Folio Summer 2022 Collection

The Road goes ever on and on, and it's just a week or so left. We had some predictions that didn't happen in the Spring thread. New Bond, new Sharpe? Will the Folio 75 winning book be announced?

Spoiler-

Jeff VanderMeer let slip he did an introduction for consider phelbas by iain m banks a while ago so I think it will turn up this collection possibly.

I asked Folio about Bond and they said the next volume won’t appear till the winter collection.

>4 SolerSystem:

Thanks for that information. I really hope this delay doesn't mean that they won't do the short stories. I'd really like the set to be complete.

>5 strangenews:

I thought that was longer ago! I think you are right probably too soon for this collection more likely the next or one after.

There’ll be a new edition of John Keay’s India: A History.

https://www.johnkeay.com/single-post/new-editions

I hope there's more variety in the fiction for summer. For the spring collection they seemed to have a "illustrations of sad-looking women" theme and that wasn't really for me.

The Secret Commonwealth is due. The third book isn’t even written yet but they may as well produce it this year while the tv series is still around.

I'm hoping for the appearance of a Nabokov title (they mentioned one was in the pipeline a whole ago).

>8 LondonLawyer: Well spotted!

(I'm slightly surprised FS are re-printing this when there are numerous copies of the current 2-vol. edition of Keay's India available on the secondary market at a reasonable price, and so many other fascinating non-fiction works they've never touched.)

>11 strangenews: "the promised 8 book Dark Tower series"

Where did you see that?

>13 cronshaw: As you say , secondary copies are easy to find - I picked up a brand new sealed copy online for £25 a couple of months ago, so not sure why they feel a reprint is needed (especially when they’ll likely be charging around £150 for it) - unless its a completely new/updated edition ?!

I’ve been on the fence about Keay’s India…has anyone read it? Is it really well done?

>13 cronshaw: >15 antinous_in_london: the reprints are not for old devotees who knew FS for like 80 years. its for the new customers.

>15 antinous_in_london: It’s probably a redesign to be in series with the Keays China edition.

>18 assemblyman: looks like there’s a revised version, so maybe that’s the driver.

>17 HamburgerHelper: You mean new customers like me who bought a brand new copy for £25 only 2 months ago as they’re cheap & easily available so probably wont want to buy a slightly tweaked reprint for £150 ?

>20 antinous_in_london: The vast majority of new FS customers aren’t forum enthusiasts like you and me though. They don’t take the time to do research, on eBay or anywhere else.

>20 antinous_in_london: yes

>14 SDB2012:

I think it was due to the fantasy survey Folio said they planned on adapting the dark tower.

>21 Nerevarine: Depends on the market - if your out of print £40 book is selling on the secondary market for £400 it tells you there’s a definite market for a reprint - if your £80 book is selling for £25 on the secondary market it probably tells you that the market maybe isn't as big for a reprint.

If they have to do a Stephen King the only ones I'd be excited about would be an early stand alone classic like Salem's Lot or Carrie and probably only then if they nailed the illustrations (as in not overly literal portraits of random people who are supposed to represent the characters like with the Folio edition of The Shining).

>25 strangenews: hah! I even posted in that thread. Funny what a year of the pandemic does to the memory...

I'd love a fine copy of The Dark Tower series. There are some parts of it that drive me nuts but overall, I love it and it's one of the best fantasy series. If FS ever made a LE, they'd better fix the website first. The LOTR web issues would be a drop in the bucket compared to thousands of King fans trying to grab a copy.

>20 antinous_in_london: I don’t think it will be the slightly tweaked version. This book was updated in 2011 and according to Amazon listing it is “ Fully revised with forty thousand new words that take the reader up to present-day India,”. Not only that, there is another upcoming third edition. Folio society is printing that third edition. So, there will be a lot of updated material.

>28 Mujaddadi: I think you’re right, though for me present-day India is one of the least interesting periods in its history so a few revisions & an extra chapter covering the period between the last edition & the 3rd probably wouldn’t make it an impulse purchase. I imagine it’ll be tweaked to sit alongside the China history, though there seemed to be a lot of grumbles on that set about what you were getting for the price (& i imagine the China history will only fly when it’s in a sale).

>30 strangenews: That's some crafty enablement right there, strangenews. ;-)

The teaser stack is up.

https://i.imgur.com/EOVnPWu.jpeg

Second book from the top, possibly The Tombs of Atuan? One of the clues is 'a highly-anticipated continuation of a Folio series'.

Peek-a-boo!

No idea what it is but I love it when they do a design on the page ends.

The blurb from the twitter:

"The Summer Collection is nearly here! There are nine spectacular new editions to add to your shelves. From a trailblazing travel title to a science-fiction collection and a highly-anticipated continuation of a Folio series, there is something here for every reader"

Nine new ones, ten in the stack, so one reprint - anyone recognize the reprint?

I agree with >34 SolerSystem: as the size looks right and the dark and earthy colours that I can see would seem right for it. The bottom two are probably the reissue/revised History of India. From the teaser message they mention a science fiction collection which may be a specific author collection (Philip K Dick Short Stories SE?) as they had an anthology SF edition previously.

Is the reprint the Jekyll and Hyde? Or is that new?

>39 coffeewithastraw: I just received an email from FS announcing its reprint but I don't see it in the pile. You would assume it should be there with it being so close to the new summer release.

