What is the one, must-have Folio book?

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What is the one, must-have Folio book?

1Kainzow
Jul 31, 2021, 3:26 pm

Is there any such Folio book that you would recommend?

Maybe based on the text itself: an already much-revered classic that becomes even more enjoyable/significant with the Folio treatment?

Or based on the book's visual aspects: gorgeous illustrations, beautiful binding, nice font and paper, nice size, value for money, etc ?

2adriano77
Jul 31, 2021, 4:08 pm

Russell's History of Western Philosophy, both for its content and design (earlier printings done in leather). I don't know what the prices are like now but it was great value just a few years ago. The Malay Archipelago (Alfred Russel Wallace) is also worth a mention.

3mr.philistine
Jul 31, 2021, 4:09 pm

>1 Kainzow: One is not nearly enough :)
But speaking of 'must-haves', allow me to recommend this post of 'must buys' by dlphcoracl, which I have followed almost religiously:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/195047#5258724

4NLNils
Editado: Jul 31, 2021, 4:13 pm

DUNE

The total package is just one, if not indeed the best of the last few years. Perennial bestseller since its launch in 2015. Sales will probably be propelled even further with the movie launch in September.

5LBShoreBook
Jul 31, 2021, 4:27 pm

Moby Dick LE would be my vote.

6PartTimeBookAddict
Jul 31, 2021, 4:35 pm

The Aubrey-Maturin set if I can cheat a little. It's great on the shelf. Great illustrations. Great size for reading. It's the last thing I would hold onto if downsizing.

7gmacaree
Jul 31, 2021, 4:43 pm

Hmmm. I was going to say the Moby-Dick LE but you can of course get very nice (nicer, even!) copies elsewhere. So I'll go with an out-of-left field choice: In Parenthesis

8terebinth
Editado: Jul 31, 2021, 5:00 pm

>2 adriano77: Russell's History of Western Philosophy... I don't know what the prices are like now...

I finally bought it about a fortnight ago, £50 for a second impression copy in the same condition as the Folio books I did buy back in 2004, which is to say just about indistinguishable from new. Have only read a few chapters so far, hence I'll not consider naming it as the essential Folio book: maybe in a year or two. For now I'll go with the three-volume 2006 Montaigne, by a short head from the Anatomy of Melancholy which lives next to it on the shelf. By no means typical Folio productions as neither is illustrated, but the spines delight me, the boards benefit from Ann Muir's superb marbling, and (the most important element of course) both texts are very well presented and, to me, inexhaustible.



9kdweber
Jul 31, 2021, 5:17 pm

Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney

10jroger1
Jul 31, 2021, 5:26 pm

Gargantua and Pantagruel LE, translated by M. A. Screech and illustrated by Gustave Dore.

11RRCBS
Jul 31, 2021, 5:44 pm

>7 gmacaree: curious about which publishers you think have the nicest Moby Dick?

12warehouseisbare
Jul 31, 2021, 6:35 pm

+1 Dune

13dlphcoracl
Jul 31, 2021, 6:45 pm

>11 RRCBS:

If cost is no object, the Arion Press edition of Moby Dick is a landmark edition - one of the finest examples of pure private press typography in the twentieth century. Toss in nearly one hundred whaling related wood engravings by Barry Moser which he researched meticulously and this edition is in a class by itself.

A very different but revered private press edition is the three-volume set from the Lakeside Press (1930) with a fabulous set of illustrations by Rockwell Kent. Again, this one is not for the faint of wallet.

14Jobasha
Jul 31, 2021, 7:30 pm

As others have said:

- Beowulf (Heaney)
- Piers the Plowman
- If Not Winter

To add my own favourites:

- Folktales of Britain: Narratives and Legends
- Roberts' Egypt and Nubia etc.

15wcarter
Jul 31, 2021, 8:36 pm

King Henry’s Pryer Book LE
As for a standard edition -
Beowulf

16Nerevarine
Editado: Jul 31, 2021, 10:37 pm

Excluding limited editions, my first thought went to Heaney’s Beowulf.

