelmed if you’ve been waiting.

Sale announcement is imminent. Many listings have already been updated to 'WAS £x.xx Now £x.xx'.
Sort categories (Fiction, Non-fiction etc..) by Price - Low to High.

R.I.P. FS sales if this is it. Couldn't be more uninteresting.

Very unimpressive reductions. Not even one decent enough discount to tempt an order.

Josephine Tey fans are happy. Everyone else, not so much.

Sale is now live on website.

>90 wcarter: Sale is now live on website.

Well, that was disappointing. Perhaps they sold all their stuff on Friday.

>90 wcarter:
Barely.

Well that wasn't worth waiting for. Terrible selection and discounts.

While there are a few on my want list (A Long Walk to Freedom comes to mind), the discounts aren't big enough to make me spring for them immediately. I'll sit a bit and see if any are at risk of selling out.

yawn

For a company supposedly in thrall to the marketing department, this sale is very, very poor event making. Remember the days of free postage and deep discounts, even on moderately popular titles? The excitement generated in this very forum? Now this. This isn’t really a sale, just a punt at clearing some warehouse space where list prices, or the inflated new ones, were clearly overly optimistic.
The discounts in several cases wouldn’t cover postage, never mind a return to original pricing from just a few years ago. The bank balance rejoices, however, so silver linings and all that.

Having just been browsing older posts for information on a couple of older sets I was considering, it’s really a very different type of sale these days! Nothing for me, though prob need to save the money anyway with all of the older books I’ve been amassing.

First sale where i haven’t actually bought anything. 2 titles i was slightly interested in have such small discounts that the savings are cancelled out by the shipping & are much cheaper to buy on the secondary market than in the sale.

With 57 items currently discounted, the star still appears to be (back from the dead!) Montaigne's Essays for 50% at £70 (recommended by the Oracle during the New Year 2022 SALE here).
https://www.foliosociety.com/row/essays.html

Should the thread be renamed to Folio Summer SALE 2022 for better tracking?

>99 mr.philistine:
Done!

As I'm literally on my way to the airport coming back from a short trip in Florence I'm kinda glad this sale has nothing of interest for me, after the spending I've done, barring Iron Kingdom and even then I suspect it'll last long enough to make it to the next sale.

>96 cwl: Forgive me for going against the grain of sentiment here, but what sane marketing strategy involves deeply discounting your most desirable inventory twice a year? You tend not to see other premium brands doing the same thing. Generally-speaking, the purpose of sales is to shift slow-moving inventory.

The 50%+ fire sales of previous years signified a company in dire financial trouble - and a kick in the teeth to those of us who paid full price for our books.

>96 cwl: “ This isn’t really a sale, just a punt at clearing some warehouse space where list prices, or the inflated new ones, were clearly overly optimistic.”
Aka what most companies’ sales are.

>102 LondonLawyer: Precisely.

Lacklustre sales mean the Folio Society isn’t desperate. As a measure of how NOT desperate they are, Twelfth Night hasn’t made it to the sale.

>102 LondonLawyer: Taschen, for a direct comparison from just a few weeks back, does just that.
One always risked full price vs selling out and a sale appearance; we all knew that. I’m not saying to return to those days, but a 10-15% sale with postage what it is will not excite anyone, particularly when the banner headline reads up to (key words there) 75%. Just look at the responses to this sale to measure interest.
If sales are going to be as uneventful as this, there is no point in hyping them up and just have a clearance page, like many companies do. No disappointment, no gimmicks.

>102 LondonLawyer: If they discounted at least one title in each genre category that might goad buyers into getting that one they want and then adding more to fill out an order. If it's just clearance stuff they can't sell, many will choose to not order at all. Loss leader.

Assuming my calculations are correct (and rounding all percentages to the nearest whole number):

The books with the highest discount (75% off) are the Oxford Shakespeare Titus Andronicus and Coriolanus. Next is Spring (70% off). Montaigne's Essays has 50% off, and everything else is between 15% and 45% off.

The average discount is 30%. 22 of the 57 books have only 15% or 20% off.

"Sorry, we cancelled the flash sale you travelled all the way to London for, but don't worry: next week you can have £6 off Larkin's poems!"

>102 LondonLawyer:

Definitely good points. I’d still expect at least one or so deeper discounts than the 10 to 20% off which doesn’t really even cover postage to tempt the order and then inevitably be lured into adding a couple more from the Wishlist which would be good for folio sales. Granted I would be tempted by Montaigne if I didn’t have it but besides that I can’t see any no brainer purchase for discount prompting an order.

Also I think due to the sample sale just occurring it’s fresh in everyone’s minds what great discounts happened and can’t help comparing.

I was planning on buying a few full price volumes alongside a couple of books that took my fancy in the sale. As there is literally nothing of interest here at the prices that they are, I won't be placing an order at all.

>102 LondonLawyer: “You tend not to see other premium brands doing the same thing…the purpose of sales is to shift slow-moving inventory”

Generally speaking this isn't always the case. Having worked with quite a few premium brands & stores they will often buy in products specifically to put into sales (or even have products manufactured specifically to be put into sales) so they can create some hoopla around a sale, otherwise their sales would have 3 products in them. Some brands even increase their inventory prior to a sale having negotiated significant discounts on the increased volume they are purchasing so they can cut the price by 50% and still make a sizeable profit. Most premium brands are operating on at least a 90% margin.

>85 cwl: yup. Underwhelmed

>104 cwl: "I’m not saying to return to those days, but a 10-15% sale with postage what it is will not excite anyone, particularly when the banner headline reads up to (key words there) 75%."

This is the crucial point for me. Everyone knows that not everything will be discounted at the full "up to" amount given, but it is generally taken to be an indication of the level of the sale (e.g. I would expect an "up to 50% off" sale to be generally a lot better than an "up to 25% off" sale). Sending an email with a massive banner saying "UP TO 75% OFF", only to offer discounts mostly at a level far below that, is just setting your customers up for disappointment, and I can't see that being a great strategy for long-term customer satisfaction.

The email goes on to say that "you can save up to 75% on more than 50 fabulous editions from Folio". That's rather misleading: the only two books that you can indeed save 75% on are hardly "fabulous editions from Folio" - as I understand it, they're rebindings of standard OUP printings. Using discounts on such titles as an excuse to say "up to 75% off" is a little cheeky. (All the books actually named in the email are, of course, standard FS editions, all on offer at far smaller discounts than the banner indicates.)

In short: you don't have to offer massive discounts, and I won't particularly mind if you don't. But don't pretend that you are.

Just from a marketing perspective, why wouldn't they at least make a token effort towards appealing to more people?

Like for the person who is a fan of sci-fi and horror there are no discounted titles. None. They could throw in one or two just to create a little enthusiasm, but nope.

>96 cwl: >112 PeterFitzGerald: Nothing more to add.

It's been ages since a Folio Society sale has tempted me. I used to eagerly keep checking when the sale would go online. Now, i don't even know which day it is on. I accidentally stumble upon it due to Insta, go check out the sale and sigh.

I wish some effort had been made. A good sale makes one pick up plenty of non-sale titles too. I have been waiting to purchase a few non-sale titles since ages, but the tax+shipping is just not justifiable without some sort of sale.

The only one i was interested in was The Iron Kingdom, but a rebate of 21£ is a little ridiculous.