>39 coffeewithastraw:

Jekyll and Hyde is a reprint.

>39 coffeewithastraw:

Jekyll and Hyde is certainly a reprint but whether it's the reprint I have no idea. Would they consider the History of India a reprint? And are they counting that as one volume or two? Guess we'll have to wait till next week to find out.

Any chance of the next Wizard of Earthsea or too close to the reprint?

>40 assemblyman: >41 adriano77: >42 folio_books:

Thanks- it is strange it isn’t in the stack…

Edit: oh-its not in the stack because its available for purchase now. Takes me a minute sometimes…

>38 assemblyman: agree India probably bottom 2.

>45 strangenews: Maybe just a single volume 'best of'.

Or maybe even a selection of the work of some other writer of SF. I'm told there are several.

>45 strangenews: I agree, but in all probability I am way off in my guess.

>38 assemblyman: I saw someone on Facebook speculate that the one with the eyes may be Dangerous Visions. I'd love if that were the case- I've suggested it several times to Folio and Centipede Press.

>48 SolerSystem: That would be a good one!

Dangerous Visions would be a great choice, but the paperback is 656 pages long, and this book doesn't look quite thick enough.

Do you think the book that won the anniversary poll will be included in this collection?

A "trailblazing travel title". I wonder if Thrilling Cities by Ian Fleming fits that bill and fills a Fleming shaped gap until the next Bond title. We know that non-Bond titles including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang haven't posed a rights problem to date, and it could be a good title for some evocative period photography.

>52 foliomusthave: I think a it might be something from the FS travel book survey as >1 strangenews: suggested.

>53 assemblyman: that's very true

Looks like Moby Dick?

I'm terrible at guessing these... my only hint is that the 4th book from the bottom is the travel title as there seems to be a map stacked between it and the book above.

The top books colour scheme seems somewhat similar to Folio's Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Maybe another Agatha Christie book?

Time for another in the Song of Ice and Fire series? Perhaps five and six in the stack?

>58 GuyEP18: I don't think those are in series at all, they're cut a bit different and there's a lot of visible illustration pages only on no 5. It'd be visible on both of them.

>38 assemblyman: I was asking for an SE of the PKD collected stories or a selection at worst so I'm half hoping it's the "Eyes" book. It'd fit the neon/toxic colours they've been using both for the LE Stories and for Ubik, Electric Sheep/Scanner. They also seem to be doing a bit more off the wall things (Electric Sheep/Scanner Darkly double binding, stylized slipcase with cutouts for Ubik) and this would fit that pattern.

>38 assemblyman: The bottom two are almost certainly the Keay's India re-issue; the rear cover colours of orange and green are those of the Indian flag, and the profuse number and wide distribution of illustrations, judging from the text block edge, fits with that of the superb FS China set.

>38 assemblyman:
>60 cronshaw:

To boot, it is technically a new edition if I recall. There were some 'upgrades' to the text?

What's the opposite of a book spine called? What a clever way to print an image there. Has FS ever done this before?

>62 Eastonorfolio: Fore-edge painting is a thing, maybe this is fore-edge printing? They've done it before. Anansi Boys is in print and has a spiderweb motif. Phantom of the Opera is also in print and has a leaf motif. Although neither is a proper image and I can't think of an earlier example.

The book with the eyes must be science fiction: the catchlight in the eyes has the shape of a star.

First teaser image up - looks like it might be from 7 down

>64 strangenews: True, but there aren't any two that obviously match like a multi-volume set would. The fifth and sixth are close but #5 has a lot of illustrations and #6 not nearly as many. Certainly there are different colored bindings on some sets but not so many that have very different binding designs. Nine and ten might go together, but the two very different front/back colors on nine aren't that obvious on ten. But maybe.

Volumes that are much different page counts/thickness are also uncommon and those that do have a thinner volume in the set (like say the photo volumes on Tutankhamun or the Aztecs) have a uniformity of binding style to tie them together. That doesn't appear to be the case, but I guess we'll see in a week.

>67 rsmac: The bottom two do match if it is as suspected the History of India. Both volumes seem to have one side black and then the green and saffron/orange on either one matches the colours of India's flag.

That cloth looks so beautiful!

>68 assemblyman: That seems very likely, a similar colour combination to the previous FS India edition.

>69 RRCBS: The gold and blue/green pattern is certainly attractive. Reminiscent of peacock colouring? My wife's theory is that this might also be something Indian themed, perhaps "a trailblazing travel title" including a separate map (per >56 bacchus.:).

The "highly-anticipated continuation of a Folio series" could well be something from the Greatest Battles series or maybe another Agatha Christie. "Highly-anticipated" sounds more like Games of Thrones or Bond but seems to be neither.

>63 A.Godhelm: Very cool, I just looked at those two books on the FS website. I wonder how much it adds to the overall cost. Thanks for the information.

I think the "highly-anticipated continuation of a Folio series" is most likely The Tombs of Atuan from the Earthsea series. I suspect, as others have guessed, that it's the second book from the top.

A further teaser image appears on the FS twitter feed: https://twitter.com/foliosociety/status/1524344585824215040?s=20&t=dsZQ9POS1...

>73 ian_curtin: What a beautiful binding design, I'm intrigued!

>74 Bamf102:

I'm torn on whether I'm hoping for that or not! My Amaranthine Books copy of Dorian Gray is arriving on Monday but I'd probably still buy a Folio Society version haha.

