EP and FS books on my shelves

Love how my friends and relatives give complements on my Easton press editions while completely ignoring my Folio Society editions. Couple of my friends (who are also book lovers) told me to put my fs editions away since they do not look good next to my ep editions. Lol

Alas - you cannot judge a book by its cover!

I mix mine more or less by subject or genre and don’t much care how they look. The thing I miss most about the FS regular editions are the ribbon markers. Fortunately, I have quite a collection of bookmarks from my travels. I recently bought several nice leather ones at Nottingham Castle and the Sherwood Forest Museum.

>2 GOBOGIE: hey, we are Easton press collectors. Of course we judge books by its covers.

>3 jroger1: I would love to have leather bookmarks for my fs editions

>4 fancythings:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Leather-BOOKMARK-ROBIN-HOOD-Sherwood-Forest-Visitor-Cen...

It’s more fun to be there, though.

>5 jroger1: very nice . I’m sure it is a lot of fun.

I like them both. I've since re-arranged them but this is what it looked like before. I don't really try and categorize them, but place them in what I can fit more efficiently.

>7 JuliusC: Love the naked FS LEs

>7 JuliusC: absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

>1 fancythings: then move them

>7 JuliusC: wow! both the looks and the price lol

>10 HamburgerHelper: I like them where they are. A lot of people don’t know that FS regular editions, even though they look like regular books, are good quality books and pleasure to read.

>7 JuliusC: I aspire to have as full a library of gorgeous books as this. Little bit by little bit I am getting there...

:)

>12 Neil_Luvs_Books: Now add a few Limited Editions Club books to your desired list. A good number of them can still be found in fine or near fine condition. Then you'll be hopelessly hooked. :)

>16 Bob_Reader:
>1 fancythings:
I love them both, and have roughly equal quantities of both. But I also have a lot of Franklin Library, Loeb, Everyman's Library, Library of America, and Lakeside Classics. The EPs, Franklin Library, and Folio Society I mix together on the shelf more or less by subject matter but also by visual aesthetics. I find that breaking up the leather with some colorful buckram is visually pleasing, at least to me. The others like Everyman's I group together in one bloc. In my case, most people don't pay one bit of attention to my library. Those that do are drawn to the EPs as much as the FS, et. al..... But it all comes down to personal taste. The Folio Society Devotees seem mostly opposed to EP, though I think part of that is that many FS Devotees can't get EP overseas. To each his or her own. I'm right smack dib in the middle of the introversion / extroversion axis on Myers-Briggs, so it doesn't surprise me that I'm in the middle of the FS-EP Devotees axis, too.

>16 Bob_Reader:

It depends on the book. I like the look and feel of leather, but Folio usually has cleaner fonts in their standard editions. Illustrations are a matter of personal preference.

I can say that i really like my ep books both limited, regular and signed. I also like my FS limited but not as much. We stopped buying FS regular editions altogether since we don’t like their quality and paper slipcases look cheap and out of place. I really don’t like most of FS books. To each it’s own... But, I find EP books more pleasurable to read, better quality, illustrations, traditional looks and yes leatherrrrr!

I'm right there with >17 Betelgeuse: ... 'smack dab in the middle'.

My interest in 'reading' came late ... only 5 or 6 years ago. I started with an infatuation with EP DLE's and it spread into quickly filling up a library with a good amount of their older standard editions and DLE's. I found myself going to my local used book store twice a week and finding three to ten new purchases each week.

Then I stumbled on a few FS titles and did the same thing.

After 6 years of this I still adore all my older EP and FS titles (and there are still several I am on the hunt for).

As for more recent publications of both EP and FS ... I've lost a bit of my love for them ... production quality has definitely slipped with both.

But that said ... there are several of each i've purchased in more recent years that I still think are wonderful.

Customer service wise ... FS has been nothing but a pleasure to deal with in every one of my experiences. EP ... it's been 70/30 ... mostly good experiences.

>20 thisGuy33: Agree, especially on customer service.
>19 fancythings: I don't worry about the paper slipcases because in almost every case, I've discarded them. That's sacrilege to most FS Devotees, I know, but with over 1000 books in my collection I'm just about out of shelf space, and eliminating slipcases allows me to add an extra two or three books to each shelf. I've kept a few that are very distinctive, but for the most part, they're gone!