It's not an interesting sale selection, but few recently have been. As >102 LondonLawyer: speculates, it seems clear FS is actively flipping the dynamic around sales and that wide-ranging, substantial discounts are a thing of the past (for now). I agree the previous sale model can't have represented a healthy business - why would anyone buy a full price Folio, if they can reasonably bet it'll be heavily discounted in a year or two? Now they seem set on a strategy that prioritises people paying full whack - with sales only offering at best incidental savings on lower-profile titles.

The test for us as FS buyers is if their titles are attractive enough at "normal" prices - the sentiment across this and other threads seems to be they are generally not. Fine, but someone must be buying - or the company's financial performance wouldn't have improved. For me, it means being more selective, buying less, only going for titles that really stand out. I don't really have the shelf space to do more than that in any case...

>101 wongie:

Exactly my thoughts. It's the only book in this sale that I have an interest in buying, but the reduction won't cover the shipping, so I'll be better off waiting for the next release.

as usual most recently, it is disappointing, easy pass

If people were hoping for a real sale they may be interested in the Harvard Bookstore virtual warehouse sale including a lot of NYRB titles. I know some here are picky and don't like paperbacks but if you like literature they are the best in terms of selection and translation.

https://hbswarehousesale.com/

I got all excited when I saw A Long Walk to Freedom as the very first title in the sale. Sure, the discount isn't large, but I expected to add it to my sale order at full price, so I was ahead of the game. Then the excitement ended, with not a single one of my hoped-for books being discounted, not even Defeat into Victory, which I can't imagine is a top seller for them. The days of the FS sales being major events are over. Yes, it may well be a sign of FS health, but from my personal, selfish perspective it is a great disappointment.

Reminds me how far I've drifted away from the FS to see a sale that includes only one book that I own (The Selfish Gene). Still nothing to buy, though I'd probably go for The Four Gospels if I didn't have the LE (twice).

>102 LondonLawyer: +1. I agree.

Yes, grand sales of the yesteryear might have been hugely exciting, and were a good way to beef up the library for FS novices, but at the same time it was quite disheartening paying full price for a book you really didn't want to miss out on and then seeing it offered at 80% off. And the full prices must have been higher than they could have been because Folio surely accounted for further deep discounts and free gifts/renewing offers.

And despite the undeniable excitement, I think I prefer when any company's prices are stable and predictable. That, of course, should include not raising prices every few months - you hear, Mole? Sometimes the newly released prices get a bump when the very next collection is released, which is just bad planning.

So I think I'm fine with Folio moving away from sales, what I'd prefer to see is some form of a customer reward program that encourages buying books - something like giving points for buying books that you can later use as cash for your next purchase. The more books you buy, the more "points" or simply monetary value you accumulate, the more $$$ off you can get on your next purchase.

>112 PeterFitzGerald: I do agree with this - I don't think it's smart marketing advertising "up to 75% on more than 50 fabulous editions" while throwing only a couple of books that are not even true folios at 75% off.

I'm surprised and disappointed to see that the WWI poet (Brooke, Owen, and Thomas) LEs aren't on sale. They were back in January. IIRC, one could have bought all three for the price of two. Hopefully they'll be on sale again next January.

>120 coynedj: Defeat into Victory is almost sold out - it's on the Last Chance to Buy page, 106 copies left.

I just received it recently - I ordered it along with A Confederacy of Dunces which is even closer to selling out.

Wow, what a dud of sale, at least for me. Literally only one book I want - The Best of Dorothy Parker - and that only modestly discounted. Certainly not enough to offset shipping. Disappointed that previous sale items I wanted, like Outlaws of the Marsh, didn't make it into this sale. I guess I can take solace that, since I plan to move soon, I don't need to worry about a big order going to wrong address. I'll just order everything later this year, sales be damned.

I suppose I can also take a measure of comfort that Twelfth Night wasn't discounted to $15 or so again, so I don't feel a muggins for paying full price when I did.

I'm surprised the slow selling LEs (War Poets, London and New York, Babar and Plants of the Americas) were not on sale again. Given that these were up to 50% discounted in prior sales it would seem that these would be very difficult to sell at full price, particularly if people know they have been discounted previously.

>126 Shadekeep: I got a sealed copy of the Dorothy Parker on eBay last year for £10 with free shipping - who needs Folio sales !

Not ordering anything myself right now. There are a few books from my wish list on sale, but all are with little discount. I'll keep an eye out and order only if they go low on stock.

Overall, I see only a couple of good deals in this sale:
Montaigne's Essays - beautiful Fine Edition, about to sell out. It will be gone within the next couple of days, anyone who hasn't acquired it yet should jump at the last chance opportunity to get this fantastic book at 50% off.

Shah of Shahs at 40% off - not a killer deal, but better than others in this sale. I also recommend the book highly - a fast-paced, interesting read.

>128 antinous_in_london: Ha, true enough! I've been collecting some sealed out-of-print FS titles that way and there are indeed bargains to be had. Still, I was rather hoping to place a massive order for everything on my wishlist, using the on-sale items to excuse the full-price ones (and combine the shipping). But a massive total savings of $21, and that on a book you point out can be had for cheaper anyway, is no motivator.

Extremely disappointed in the sale. I was hoping for some new titles. This seems to be a rehash of the past few sales...exact same titles.

I did place an order though, be it rather small.

Montaigne's Essays~ Never read him, did not get it last time around, excited to finally have this lovely edition.
The Lord of the Flies~ Full price. Just read it for the first time in paperback and found it an excellent read.
The Heart of Darkness~ Didn't have this one yet and am intrigued.

Would have like The Dispossessed, but it seems to be OOS.

Was hoping The Road, The Velveteen Rabbit, Middlemarch and a few others would be on sale, but nope. Nothing else I wanted and can't afford to wait in case I lose out on the Montaigne. So tacked on the other two titles just to make it worth spending the shipping costs.

Other than that, a tremendously disappointing sale, especially as we are celebrating their 75th anniversary. Seems like they could have conjured up a bit more for devoted customers who can't fly to England and attend their special sales.

Due to inflation many of the discounts are just bringing the price back to what the books were at release.

I know this isn’t Folio’s fault necessarily, but it does undermine the purpose of a sale.

Age of Gold and The Italian Renaissance might tempt me.

>132 Uppernorwood: "Due to inflation many of the discounts are just bringing the price back to what the books were at release."

As an example, I bought Tales of Ancient Egypt at full price for £44.95 shortly after its release in late 2019. It is now £55 reduced to £44. If I'd waited two-and-a-half years I'd have saved 95p!

Often the advice in this forum is "if you really want it, buy it now: you never know when it might go out of stock, and it may do so without ever featuring in a sale". To that we should now add "and even if it does feature in a sale at some point, it will probably have gone up in price by then, and the sale may merely reduce it to what you could buy it for now".

Nothing here to temp me. It makes me feel so lucky to already own so many of these books still unread. Time to dust off my copy of "Age of Gold."

To anyone on the fence: Get Montaigne's Essays! It is such a great production.

Why FS doesn't discount 1-2 Bond books, a Sharpe, and a Game of Thrones book at 25% off is beyond me. Don't they know all their buyers are fastidious completists and will be forced to buy the rest of the set at full price? Just look at the prices of the rare Fairy Books on ebay.

Do they ever add books to the sale as days progress?

Or whats on sale day 1 is all that goes on sale?