>73 ian_curtin: That is a gorgeous cover. I'm guessing the subject is fantastical or romantic, though there are other subjects I could see it working for as well. I hope it's a title I want, that would be lovely in the collection!

New teaser up. It looks like a travel book.

And another... https://twitter.com/foliosociety/status/1524760321222746113?s=20&t=60ydpJBW2...

I must admit I find these "teasers" intensely frustrating as I hardly ever have a clue what the book could be.
This, though, I would assume is the "trailblazing travel title" mentioned up-thread...

>75 cronshaw: I agree, it's very intriguing! And maybe the photo is misleading, but it appears to be a cloth cover, which is a plus in my mind per the recent discussion about materials.

>79 assemblyman: Snap!

Any idea when the actual reveal happens? Is it typically a mid-week thing?

>81 Shadekeep: Tuesday is often the release day for most media. The spring collection was announced on a Tuesday so my guess is the 17th.

>82 rsmac: Thank you!

>79 assemblyman: Possibly Time Traveler's Wife

>80 ian_curtin: It's the slipcase, not the cover, so who knows. All you can tell is that he takes his boots off without untying the laces. Harry Houdini?

>74 Bamf102: It appears to be the book directly above the "eyes" book in the stack photo in >36 Caput_Lupinum:. That book in question seems to contain many photos, which would mean it's not Dorian. Plus, the larger format of the book indicates to me it's not a novel like Dorian, which I think would more resemble the books at the top of the stack.

>86 AMindForeverVoyaging: One possibility - The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan. According to the wikipedia there was an abridged edition with illustrations by Folio fave Neil Packer so that might be on Folio's radar.

I think it's one of the travel titles winners from the travel survey last year. The Old Ways Robert McFarlane maybe.

>80 ian_curtin: Agreed, without some more information it is near impossible to guess and just annoying.

chatwin ?

It must be a science-fiction title and that image is all that is left after being blasted by some form of disintegrator ray.

ETA: Sorry I thought I had put the link in to the original post >79 assemblyman:

>91 dfmorgan: I suppose it could be a noir novel and the eyes are someone looking through the slot in the door at a speakeasy. "Ya got the password, bub?" ^_^

It's Holes.

A Walk in the Woods?

>81 Shadekeep: >82 rsmac: Folio replied to a commenter on Instagram and confirmed that the Summer Collection will be released on Tuesday!

Todays teaser.

More Toni Morrison?

Edit - ok, black woman, hoop earrings. I'm changing my guess to "If Beale Street Could Talk" by James Baldwin (1974). Nothing says 1974 like hoop earrings and Folio likes titles with movie tie-ins.

Someone on the Facebook page spotted these from a FS video on TikTok. I think we can confirm the first is Tombs of Atuan.

Another teaser of sorts, though not an official one. I emailed one of my FS contacts regarding next week's collection and included in their response was "anyone who buys something is definitely going to be getting a game-changing surprise along with their order (and I'm not talking free notebooks!)". They have indicated it's okay for me to share that information. I had to ask because it frequently isn't :)

It's a YRTTD lint cloth.

Or a YRTTD NFT ;-)

>100 folio_books: oh neat, as always, excited for the release, though terrible at guessing!

>100 folio_books: a pack of playing cards, or dice

>104 CarltonC:

They also said "I think only a handful of you will find it funny when you work out the surprise I mean. (It's definitely not something anyone has ever asked for, ever)."

>100 folio_books: A free Rob Roy LE with the first 410 orders?

>100 folio_books: A Kelmscott Trapper-Keeper?

>106 cronshaw: Ha! That price is insufficient for me to house that eye blight. They will have to pay me rent to accommodate it on my shelves.

>99 assemblyman: Great that we have TikTok using spies so we can avoid installing that app. Really hoping the 'eyes' book is one I wanna read because the weird design is right up my alley.

>107 Shadekeep:
haha. well, I think I need one of those now, just because.

>99 assemblyman: I have no reason for it, but those pictures just make me think of Murakami, for the book with eyes.

>109 A.Godhelm:

Isn't there an age requirement to make an account on LT? Can't imagine there are any "TikTok" types here.

>112 adriano77: I know of a lot of 30 somethings who use Tik Tok!!

>112 adriano77: What do you mean?

>112 adriano77:

The most active TikTokers I personally know are all in their 60s and 70s. I don't think LibraryThing makes you close your account when you start pulling social security, no.

I mean... Folio Society are on TikTok?

>116 pop24:
Other Folio Society related social media websites -

Facebook here.

Flickr here.

Twitter here.

Pinterest here.

Instagram here.

You Tube here.

Has FS ever done No Country For Old Men? I want a nice hard copy of that one. Does anyone know where one exists?

>118 brokenwolf:
No, not done by FS.

>120 strangenews: I hope so, but I expect that would need to be done in two volumes given the word count.

>117 wcarter: Exactly

>118 brokenwolf: FS has only produced The Road by McCarthy. The only special hard cover edition of No Country I know of is the limited series by B.E. Trice, signed by the author and for sale on the secondary market around 4000-5000 dollars. Suntup produced Blood Meridian and The Road, neither signed by the author, secondary market price ~1500-2000 dollars.
I got and enjoyed the FS edition of The Road and will wait in hope FS publishes more of his work.

>116 pop24: What is this TickTock thing anyway ?

