The Lang Fairy books

those of you who have several or all of these, which is your favourite? I only have the Blue, and am thinking of using my voucher to buy another, but which one? Please help me decide!

Finally a question easy to answer , grab the one by Niroot Puttapipat.

Just to clarify--that would be the Red Fairy Book. And I agree with kafkachen.

Hard to really choose, the Red is really nice, and the Brown Fairy book is nice as well. It depends on which type of story themes you like.

The Red is in my opinion by far the most beautiful of them.

thank you all, I have ordered the Red.

I would imagine that everyone here is aware of what I'm going to say. Nevertheless, since I expressed on another thread that fairy tales presented no interest to me, let me now state that, thanks to FS, I have changed my mind. I have received the Red Fairy Book (packed, as was the case with overthemoon's book, in several metres of bubble wrap), and it is a perfect example of an edition produced with taste, care and feeling. The book is simply gorgeous. Given to comparisons, I ordered at the same time (from another publisher) the paperback edition of The Lilac Fairy Book (I believe the last in the series). Well... the stories are there, the illustrations also (in black and white) and it is a convenient edition to carry around. But absolutely nothing to do with the way that FS conceived the series. The 'sad' thing about all this is that I'm now hooked on yet another set of publications.

as I said in another thread, I thought I had ordered the Red but I made a stupid mistake and clicked on the Crimson. Oh well, it's nice anyway - but now I shall have to make another order because I can no longer live without the red one.

I've always liked the Yellow, the design is just so sunny and vibrant, and it's gorgeous in person. Content-wise I also like the stories in it.

I finally ordered all the ones I am missing during the Spring sale, and now have all of them for now. I think this is the best series ever to be re-envision by a book press in a long while.

>7 drasvola: I know how you feel. I only got the Fairy Books because other joining offers didn't tempt me - but the books blew my mind when they arrived. They look so fine together on a shelf, too.

#7

Is the paperback Lilac a Dover, Antonio? Those are good reading copies. Btw, that's the same edition and illustrations Easton Press bound in leather.

I've often wondered, about the Easton Press Fairy Books: are the illustrations black and white (as in the Dover books) or are they in color? If they are in color, I'm in trouble, as I will long for a complete set!

Cindy

They are black and white.

You can see them on Project Gutenberg, just search for the Lang fairy tales.

>13 malinablue:

Black and white.
I kinda like the Easton set - it is a lot more portable than the Folio one (which is gorgeous and all that but way too bulky for just having one of them handy when you feel like reading a fairy tale...)

I just wish they were still readily available. I'd love to get a complete set, but no way am I paying $2500 for it (the set currently on ebay).

cindy

> 16

I'm sure FS are going to be doing them all...it's just going to take a while.

> 12

Yes, Lola, as it's been pointed out, it is the Dover edition and the illustrations are in black and white. The cover, of course, is lilac. A very convenient book to keep on the nightstand.

> 12

Here is a picture:

Is there any word on a new fairy book for 2012-2013?

Have the fairy books dropped in price? I just noticed today that they're now AUS$99.95, and I'm fairly sure they used to be over $100.

22: That sounds fantastic! Thanks!

Does anyone know if Folio is publishing any new volumes in this series soon?

Do any of you know if Folio is publishing new volumes in this series any time soon?

Yes - Folio will be publishing two new titles by the end of this year....

Well in time for everyone's Christmas orders, I expect.

This is good news.

Delurking from usual read-only stance to say YAY! Not just one but two new Lang collections showing on the website - lilac and olive. Waiting to renew has totally been worth it, even if they are only £10 off each.

>29 Petrichery: Really? They are not showing for me!

>30 Conte_Mosca: Yes, i have a new heading at the top of the left hand column "Your Fairy Book Offer" (just above New Books). I don't know it may be a little early for me because I've bought the rest of the series? Or maybe UK only? Sorry - i know how frustrating it can be to hear about an offer you can't see.

>31 Petrichery: That is frustrating. I am in the UK so it isn't that. It may be exclusive for a period of time to those who have bought the rest. I only have 5, and only 3 purchased direct from FS. Looks like I will have to wait. I wish they would reward us early renewers in some way...

>32 Conte_Mosca: Oh, how frustrating. I'm on my phone or I'd try a screen shot to show you. On the plus side, you'll ddfinitely like them when you see them, they're lovely. Especially the Olive - the illustrations look gorgeous - like Kay Nielsen.

I have just received a letter from The Folio Society today about these two wonderful editions and the letter states

"There's a special offer for collectors as well - save £10 on each volume when you order now, and automatically renew your Folio Society membership when you order both"

So this seems to be a cheap way to renew if you already collect Lang's Rainbow Fairy Books.

Only ten days left until the first renewal offer ends so I will be holding out a little longer.

>31 Petrichery:, 32

Well, I'm from the UK, have bought the complete collection so far, and haven't seen a sign of anything, so it can't be any of that. The minds of the FS remain a mystery! I will certainly be somewhat unhappy if that £10 offer doesn't come my way at some point in the not too distant future!

U.S., have delayed renewal (not thrilled), Olive and Lilac not visible for me yet. Nice to see they've kept these two such a surprise!

I am in ROW, have renewed months ago, bought all Lang Fairy books and currently do not see these two alleged Olive and Lilac books. Hoax?

>37 ExportFrisian: Not a hoax

http://www.foliosociety.com/book/LFB/lilac-fairy-book#

The Lilac Fairy Book

‘The Brown Bear of Norway’ – an Irish tale that echoes ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – is one of the memorable stories in this fascinating collection created by folklorist Andrew Lang. Another derives from the Welsh Mabinogion and tells an Arthurian legend, ‘The Winning of Olwen’. ‘The Heart of a Monkey’ is a Swahili tale about a wily shark and a courteous but sharp-witted monkey.

Though their origins are diverse, these tales often explore similar ideas about the qualities that determine a person’s happiness and success. Many have playful lessons to teach – whether through the antics of animal characters, or the changing fortunes of humble cottage-dwellers and proud princesses. And, in true fairy-tale tradition, the events that reveal a character’s real nature are often bound up in curious disguises, blessings and curses, in promises forsaken and kept... In ‘The Raspberry Worm’, two girls who protect a lowly creature from danger find their kindness returned by a woodland king with magical powers. The plucky heroine of ‘The One-Handed Girl’ chooses her parents’ blessing over material gain and, through her wisdom and honesty, finds happiness despite the deceitful plots of her greedy brother. In ‘A Lost Paradise’, a poor young couple discover a life of comfort and riches in the castle of a magnanimous king. But like Lot’s wife, their contentment depends upon their ability to resist a simple temptation...

As well as echoing each other, many of the tales recall ancient myths. As children's author Geraldine McCaughrean says in her thoughtful introduction, ‘Spot-the-Greek-Myth’ is just one of the games that can be played by the reader of this intriguing collection. Caitlin Hackett has created a series of beguiling illustrations that capture the beauty, danger and drama of Lang's fairy-tale worlds, from enchanted woods to marvellous underwater kingdoms.

>37 ExportFrisian: I hope they're not a hoax, as i've ordered them!