Goodbye cruel sale, I’m leaving you today, Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

>122 elladan0891: "So I think I'm fine with Folio moving away from sales, what I'd prefer to see is some form of a customer reward program that encourages buying books - something like giving points for buying books that you can later use as cash for your next purchase. The more books you buy, the more "points" or simply monetary value you accumulate, the more $$$ off you can get on your next purchase."
They used to offer substantial vouchers to frequent purchasers of LEs, which did something to atone for your full price purchases being sold for a song. But that was in the days of membership. Isn't this the first sale since Folio became employee owned? Perhaps the tail is wagging the dog.

Definitely a disappointing 'sale'. As others have said, the majority of these sale prices are just what the books originally cost before they hiked up the prices a month or so ago, or so close at least to barely be a discount.

Seeing the huge discounts and amazing books they had available in London the other day just rubs salt in the wound when those who couldn't afford to travel to London or don't live in the UK instead get offered a fiver off stock they're struggling to sell.

>137 Jayked: Our reliable long-standing enemies at the Folio Society were previously the MBAs, who were surely responsible for every little thing we didn’t like, but now that it’s employee-owned, who do we aim out pitchforks at? The tail? The dog? I’m confused.

>139 What_What: '(N)ow that it’s employee-owned, who do we aim out pitchforks at?'

'them' ;-)

Just checked the sale then double checked it wasn't April 1st.

>133 PeterFitzGerald: and if you’d stacked it with a 10% voucher and maybe free shipping it would be even cheaper.

Montaigne’s Essays down to 27. Anyone thinking about it should act soon.

Echoing the disappointment of many others; with price increases and mild discounts many of these books are pretty much the same cost now as they were a year ago at full price. Regretting not taking a flight to London for the physical sale now.

However, I got Essays, Guns, Germs and Steel and The Italian Renaissance in the last sale and I can recommend all of them if you're on the fence. Lots has been said about the fine quality of Essays, but I found Guns.. and Italian Renaissance a cut above Folio's usual standard as well.

It is lacking any one must buy book (one new book at a heavy discount would have done it), so my order will wait. I’ll probably order four full priced items when I do place the order, but I might as well wait for the Autumn release as nothing in this sale grabs me

Seems I too am of the “disappointed” and “wait for the next release” camp. ‘Mystery Train’ is the only title from the wish list on sale but at such an insignificant reduction, isn’t worth it considering shipping. Onward . . .

Yep - absolute confirmation that the glory days of big discounts across a decent range of titles is over. It seemed a broken model, to be honest.

With exorbitant posting to Australia, I rarely put in orders any more - two or three in the last five years. The second hand market is likewise still hot, but the occasional bargain, or at least, good value find, happens.

All in all, I think this is a good thing. But I echo other commentators hoping that over the next little while we see Folio offering some incentives for regular purchases, or similar. But given the state of the market at the moment, it doesn't look like happening for a few years; but then again, the state of the global economy...

They mentioned that the sale is hanging around until the 24th July - i wonder if it will be the first sale where all of the books are still in stock at the end !

The list of all books in FS sales for the last few years has now been updated by Redshirt to include the latest sale and added to the FSD wiki here.

An interesting comparison with regard to prices in sales can be seen by the comparison using The Age of Gold in the table which has varied in price on sale from US$24.10 to US$59.95.

I would have preferred the sale was about more than just moving slow stock (and I suspect this will change once consumer discretionary spending slows with likely recession), but I still picked up a few:

-Essays
-The Alchemist
-Guns, Germs and Steel
-Jude the Obscure
-2x discounted Shakespeare
-plus Lord of the Flies

Happy enough with that. I reluctantly took The Prophet out last minute… which I somewhat regret now.

>149 wcarter: I calculated how this year's sales prices compare to the average sale price of the same books in previous sales. The answer was that, on average, the books in this sale are 2% more expensive than they were in previous sales. Adjusting for inflation, therefore, this sale is probably better than average in terms of prices.

This is interesting because, despite the data, I share the sense that the sale is poor. Here's my feeling why this might be:

1) The range of books on sale is not exciting. Particularly on the fiction side, you have a couple of series (Hardy & Tey) but not very much else at all. Adding even four or five fiction titles that were published within the last 2-4 years would help to make it feel more like there's something for everyone in the sale. I think a modest discount on a book you really want looks more generous than a steep discount on a book you don't want.

2) Although this year's prices a in some sense "typical", there are some books that are expensive by historical standards. Others had a one-off lower price in the last sale that might be salient in everyone's minds.

As a last thought: now that FS publishes fewer classics and more modern genre fiction they are probably subject to more complicated licensing arrangements. At the very least, these modern books will be subject to royalties that make it more difficult to offer deep discounts. To the extent that there's a deliberate pivot away from publishing classics, the lacklustre sales might be here to stay.

The Secret Agent and Get Shorty I picked up in previous sales. Both are great reads if very different from each other! I understand Get Shorty may be seen as not typical Folio material, but it's very entertaining nonetheless.
The Longest Day I read at the start of the year and is a brilliant read if you're at all interested in the D-Day Landings. 10 GBP off is perhaps not much incentive for a blind purchase though (it was 50 GBP when I bought it full price).

I think I will go for the Selfish Gene to replace my old tattered paperback version. Looking on Ebay and Abe Books the price 2nd hand is way more than it's going for in the sale. I regret missing out on the Greatest Benefit to Mankind in the last sale (now sold out!), so I think that helps make the decision this time around.

Any opinions on Kavalier & Clay? Is it a novel or a graphic novel, or a mix of both?

>152 Tamachan00: K&C is a novel about two cousins in the comic book industry during its golden age in the 20th century. It's an epic that traces their lives, loves, trials and tribulations through some major historical events and surely qualifies as modern literary fiction. I wouldn't say it was my favourite Chabon book, but I certainly enjoyed it.

>152 Tamachan00: Kavalier & Clay is great. It is basically a fantastical version of Siegel and Shuster's story (Superman creators). Very entertaining and engrossing. You'll wish it was longer than it already is.

The art of the FS version goes very well with the story from what I've seen. I don't have the FS version. Highly recommend the book as a story though.

>153 ubiquitousuk: Thanks both for the replies - I think I've been enabled!

If people are looking to be enabled in this lackluster sale, here are my video presentations of some of the books included in the sale:

- Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_0Zb-o9H38
- The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQFjhbiUXOg
- The Four Gospels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XygLKECPI0o
- The Prophet (although deluxe ed.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjKyvjSW_Wk
- The Aztecs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JKlH6Rnk94
- Joan of Arc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw6QDWGpnqM

I for one took advantage of this sale – I've been growing my science and natural history non-fiction section and bought The Selfish Gene, Guns, Germs and Steel and Age of Gold, bundled with non-sale items The Diversity of Life, A Brief History of Time and Silent Spring, among others.

Also, Kavalier & Clay may not be the most inspired Folio production, but it is still lovely and one of the best modern reads available from them right now.

Kavalier and Clay is being undersold a bit here. It's pretty widely regarded as one of the best works of literature of the last 25 years or so. It's a fabulous book. I also think the Folio production is fabulous and perfectly fits the subject matter. One of the best jobs they've done with fiction in recent years.

There are 3 books in this sale which I've bought in previous sales in the past 2 years (Humphry Clinker, Dambusters, Guns Germs and Steel). All of them are more expensive in this sale, Dambusters 85% so. I thought it was 4, but realised I'd found an immaculate copy on abebooks at half the previous sale price when checking out the values in that sale.
I'm really not sure why people are so disappointed / surprised; FS sales have promised much and delivered very little for some time now. This was pretty much par for the course. I'm just relieved (and sad!) that there's so little of their current catalogue that I want to buy nowadays, at least at their prices.