>125 RogerBlake: The most ingenious method yet devised to lower a nation's average IQ. +)

>124 A.Godhelm: I'd love to see all of his work in FS editions.

>127 SDB2012: Same but I think it unlikely. Blood Meridian was on the poll for their 75th anniversary release so it might be happening (even if it didn't win outright). Beyond that and The Road either No Country or The Border Trilogy are possible. My vote would be for the latter honestly. I doubt they'd venture beyond those. But who knows, maybe for a real curveball they'll do Passenger/Stella Maris in a couple of years?

>125 RogerBlake: CCP owned social media platform based around videos of very short length (seconds).

No doubt harvesting a lot of data which is very useful for the regime.

Well they released an image today but it's the same picture we got from the TikTok spy, our friend the green eyed book. As seen in: >99 assemblyman:
These sprayed page edges might be our coolest ones yet.
I guess that answers what they call this technique. "Sprayed".

>130 A.Godhelm:

I've heard the terms sprayed edges and stencilled edges, depending on whether they're a uniform colour or show an image. There's been a rise in those in connection to special editions for independent bookstores in the UK as well as some smaller publishers. I find the stencilled ones in particular very enjoyable, though depending on the chosen colour, sprayed edges can also add something nice to an edition.

Just hope the Folio Society pays as much attention to having the correct text as to what decorative scheme is planned for their new books.

Or is the text subsidiary to the decoration...

>129 Uppernorwood: CCP owned social media platform based around videos of very short length (seconds).

I actually difdn't know that (the Chinese origin) although the original post was slightly tongue-in-cheek

>126 SDB2012: The most ingenious method yet devised to lower a nation's average IQ. +)

Unfortunately I think that comment was a rather accurate summary - especially after reading the TikTok usage stats on Wikipedia!. Probably not that many potential future FS customers there :-(

>133 RogerBlake: Jokes aside there is a book driven group there (Booktok) just like Instagram has bookstagram and other relevant hashes and communities. There's a lot of legitimate criticism of the platform but there's also plenty of "get off my lawn" sentiment for a social media platform that skews a lot younger than the rest. I've tried to avoid Facebook myself but I know there's groups there for FS and other publishers and books in general. Companies go where the people are.

>125 RogerBlake: >129 Uppernorwood: >133 RogerBlake: it is misleading to the point of disinformation to say that TikTok is owned by the CCP (which is the communist party).

It is owned by the private (Chinese) company ByteDance. Like all major companies in China, and especially tech companies, the government has a lot more access to and influence over private companies than in the West, but that is still a far cry from ownership.

There is an informative (and rather critical) CNBC article here, if you are curious to read more. Also check the Funding and Partnerships subsections of the Wikipedia article for more pointers to info related to influence over the company.

(Apologies for perpetuating a mildly off-topic tangent, but we don't need to resort to misstatements when there is plenty to be wary of based on well-sourced info.)

Really no clue about any of the new books this time, except for the India set, since that was already announced. Looking forward to seeing what’s available tomorrow!

Really hope The Tombs of Atuan makes it in.

>135 abysswalker: I wasn’t correct to say that the CCP owns it, but very little happens in China without their approval and input.

Mussolini said fascism is ‘the merger of government and big business’, China’s system isn’t a million miles aware from that.

They’re up! Appearing under the “New Fiction” and “New Non-Fiction” tabs. Looks like a nice collection, combined with what else I had planned to purchase this is going to get expensive...

>139 vmb443: Nice collection.

>139 vmb443: Sweet!
Green eyes book is: Selected Short Stories - Philip K. Dick. Literally what I asked for. "Illustrated by 24 different artists". Very funky design.
Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I know people have been asking for this one.
Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. Le Guin. Predicted in this thread.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson. Did not expect, looks great.
A Perfect Spy - John le Carré. Also requested. Looks like a great haul on the fiction side.

Edit: Looks like the new bonus gift item on orders is a notebook with what looks like a red version of the Murakami bird design?

I think many will be excited by this collection. From my end, I'll be passing on the fiction side. Half of a Yellow Sun catches my eye, but I already have the signed, letterpress TOC Berlin version. On the non-fiction side, Syria is gorgeous and something I asked for in the travel survey, so I'll definitely be picking that one up. India is interesting, but I'll probably try getting hold of a library version first to see if I like the writing before committing.

Nice for those looking for the PKD stories! I probably wouldn’t have bought the LE knowing this would come out! If I wasn’t too lazy to sell stuff on eBay I would be posting that set and my EP Earthsea set!

My order's in:

A Perfect Spy
Alamein
India
The Tombs of Atuan
A Walk in the Woods
PKD Selected Short Stories

>143 RRCBS:

I frankly find this set much nicer looking than the complete set, and it's great that they used all the illustrations, too. It seems like a really good deal. But a complete set has its advantages with regard to the content. I guess it depends on how important that is to buyers.

Good collection. I think the ones that pique my interest are Bryson, Dick, and Thompson. But they all look like really nice productions.

A Perfect Spy by John le Carré. Integrated black-and-white title-page illustration plus 8 full-page colour illustrations. Page tops stained black. Green endpapers. Bound in black buckram, cover and spine screen-printed and blocked with a green and silver picture. Green and silver picture printed and blocked black slipcase. 608pp. 9½x6¼in.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. 3 full-colour illustrations, including a double-page spread by James Weston Lewis. Illustrated black & white title-page spread, 10 black & white vignettes and a map. Dark green endpapers. Bound in teal cloth, cover blocked in cream and black with an image. Dark green slipcase front blocked in black with an image. 296pp. 9½x6¼in.