Edit - just realised you meant that you thought my post was a hoax? That's...friendly.
I promise i don't have enough time to make all this up, but i think i should just go back to reading this site rather than trying a comment. From the Folio site

http://www.foliosociety.com/book/OFB/olive-fairy-book

"The Olive Fairy Book

The universal elements of the fairy tale – intrepid heroes, fair maidens, resolution by subterfuge - shine through in this collection that stretches as far afield as India, Turkey and Sudan. In ‘The Satin Surgeon’, a resourceful princess outwits her wicked sister with an artful disguise. Little Maia’s adventures take her high above the Earth, carried by a swallow, while the Green Knight is saved from death by a soup made from snakes. ‘The Story of Little King Loc’ was adapted by Andrew Lang’s wife from L’Abeille, written by the French poet M. Anatole France.

In creating the Rainbow Fairy Books, Andrew Lang echoed the work of Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. Although he was also a novelist and poet, it is for his large contribution to the world’s stock of fairy tales that he is most remembered.

This edition of The Olive Fairy Book is introduced by award-winning children’s author and poet Jane Yolen. With over 300 books to her name, Yolen has been called the Aesop of the 20th century. Here, she describes how the Rainbow Fairy Books were ‘a game-changer in the world of children’s literature’, setting a precedent for later anthologists like herself. Kate Baylay's exotic Art Deco-inspired illustrations are a captivating accompaniment to the stories. A dragon curls around the balustrades of a beautiful palace, the lovely Dorani flies across a starry sky, the Boy who Found Fear at Last frees a sinking ship from a mischievous sea-maiden. The tales are also interspersed with intricate black-and-white drawings by the artist."

Thanks for the links FolioFiend and Petrichery. Sadly, they both come up with the message that the book either doesn't exist or is not available in my geographical area and/or to my membership renewal status. Don't know why.

>40 Willoyd: Yes same here. Sorry if I offended anyone via my earlier post. These books are obviously only indented for some very special few. Probably some nice marketing people have made some nice new way to sell books... Right..

I'm in Canada and I see them on the website

>38 Folio_Fiend:,39
These two books are definitely only for very special people.
I am a current subscriber (took this year's initial offer) and in Australia I get the following message when following the links in your messages:
"Sorry, either the book you have requested does not exist or it is not available to your geographic location and/or your member renewal status.
If you feel you are being denied access in error, please contact us."

>43 wcarter: Perhaps those of us not considered special enough should contact FS to complain that we "are being denied access in error"!!'

>39 Petrichery: Don't stop contributing. Without your post some (most) of us would still be in the dark about these publications. And whilst FS can be pretty irritating at times in the way they handle their marketing, I am at least grateful that I know these are on the way and can plan my budget accordingly :-)

I'm in Canada, new member since this summer, haven't renewed yet, and I see them... Perhaps, they are only available in Canada?

>45 MashedPotatoes: The plot thickens. i am by no means a conspiracy theorist, nor am I about to hurl myself from the top of a tall building for being discriminated against, but I do find FS's marketing increasingly odd. Do they want to sell books or not?

Odd it is. That all members do not face equal conditions at all times seems to be a guiding principle.

I renewed last year with this method. It was released to ROW a few days before the initial renewal offer was changed to the new version. The 'Fairy' offer was to renew with both books and £10 off each. After renewal they were also available at £6 off each, so the offer was not all that generous, £16 off would have been more the mark. After I saw the new 'buy 4 books' offer I was a bit disappointed with my deal, it was really only good for a budget access to the Christmas sale.

Well, I think if we put our heads together we can figure this out. If everybody answer the following questions, we'll probably start to see some trends:

Olive & Lilac offer available to me?: Yes
Country: Canada
Member since: 2012
Current renewal offer: Ascent of man, Classical Tradition, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet?: No
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books?: No
How many lang books owned?: All of them (8)
Visit the Folio website often?: Yes (everyday)

Anyone else?

Olive & Lilac offer available to me?: No
Country: UK
Member since: 1996 (continuous, occasional prior to that)
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Clichés, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet?: Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books?: NA
How many lang books owned?: 3 from FS (+2 from secondary market)
Visit the Folio website often?: Yes

EDITED: To add renewal offer accepted (rather than current renewal offer which is NA given I have renewed)

Olive & Lilac offer available to me?: Yes
Country: England
Member since: A couple of years in the mid-80s, then 1994-
Current renewal offer: Carthage: A History, Histories of Nations, Clichés, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet?: Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books?: No
How many Lang books owned?: All of them (8)
Visit the Folio website often?: Yes (almost everyday)

Olive & Lilac offer available to me?: Yes
Country: U.K
Member since: 2011
Current renewal offer: Ascent of man, Classical Tradition, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet?: No
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books?: Yes
How many lang books owned?: All of them (8)
Visit the Folio website often?: Yes (Once a week)

Olive & Lilac offer available to me?: No
Country: U.S.A.
Member since: 1988
Current renewal offer: Ascent of man, Classical Tradition, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet?: No
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books?: No
How many lang books owned?: None
Visit the Folio website often?: Occassionally

Well a picture is starting to appear suggesting that the offer is exclusive for a period of time to those who have ordered all previous Fairy books, which makes sense...

...except that doesn't explain why it is not visible to ExportFrisian and Willoyd :-/

Olive & Lilac offer available to me?: No
Country: Spain
Member since: 1992
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Clichés, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet?: Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books?: NA
How many lang books owned?: 1 (Red)
Visit the Folio website often?: Yes (daily)

Olive & Lilac offer available to me?: No
Country: Canada
Member since: 2010
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet?: Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books?: NA
How many lang books owned?: All of them (8)
Visit the Folio website often?: Yes (daily)

Olive & Lilac offer available to me?: No
Country: Switzerland
Member since: 1970s
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Clichés, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet?: Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books?: NA
How many lang books owned?: 2
Visit the Folio website often?: Yes (once or twice a week)

Thanks, FolioFiend, Petrichery, MashedPotatoes. FS moves in mysterious ways, but once again Devotees levels the global playing field.

This actually gives me a chance to put together one of those twisted "make your own rejoining offer" pleas. A little disappointed with Lilac at first glance -- I was hoping for something silkier, more subtle and less like Violet's little sister -- but I'm sure we'll eventually come to love it all the same.

(Adding to 36 for the data trackers: member since 2010, offer as 58, visits often, bought at least 7 Langs direct from FS and 5 on the secondary market, OFB and LFB still redirect to "not in your area" for me.)

Indeed, so far most of the people that have bought all 8 volumes directly from the Folio Society seem to have access to Olive and Lilac.... Let's keep going to see if that gets confirmed...

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: Yes
Country: Norway
Member since: 2006
Current renewal offer: NA - Renewed
Renewed yet? Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books: NA
How many lang books owned: 8
Visit the Folio website often: Yes

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: Yes
Country: Australia
Member since: 2009
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet? No
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books: NA
How many lang books owned: 8
Visit the Folio website often: Yes

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: Germany
Member since: 2012
Current renewal offer: N/A - renewed
Renewed yet? Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books: NA
How many lang books owned: none
Visit the Folio website often: Yes

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: Netherlands / Germany
Member since: 2010
Current renewal offer: N/A - renewed
Renewed yet? Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books: NA
How many lang books owned: 8 (Pink bought via eBay)
Visit the Folio website often: Yes

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: Australia
Member since: 2012 (Jan)
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Cliches, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet? No
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books: No
How many lang books owned: 3
Visit the Folio website often: Yes

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: UK
Member since: 1991
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Clichés, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet? Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new Lang books: n/a
How many Lang books owned: 2
Visit the Folio website often: fairly often, but I usually get my news here first!

