Winnie-the-Pooh, Easton Press vs. Folio Society

Hey everyone!

Currently both Easton Press and the Folio Society are selling Winnie-the-Pooh books, and I am looking to add one of them into my collection. Easton Press is currently selling a single book which contains 'the complete tales and poems' and the Folio Society has their Pooh collection spread across 3 books.

Does anyone have either of these books? I'm trying to compare the content, but Easton Press only offers a few pictures of the content, and I cannot find any videos online. The Folio version has a YouTube video that shows some of the content, including added sketches. However, Easton Press specifically advertises their book as 'unabridged', and I don't know if that means the Folio Society sells an abridged version.

If anyone knows more about this, I would appreciate some help!

Link to Easton Press version:
https://www.eastonpress.com/all-categories/literature/a.a.-milne-the-complete-ta...

Link to Folio Society version:
https://www.foliosociety.com/row/authors/winnie-the-pooh-collection

I have neither, but it might be worth pointing out that with EP, you can return the book really easily if it's not to your liking. This goes hand in hand with my favorite selection method, too: when given two options, choose both!

>2 treereader: Thanks for the advice! Unfortunately, I am 23 and just starting out with my 'more expensive books' collection, and it isn't in my financial means yet to purchase both. Maybe in a few years!

>3 BookDragons:

I envy you then, just starting out on this noble quest. Surely, someone else with more knowledge will chime in with a better answer. In the mean time, though, you might try calling both publishers to get more detail. With EP, though, call during normal business hours on a weekday - that way you’ll get an actual EP customer service rep who has a fighting chance of possibly having good answers; the after-hours MBI reps pretty much only take orders for new sales and know very little about the books.

>1 BookDragons: If you're on Facebook (though I realize at 23 you probably consider this the old folks' social network!), there is a very active Folio Society group which would be a great place to post your question, with a high probability of getting some good answers. There are also a couple of Easton Press groups, but they are more buy/sell oriented and have relatively little by way of community activity. By the way, both the FS & EP groups are good sources for second-hand bargains on books from both publishers!

Fans of the Folio Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/60943174501/
Folio Society Buy/Sell/Trade: https://www.facebook.com/groups/foliosocietybst/

Easton Press Book Collectors: https://www.facebook.com/groups/699018980467932/
Easton Press Book Collecting Buy/Sell/Trade: https://www.facebook.com/groups/327325557875254/

Good Luck and Welcome to Fine Book Collecting!

>4 treereader: Thank you for your help, and taking the time to answer me! I am very happy to step up my collection, I'm already surrounded by books, but these beautiful editions EP/Folio all publish are next level! I've already been looking for more publishers (like Juniper and the Barnes&Noble editions), would you have any recommendations for me to put on my watchlist?

>5 whytewolf1: Thanks for your help and welcome wishes! I will post in those groups too (and start the bargain hunting ;) )!

>7 BookDragons: If you are looking for a Complete Winnie the Pooh edition, you may as well purchase the regular Dutton edition on Amazon as the EP edition is Dutton simply wrapped in leather:

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Tales-Poems-Winnie-Pooh/dp/0525467262/ref=pd_car...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/EASTON-PRESS-Complete-Stories-and-Poems-of-Winnie-The-P...

If you are interested in a 4-volume facsimile copy of the original books, EP reproduced a set, which for a time came with a wooden holder for storage. FS also sold a 4-volume facsimile set in a slipcase, but it has no FS identifying marks (only Methuen):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Winnie-the-Pooh-Collectors-Ed-4-Book-Slipcase-Luxury-Se...

>8 EPsonNY: Thank you for your help! I did see the Dutton version, but I hadn't known they had the same contents. I'm not really a fan of the design of the dust jacket, although the customer reviews show that the book has a nice look when it's removed. Then it looks quite like the 4-volume set you linked.

I'll start looking for some photos of the content of the Dutton version, and compare that to what I can see of the Folio books.

>6 BookDragons:

From a luxury-versus-value proposition, I think you've already hit upon the two publishers that offer the best bang for your buck: Easton Press and Folio Society. Both easily surpass trade hardbacks in terms of materials, durability, looks, and general design, yet they are not completely unaffordable, either.

Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, and similar publishers use lesser quality materials and often suffer from tiny fonts and/or multiple books crammed into one binding.

Library of America (LoA) produces rather comprehensive collections in pretty-well built books but are lacking in terms of illustrations. Centipede Press focuses on horror and some sci-fi, and does a generally good job.

Defunct publishers, such as Franklin Library and Limited Editions Club (LEC), are often good bets. The former produced leather-bound books that rivaled Easton Press in terms of material quality. These can be found on the used market at very affordable prices. The latter produced rather superior designs but have aged considerably; the worn examples sell for cheap and the finer examples still command high prices.

There are very expensive options out there, too, such as Arion Press. but that's probably moving in the wrong direction.

There are plenty other publishers of interest out there - I'd ask the others in this group to weigh in on their favorites, too.

>10 treereader: Well said. With regards to the LEC, some of those are just amazingly affordable, but prices have been going up, and some that used to be affordable are now hundreds of dollars, while others can even be thousands. Truthfully though, as whole it is arguably the greatest library ever published.