Alamein by Simon Ball. Introduced by the author. Great Battles series Editor Hew Strachan. 16 pages of mono & colour plates, plus 2 integrated maps. Black endpapers. Quarter-bound in blocked cloth, with textured paper sides printed with artwork by Geoff Grandfield. Plain slipcase. 248pp. 9x5¾in.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson. 26 full-colour illustrations integrated throughout the text, including 5 double-page spreads by Ralph Steadman. Introduced by David Mamet. Metallic endpapers. Bound in orange cloth printed and blocked with an image in silver and dark brown. Black slipcase printed with title in orange. 232pp. 9½x6¼in.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Frontispiece and 6 full-page colour illustrations by Unyime Edet. Afterword by the author. Bound in grey duotone pictorial cloth printed and blocked with title and author in yellow. Black slipcase with front blocked and printed with a yellow design. 528pp. 9½x6¼in.

India, A History by John Keay. (2v.). Introduced by the author. 96 pages of colour plates and 62 integrated maps and diagrams across both volumes. Endpapers printed with a design by Florian Schommer. Three-quarter bound in cloth with cloth front boards printed and blocked with a colour design by Florian Schommer. Fawn slipcase, front blocked in black with a design by Florian Schommer. 816 pages in total. 10x6¾in.

Selected Short Stories by Philip K. Dick. 24 full-page colour illustrations by different artists. Introduced by Jonathan Lethem. Preface by Philip K. Dick. Second colour in prelims. Red pattern printed endpapers. Two ribbon markers. Digitally printed green image page edges. Bound in blue cloth blocked with a red and green design by La Boca. Silver and red pattern blocked and die cut black slipcase with printed inside designed by La Boca. 648pp. 10x6¾in.

Syria, The Desert and the Sown by Gertrude Bell. Introduced by Dawn Chatty. Colour frontispiece plus over 160 integrated black & white photographs by the author. Green endpapers. Fold-out map presented in a case, bound in gold and black blocked green cloth. Bound in green cloth blocked on covers with a gold and black design by Yehrin Tong. Plain slipcase. 336pp. 10x6¾in.

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin. 7 full page colour illustrations by David Lupton. Map printed brown endpapers. Bound in paper printed on all sides with brown toned picture. Plain slipcase. 184pp. 9x5¾in.

Great collection, bravo Folio! Half of a Yellow Sun, Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick (so much more desirable to me than the complete stories LE, and with the same number of illustrations), India, and Syria all look wonderful. I can't afford them, but they look brilliant :)

Put in an order with PKD's short stories and Fear and Loathing plus the reprinted 2001 and Lord of the Flies. Might warm up to more from this collection by the time of the summer sale. Really great stuff in these latest releases.

>145 SF-72: The original had all 118 stories, this appears to have 24 stories (with 24 matching illustrations) for £90 - 1/5th of the stories for 1/5th the price of the limited edition. Personally the additional content is more important than a die-cut slipcase & sprayed edges.

>150 antinous_in_london:

Personally, I prefer the complete edition for the content. I just wish it looked more like this edition, as opposed to the screaming neon colours they chose. They're quite an eye-sore to me, while this is quite appealing, the cover as well as the sprayed edges and slipcase.

>147 wcarter:

Quickest update ever to the complete list of Folio books!

>94 chrisrsprague: I got one right! Wow!

Will get Syria (this is the stand out for me- it looks amazing) and Le Guin. Maybe a walk in the woods and fear and loathing eventually.

This SE PKD is preferable to me- I would love to unload the LE, l but have zero selling experience on eBay.

My take away is definitely no more LE’s as the SE always seems to be what I actually was looking for.

Edit: also
Probably half a yellow sun- the illustrations are beautiful.

>151 SF-72: I agree…better have all than a curated collection, especially if you’ve already paid for it! I would have probably had serious FOMO if I had passed on the LE!

A question to fellow FSD’ers who have read the complete PKD stories: would you say the selection in the new release includes most (or all) of his best ones?

Here’s the contents for reference:

The Defenders
The Infinites
The Crystal Crypt
Paycheck
Colony
Second Variety
The Commuter
Adjustment Team
Impostor
The Hanging Stranger
The Golden Man
Exhibit Piece

Sales Pitch
Foster, You’re Dead
Autofac
The Minority Report
The Unreconstructed M
War Game
Oh, To Be a Blobel!
A Game of Unchance
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale
Return Match
The Electric Ant
Chains of Air, Web of Aether

From this collection, I definitely want Syria and maybe India (had been mulling the earlier edition for a while)…also considering the Earthsea books. Half a Yellow Sun is an amazing book and I would def be buying it if I didn’t have the TOC (pretty bummed actually, would prefer the FS)…overall I think it’s an ok collection.

I actually had the thought a couple months ago: "I wish they'd do Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with the original Steadman illustrations." So, I'm pretty thrilled. (Hey Folio, Steadman also did illustrations for a version of Orwell's Animal Farm - maybe a future reissue of that for all the Folio fans who are not that into Quentin Blake?)

Also the Philip K Dick is in the basket. That's a nice compromise for everyone who missed out on the LE. The design is fun enough that I would imagine there are LE owners now tempted to double dip.