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: Australia
Member since: 2002 and on and off before that
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Clichés, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet? Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new Lang books: n/a
How many Lang books owned: 0
Visit the Folio website often: almost daily but I usually get my news here first too.

Well it looks as though we have an answer to the Mysterious Case of the FS Fairy Marketing Campaign, and it looks as though - against all odds - it might be a rational one after all.

Everyone who has purchased all 8 of the previous fairy books direct from FS have received the Olive and Lilac Fairy Books offer ahead of the rest of us. ExportFrisian has turned to the dark side and purchased one of the fairy books from the secondary market (as indeed of course have I), so we don't qualify. It looks as though seven fairy book purchases is not enough to qualify for this offer (which feels a bit harsh, but so be it).

The only fly in the ointment so far in that hypothesis is Willoyd. Willoyd, did you buy all eight of your fairy books direct from FS, or like ExportFrisian and me, have you strayed from the path of righteousness and been tempted by the call of Mr eBay or Mrs Abebooks?

> 68. Not the case unfortunately:

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: ROW
Member since: 2010 and on and off before that
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Clichés, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet? No
Possibility to renew with the 2 new Lang books: No
How many Lang books owned: 8 - All from the Folio Society directly
Visit the Folio website often: Weekly, more often at the moment.

I suppose it's possible that the database of sales to members, that FS are evidently using to target this offer, doesn't go back in time far enough to encompass all our purchases.

(edited to correct grammar)

> 68. I second Starkimarki's point--unfortunately.

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: USA
Member since: 2000
Current renewal offer: N/A
Renewed yet? Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new Lang books: No
How many Lang books owned: 8 - All from the Folio Society directly
Visit the Folio website often: At least weekly, more often at the moment.

FS read our posts and probably get a big laugh at our trying to out-guess the strategy...

>72 drasvola: Yes, I can imagine the conversations in Eagle Street. "Ha ha, look at all these customers trying to guess our strategy! Their theories couldn't be further from the truth. It is of course entirely down to cross referencing customer star signs with the outputs from our daily haruspicy meeting. Now pass me some more sheeps livers and chicken entrails, I have a marketing deadline to meet".

> 73

Ha, ha, splendid!

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: USA
Member since: 2010
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, Histories of Nations, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet? No
Possibility to renew with the 2 new Lang books: No
How many Lang books owned: 8 - 7 from the Folio Society directly
Visit the Folio website often: At least weekly, more often at the moment.

Hi Conte_Mosca
I bought all 8 through the FS!
I contacted them yesterday to ask why I couldn't see them, and have had a reply that, as I have been a regular buyer of Fairy books, then I should see them on the website, and that if I don't, it must be a technical error,which seems to support your hypothesis, even if in a rather roundabout way!

FWIW:
Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: UK
Member since: early 1980s
Current renewal offer:Worst Journey in the World, The Classical Tradition, Clichés, Diary 2013 + 4 books
Renewed yet? Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new Lang books: No
How many Lang books owned: 8 - All from the Folio Society directly
Visit the Folio website often: at least weekly, usually more often.

I've been wondering lately about FS marketing to different groups and areas. Instead of trying to decipher some mysterious combination of factors, it crossed my mind it might simply be a supply-chain issue. With FS being a "smaller" operation (relatively speaking), the ability to ship and distribute books in a timely manner could be compromised if certain books were available to everyone all at once. I'm sure they've had their share of bottlenecks in the supply chain, so by rolling out certain books to certain groups over time, then it might help avoid bottlenecks or inventory overloads, along with helping a regular flow of product through the entire supply chain.

I'm just trying to think there has to be some practical reason behind all the mysterious marketing moves.

> 77

That's a good point.

> 78

With regard to customer data, I noticed that my account details on the FS website only go back to 2007.

Hmm, I still cannot see nor order the two new Fairy books. However, today Folio has a special "Susan Cooper Offer" prepared for me with the new "Greenwitch", "The Grey King" and "Silver on the Tree" books. Do I care? No. I want Fairy books. *bites on lip* Anyone else see those three new Cooper books?

> 80

Yes, I also see the Susan Cooper three new books.

> 80

If it makes you feel better I cant see the "Susan Cooper offer"

And I don't see the Susan Cooper offer either. Not that I would be clamouring to buy them, but on principle I hate to feel I am missing out on something :-)

Perhaps I am not being offered Lang or Cooper offers because they are holding out for something very special to offer me. Like a free copy of Night Thoughts. I will keep my fingers crossed for auspicious signs from their Dark Magic Marketing Rituals.

I (Germany, ROW) don't see the Susan Cooper offer either.

I can see the Susan Cooper offer. Is it because, like the Fairy Books, I have bought all the previous ones from FS?

>86 boldface: Probably. I have bought the previous two Cooper books as well. For the Fairy books I went to the secondary market for Pink, only because Folio did not offer a reprint at the time. Now I get punished :-)

Still it is pretty ludicrous that someone at Folio decides which books I can buy. I cannot even buy the two new Fairy books, not even at full price.

> 87 "Still it is pretty ludicrous that someone at Folio decides which books I can buy."

Perhaps more to the point, someone at Folio decides what price you as an individual can buy it for. All members are equal, but at Folio Farm some members are more equal than others.

Well, I bought the previous two Cooper books and the eight Fairy books, all from Folio Society, and I can't see either offer. I'm surprised I'm still allowed to buy books off their website--next I won't even get a lousy t-shirt.

I have only bought Over Sea, Under Stone, which I enjoyed in spite of too many coincidences, and only the Red Fairy Book, yet they entice me with more Cooper but no Langs!

Can someone tell me more about the Susan Cooper offer? Does it include the two we already knew about (Over Sea, Under Stone and The Dark is Rising)?

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: Yes
Country: US
Member since: 2010
Current renewal offer: NA - Renewed
Renewed yet? Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books: NA
How many lang books owned: 8
Visit the Folio website often: Yes

I see both the fairy books offer and the Susan Cooper offer. I bought all 8 fairy books form Folio as well as the previous two Cooper books (though, interestingly, ALL the cooper books are on offer for me, all five. Not just the 3 new ones.) I purchase primarily from the myth series and the children's book section, so maybe that has something to do with it. I have bought most of their children's books since joining.

> 91

There are five books: the two old ones and three new ones (Greenwitch, The Grey King, Silver on the Tree) all with a 20-21% discount.

I don't see the new Susan Cooper books either, though I have the other two, in fact I am reading the Dark is Rising. Fast-moving but as Drasvola says, too many coincidences - the story just runs too glibly (that word looks funny now I've typed it). But I do want to buy the others.

The Susan Cooper offer didn't show up for me until I completed an order. At that point the voucher offer vanished and the Susan Cooper offer appeared.

I can't see either the Susan Cooper or the new Fairy Books. Was Malinablue the first person in the US to get the Fairy offer? I don't remember all the details of what people wrote in but I do remember initially this offer seemed to be geared to only some people in the UK

Me:
Olive & Lilac offer available to me: No
Country: US
Member since: 2011
Current renewal offer: N/A - Renewed
Renewed yet? Yes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new Lang books: N/A
How many lang books owned: 0
Visit the Folio website often: Yes

My wife:
Olive & Lilac offer available to me: Yes
Country: US
Member since: 2012
Current renewal offer: Ascent of Man, etc.
Renewed yet? No
Possibility to renew with the 2 new Lang books: Website indicates NO, but a physical letter came indicating YES
How many lang books owned: 8
Visit the Folio website often: No

Although there's still no offer on the FS website, I did get a snail-mail offer over the weekend ($25.00 off each volume). I noted awhile back that it wouldn't surprise me if these volumes hit $100.00 a piece and now we're not too far off: the undiscounted price is $84.95.