>21 Betelgeuse: let’s where FS slipcases belong, in the garbage lol

>19 fancythings:

This is an odd position to take. I like both EP and FS, each for a variety of reasons, but FS simply can’t be disregarded on a quality basis. They can easily meet or exceed EP’s output in areas of material choice, durability, layout, illustrations, and (especially) readability. I can see aesthetic preference pushing someone more towards one than the other, or perhaps geographic location versus availability, but not quality.

>23 Bob_Reader: NOT ME!!!

The EP vs. FS question is an interesting one. Generally, I have found the FS produces books of greater readability, in terms of font size and layout. But the covers of EP books, even if only from the lower-cut "genuine leather," are quite pretty and (in my opinion) superior to the FS covers. So I shelve my FS separate from my EP and (full leather) FL books.

An exception: some FS books have quarter-leather bindings, of course, and those I shelve with the EP and FL books. The sea of leather is quite attractive.

>27 Bob_Reader: https://www.facebook.com/groups/327325557875254/

Mostly buying and selling activity to be honest, though there are some general posts.

I don't know if you're into Folio, also, but that group has a much more robust community.

>28 whytewolf1: in fact FS is one of the most robust book forums on Librarything. Wondering if this robustness is due to a much larger customer base or if the Brits are simply more loquacious in discussing books.

>29 HugoDumas:
The FS forum has 1,997 members compared to EP’s 654. And judging from the number of inconsequential posts on the Devotees site, I suspect that it has a younger membership. Right now they have a thread of 133 posts guessing what books will go on sale this month.

>29 HugoDumas: Indeed, it is. I don't know that FS does have a much larger customer base than EP (if at all), but I suspect at least some of it stems from the fact that for many years FS was membership-based. They also have a strong social media presence, and generally, just seem to "speak" to their customers in a more conversational way through their emails and even their website content.

I love the books from both companies, but EP certainly feels more transactional to me, from the spare descriptions on their website to their aggressive follow-up marketing emails. It may be that Folio's somewhat warmer approach to customer interaction helps spur more of a community feel.

On the other hand, maybe "the Brits are simply more loquacious in discussing books." lol

>30 jroger1: That is an excellent point, and it follows from my point about FS's social media presence and their more conversational approach with customers. The guessing game aspect may be annoying to some, but it is extremely smart marketing since it produces conversation and social media buzz. The new seasonal "collections" that FS has long done are a smart way to approach new releases, and I think EP would definitely benefit from a similar approach.

New items on EP's website pop up erratically, often without much of a formal announcement on their part and certainly without any build-up of anticipation.

>32 whytewolf1: community envy! And I believe FS has created this vibrant community (as an example join FS on Facebook).

EP does not appear to be involved in this community at all.

>26 Eumnestes: the “sea of leather is attractive” though with the exception of the EP DLEs the FS books are superior books in terms of readability. As an example EP will have gutter margins that are ludicrous sometimes as small as 1/2 inch. This is particularly problematic with thick books. And the fonts on FS are much clearer.

>33 HugoDumas:
I once suggested to the Devotees that we would all be winners if EP and FS would cooperate by producing books with EP exteriors and FS interiors. I don’t know whether they would have preferred electrocution, gas, hanging, or firing squad, but I was glad the discussion was online rather than in person.

>34 jroger1: you are correct, we should have FS interiors and EP exteriors. I am reading EP Nicholas Nickleby Famous Edition now and annoyed by the lack of a practical gutter margin. Who designs and approves such crappy layouts on these expensive books? At times we will have a 2” outer margin and insignificant 1/2” inner margin. Not to mention the faithless abominable reproductions of historical novels such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin DLE.

>32 whytewolf1:
I find the disparity quite comical. MBI, EP's parent company, is a poster child for being the traditional marketing company that sells (it-doesn't-matter-what-because-they-don't-care). They seem unable to keep up with the times in terms of marketing and direct communication with existing and potential customers. Folio, however, has it figured out (especially social media) and seems to be thriving. I wish EP would get on the bandwagon and embrace social marketing, too, so they have less of that dying business vibe.

>34 jroger1:
I think that must be the classic "cheer for the home team" behavior, with puzzling explanations made up after the fact. EP has its good qualities, so it's hard to comprehend the outright dismissals.

>33 HugoDumas:
Well, there has been evidence of a mole here.

>36 treereader: I agree wholeheartedly. As someone who has significant professional experience in marketing, I sometimes think that aside from utilizing new technology such as email, that EP hasn't updated its marketing tactics since the 1980s, or at least on the tech side since about 2007 or so. I actually got an email yesterday with an animated countdown timer saying that my "reserved" limited editions that I had been viewing were about to be "released. Lol... do people actually still fall for crap like that?