I've never read La Carre, but that artwork and cover design look really great. Maybe someday on an impulse buy.

Syria the standout and probably my only purchase; would get India but it doesn't seem like there's enough in there to warrant an upgrade from the previous version. Half of a Yellow Sun has lovely illustrations and is a worthy novel but the typography — urgh.

>157 BorisG: Overall it's a solid selection of PKD stories. If I were the editor I personally would have included The Days Of Perky Pat and I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon, but those inclusions could be debated. The absolute must-haves are present.

>160 gmacaree: I agree re India, Folio's older edition has 64 plates of illustrations, and it looks as though many of the illustrations in the new edition are spread over two plates, so you don't actually get as many different illustrations as you may expect; the significant extra cost isn't worth it for me either. However I love the typography for Yellow Sun, horses for courses etc. :)

>159 rsmac: I am also debating the La Carre because of the illustrations but am hesitant because it’s pricey for something I am
unsure of.

Does anyone have a recommendation for it?

The PKD collection is the most tempting new addition for me. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a strong maybe. I like the illustrations in Half of a Yellow Sun, but already having the TOC Berlin edition I don't feel I need another.

That is a very nice selection of books, the only one that does not appeal to me is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I have the PKD LE, but having those short stories packaged as they are with the 24 illustrations in one binding means I will probably purchase that as well.
Half of a Yellow Sun, Syria and A Walk in the Woods are the three main standout ones for me.

I wonder if any codes are lurking in the Folio Magazine?

I see there's no longer the usual automatic £20/$30 off when you pop £200/$300 worth of books in your basket 💩

I wonder why Half of a Yellow Sun is £49.95, but A Perfect Spy is £85? Is this the cost of rights perhaps?

Fear and Loathing will replace my paperback copy nicely.

I have to say, it’s really nice to see everyone here generally upbeat about a collection release. Feels like it’s been a while.

For my part, I’ll be picking up, the Bryson, le Carre, and le Guin, and maybe Bell.

>167 cronshaw: Yes, that discount ended about a month or so ago for me. I had been hemming and hawing over my basket contents when it vanished, so now I'm waiting for the Summer Sale.

>166 chrisrsprague: >167 cronshaw: SBDY5P for £10 off still works if it has not been used for a previous purchase. Details here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/270715#7779276

The following description still appears next to the code:
DISCOUNT (£10 OFF NEXT ORDER 10AM 1 SEPTEMBER 2021 TO 11.59PM 28 AUGUST 2022)

>171 mr.philistine: Doesn't work for me, and I've never used a birthday code before. Maybe UK only? Oh well, thanks anyway!

>169 jsg1976: "I have to say, it’s really nice to see everyone here generally upbeat about a collection release."

They promised "something here for every reader" and delivered this time.

I love this year's collections so far. My wishlist has grown exponentially.

I’ve been very cynical about FS’s direction recently, but this is an excellent and diverse collection. I’ll definitely be getting a few of these.

As everyone has mentioned, the key is that despite being a relatively modest collection it's a diverse one that caters to most tastes and is devoid of the most recently controversial picks.

It has modern spy fiction, travel, history, a long awaited sequel to a beloved series and modern international fiction.

And since I'm moving to a country with 18% VAT over books (from one with 2% VAT) this is the last time to perform a hefty Folio haul. I'm just waiting for the results of the January poll, hoping that my pick was the winner. Then I'll have to take the plunge again.

>160 gmacaree: I looked at the India, but i picked up a new sealed copy of the last edition for £25 a few months ago, so not sure the cosmetic tweaks & slightly updated text is worth another £150 when the last edition is readily available so cheaply.

>161 Shadekeep: They chose 24 stories (from the original 118), alongside 24 illustrations - i assume these match up & they just chose the stories that already had accompanying illustrations (rather than for literary reasons)?

>178 antinous_in_london: Or maybe they chose which stories to illustrate in the LE, knowing which ones would be included in the SE.

>178 antinous_in_london: It's likely that Folio chose to illustrate the 24 stories with the most literary merit.

>179 coynedj: Very forward thinking of them !

>174 bacchus.: Totally agree, this year has been great! I have gone from struggling to summon enthusiasm to struggling to decide which titles not to include in my purchase. Very pleased with this direction.

>181 antinous_in_london: It does seem there was some measure of forward planning involved, if the illustrations align with the stories. I think all of the guesses so far are contributing factors (most highly esteemed stories, the ones likely to be in the SE, etc). Broadly speaking I think PKD was a much better novelist than short story writer, so a curated selection is fine for him, whereas for a prominent short story author such a winnowing could be more contentious.

>173 rsmac:
They promised "something here for every reader" and delivered this time.
Well, of course, they didn't - and no, I know, they couldn't, but..... I don't want to put any sort of blight on the generally upbeat mood about this collection, as I think it's one of the better ones for a while, but, sadly, it really does look as if the FS have abandoned doing anything 'new' for those who enjoy pre-WW2 ('classic') fiction - I've certainly pretty much given up hope on a number of fronts there. Maybe they've decided they can't compete with the other cheaper imprints who do cover this, but it would be good to get at least a small nod to this area of the market - I suppose there's still half the year left.