>159 Willoyd: I think the timing of their sample sale may not have helped. Reports of standard editions (and LE’s) being sold at around 10% of their retail price, followed by a sale a few days later where 57 volumes (most of which have been in previous sales, often at lower prices than in the current sale) have a few pounds knocked off, does seem to lend an air of anticlimax.

>158 Jason461:

I bought K&C a month ago, and once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. It is one of those books for which the term magnum opus was coined, in my opinion. I’m not even mad that I could’ve saved 25% if I waited a few weeks.

Well you've all convinced me about Kavalier and Clay.

I also bit the bullet on the 2 volume Italian Folktales. An eye-watering price but it does look lovely. Hopefully it will feel every bit a FS 'Fine' edition.

I had two coupon-eligible titles sitting in my basket and was hoping to add Montaigne's Essays and Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb, which I did.

Nothing from the sale beyond those two titles, which I basically planned for, interested me.

>162 GardenOfForkingPaths:

Italian Folktales is a great production. I'll be shocked if you don't love it.

>164 CobbsGhost: Thanks, I appreciate it!

My only regret is not acting sooner. I had been coveting it for a couple of years and during that time the price rose from £130 to £150.

>163 chrisrsprague:

Looks like Montaigne’s Essays is down to about 3 copies.

>166 treereader: Glad I ordered first thing when I woke up Tuesday. I just hope it doesn't arrive damaged.

>166 treereader: Gone now.

>166 treereader: Thanks for the heads up. I was putzing around too much and almost missed out on that. >167 chrisrsprague: i am also wishing mine does not arrive damaged. I have been unlucky with some of my purchases this year in that regard.

And thanks to >45 GardenOfForkingPaths: for posting the coupon code. With the sale price and discount code, the books i bought today were priced decent.

I don't like the whole "up to 75% off" heading. Makes the sale seem bigger than it is. But on the other hand i don't like big flashy sales either...I don't want to be restricted to buying a few times a year or having buyers remorse if i buy at book regular price. Definitely would like an incentive program implemented. The sale selection did seem kind of meh, but it gave me a chance to explore some titles that are typically out of my comfort zone. Looking forward to reading Essays.

This isn’t a sale, but rather an elaborate break-up note :D

Message from the Folio Society:

“It isn’t you FS Devotees, it’s me.”

My books arrived, all safe and sound.

Super nice to have The Lord of the Flies in HC, so now I can sell off my paperback copy.
Very curious to read The Left Hand of Darkness...looking forward to it.
Almost fainted when I saw how beautiful Montaigne's Essays is! Does anyone know what percent of his essays this is? So glad I finally got a copy before it sold out. I would have been very sorry!

>172 Lady19thC: Montaigne's Essays... what percent of his essays this is?

"the complete essays is well over one-thousand pages... of nearly one hundred essays"
https://www.librarything.com/topic/146093#7064539

Based on photos of the Table of Contents in this thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/312786, I count 34(?) essays in your new acquisition (congratulations!) so in answer to your question, at least 30% (?).

Both threads are interesting reads and endorse this edition.

>160 antinous_in_london:
I have to say the sample sale largely passed me by - London may be only 200 miles away, but it's far too far cost-wise to make even the 'best' of sales worthwhile, and represents a fairly typical attitude from that part of the world (of which I am a native) along the lines of 'levelling up' and 'Northern Powerhouse' that have never been anything but words (bitter? moi?!). But you may well be right; the lack of traffic here on this sale certainly suggests so. Personally, I thought the sale was pretty much par for the course nowadays - they've flattered to deceive on most of their recent pre-sales promotions.

>171 bookaroo:
I 'broke up' with the FS some time ago - for me it's the books of which I'm a devotee, and (outside the occasional travel/exploration edition) almost entirely the older ones nowadays.

I didn’t buy anything from the sale because there were only two books I wanted (already have a lot of what was offered) and the cost of shipping to Canada was more than the cost of paying for both full price with my Fall/Winter order.

That being said, I still am a devotee of the FS. I prefer their older offerings, though also like a lot of their standard editions currently offered. I appreciate what they provide for readers who desire nice copies of treasures reads. I also appreciate their customer service. And although it’s not my thing and I don’t usually buy them, I appreciate their creativity for their LE offerings.

I wonder if people found the sale overhyped because we’re used to the older sales? I didn’t expect much from this sale tbh. Like everyone else, FS has to ensure that they can stay profitable.

>174 Willoyd: I'm in the same boat and it's rare when I purchase anything from Folio anymore. I used to make two large purchases a year when the days of old biannual sale occurred and I would incorporate several full price books to save in shipping, but, alas, without these current 'sales' I find very few books even worth considering and I haven't bought a regular edition in one or two years.

I used to buy nearly every single limited edition and Folio rarely disappointed. However, after Gargantua and Pantagruel I've been impressed and found the majority vastly overpriced. The only editions I am happy about are Tristram Shandy and The Divine Comedy (yet I recently received the Heritage Edition of George Cochrane's La Divina Commedia which I find far superior to Folio's for 2/3 the price,) and the rest have been mediocre at best. I miss the Letterpress Shakespeare, Queen Mary Atlas, and Birds Drawn For John Gould days. Even for The Gormenghast Trilogy - after all of the fees it would cost over $1600usd which seems crazy to me for what you're getting. $800 - a bargain, $1000 - a fair deal, $1200 - overpriced but I'm sold, $1600 - I'm getting taken to the cleaners. I'm awaiting three books from Foolscap Press for $100 less and am quite confident ALL three will surpass Gormenghast in terms of creativity, design and materials. I've just been burned too many times of late by Folio that my confidence is no longer there.

>176 Joshbooks1: It seems they are really trying to find the upper limit of what we are willing to pay especially when it comes to the recent LE offerings. I participated in the Thornwillow Kickstarter for Ulysses recently. $2,400 USD (shipping included) for a fully letterpress (not a tipped in page, looking at you FS), half leather, four volume set with a solander box. For comparison the recent FS Ulysses LE (which I do like but let's face it, it's a rehash with a new binding) cost over $1,000 after shipping and taxes are added. While I don't like to bring "value" into the conversation when talking about luxury goods like this, the disparity is pretty stark.

I attempted to place an order a couple of nights ago (some sale titles and a few non-sale titles where I thought I could make use of SMAGM code) but Folio's website wouldn't accept my credit card for some reason. I did post about it at the time but then thought it better to delete that and do some number-crunching to try and work out what was going on.

Having played around with adding and subtracting various titles, it appears that the SMAGM code stacks with sale titles, which might go some small way to ameliorating the complaints that the sale prices are just restoring the original, pre-inflation, prices of the titles concerned.

On the other hand, I initially wanted to include some titles which were reprinted recently (e.g., Wizard of Earthsea, Jekyll and Hyde, The Great Gatsby), but it turns out the SMAGM code does not apply to reprints, even if they were orignially published several years ago. I call that bad and naughty myself.

Anyway, having removed the titles to which SMAGM didn't apply, I tried checking out again (with the same credit card) and, lo and behold, it worked.

All of which gives me a vague sense of having achieved something, even if I'm not entirely sure what. Some nice books in the post, at least :-)

>178 Cat_of_Ulthar: All of which gives me a vague sense of having achieved something, even if I'm not entirely sure what.