Olive & Lilac offer available to me: Yes, via a letter from FS
Country: US
Member since: 2010
Current renewal offer: Books available for $59.95 each
Renewed yet? I just placed my order and it renewed my membership
Possibility to renew with the 2 new Lang books: Yes
How many lang books owned: 8
Visit the Folio website often: Yes

VERY HAPPY I HAD THE CHANCE TO ORDER THE NEW FAIRY BOOKS!

Interesting. Part of the Xmas sale I now do see the two new Fairy books with the discounted price. Happy face. :-)

Gah!
Came home to find a folio box waiting for me - so excited, fairy books and the jungle book already! Thought it was a bit light but assumed that was my imagination. Tore it open to find...

...bloody Ascent of Man, History of Nations, and Cliches. And nothing else. Excuse my language, but really :-(

I see them too in the Christmas offers, along with the Susan Cooper books and the Asimov trilogy.

I see the Fairy books and all of the Cooper books available to me (I haven't renewed yet). They're all available at full price.

PS: 0 Fairy books bought - I refuse to buy any of them.

Just purchased the lovely Lilac and Olive volumes. So excited to have them in hand. I had received the fairy book mailing and just got around to ordering.

Olive & Lilac offer available to me?: Yes
Country: USA
Member since: 2011
Current renewal offer: ?
Renewed yet?: today, with the two Fairy volumes
Possibility to renew with the 2 new lang books?: that is my understanding!
How many Lang books owned?: 8 Folios (dozens of others!)
Visit the Folio website often?: fairly often

>99 podaniel:
I'm fairly sure I remember them being AU$115ish several months ago, and they are now $99.95.

>104 nicklong:
Why do you refuse to buy any of the fairy books? They're the reason I joined FS in the first place.

>107 K.G.Swaim:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/137464#3406556

While the books are lovely as far as design and illustrations go, I don't want them. What attracted me to Folio was their edition of The Lord of the Flies. Then Coeztee's Disgrace and Cicero's Orations.

> 109

Strange how literary tastes vary. Disgrace is disturbing but one of the best reads ever. The film adaptation is also very good!

>110 drasvola: I agree. I would describe Disgrace as a truly great book, but not a exactly a "pleasurable" read. It am glad I read it. I had a powerful effect on me and I thought about it for quite a long time after I finished it (indeed I still do sometimes).

And sometimes that is the effect I am looking for in a book. Not pleasure as such, but an effect that moves me and/or makes me re-evaluate the human condition.

EDIT: Correcting the inevitable iPad fat finger typos

>109 EclecticIndulgence: ...I do agree though that the I haven't exactly been drawn to the FS version of Cicero's Orations. I found the binding a little odd, but perhaps it will grow on me. I would like a nice copy.

Tom Phillips' most famous work, A Humument, has influenced/is echoed in the illustrations for Orations. Here's a link to a website about it:

http://humument.com/

For all interested in the hubbub about Orations, I did a review on it a while back. You can look at some of the images of the book itself: http://ephemeralpursuits.com/blog/2012/06/fs-cicero-orations/

The binding design itself is sort of a takeoff on a Loeb volume's dust jacket (for the margins). There are also takeoffs of various things within the volume itself. But honestly, you aren't going to find a better edition to read typography-wise. The indexes are superb, and it opens flat and stays flat. I can understand the illustrations turning people off, but if you're more interested in the material itself, then you can definitely get past it (besides, while you're reading it, you won't be seeing the front or back cover!).

The Olive and Lilac Fairy Tales that I ordered are now showing as at the warehouse

Finally - they've arrived!
Well, the fairy books have. Still no sight of my Jungle Book, but i suppose we must be grateful for what we receive :-)
First thing to note is that (like the Yellow Fairy Book) the slipcase covers don't match the books. The Lilac is in a dark blue cover, and the Olive in a slightly unusual choice of maroon, although this does match the tunic of the man on the cover.
I've only looked through the pictures so far because (-I'm secretly 5 years old and that's the fun bit-) I only just got them. My initial impression is that I'm not as bowled over by the Olive illustrations as i was expecting to be - they are lovely and i do like this artist's Kay Nielsen/Aubrey Beardsley style, but the colouring is mych more mat and sepia than i was expecting and the pictures don't really 'pop'. Lovely, but doesn't displace Red and Brown as my favourites of the series.
Lilac - i'm pleasantly surprised by. The illustrations on the website are all of people and i found them a little stilted. But this artist does animals very well, and some of the black-and-white animal illustrations throughout are great, especially on the title page.

So a mixed bag, but i'm looking forward to reading them and it's nice to have only two empty spaces left to fill on this shelf...

Gah! Please excuse all sausage-fingers-typing-on-a-phone typos

> 116

I got mine today as well. You beat me to the review! Actually, in relation to the illustrations I agree with you in some measure, but my overall impression is more favourable.

I too was struck by the preponderance of browns and greens in many of Kate Bayley's pictures for the Olive book, although there are one or two with a different colour palette which are all the more striking for that. They are nevertheless all beautifully done.

Caitlin Hackett (Lilac) has a good feel for the genre. Her style is less consistent than Bayley's, allowing, perhaps a greater freedom in engaging with the diversity of stories from several different countries. There is a sensuous quality in some of her drawings, and one of them reminds me strongly of Hokusai's Great Wave.

You know, the Rainbow Fairy Books are a great achievement by the FS and deservedly popular. Each one has its own individual artist and yet the collection has a satisfying unity as well. The covers are wonderful, the paper is satisfyingly substantial, they sit in your lap well as you read to your children/grandchildren by the roaring fire, their silver and gold catches the light as they sit on the shelf waiting to be chosen, and yes, I've got carried away again!

I did sound a bit downbeat, didn't i. I didn't mean to - i should have prefaced my comment by saying i really love this series and they are without doubt my favourite Folio books. I may pick holes, but only at a level where I already know I love the book. Think my expectations were just a little over high for these because it's been such a long wait, and the Olive looked like it was going to be exactly up my street, artistically. Even if it's not quite what i hoped, it's still one the nicest books i own, for all the firelight-and-sparkles reasons you list :-)

Just received my Olive and Lilac Fairy Books. Both are gorgeous and everything I've come to expect from this series. Now that I've got them on the shelf, I've taken a new photo of my collection to share.

>120 ParadigmTree:

That looks beautiful! I can't wait till I've collected them all.

Just think what the complete set will look like!?

> 120

Very good picture! I would try (when the collection is complete) to follow the rainbow order...

> 120

You illustrate my point perfectly (> 118). They look beautiful on the shelf. An excellent photo.

they do look lovely.

>120 ParadigmTree: They look very handsome indeed. I'm not actually familiar with the set not being a fairy fan, but are there two volumes there the same colour (red)? Maybe it's the camera causing two different colours to look the same.

I don't think of myself as OCD (I've not a single cataloguing gene on any chromosome) but I'd feel the urge to have alternating sliver and gold spine badges on the shelf!