Having said that, and focusing on the upbeat, this collection includes at least one 'must' for me - Gertrude Bell's The Desert and the Sown - why is the main title 'Syria' though? It is the full text, isn't it?? What we've lost on the classic fiction, we do seem to be gaining on the classic travel/exploration, as this genre has been really well treated of late. Otherwise, the Adichie is the stand out publication for me. The rest are all easy 'no's, but can understand why the majority of them are 'must-have's for others - as stated by others, it covers a good spread. What is the fascination with Bill Bryson though? (rhetorical question!!).

>184 Willoyd: I might get the Bryson in the future as a gift for my son or husband who both love camping, hiking, and the mountains. I’d combine it with The Living Mountain (unsigned!) for balance. The illustrations are really nice in my opinion and elevate a very casual read (for them) as a possible gift book in this case. (Sorry, I know you said rhetorical…)

>184 Willoyd: "the FS have abandoned doing anything 'new' for those who enjoy pre-WW2 ('classic') fiction"

In the past five years they have released works by Dickens, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Melville, H.G. Wells, James Joyce, Lovecraft, Hesse, Dorothy Parker, Gaston Leroux, Joseph Conrad, Pasternak, Bram Stoker, Bronte, Flaubert, Defoe, Jules Verne, Dosteyevsky, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dumas, and recently reissues of Tolstoy and Robert Louis Stevenson.

So I wouldn't say they have abandoned pre-WWII writers at all. They are releasing more new titles, but aren't getting stuck in a rut of releasing the same classics over and over. But there are plenty you can pick up from their back catalog if you're wanting that.

I’m curious about Las Vegas but have never read HST. Seems like a bold blind purchase for me. The PKD has my curiosity but it’s too pricy for me for now.

I think I’ll go with a few older releases for now. I want to slowly chip away at the bonds.

Does anyone know when the Summer sale will be? Want to time my Adichie and Le Guin with that. Thanks!

>188 brokenwolf: HST is brilliant. Whether Fear and Loathing justifies a $70 USD price tag is dubious as it is a very short work.

Here is an excerpt where he accurately describes the Circus Circus casino in Vegas:
"The Circus-Circus is what the whole hep world would be doing on Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war. This is the Sixth Reich …"

>188 brokenwolf:

Have my eye on Fear & Loathing as well and also haven't read it. Constantly see it praised as a classic and on many 'best of' lists though so there must be something worthwhile about it. The design isn't bad either.

India looks great as well but way down on the pecking order right now.

>163 coffeewithastraw: Le Carre is one of my favourites. "A Perfect Spy" came out at the height of his powers, but whether it is his masterpiece is debatable. He always had huge print runs, so I'm sure you can find a reading copy for $5 in any used book store and see if you like it first.

If you haven't read any of his stories I would suggest starting with "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold." It's a tight thriller and a good introduction to his style.

I really like the look of this production. That illustration looking through the newspaper is excellent!

It's a good collection, but Folio just feels unreasonably expensive now. 45 for Le Guin is too much for me. I have the first volume from its previous publishing, so will stick with that and the all in one Charles Vess illustrated tome that came out a couple of years ago.

>192 PartTimeBookAddict: Thank you for the suggestion, I will do that. I also really like the production and am tempted by the merits of that alone, but that is always a slippery slope for me…

>184 Willoyd: why is the main title 'Syria' though
FS annoyingly renames nonfiction titles fairly often. For example: in print now is "The Tudor Age" by Susan Brigden. Try to find reviews for it and you'll find out the title is New Worlds, Lost Worlds: The Rule of the Tudors, 1485-1603. I know it's sent me for a loop several times before trying to research a title of theirs.

>189 DramPan: According to the FSD Wiki a likely time for a sale is in June, but it's not written in stone. I'm waiting for one myself to place a big order, so that I can offset some of the shipping to the States.

Very nice collection. The only one that doesn't at least tickle my fancy is the PKD because I shelled out for the LE.

The most surprising is probably Fear and Loathing but I am definitely adding it to my basket.

Release the bats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6iGnFzuWV4

:-)

Well, they got me this time. Although I have the earlier Keay book, I will spring for this to update and also match the splendid China books.

I have the first two great battle books and will continue with that series. The style and illustrations are very well done. I think that this series will hold value in the future.

I have not yet read any Gertrude Bell but having heard her writing praised and intrigued about the area I may add that plus the intriguing African novel. This is the sort of book published by the NYRB that we sometimes claim to seek.

I am on the fence with the Le Guin series. Although the late writer is highly acclaimed, the fantasy genre to me depends highly on the quality of writing. It is a maybe.

To prove my American gonzo heritage of that era, Hunter Thompson is a go.

>196 Shadekeep: Thanks!

>187 rsmac:
I should have, and thought I had, included a reference to standard editions -my apologies. They've done several LEs, I do agree (although most are just upgrades of titles done previously as SEs).

In SEs, the vast majority of those have been simply reprints or rehashes of popular titles (Dickens, Austen, Bronte etc), which is why I referred to them doing something 'new'. As far as I can see, the only new ones in the past 5 years amongst those you listed are:
2017 - Lovecraft: Call of Cthulu
2018 - Hesse: Steppenwolf
2019 - Leroux: Phantom of the Opera
nothing for the past 2 years or so.

I think the only new one in the 3-4 years before these was Verne's 20,000 Leagues in 2014.

>194 coffeewithastraw: Well, you won’t go wrong with any of his works! A great author to dive into anywhere. The “Karla Trilogy” is epic and should be read in order though.