But to add another one to the thread, I’d go with The Call of Cthulhu. Mesmerizing binding, endpapers and illustrations.

17Sorion
Jul 31, 2021, 10:37 pm

The Heaney Beowulf stands head and shoulder above the rest. For the last ten years at least. If you had to own only one FS production I would recommend it be that.

18dlphcoracl
Jul 31, 2021, 10:40 pm

Either the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf or the deluxe edition of Thoreau's Walden with the historical Herbert W. Gleason photographs.

19Kainzow
Jul 31, 2021, 11:38 pm

Oh, I knew somehow that everybody would mention Beowulf. I could have got it on sale, but unfortunately at the time, I wasn't even a uni student and had just graduated from high school, so I couldn't afford it. :/

20Charon49
Editado: Ago 1, 2021, 12:06 am

I would put the Three Kingdoms right up there. Beautiful bindings in 4 huge volumes with large amount of classic illustrations.

21wcarter
Ago 1, 2021, 12:04 am

22Kainzow
Ago 1, 2021, 4:12 am

And except Dune, I don't own any of the books mentioned above, haha.

Hmm, I'm somehow surprised that none of the other £75 books has been mentioned, like the Gaiman novels, for example. ( I don't own them yet, but Anansi Boys does look like a fine piece of work)

23SF-72
Ago 1, 2021, 4:45 am

>22 Kainzow:

Anansi Boys definitely came to my mind, it's so well made. But I frankly would recommend more than one novel, which is why I didn't post here before your mention of it.

24red_guy
Ago 1, 2021, 8:00 am

Folio 60 - one book to rule them all.

25Betelgeuse
Editado: Ago 1, 2021, 8:53 am

Faerie Queen LE

Honorable Mentions: Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, and Canterbury Tales with Eric Gill illustrations.

I agree that the Aubrey-Maturin series is striking as a set.

26RogerBlake
Editado: Ago 2, 2021, 7:09 pm

I'll offer two suggestions:

(1) King James Bible SE - that is simply a beautiful production with nice thick paper and
well printed with red highlights and nicely bound. Actually nicer IMO than the leatherbound
two volume LE.

Edited 03/08/2021 As someone pointed out the paper is actually quite thin - my memory is bad :-( - but it is not so thin as to crease with every useage or page turn which has happened with other books I have which use tissue-like paper.

(2) Walden - which someone else here has also mentioned ...
https://www.librarything.com/topic/334040#
(3) Herefordshire Pomona - proving both that I have got superb taste and I can't count :-)

27abysswalker
Ago 1, 2021, 12:57 pm

This was surprisingly hard to choose. Limiting my consideration to books I own, I'd have to settle on the two-volume Paradise Lost set with the John Martin mezzotints. It's not the nicest made Folio I own, or the rarest/most pricy, but as a book it's excellently made and is the best realization of my favorite illustrations for my favorite poem.

Runners up:

The recent Zarathustra. Perfect illustrations, excellent translation, everything about the design is great. The only thing I would change is to upgrade the paper and print letterpress. But that probably wouldn't happen even for a limited edition now, so what can you do? There are not really any other quality editions of Zarathustra, either. (The LEC edition is nicely printed and attractively designed but uses a terrible translation.)

The Book of the New Sun LE. Excellent realization of one of my favorite novels. Given the problems with the standard edition, I'm so glad I splurged on this when it came out. I also generally prefer long novels to be split into several smaller volumes, and four books suits the work better than two (in addition to being how the works were originally released). At the time, it was the most I had ever spent on a single work, and it was the release that got me paying attention to Folio Society. As with Zarathustra, if you appreciate Wolfe there are not really any other games in town.

Finally, the Gormenghast trilogy set in either printing (I think they are more or less the same other than the spine design, but I've only handled the version that I own, which is the more recent set with horizontal title text). Lovely set, and one of the most generous Folio editions when it comes to quantity of illustrations, which suit the work perfectly.