> 121, 123, 126
Damn you people for appealing to my OCD! I had not thought about the silver and gold gilded volume arrangement. My first inclination would be to "file" them on the shelf in the order the colors were published originally. I will have to see what that does to the silver and gold arrangement, though, since paying attention to that shelf image entices me as well.

>126 cronshaw: there was red , and there was " crimson " :-o ( See. >1 overthemoon:,8 ) Not that I could tell the difference myself BTW...

A very beautiful set: congratulations and please post when the rainbow is complete.

Maybe cataloging according to the colour gradations of the rainbow would be the most asthetically pleasing

Am I the only one who's doing them by order of publication? (original publication, not FS order which has been seemingly willy-nilly)

I am clearly not hard-core enough (I only have five of the fairy books after all). I thought I was being organised simply by having them all together in one place! I have given no thought to colour gradation, FS publication date, original publication date, gilding colour, alphabetical order...

...and I don't think I am going to start now. My wife already thinks I am nuts as I tend to reorder my bookshelves on a regular basis for random reasons, after which she can never tell the difference!

My preference is always for shelving by original publication date, if book size/shelf space permits.

+1 for sorting by color gradient. Anyone have the fully published set organized in this fashion yet? I'm missing the two new volumes and would love to see a picture of the existing 10.

I only read the Green fairy book, reading the Blue one, and I guess i'll try the Red one sinceso many people propose it. Thaks!

>134 jshorr: ParadigmTree's lovely photo at 120 is of the full 10 so far published. Now we all just have to wait a year or two to see the full rainbow including the final two - grey and orange.

My fairy books are on narrow ikea billy bookcases, so each shelf fits six books. If i ordered them in a rainbow, one shelf would be all warm crimsons and yellows and the shelf below would be all dark browns and olives. I'm sticking with a cheerfull mixture for now, even though the posts above have made me notice the gold/silver mix for the first time which makes me slightly twitchy...

Thanks all for the compliments. I never thought about organizing by gold and silver labels, but I think not having them in rainbow order would bother me. I can't wait for the last two volumes in the series although I'm definitely running out of shelf space.

I wish my order of the latest two would hurry up and arrive already!

>136 Petrichery: Ha, I hadn't noticed the gold/silver labels either, but now it stands out so much. It was already driving me a little batty that the Blue Fairy book has a flat spine while all the rest have rounded spines.

> 138

The first printing of the Blue Fairy book had a flat spine (I've also got one). But from other copies I've seen, later reprints have had a different binder and now match the rounded spines of the rest of the series.

ParaigmTree, I envy you the size of your bookshelf. None of mine are big enough to hold the full set on one shelf. I think my longest shelf will maybe hold nine (haven't ordered the latest two so I can't test this theory yet). So far I've just shelved them in the order I bought them. Once I have the full set though I might switch them up either to original publication order or rainbow order.

Conte_Mosca, in order to keep your wife from questioning your sanity you have to find her obsession and compare it to yours. My nephew used to think I was crazy for even wanting to buy books--until he bought some fixer-upper car from the 60's (please don't ask what it is, all cars are the same to me). After he bought the car I pointed to my Night Thoughts and told him that it was my "car". Now we understand each other's obsessions, although I think I have the better one because I can read my books as soon as they come and he's still working on getting the car up and running. ;-)

140 > Love your story! That's how I rationalize it with people.

My copies of the Lilac and Olive Fairy Books came in today. I love Kate Bayland's illustrations in the Olive Fairy Book. Her style reminds me a bit of Kay Nielsen.

Hello - Can anyone provide a list of first publication dates for the folio society lang fairy books? On the used market I'm seeing mostly the red-blue-yellow-green of the introductory offer, but also lots of pink. Was pink the 5th released, or do folks just dislike it?

Here are the membership years the books were orignally published (i.e., Lilac and Olive were published in 2012, but I count them for the 2013 membership year).

2003 $52.95 – Blue Fairy Book published
2008 $69.95 – Pink, Red and Yellow published
2010 $79.95 – Green published
2011 $84.95 – Violet and Brown published
2012 $84.95 - Crimson published
2013 $84.95 - Lilac and Olive published

LucasTrask - Thank you! That explains the prevalence of the pink, as well as the overwhelming supply of blue!
I just ordered my first - olive. Brown or lilac may be next. (orange and grey are the two yet unreleased that will complete the collection.)

A little off topic, but I just picked up Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales after seeing it recommended as one of the Books of the Year in The Times last Saturday.

The Times said "Philip Pullman has gone right back to the stories that feed modern literature like an underground stream. Grimm Tales is his retelling of tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, interleaved with his own comments. There are classics, such as Rapunzel, and less well-known stories such as Hans my Hedgehog, all given a wonderfully sharp, vivid Pullman twist. "

Interestingly it was placed in the Adult Fiction category rather than the Children's list which, as with Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales, seems highly appropriate. Highly recommended to fans of fairy tales and folk lore (as is the Angela Carter collection).

Are insane ones better bound?

>146 Conte_Mosca: Angela Carter and Philip Pullman are not just any old writers. And one could say Angela Carter has made a career of doing just that, to excellent effect.

I think what he means is that insane women are a bit more interesting :-)

Ahh... can't help it!

Juventud, divino tesoro,
¡ya te vas para no volver!
Cuando quiero llorar, no lloro...
y a veces lloro sin querer...

Rubén Darío

Edited to add translation (not mine)

Youth, treasure only gods may keep,
Fleeting from me forever now!
I cannot, when I wish to, weep,
And often cry I know not how…

>147 EclecticIndulgence:

So you are not reading any books with star-crossed lovers for example (being done way too often so everyone just capitalize now)? After all, anything that happens is just a twist on the old story :)

Seriously though - fairy stories and myths retelling is not exactly the same as taking a classic novel and adding some fish to it (for example). The latter if done badly (and most are) are really bad. But the fairy tales are a different story.

Same question from me. I'll be getting the Rainbow books as my introductory offer, but if I were to purchase others now to take advantage of the sale, and assuming I can't afford all the other six (don't think I'll get the Crimson or Purple anyway, as don't like the illustrations much), which are most likely to go out of print soon?

I think that is a good price, I thought I seen them at 31-35% off but I may be mistaken. Either way, any sale price on Lang Fairy books is great. Yes, I'm a fan, just the orange and grey left for me to purchase.

E-mailing FS may give you the numbers still in stock so you can plan your purchases better. I know Grimm and Hans Christian is out of print. Probably will reprint them at a later date.

Where are you seeing the Fairy books at 29% off? I am only seeing the discount as 22%; I'm ROW. I was considering on buying a few as I'm still missing five of the (so far) published books, but now I'm hesitating.

158>I'm in the US - on the FS website Under - children's books - the Fairy books are offered at a 29% ($25.00) discount, making the books $59.95

An update:

I called FS today to ask about the Fairy books, i.e. ask them which books are likely to go out of print soon so I can grab them before they go and take advantage of the sale. I was told that they still have LOTS of all the books and aren't likely to run out for at least a couple of years, especially as they will be publishing the Orange and Grey books toward the end of this year and want to give members the opportunity to buy the whole set. As for the sale, it should last for a good 4-6 weeks. Some members apparently got some kind of communication about the sale, but I think only those who've already purchased some of the books in the collection.