Well at least the mystery of the deleted post is now explained. I was puzzling over that for a l-o-n-g time ...

>179 folio_books:

'I was puzzling over that for a l-o-n-g time ...'

Sorry to keep you in suspense. The original post was a bit heat-of-the-moment and I wanted to properly indulge my OCD with more numbers before I committed myself.

It does appear to confirm that the non-acceptance of my credit card was related to my trying to combine SMAGM-eligible titles with non-SMAGM-eligible titles.

One more of those glitchy little things that happen on Folio's website.

>180 Cat_of_Ulthar: One more of those glitchy little things that happen on Folio's website.

Too often to be amusing. I'm all for properly indulging one's OCD, though.

Further to previous comments, for the first time I'm disappointed with the sale too, as much as I can go along with the comments that Folio not needing to deep discount to shift stock is a healthy sign. If I plump for anything it'll be Joan Of Arc (I have She Wolves), but I'm on the fence, and it's a far cry from when I'd put aside a couple of ton for a delirious first-day-of-the-sale pillage.

For the underwhelmed and those struggling with SMAGM is this of interest? I use a cashback site, Topcashback, and purchases from Abebooks made by clicking through to them from Topcashback will get 8.25% cashback (p&p doesn't count). Amazon and eBay are also on it but only for about 1-2% although it all adds up.

Hopefully this doesn't break any forum rules (I beg your pardon and will happily edit if it does), but here's my Refer A Friend link -
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/retronaut78
- if you sign up through it today then when you hit a threshold you'll get £10, and (full disclosure) I get £30.

I just thought a permanent 8% off your Abe spending was worth a shout, hope it's useful.

>129 elladan0891: Shah of Shahs at 40% off - not a killer deal, but better than others in this sale. I also recommend the book highly - a fast-paced, interesting read.

This work also complements the FS 2012 Travels with Herodotus by the same author Ryszard Kapuściński; for any completists or lovers of a journalist's perspective - and a foreign correspondent at that.

>156 PontusPresents: Thank you for your excellent video reviews - enablers all of them, a few of which I have linked on this forum in the past. Though in this instance, your review of the 2019 FS Joan of Arc propelled me on a hunt that led to the FS 1956 Trial of Joan of Arc which is based on the oratio recta/ direct speech recorded during her trial.
More here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337149#7668339

>158 Jason461: >161 bunnyisreading: >162 GardenOfForkingPaths: thank you for prodding me to investigate this work of which I previously knew nothing. I read the first few chapters available online and quickly got hooked, what superb writing and impressive background research. And what an original subject for a novel, a clever way to approach the second world war, American immigration, the world of comics and much else besides. I now completely understand the FS illustration style and overall design (which looks great). I've just ordered it with the extra 10% discount provided by the SMAGM code (>178 Cat_of_Ulthar: thank you for the reminder!) and am eagerly looking forward to diving in :)

>160 antinous_in_london: I had the fortune of being able to make the sale and didn't see a single item at 10% of its retail price. Prices were overall higher than in the previous 'sample sale' at Laithwaites, fairly reflecting Folio's price inflation since then. Many books had small imperfections, scratches, small bumps etc. I would take some of the claims on FB with a large pinch of salt. The LEs I saw all had the number blacked out, plus a frankly ugly red 'rejected' stamp on the tipped-in limitation leaf, making these very much reading copies rather than the pristine items generally coveted by LE collectors.

>185 cronshaw: The LEs I saw all had the number blacked out, plus a frankly ugly red 'rejected' stamp on the tipped-in limitation leaf, making these very much reading copies rather than the pristine items generally coveted by LE collectors.

Thanks for that, Russell, which confirms Folio's response to my enquiry about LEs in the sample sale. I'm not sure I'd ever have forgiven them for letting pristine long out-of-print LEs back into the market, especially ones I'd enquired about at the time and was assured there were definitely none hiding in obscure corners of the warehouse, down the sides of sofas etc.

Remember folks, it's the limitation number that makes it a Limited Edition.

>186 folio_books: My pleasure, Glenn. FB threads would appear to be riddled with needy one-upmanship and showing off, with numerous posters over-egging achievements, acquisitions or bargains. You live longer and happier without social media!

(edited to amend FS to FB 😬)

>185 cronshaw:
>186 folio_books:

Frankly, as long as the condition of the book is good I wouldn't mind the blackened out number or 'rejected' stamp at all for an edition that isn't available new / mint from FS and that's sold at crazy prices from secondary sellers, like The Wanderer or Studies from Nature. I got both new from FS right when they were published, but not everyone has the luxury of having been around when these gorgeous older limited editions were published. A friend of mine has given up hope of being able to afford some of the older editions - she only discovered FS through me about two years ago - and a sale like that for even slightly imperfect copies is a dream for her. We're from Germany and don't have access to these sales.

>188 SF-72: ...not everyone has the luxury of having been around when these gorgeous older limited editions were published.

Nor sometimes even the means, so when a 'factory second' pops up it is the equivalent of an item smuggled out the back door... like pure royalty without the title :))

>187 cronshaw: numerous posters over-egging achievements, acquisitions or bargains.

Fb summed up. I avoid it as much as possible.

>188 SF-72: Frankly, as long as the condition of the book is good I wouldn't mind the blackened out number or 'rejected' stamp at all for an edition that isn't available new

And that, of course, is your choice, if it pleases you. My point is while it may still be a highly desirable item, it isn't a Limited Edition.

>188 SF-72: I agree. There are certain OOP LEs which I would love but will never be able to afford on the secondary market so having the opportunity to get it at an affordable price without a limitation number would be a no-brainer for me. It would be an awful waste anyway if these copies were not used in some way or destroyed.

>188 SF-72: I wholly agree with the sentiment. I just wanted to put the claims of people supposedly paying only 10% of the retail price for LEs and other volumes in perspective. From what I could see that wasn't remotely the case.

>192 cronshaw: The comments of others that i mentioned are almost certainly hyperbole as you suggest, that’s why its good to have corrective comments from those, such as yourself, who were there & aren't on the social media hype train !

What makes me sour a little bit is the fact that I lost Japanese Tales, Mort and Small Gods in transit during COVID.

I believe chances of seeing these coming back are very, very slim. So, I did feel kind of envious when I saw people posting pictures of these books - books that I was sooo close to own. Oh well.

>194 Kainzow: I am really really sorry about that! That was the last time I ordered very soon and I am so glad I did. Especially Japanese Tales is wonderful!

It’s really sad, that these events are just for a few select and most devotees won’t be able to make it.

Again I would like to have a constant store where I can go when I am in London and they could permanently have some books on sale like those that got returned or whatever.
I know it’s not probable it will happen, but one can dream right? 😂👍

>192 cronshaw: There may have been hyperbole, but the books were indeed selling for fractions of the secondary market prices. Sounds like a lot of sour grapes around here.

>188 SF-72: I certainly would have been glad for the opportunity to purchase Studies from Nature, blacked-out limitation number or not. I understand not everyone feels the same way, of course.

>195 woodstock8786: Haha, that's all good. At the end of the day, these are just three books that I missed. I have a long wish list to work on, so I can dwell on what's gone for too long. :)

My next purchases will include at least one of those: Kafka on the Shore, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, American Gods.

>196 What_What:
Sounds like a lot of sour grapes around here.