These are somewhat personal and idiosyncratic selections, but I chose all of them based not just on overall quality of book but rather books where the Folio Society edition in particular offered some unique quality that one can't get from any other offering.

28abysswalker
Ago 1, 2021, 1:02 pm

>16 Nerevarine: the standard edition Cthulhu also has a more attractive and distinctive binding (in my opinion) compared to the limited edition, which is both synthetic leather and, while striking, not as unique or attractive as the shimmering green/purple of the standard edition.

29laotzu225
Ago 1, 2021, 1:05 pm

An impossible question but I have a long-time favorite which no one has yet mentioned. I remember reading it to my younger daughter when it came out:
Mistress Masham's Repose beautiful silk binding and stunning illustrations enhancing a delightful story.

30adriano77
Ago 1, 2021, 1:33 pm

>27 abysswalker:

Paradise Lost is a definite regret of mine (on sale too, I think for $75 only at one point). The artwork is stunning.

New Sun LE is another. Hadn't read it so I couldn't justify the purchase, even if I loved the design. Given what happened with the SE, it's even more disappointing.

31ubiquitousuk
Ago 1, 2021, 2:00 pm

Sticking to standard editions only, my picks would be as follows (with links to the blog posts where I elaborate on the things I like about them).

Treasure Island, 2014 (https://ubiquitousbooks.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/treasure-island/)
Call of Cthulhu, 2017 (https://ubiquitousbooks.wordpress.com/2020/05/21/the-call-of-cthulhu-other-weird-stories/)
Steppenwolf, 2018 (https://ubiquitousbooks.wordpress.com/2020/05/23/steppenwolf/)

32ASheppard
Ago 1, 2021, 2:19 pm

From my shelves...

The most sumptuous FS volume - Heaney's Beowulf; the production quality of this edition is superb.

The 6, I think, volumes including 'The Natural History & Antiquities of Selbourne'; 'Our Village'; 'Rides Round Britain' etc bound in quarter buckram with marbled papers by Ann Muir, illustrated with lovely engravings - so inexpensive to pick up now on the 2nd hand market. An example, I think, of FS at it's best and in the ethos of 'format worthy of the contents, at a price within the reach of everyman'.

33behemoththecat
Ago 1, 2021, 2:39 pm

Limiting it to what I own and hopefully what hasn’t been said, I’d say my suggestions are probably:

SPQR by Mary Beard. I never understood the hype surrounding this edition (at least on FB) until I held it in my hand. The cloth slipcase has a beautifully simple design, whilst the book itself looks and feels amazing. The spacing out of the images inside is very nice and probably my favourite feature. I used SPQR a lot in uni, as Beard’s stance on Augustus and the Res Gestae was tremendously easy to criticise in my essays.

An Eyewitness History of the Crusades by Christopher Tyerman. The spines are only rivalled by The Quran for how well they stand out, and the covers continue the design on the front and back. Tyerman is perhaps my favourite historian, and God’s War is certainly deserving of a Folio.

34lgreen666
Ago 1, 2021, 3:48 pm

The LE edition of The Sound and the Fury

close follow up is the large format of Natural History of Selborne, Mommsen's (abridged) History of Rome and of the more recent editions the two volume (abridged) Golden Bough

35Andrew14
Ago 2, 2021, 3:40 am

The LE of Ulysses.

36Cat_of_Ulthar
Ago 2, 2021, 2:05 pm

The one that got away (until next time) ;-

37boldface
Ago 2, 2021, 6:44 pm

>26 RogerBlake: "King James Bible SE - that is simply a beautiful production with nice thick paper and
well printed with red highlights"

Is that the 2008 edition? If so, I don't understand where the red highlights are. Admittedly, I have the 2011 reprint but there is no red text (if that is what you are referring to). I queried this with FS at the time because their publicity implied that the SE had red headings in the text. They then admitted that that feature was only applicable to the LE 2-volume version. Also, I would have said the paper is decidedly thin - necessarily so because of the length of the book. As it is, it's 2.75 inches (6.8 cm) thick.