I suspect that the difference in the percentage of the offer is part of the FS magic marketing machine mystery and that they have some kind of weird algorithmic juju at play.

FYI, I'm in Canada, own none of the Fairy books yet and just joined FS at the beginning of the month.

I suspect that the difference in the percentage of the offer is part of the FS magic marketing machine mystery and that they have some kind of weird algorithmic juju at play.

So well put and wonderful alliteration!

>161 drasvola: Hadn't even noticed the alliteration when I wrote it! Glad you enjoyed! :-)

So with the discount in dollars, one Fairy book is $59.95, which amounts to roughly 45,90 €. In pounds one book with the discount costs £34.95, which amounts to around 41,40 €.

The prices are more steep in dollars to begin with, which explains why the discounts are of different percentages. I placed my order for the red and green books, so I'm missing only crimson, brown and yellow now, as well as the ones that are yet to be published.

Repost from the "I have just ordered / received" thread:

Well I tried to hold off, but I was completely obsessed by these books and could think of practically nothing else for days now, so finally ordered them.

Here, as copied from the FS site:

ITEMS ORDERED
1 x The Brown Fairy Book @ CAN$59.95
1 x The Lilac Fairy Book @ CAN$59.95
1 x The Olive Fairy Book @ CAN$59.95
1 x The Pink Fairy Book @ CAN$59.95

I think that is still a good price. Only the oldest colors (those in print the longest) tend to trade at a discount secondhand and even then at around $45 on average. So to pay $60 for a brand new copy seems reasonable. I bought a large batch of them at the same price you just did in one of the sales last year. Unlike some other titles, these are worth every penny.

Even with the (25%) discount they're still $74.95 here in Australia. Add the $9.50 postage and they're still pretty darn expensive! I would love to start collecting these but $84.45 x 10 books is a bit scary. I'm keeping my sensible hat on!

>165 UK_History_Fan: The first thing I do before purchasing a books from FS is look it up on the secondary market to see if I can find a good and sound copy at a more purse-friendly price. Unfortunately, most of the FS books are in the UK or US, which means such expensive shipping charges that it usually doesn't at all come out cheaper, or not enough to justify getting it from anywhere but from FS, brand new with that wonderful new book smell. Also, for the fairy books, there are mostly blue, red, green and yellow available on the market (on Abe, at any case), all of which I'll be getting as my introductory offer. I've gotten quite a few other FS books this month and am thrilled with them and wondering what other books you found weren't worth the price of admission?

>166 thesleepyreader: That does sound terribly expensive, especially as there are 2 more due to come out this year, making that x 12!

O, when will we see Orange and Grey?

>168 snoosh: Wish I could say more specifically, all I know is when I called to ask about it, they said they would be coming out "later this year".

First time posting here.
It will be somewhat bitter sweet because there is a very good chance that Lang's Rainbow Fairy Book collection will come to an end later this year with the release of the Grey and Orange fairy books. Sweet because it will be nice completing this collection after so many years but bitter because I want there to be more books. I wish Lang would've written "The Black Fairy Book", and "The White Fairy Book". The black would've been stories without happy endings, a little darker then other stories and the white, stories about morals and virtue. When this finally comes to an end, I'll have to start collecting another series. Does anyone have any recommendations or do you think Folio Society will start a new collection of books?
The series "Exploration in the Victorian Age?" looks very nice, but I would only be interested in reading a few of those titles.

> 170
Do you have the "Dark Histories"? Not an official series, but a common binding and topic theme. It includes the titles:

Seward, Desmond - Monks of War
Ziegler, Philip - The Black Death
Kamen, Henry - The Spanish Inquisition
Weir, Alison - The Princes In The Tower
Salgado, Gamini - The Elizabethan Underworld
Edwards, Francis - The Gunpowder Plot
Bell, Walter George - The Great Plague of London
Bell, Walter George - The Great Fire of London

These titles are ridiculously cheap on the secondary market (often less than $20 per book), but the covers are amazing and the topics interesting, if you don't mind your history a bit unseemly or depressing.

>171 UK_History_Fan: I've been seeing these titles crop up quite often and am definitely tempted by most of these.

eta: logged in to Abe immediately after leaving the above note so see what's out there. I don't know if I should thank you or be mad at you!

>172 Smiler69:

How is the plan not to buy books this month coming along?

>173 AnnieMod: LOL!!!

eta: in other words Annie, it was a nice plan, but the execution leaves something to be desired. :-D

Thanks for the info UK_History_Fan. I've seen these titles before and they look interesting. I was sent a free book from Folio Society a couple of years ago titled "The Assassins", is this part of the series as well?

> 175
No. The assassins is a rather petite book about 2/3 the size of the "Dark Histories" with an entirely different binding.

> 171 I've seen two different bindings of The Gunpowder Plot, but neither matches the black cloth/gothic lettering of the other seven - have I missed an impression/edition?

> 177
I was wondering if someone was going to challenge that :-). Gunpowder Plot with its bright red binding probably should not be included in the series, but I do in terms of shelving since it is identically sized with the others and probably should have been issued in the same binding style given the topic. I have always seen that as a bit of a misstep. Bit then again FS does not even officially acknowledge the series. I have discovered that they internally refer to it as the Dark Histories which was close to the name I was using in my database so I just updated my info.

> 178 Always happy to oblige with a little pedantry, Sean. Folio 60, btw, calls them '...historical 'shockers', dealing with death, disease, and general foulness in the past.'

Re: The Dark Histories. I may be slightly eccentric in my quest for order on the bookshelves, but this set has proven something of an annoyance. One major quibble, and a pitfall to avoid is that at least one in the series has the title horizontally and not vertically on the spine - 'The Black Death' in my case, not only do the letters hardly fit, but they break up the pattern of the set terribly. The problem can be avoided somewhat by shelving in chronological order ( event not publication ), and considering the Monks of War as later, thus bringing 'The Black Death' to the very left. But then other inconsistencies come to the fore - at some stage the icon at the bottom of the spine was left off, this may be to do with the ever increasing length of the title. 'The Elizabethan Underworld' is much too long, meaning the 'The' has migrated messily northwards skewing the 'the' line. Sorting according to title length seems merely obsessive. I have yet to solve this quandary satisfactorily. Folio Shelving Disorder.

> 171

I have most of the "Dark History" books and they are beautiful. Stunning but simple cover designs. I think my favorite is the Elizabethan Underworld with its drunk rowdies.

I never really liked this series, despite owing two volumes (which I subsequently gave away). While the design was striking, not having the author's name anywhere on the cover or spine undermines the scholarliness of the books (if only at a surface level). This was a problem too with the History of the Middle Ages series (including 'The Waning of the Middle Ages', etc) and the recent life of Charlemagne. Here FS made good history books resemble children's books too much. I'm far more pleased with FS's treatment of 'Feudal Society', 'Montaillou' and 'Carthage' - equally lurid, but which have the authors' names displayed appropriately.

Not having the author name on the spine does not make a book less scholarly looking than having the names...

> 180
The title runs vertically in my copy of "The Black Death". Maybe a different printing?

In my opinion, the Lang Fairy Books are the best looking series of all the Folio Society series of books. I really like the style and the material used to make these volumes. I also really like the look of the "Exploration in the Victorian Age", series of books. You can say they are somewhat similar in style to the rainbow fairy books. Are there any other books that look similar produced by the Folio Society either in a series or a stand alone volume? I too have a problem when the titles are typed vertically. Maybe it's because I have to turn my head or something.