And, IMO, thoroughly justified. I doubt if I would attend such a sale wherever it was, but I can understand why people are irritated by the fact that those in or within easy shot of London are always advantaged. It's a feeling something which, on a more general basis, is widely held throughout other parts of England (and possibly the UK as a whole).

>199 Willoyd: Sour grapes and envy are not exactly the same thing. I’m envious too, but it doesn’t take away from how great the deals were.

>200 What_What:
Fair point. I was really referring to the 'angry' aspect of sour grapes, rather than the 'putting down'. I'm not actually seeing much of the latter, more a realistic appraisal compared to some of the, as you say, hyperbole surrounding purchases.

>194 Kainzow: I was sorry to read about this theft of your books. It is intensely disappointing and disheartening.

Just curious but surely this large, heavy and valuable package was sent with both tracking and signature required?

Do you know the name of the delivery firm?

>202 English-bookseller: Unfortunately at the time, I was still focused on saving money at all cost, and I made the one decision that I still bitterly regret to this day: I used standard shipping.

There was no tracking number or whatsoever, just the mention that some courier called P2P Trackpak had my books. They were so slow to respond, and when they did, it was just to give you an automated reply. Since then, I've always been using Express Shipping, not that I have another option (because Folio has made it the only way to ship books to my country)

>203 Kainzow: I assume that you were fully reimbursed by The Folio Society for the books lost in transit.

When I started selling books online I soon came to the conclusion that the only dependable cross-border delivery firms were UPS and Fedex. I phoned up one of them to open an account and after the employee had checked the numbers of cross-border sales he gave me really good advice (which I have shared here before). He said my business levels did not merit a customer account but that I should use Interparcel to get quotes and would still have access to quality delivery firms at a competitive price.

For cross-border sales I follow that advice and use only UPS or Fedex and in many hundreds of cross-border sales over the years I have never had a parcel lost or a customer complain of damage.

With low-value UK orders I tend to use the Post Office and Royal Mail which while separate businesses share one thing in common: their established practice of throwing their customers' parcels both onto hard floors and into sorting bins - and this is with red FRAGILE tape all over the packaging - in full view of the customer too! Their attitude to their customers' orders is abysmal.

>204 English-bookseller: what about high-value UK orders? Do you use UPS for those too?

>205 ubiquitousuk: Yes I do use UPS for UK deliveries. They are my preferred UK delivery company and are very competitive in price with rivals who I think provide a poor service.

Something else I should have mentioned with Interparcel and this is rather amusing.

The quotes that are made by delivery firms are shown and grouped by Interparcel under two headings: first the 'Economy Delivery' and then the 'Express Delivery'.

In most cases as you would expect the Economy Delivery (when the customer has to wait longer for their parcel) is cheaper than the Express Delivery. But even with the likes of UPS and Fedex it is not always the case.

Quite often I look at the Economy quotes and I am pleased to find an acceptable quote from UPS or Fedex and will probably accept it ... until I have a look at the more expensive Express service from the same company ... and it is cheaper.

Can't explain why it is the case but it often is.

Does anyone have feedback on the content of The Italian Renaissance?

Well, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, and they had 500 years of democracy and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.

>208 InVitrio: and the Swiss roll. Delicious.

>208 InVitrio:

There may have been a slew of revolts and significant poverty at times... but at least chocolate, cheese, banks and the cuckoo clock are generally what we remember about a nation we don't live in.

When I'm hungry on a cold winter day, I'll take fondue over Mona Lisa every time.

>208 InVitrio: I see what you did there. :-)

> the cuckoo clock is actually from the Black Forest in Germany, not Switzerland. Though gullible tourists can buy them in Swiss souvenir shops.

>213 overthemoon:

Don't argue with Citizen Kane! Next you'll be suggesting that Rosebud was just a child's sled.

>187 cronshaw: Hi. I can certainly agree with the sentiment regarding social media making others feel bad unnecessarily. I was lucky enough to be first in on the Friday popup sale. I did post my "achievements" on the FB group which ended up being:

South Polar Times SE
East of Eden
Moby Dick
Man on the Moon
Tomb of Tutankhamen
Catch 22
Small Gods
Martian Chronicles
The Castle (Kafka)
Science fiction anthology

All were £380. Most were in shrink-wrap and as new.

I posted, mainly for the benefit of those attending Sat/Sun (subs cancelled as we later found out), that it would be worth the trip. I had planned to go back myself and I feel bad for those who saw posts like mine as rubbing salt into the wound. It wasn't intended as such.

But your tone comes across as a bit sour. Many of us weren't around for the "good old days" and have to pay top dollar for OOP SEs/LEs. That's just the way it is. I can see you have photos on your profile of your own positive experiences in the FS store closing down sale. And I'm envious!

Trying to assuage the disappointment by claiming the popup sale was overexaggerated by disingenuous posters, doesn't match the empirical evidence. I take the point regarding LEs with the "not for sale" mark, it was the reason I didn't buy one, but again, there were some selling at 1/10th current market value. Thats fantastic value for many.

The world is heterogenous and inequity exists 🤷

>215 ksol_chiswick: Thank you for sharing your haul. It really does prove how much sour grapes there are here. And even better, it was a delightful peek back in time to see some of these same members enjoying previous sales when prices were: "Folio volumes £10 each, non-Folios £5 each, outsize volumes on lower trolley at rear £20."

Somehow posting pictures of it here isn't "upmanship and showing off, with numerous posters over-egging achievements, acquisitions or bargains," but it is when it's done on Facebook.

Good laugh on a Friday afternoon to end the week.

>215 ksol_chiswick: >216 What_What:
The main complaint about the popup sale was that it was totally London-centric. The closing down sale was exactly the same.

The pop-up sale was worse than London-centric - it was laughing at anyone not in London. I.e. "come down on Saturday or Sunday, whoops, no, we're stopping it after you've all booked your tickets."

It also meant that the demographic most able to get to the pop-up was the demographic least in need of bargains; the wealthy retired in the Home Counties.

I would have loved to have been at the sale, but there's half a continent and a rather large ocean between me and London. I envy those who were able to get there, and while I do agree that the early closure was very poorly handled, I can't complain about the sale being held in London. Maybe some day there will be a fine press publisher in South Dakota, but I'd bet against it.

At the end of the day, these are just books we're talking about. As I've said, I do sometimes feel sour when I think about my books that got lost in transit, but it's not like I won't ever get to experience the content - for less than 30 dollars, I could get access to Small Gods and Mort, and probably some other book from the Discworld series.

Plus there'll be a lot of incoming Folios too. The past two collections have been pretty excellent imo, and we have the Fall and Christmas collections to look forward to this year.

Finally, as much as I hate missing out on Folios, I normally just say to myself that it's not like I'm taking my collection to the afterworld. What does missing out on a few books here and there amount to in the grand scheme of things? Nothing much, I'd say.

>217 Willoyd: in general yes that was the main complaint overall. But perhaps not the focus of the ire of a few here, rather social media (remind me, in what category of interaction does posting photos and messages on this group come in again?) and hyperbolic fervour. Which of course I agree social media (of all kinds, not just FB) promote the worst of. The contradictory nature of begrudging others whilst having enjoyed the golden years understandably grates.