Just curious to know if we're talking about the same edition. I agree it's a nice book, worthy of inclusion in this topic!

38RogerBlake
Editado: Ago 3, 2021, 12:52 pm

>>37 boldface:

Book titles, page headers and chapter numbers are in red.

Yes you are right, the pages are thin - my memory is bad! but the paper is not so thin that pages crease on every handling or page turn which I've had in other books which use tissue like paper.

My copy is dated 2008.

Edited 03/08/2021 to correct "Chapter titles" to read "Book titles".

39boldface
Ago 2, 2021, 7:27 pm

>38 RogerBlake:

That's interesting. So the reprint was downgraded. if I'd known that at the time I would have looked for a first printing over the new impression.

40RogerBlake
Editado: Ago 3, 2021, 12:57 pm

>39 boldface:

Sorry I mean't "Book titles" NOT "Chapter titles"! but I expect you realised that ?

41boldface
Ago 3, 2021, 3:34 pm

>40 RogerBlake:

Yes indeed, but there is no red at all in my copy.

42RogerBlake
Ago 3, 2021, 6:33 pm

>41 boldface:

So probably I shouldn't mention I also left out that the bottom page numbers are also red ...

Is your version gilded on top text edge and does it have a red ribbon marker?

I must admit to being rather shocked that the Folio Society would be that cheap but then again several of my books with leather on the covers are now reprinted using buckram ...

43AnnieMod
Ago 3, 2021, 6:38 pm

>42 RogerBlake: I wonder if some(all?) of the first printing used the LE printed leaves thus ending up with a more luxurious first printing than they planned for the SE to start with...

44RogerBlake
Editado: Ago 3, 2021, 7:01 pm

>43 AnnieMod:

That's possible - but I have two copies and both have the red. The 2009 prospectus mentions the
red but 2012 prospectus does not. The latter states it was reprinted for 400th anniversary so it was especially mean to remove the red highlights at that point. You'd think they'd do something extra for the anniversary edition not remove a feature!

It is not in 2008 prospectus so I am not sure when the SE was first announced ...

45boldface
Ago 3, 2021, 7:24 pm

>42 RogerBlake: "Is your version gilded on top text edge and does it have a red ribbon marker?"

Yes to both.

>43 AnnieMod:

That makes sense, given FS were still inadvertently advertising the red highlights for the standard edition in 2011 when the monochrome second printing was issued. I had ordered it on the expectation that it had the extra features, because I already had a copy of the (plain black and white) The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible with the Apocrypha : King James Version (Cambridge University Press, 2005) on which the FS edition is based.

46boldface
Ago 3, 2021, 8:34 pm

Putting aside my digression, my must-have Folio book is The History of the Great Rebellion by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, abridged and edited by Roger Lockyer, and published by the Society in 1967 (Folio 60, no. 237). It's a fine edition by any standard and has an extra sentimental value for me because, among the various titles my father ordered that year, this was the one which first hit my teenage self with the "wow factor" that FS books at their best exert on an impressionable reader. Its striking binding, beautiful laid paper and fine letterpress printing had me hooked from then on. (I'm afraid my hastily poor photos of the inside don't do it justice.)






47ultrarightist
Ago 4, 2021, 11:06 am

>46 boldface: A worthy choice.

48podaniel
Ago 4, 2021, 12:05 pm

>46 boldface:: Agreed. I bought it on the secondary market some years ago and was pleasantly surprised by the reasonable asking price (may not be the case now given the inflationary contagion affecting all things Folio at the moment).

49Hamwick
Editado: Ago 4, 2021, 1:00 pm

>48 podaniel: after Boldfaces’ post I was interested enough to check on eBay and AbeBooks. There are a number on there all very reasonably priced. £20 - £30, some less.

50DMulvee
Ago 4, 2021, 7:14 pm

The Malay Archipelago

51L.Bloom
Ago 5, 2021, 8:42 am

If we are only speaking of SE's I'll put in Ulysses