Those of you who have a few of the "Dark Histories" volumes, could you tell me if the visual content (other than the cover and spine obviously) is also interesting?

> 180
I totally share your FSD, which shares its acronym with this illustrious group! Your post really made me laugh. I too have shelved them in "event" order, but then some events such as the Black Death and Monks of War cover a range of years and cannot be so easily categorized! These are the types of dilemmas that my little OCD brain can quite seriously spend hours pondering. I actually have that very issue with Gunpowder Plot. I don't like the red binding inserted somewhat in the middle of the series, so I moved it to the end even though this disrupted the chronological event order. I'm sure I will change my mind again at some point since there is seemingly no perfect solution. My biggest Folio Shelving Disorder manifests itself though when I am trying to stick to whatever momentary shelving pattern I've devised and I simply cannot maintain it and still fit all the appropriate books on the shelf due to space and the inability to break up a multi-volume Folio set sharing a single slipcase. Since my acquisitions are far more historical than literary, I tend to suffer from the multi-volume single slipcase frustration with some regularity.

>185 Eastonorfolio: The Histories of Ancient Civilisations may meet your style criteria - there are lots of them.

ETA Lots of books, I mean, not criteria...

ETA also If you look at this page (a list of the books) you will see some of the covers are of the FS editions

http://www.librarything.com/publisherseries/Folio+Society+Ancient+Civilizations

>188 affle:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/118880 contains a picture of all of them on a shelf :) They are a beautiful set.

>189 AnnieMod: That's great Annie, thanks for the link! (Did you see the edit to my reply to you in >174 Smiler69:?)

Is there also a photo by a member of the "Dark Histories" set on a shelf we could see? If there is, perhaps we should start a thread for this topic and post it as a thread topper? Kind of too bad all this convo and info is buried in the Fairy Books...

>190 Smiler69:

Yep - I did :) Kinda expected that this will be the result when I told you that the month was ending on that day (even if you were insisting that you mean next month...)

As for buried - this is the Folio group - things here end up in all kind of weird topics. So... no surprises.

>191 AnnieMod: I've been harassing book merchants all over the UK to try to get the best shipping fees possible by making all sorts of deals with them. I wish some of them would turn me down actually, but it seems my powers of persuasion and my willingness to spend my money always end up with a successful purchase! :-S

As for buried - this is the Folio group - things here end up in all kind of weird topics. So... no surprises.

I kind of love that about these threads. When I discovered that I started perusing threads with topics I would never have considered as exactly absorbing, but the conversations always take interesting turns. :-)

> 183 Of course it has no bearing on the contents, and it's certainly a matter of opinion how it looks, but I think it is a disservice to the authors (and their works) to have the author's name absent from the book cover for no good aesthetic reason.

Wow, thanks for that link. They are beautiful to see them all together like that.

The Orange and Grey Fairy books are now available on the Folio Society site.

>195 Eastonorfolio:

That's good news. At last the set is complete.

They are delayed, so says FS in a nice note that accompanied the Diary and in an additional email letting me know...

>197 snoosh:

Yes, I got the message too, but there was a copy of each on display at the British Library a couple of weeks ago at the children's book illustration exhibition launch. Both books are beautiful and I can't wait for them to arrive.

I also have ordered these 2 books, but not yet received anything in the mail stating that they have been delayed. Did any of the message you all received say how long the delay was going to be?

>199 Arknight:

The message said,

"Thank you for your order from our Andrew Lang Fairy Books collection.

Like many members, we have been getting excited about completing the series with the Grey and Orange books. Unfortunately, a slight delay at the printers means that we won’t now be receiving them until the last week of October. We will, of course, send your order out to you as soon as we possibly can.

I am sorry for any inconvenience that this causes, but hope the additional wait doesn’t overly mar your enjoyment of the books.

Thank you for your patience and support for the Society."

>200 boldface:

Thanks Bold.

...waiting...

Mine show as "at the warehouse" now

>203 Atheistic: Me too, how exciting! I'd better start making room for them...

The website now says mine are despatched!

"at warehouse". :-/

And I have yet to start this collection...

> 207
And down the rabbit hole he goes....

>207 ironjaw:

Hurry up, Faisel, it's not too late. Got mine this morning. Another set completed and one of the best!

>207 ironjaw:, 209

Hoping I can resist this set, particularly as FS have figured out my predilection for history titles! Also doesn't help that there may or may not be another medieval LE coming out soon, namely the Winchester Psalter.

This is one of those series that I seem to have a relatively high resistance to. I say "relative" as I have acquired six of them, but I have no burning urge to complete the set (yet!)

I've managed to buy only the Red Fairy Book from Folio, but I have most of the others in the Dover paperback editions.

>212 drasvola: I have them all handily on my Kindle. They are available free, but I have the £1.99 Delphi Classics version of Lang's Complete Works. It is nicely formatted and includes the complete fairy tales, fully illustrated with all their original Victorian illustrations.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Works-Andrew-Complete-Fairy-Illustrated-ebook/dp/B008BW9...

Amazing value, as the fairy tales collection forms only a tiny proportion of what is included.

> 212

Thanks, Michael. I'm going to 'one-click' right away for that collection. I go through amazon.es, but all e-books are available. You have enabled me in the past for other Delphi Classics. The books are well formatted.

My order is marked as DESPATCHED!!! I fell in love with these books sight unseen more or less after I viewed samples of the illustrations on the site. Once I get these two last books, I'll only be missing the Violet book to complete the set.

I must be the only person in the English speaking world who wasn't raised on the Lang books, so they are all new to me. Mind you, I had Russian folk tales illustrated by Alexander Bilibin instead, so it's not like I led a completely deprived childhood.

>213 Conte_Mosca:

Enabled as well! Now I'm totally fine, as I can't see why I'd want the physical versions - need more room for my history titles, after all! ;)

"items pending" :@|

Received the Orange and the Grey . They are beautiful books. Very pleased

Dear Fairy Addicts,

What would be your favorite Lang Fairy book because of its particular collection of stories?

>219 Bond_Girl: Wish I could answer that, but I've only read 1.33 of the books so far (currently reading the Blue book, and previously the Pink). I'm liking the Blue more than I thought I would; I'd assumed because so many of the stories are so familiar it wouldn't be interesting, but I'm finding the way they're told to be different and refreshing somehow (this from someone who hasn't grown up on the Fairy books).

Rec'd Orange (spectacular!!!) and Grey (lovely)

So good to see them all on the shelf!!

Thought I'd share a photo of the complete collection on my shelf:

>222 indigosky:

. . . which begs the question, in what order should they be displayed - order of original publication, order of Folio publication, or some form of colour coordination? Having posed the question, I must say that yours look very nice and aesthetically pleasing in what appears to answer for my third option.

On another matter entirely, is that a Dickens set at bottom right?

>223 boldface:

My 8 year old orders all items of colors as the rainbow acronym ROYGBIV (which I taught here when she was 4), so I guess I'll get as close to that as possible. Not sure where brown and grey fit in.

As I look at 223 again, they do seem to be ordered as a rainbow with Grey & Brown as bookends. Nicely done.