>218 InVitrio: I agree FS should have held stock back for the weekend for people who had undoubtedly paid money from afar to travel. But employees of a company saw the opportunity to knock out 3 days work in 1/3rd the time with essentially the same profit 🤷
Your statement on the wealthy retired home counties demographic is so far off the mark, I'll attribute it to residual anger from unrequited London travel arrangements (which must have been INCREDIBLY frustrating) and decades of relative non-London underdevelopment and increasing disparity. London and the queue that day is/was fairly socioethnically diverse, all sorts needing bargains, all over the country.

>220 Kainzow:

"Finally, as much as I hate missing out on Folios, I normally just say to myself that it's not like I'm taking my collection to the afterworld."

That's not how the ancient Egyptians saw it. ;-)

>218 InVitrio: I also found this so far off the mark, it hardly needed a rebuttal.

>220 Kainzow: >222 SF-72:
If I can't take my Faerie Queene with me I'm not going.

>215 ksol_chiswick: Congratulations on your fabulous haul and welcome to FSD! My original post was in response to a comment earlier in the thread >160 antinous_in_london: that reported that someone on FB (I've no idea who) had broadcast that there were books in the sale to be had for around 10% of the original Folio Society retail price. From what I saw myself on all the shelves that wasn't remotely true, in fact I didn't see one single item at 90% off the retail price. Given that the vast majority of Devotees did not have the opportunity to attend the sale, I felt it fair to rebut that claim which I saw as misleading hyperbole that was liable to give an inaccurate depiction of the event. Folio has earned enough (justified) criticism for their handling of the sale, they don't deserve additional criticism for selling books at a 90% discount when that wasn't the case. Their pricing seemed reasonable to me for the purpose of quickly clearing out old unwanted stock, a little dearer than the last sample sale, but still with plenty of great bargains to get people queueing.

>216 What_What: In the past I wrote several 'reports' about sales in the members room for the benefit of Devotees who could not attend for themselves. I had often been asked to do so because several people said they found them interesting to read. I didn't exaggerate prices in doing so, indeed I always tried to report as accurately as possible, on occasion I included photos of the general event and examples of books available (rather than books I had bought) for the benefit of Devotees. If I said that books had been on sale for £5, £10 or £20, then that was a wholly accurate report of what the books cost. I don't understand how you can perceive that as 'over-egging' or compare that with the claim above that books in the recent sample sale were available for 10% of Folio's retail price which was clearly not the case.

>218 InVitrio: The queue seemed to me to be mostly young adults of working age from diverse backgrounds. I myself am neither wealthy nor retired.

>221 ksol_chiswick: I'm unsure who you're claiming here to be begrudging others 'whilst having enjoyed the golden years'. I certainly haven't begrudged nor would ever begrudge anyone the happiness to be found in a Folio sale. The only thing I took exception to was one claim reportedly made on FB which I found very exaggerated and misleading.

Folio certainly need to learn a lot from the mess of this sale. On seeing the phenomenal length of the queue, they probably should have limited the number of books purchasable to around 6 per person. Of course, Folio will have been happy to have got rid of so much stock so efficiently, but their last minute cancellation must have cost them significant ill-will from those who had planned to visit the sale over the weekend, particularly those travelling to London from afar.

>221 ksol_chiswick:
The contradictory nature of begrudging others whilst having enjoyed the golden years understandably grates.
Have to say, I didn't see that. I suspect you're reading far more into this than is actually there (>220 Kainzow: addresses this).
As to 'golden years'. Well, it's been several times claimed by others that we are actually in FS's golden age now, with production values better than ever before, and previous editions not a patch on what FS are currently producing (I beg to differ). For myself, I think it's very personal, and more to do with the sorts of books that FS have produced at any time. I, for instance, feel that this is certainly no golden age, given that FS rarely produce a book nowadays that I'm interested in. (Which does have the plus side that when they do, I am more likely to afford the now steep prices, as I've hardly spent anything on FS books in previous months!). But, given the criteria you appear to be using, it may well be that now will be seen as a golden age when people look back, as prices of currently available volumes increase as they no longer become available. (BTW just to be absolutely clear, I had no interest in the pop-up sale, especially given expense and distance, and never planned or intended to go).

The golden age to me was several years ago (I joined in 2012) when prices were a lot lower, quality was nonetheless excellent, shipping was well-priced, no tax since Brexit wasn't a factor, and a nice, wide range of books that I enjoyed very much. I would have loved to see the member's room, and though I didn't, I also count that among the factors. And you could afford most books on the secondary market, though at times at a markup, but apart from two series, it was usually very reasonable. It must be frustrating for people who only came across them after prices exploded and who can't afford their books as a result.

>227 SF-72:
I would tend to agree, although I'm actually exploring earlier books now, many of which still sell at reasonable prices. I did visit the member's room on a number of visits to London, and it was excellent. Much mourned by me (amongst many): I bought quite a few volumes only after I'd had the chance to see them for real in the member's room. But then I mourn the loss of the membership concept - that was the real end of the golden age for me, and marked a nosedive in the number of books I buy annually direct from FS.

>221 ksol_chiswick: "Your statement on the wealthy retired home counties demographic is so far off the mark, I'll attribute it to residual anger from unrequited London travel arrangements "

Who could most easily get to the sale? Those who were in London, not working, and know about the Folio Society.

I was actually coming down for the Stone'enge show at the BM, plus the football design at the DM, was a bit startled to find it was also Pride, but the FS sale was going to be the first stop.

>229 InVitrio: The company is based in London. The location of the sale was not put to a public vote. And someone else has corroborated the queue was hardly wealthy retirees. But clearly these facts don't fit your narrative. I can see you've been a member here since 2009 and likely been around when there were sales/prices I can't begin to imagine now (see >227 SF-72: and >228 Willoyd:). How rational would it be for me to whine about how unfair those who knew about FS earlier got the books cheaper? Probably as rational as whining about a London-based book company holding a sale in London. I like Crockett and Jones shoes. But if I expect to get some at sensible prices, I'll make a trip to Northampton. I'm sorry to call you out on this, but your illogical assumptions about demographics had to be corrected (all of which in my case, bar location, are incorrect).

>226 Willoyd: am I? 😂

>225 cronshaw: Fair enough and thanks for the welcome! I'm new to this forum but not to FS. I'll update my profile in due course.

>230 ksol_chiswick: How rational would it be for me to whine about how unfair those who knew about FS earlier got the books cheaper? Probably as rational as whining about a London-based book company holding a sale in London.

That would be like complaining about being denied the chance to be Viceroy of India. The passage of time is something over which nobody has control. The supply of books to a sale that has been announced to take place over three days in one location, and then closing it before the weekend when most people outside that location could have a chance at making it, is.

And it's not an illogical assumption; it's a straight application of probability. The people most likely to be able to get to something in London are people living in London; the people most likely to be able to make something on a working day are those who are not working; and the people most likely to have heard of the Folio Society are older than the average. That last might have changed with social media but if I decide, right now, to host a clearance sale of the books I have, on Wednesday, I would not be expecting an influx of workers from London.

>231 InVitrio: I will disagree with your logic and arguments and not waste any more time. However I suppose as a wealthy retiree, I have plenty of it. Enjoy your books.