(X) Grey
(R) Crimson
(R) Red
(R) Pink
(O) Orange
(Y) Yellow
(G) Green
(G) Olive
(B) Blue
(I) Lilac
(V) Violet
(X) Brown

>222 indigosky: Lovely! So beautiful to see the whole collection. I've tried to do the rainbow order, but have it ordered slightly different. I'll post a pic too, when I get a chance to take one.

> 223
Speaking of OCD, for me there really is no other option than order of original publication. When I first started collecting compact discs, I always filed in alphabetical order by artist and then chronological order within each artist group.

I might have said this before, but while I had my first 9 Lang books grouped together originally, now they are all spread out among my Folio shelves, with my entire collection arranged by colour. I tried to take a picture but there's so little light in that corner that it wasn't much to look at, but I'll see if I can edit it and make it work.

>222 indigosky: I love the way you've organized yours by the way!

The resistor colour code has black and brown first, then the rainbow and then grey and white... But that would be a rather geeky ordering to use!

>230 Paulfozz:

Oh no! Have I missed the Black and the White Fairy Books?

>232 boldface:

I want the Octarine Fairy Book.

>232 boldface:

Black and White were available as an extremely limited edition twin set… apparently the only remaining copies are living side by side in harmony at Paul McCartney's house.

From the way my Christmas budget is panning out, I may have to settle for the invisible Fairy Book !

> 235 - Maybe I can get a copy of the Tooth Fairy Book when I visit the dentist on Monday.

>223 boldface:

That is an incomplete Dickens set. I have a total of 11. I started out collecting Easton Press before I knew FS even existed. In a way, I wish I had known about FS first because of the illustrations, but I guess I will just embrace my eclectic EP/FS library. With the Dickens, I got fooled by Easton. They started selling individual Dickens novels each month in their catalog, and I thought I would be able to get the whole collection. Unfortunately, they must have been just getting rid of old stock because they stopped and I haven't been able to get any more.

Thanks, everyone! I did question whether to arrange them in rainbow order or in order of publication. I settled on ROYGBIV and since the gray and brown looked a little dull on the end, I decided to put one on each end. I'd love to see a photo of them arranged in publication order, if anyone has done that.

So I was tripping around the net and stumbled on a set of lists of the fairy tales in each of the Lang books. I took the individual lists and combined them, shifted the words "A" or "The" at the beginning of the titles, and created a master index of the 400+ tales and which book they appear in. I confess to not owning any FS Lang Fairy books (I have the EP set) so maybe you fellow FSDs already have such an index, but if not, here it is. Now, when you're all set to read "Three Little Pigs, The" you don't have to search through each book to find it - the index will send you right to the Green book.

I can also make the list available in Word or Excel format, for anyone who wants it. Just let me know.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9698299/Fairy_Book_Index.pdf

It also has the books' original publication dates, in case your shelving inclinations lean more toward chronology than color.

>238 vanb: Thus spake the enabling wolf in tightly fitted fluffy sheepskin...

That's very kind of you thank you! What big ears you have.

Baaa!

>238 vanb:

Thank you so much--I do have the full set and this just might be one of the most helpful posts that I've seen. Maybe there's more member benefits to FS Devotees than to FS now.

> 238
Thank you! I do have all the Folio Society published Fairy Tales now and I do shelve in chronology order of original publication date, so much appreciated.

>238 vanb:

Thank you, Vanb. I have printed out your list and have slipped it into the Blue Fairy Book ready for use as need arises!

> 238

Thank you for your contribution! I don't collect the Lang series but your list is one of those resources that readers and collectors long for many times when doing some research or intent in comparing needs and editions. I would suggest that, with your permission, a link to the URL be added to our wiki page:

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:Folio_Society_Devotees

> 238

In the bowdlerized words of my youth, that is freakin-awesome. Thanks for sharing.

> 243

Thanks! I'm brand new to LT and didn't even know the Wiki page existed. I've added the link to the very bottom of the page, under "Online Resources." If I should have asked permission first, the admin can always remove it.

> 245

Many thanks for adding the link. All devotees are welcome to freely contribute to the wiki.

Thank you muchly for your Fairy Book wiki index, vanb!
I have found the Wikipedia by-book reference easy to use with the 'find' function on the page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Lang%27s_Fairy_Books, but love your alpha version! mwah~!

>I still don't like the fact that some have gold foil on the spines and some have silver.
It makes me jittery... Further proving my OCD theory.

Me, too...me, too...

This is so fantastic! I was thinking of doing something like this myself but you beat me to it. Saves me a lot of time.

Okay, I have the red fairy book and think it is lovely.
In your opinion, what is the second nicest fairy book for me to get next?

>250 roseforemily:

Oh! That's an easy one! Tying for second place, in any order you like, come the Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink, Grey, Violet, Crimson, Brown, Orange, Olive, and Lilac. Beautifully illustrated by various artists, I love them all!

> 251
So true!

I understand this is an old thread but I am wondering whether anyone can help me complete my set:

I am looking for The Grey, Orange, Lilac and Crimson Fairy Book. I can't seem to find them anywhere. Appreciate any help in pointing me in the right direction.

Many thanks!

I think you just have to be patient. FS will release them again. I'm guessing they will be available again in time for Christmas.

>253 coritabee:
These come up on Abe from time to time.
Add a "want" to your Abe books account, and they will email you when one becomes available.

>253 coritabee: you're not alone! I've been scouring eBay and Abe for months with no luck looking for those same colors, as well as olive! I've got faith that I'll find them eventually!

worked for me too ---hooked and had to buy them all.

I need space and funds for more books (as well as for building work on xraymansions). The solution is to sell books I have duplicates of /will not get around to reading. The Lang fairy books take a lot of space and are fetching good money, the question I have is whether to list individually or as a set?

>259 xrayman: I have the same storage problem and also have considered selling. I see, on ABE, someone in the States is selling a set for over £4,000 which makes each volume worth over £330. Of course, in real life, some of the books are only worth £20-£30; others are unavailable and hard to price.
I'd be pleased to see my set go for, say £1500 and even happier with £4000...

>260 Constantinopolitan: That is interesting, although offer prices and selling prices can be very different. I'm inclined towards listing those which seem to be selling well. However my FAD is such, that if I keep some volumes, I will at some time feel the urge to complete the set again!

Thanks to all those who sent PM . Following advice I'll be listing them separately.

I picked up the entire set recently, in fine condition, for circa £550. Thinking I got myself a good deal.

>263 LondonLawyer:

Nice indeed. That would still be too rich for my blood, but I agree it's a good deal.

Reviving a very old thread to post some interesting (well, I think they are interesting) statistics about the Fairy Books.
Following are the Lang Fairy Books and the number of Library Thing members who have listed these books in their collection, which will show to some extent which are the more common and easiest to find, and those that are the hardest to find.
The Blue was in print until quite recently and is by far the most common. Good luck if you are searching for the Olive!

Blue 3714
Red 1923
Green 1476
Yellow 1238
Pink 965
Violet 836
Crimson 834
Brown 822
Lilac 788
Grey 758
Orange 757
Olive 724

>265 wcarter: I saw a post on one of the Facebook groups earlier today of someone who recently acquired the entire set - $2200 (USD).

>263 LondonLawyer: That WAS a good deal! I sold my olive and grey off each for that price alone.

I have a first printing of the Green for trade if anyone is interested? I'm in the USA.

>267 Willoyd: This was way back at the beginning of my Folio Society journey. I remember thinking, at the time, how utterly bonkers I must be to spend so much money on mere books!