>232 ksol_chiswick:
Out of interest then, who do you think were the most likely to be able to make that sale if not better off retirees from the London area? I appreciate the comments made that the queues were 'socioethnically' diverse (on the latter, InVitrio said nothing about ethnic background, but, given the demography of London, some ethnic diversity wouldn't be unexpected!) but it seems to me that >231 InVitrio: logic is fairly solid; I'm intrigued as to other possibilities.

am I? 😂
Yes, I think you are. There's been plenty of annoyance with FS expressed by one or two people about the sale organisation, and another brought up the issue of social media 'bragging', but I haven't seen much evidence of sour grapes (indeed annoyance with FS because some people feel they missed out on some great bargains is almost the opposite!). I'm willing to be corrected though!

when there were sales/prices I can't begin to imagine now (see >227 SF-72: and >228 Willoyd:)
Most of my collection can be bought for still very reasonable prices on the secondary market. There's quite a lot of recent material that goes for stiffer prices, but there's still plenty to go at that doesn't. It depends on what sort of books you're after - my preferences seem to be distinctly out of favour with more recent customers, which is why so little in their current catalogue attracts me. I've bought far more FS books in recent years on abebooks and ebay than I have from FS direct, and more from Library of America and Everyman too. There's still the odd FS cracker though that's been worth forking out for, but they're relatively few and far between nowadays for me. Good hunting!

What was the total count of one-off books available in the popup sale?
Was it enough to justify organizing a distribution channel larger than a single location London popup sale? Likely not. And no, the website doesn't count - no version of the FS website has ever sold one-off or scratch-and-dent books. It would cost them more in contractor fees to modify the website to make the distinction between 'new', 'used', 'scratch and dent', and 'manufacturing defect' than the money collected from the popup sale. Moreover, doing so would tarnish their brand image. A similar argument exists for 3rd party distribution points, like eBay and AbeBooks.

Were some people put off by the limited physical availability of a London popup sale?
Yes. Of that group of people, how many were so put off by it that they'll stop buying Folio books? Very few, if any. FS has faith in the desirability of their product.

Would I have liked access to a popup sale in the US?
Realistically, no: The US is a big place and the odds me physically being able to get to wherever the popup sale might be held are slim to none. Might as well be London...

It would seem that popup sale was a sensible business decision by FS.

Just received my Montaigne. My sour grapes have been turned to a fine wine. The sale was worthwhile for at least this FSD.

>235 L.Bloom: Agreed. The sale worked for me - the two titles I wanted to be in the sale were in the sale. And the Montaigne is exquisite.

>234 treereader: To be honest their website is so out of date they could probably do with spending some money on a complete overhaul. It’s a site that crashed for hours when they released the LOTR limited edition despite them flagging the sale-time days in advance, so you would have expected them to be prepared for the additional traffic. Numerous are the times when their photography has been so un-enticing that it’s only when i see customer photographs that i actually realise how nice an edition is.

>237 antinous_in_london: The poor website, and the backend system behind it, have long been a FS specialty, dating from at least the last phase of the membership years. The overhaul a few years back simply introduced different bugs. Just a few weeks ago for my last order, I couldn’t login from my laptop, only from my mobile, as the button didn’t work.

After giving myself time to get over any impulse buys, I ended up picking up three titles in this sale: A Long Walk to Freedom—a book that's been on my to-buy list since publication—and Guns, Germs, and Steel and The Mask of Command—two books that I had put in my cart in previous sales but had taken out when the total was unpalatable. I also picked up Italian Folktales, a title I have been waiting years to go on sale but have given up on waiting. The SMAGM code basically resulted in free shipping, so all in all, I'm satisfied.

>239 mnmcdwl:
Mask of Command is easily most tempting book for me, but whilst the binding quality will be as good as ever, the cover design is IMO as dull and uninspired as ditchwater, and I've just never quite brought myself to actually order it.

>238 cwl: Yes, on my last couple of orders it wouldn’t accept my credit card as it wouldn’t recognise my CVV code so i had to go via Paypal to use the same card.

>237 antinous_in_london:

Quite true. I suspect that, in their minds, they *just* upgraded the website and are good for another 5-10 years!

As for traffic handling, that costs money. Does anyone here know, roughly, how traffic handling and cost scale? I bet it's nonlinear, such that it's not cost effective to pay for adequate resources to cover 8 days of potential high load out of 365 days. (Day 1 on 4 sales and 4 seasonal releases = 8)

>242 treereader: It depends on their hosting backbone as to what their network costs are likely to be. If they have a traditional package (systems running on dedicated physical servers) then they are most likely are allocated a specific quantity of network resources and throughput. So it would indeed be more expensive for them to have year-round hosting running at the high-load volume that only occurs a few times a year. It can be difficult to scale such hosting on the fly, ergo the site just falls over when burdened by traffic.

If they have what is colloquially called "cloud-based" hosting (systems running on virtual machine images), then it becomes more feasible to throw additional hosting resources behind the site at peak load times, and then scale them back when traffic is more typical again. It sounds like FS probably isn't going this route, given the infrequency of their site refreshes and so forth. A lot of online vendors will stick with what they have used for years until someone makes a solid (monetary) case for changing.

>242 treereader: >243 Shadekeep: Like many websites they use a 3rd party content delivery network (FS uses cloudflare) to better handle peaks, load-balance & geo-distribute traffic, compress and cache images and so on.

I personally doubt FS has any customer-facing infrastructure on-premises (that includes barebone server renting in datacenters) as that would be cost-prohibitive - in terms of IT, Folio Society is a small shop. My bet is everything is cloud hosted using turnkey solutions.

>244 bacchus.: I'd be very surprised if FS had any kind of in-house hosting setup. Probably at most they have a small networking team for their offices and a web management team. Their platform feels very much off-the-shelf otherwise. Which is logical, as most retailers don't need the added cost of server hardware and maintenance.

>245 Shadekeep: Indeed. So thinking back to >242 treereader: question, with today's web hosting features, it should be very doable and cost-effective for a website to scale up during sales and season releases.

>246 bacchus.: Just so. It's really down to how good their service provider is, and what kind of support package they have with them. Mind, even a good provider can have trouble with the confluence of factors that surrounded the LotR LE release. There you have orders originating from multiple sources and currencies, a high volume of requests, secure payment verification, and quite probably a real-time inventory check task ensuring items remain before processing an otherwise asynchronous transaction. Any of these is a potential point of failure, even in a system which is stable under normal load. Hopefully there were lessons learned this go-round and the next one will be smoother.

>246 bacchus.:

Perhaps FS management (or whomever has the power to approve the spending) simply isn't aware of how to request a load handling increase?

>225 cronshaw: You are one of the gems of his group, and your posts educate and enlighten. Thank you for making this group special with your passion for books!

>249 bookaroo:

Hear hear!

Thanks to those who posted the coupon code. It covered most of the express shipping on my order. I ordered the 3 books on my wish list that were in the sale: De Profundis, Nights at the Circus, and Tales of Ancient Egypt.

I also ordered three others at full price: A Confederacy of Dunces which has moved into the 'last chance to buy' section, The Foundation Trilogy which I worry may be on its last reprint, and Sparkling Cyanide which seems unlikely to make it to a sale.

I expect this haul will tide me over until the January sale.

ETA: My order arrived in 2 days which is a record, and I am really impressed given it traveled to the US. I'm really happy with everything but was pleasantly surprised by Tales of Ancient Egypt. It is just a really nice standard edition and I wasn't planning to pick it up at full price, but it certainly is worth the sale price. It is making me reconsider the companion volume.

Just noticed the Folio Summer Sale 2022 has concluded and prices are back to normal. Was the Sale on for 20 days?

>252 mr.philistine:

The email I received on 5th July said "The sale ends at midnight Sunday 24 July, or while stocks last." So yes.

>253 PeterFitzGerald: Thanks for confirming.