>202 Willoyd: I do agree they are rehashing a lot. Like I would rather they do something like Dostoevsky's Demons instead of a shorts collection where they are reprinting An Honest Thief for the third time. Or at least try to find something that they haven't done in the last few decades (say only redo things they haven't printed since the 70s or earlier).

>195 A.Godhelm:

I think it must be a case of 'Keep it simple so as not to frighten the customers'.

I think it’s a nice collection. Would have appreciated another Christie in the Art Deco series of Poirot and Marple. I also think there’s some validity in a lack of classic pre-war literature comment, but then again there are previously published titles available on the secondary market and they have done LEs of classic literature fairly frequently. Overall I think it’s a nice collection and was pleased to see it even if not everything strikes my fancy.

I decided to place a large order for some of the titles on my wish list to combine shipping costs. In the past I would have waited for the sale, but those have gotten to be slim pickings and so is less of a factor in when I purchase. From this collection I picked up India, Syria, and A Perfect Spy.

I agree with >184 Willoyd: they are doing a lot of great travel/exploration titles, their portion of my shelf space is growing. Some of their travel titles lately are not only very interesting but incredibly well presented and designed books.

Folio has done a very nice job with this release.

>204 rsmac:
Absolutely (good suggestion on time frame).

>204 rsmac: There are certainly some borderline "classics" I would love to see FS bring out at some point which haven't been over-republished and could be a draw. Foremost I'd like to see Warlock by Oakley Hall. It would also be great to get another Richard Hughes volume, with my preference going to In Hazard.

I think my order will be

Syria
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Along with others from past collections:

On the Origin of Species
The Descent of Man
1776
Creators, Conquerors and Citizens

But I might wait for a discount code and also to see what happens with Canadian shipping.

Folio travel books are their best and it isn't close. They used to do fantastic history books from a first person perspective, these days they print mostly fine works that will change with the times, now the travel books are the best. But I'm the type now that won't buy things unless I have to, dead Russians, old history and travel writing really hit the spot. Decent selection this go round, probably wait for the sale just in case.

I've listed Fear and Loathing illustrated by Steadman as a suggestion on every Folio survey for years. The best seasonal collection in a while. I'll probably buy a couple but wait until July to get my Birthday coupon.

I’m knee deep in mules right now and righteously pumped about my purchases today. Heck yeah.

>213 strangenews:

Or, if that way inclined, set aside for the new Lord of the Rings SE when it comes...

I'm underwhelmed - may investigate Syria, anything else seems very unlikely - then, Folio and I have been developing in different directions for a while now, and it wouldn't be realistic of me to expect them to publish anything in the line of 1880-1940 literary fiction that has little or no public following. Prices like these would always buy me an old book or three that I'd probably find more rewarding.

Had a glimpse this evening on the Folio Australia website and was surprised at the prices. Seem very expensive.

A Walk in the Woods $100 AUD + 3 Week Delivery for $30, or 1 Week $80

I have not been an active buyer for a good while admittedly.

>211 kdweber: Me too! I've been pestering them for years to do 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. Happy days!

Interested to see what the surprise FS allude to turns out to be…

>217 RRCBS: maybe the whole
Collection is a response to requests?

>171 mr.philistine: Thanks, helped me offset the shipping costs for the John Keay book.

>217 RRCBS: I was wondering about the surprise, too. I know a notebook and a summer FS magazine were added, but that's not surprising. I'm sure the UK buyers getting their packages in the next day or two will let us know if anything else was included.

>220 rsmac:

When I enquired yesterday I was told it's in the magazine, which should be arriving with my order anytime now, according to DPD.

>221 folio_books: Hmmm, here's hoping for a discount code for the summer sale.

>221 folio_books: In that case maybe it’s the announcement for folio 75

I received the summer collections booklet in the post earlier this morning and can't see anything mentioned about a surprise apart from the notebook and magazine.

TBH, I'm not sure. There's a 10% code on the back (SMAGM) and there's a preview of the Gormenghast LE (hmmm ...). I suspect the reference may be to an article about the 75th anniversary which contains several photos of the Folio team led by Joanna Reynolds. (I wonder if she ever worked out how to replace a Folio book in its slipcase ... ? Dying to know what Andrew Wagstaff looks like? Now's your chance.

>225 folio_books: Do they mention a fixed, or even tentative, date for the Gormenghast LE in the magazine? It would certainly help me plan my budget.

>226 Shadekeep:

I believe it says summer so not too far away I’d guess.

>227 Charon49: Thank you!

Curious about the discount code exclusions. I put Europe in my cart and it took 10% off. When I added Yangtze Valley it did not discount it. Tried Yangtze by itelg and it also did not discount it.

>229 L.Bloom: I gave the code a go with Yangtze Valley just as a test and it also did not go through, yet when I tried it with something else like Book of the New Sun it was fine. You may need to query it with FS.

>229 L.Bloom: I tried the code with three books in the cart - Twelfth Night, Mythical Beasts, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - and while the total was around $200, the discount was around $15. I'm guessing that probably Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde didn't get discounted, since it would have contributed about $5 to the discount.

>105 folio_books: re this comment, I really wonder what the surprise is!

> 232

See >225 folio_books:

Other then that I don't have a clue. Maybe I've missed something really obvious.

Does anyone know until when the coupon code is valid?

Judging by the past it will usually expire right before the summer sale begins but we don't know when the sale is. If anyone knows the expiration of the code it will give us a very good idea of the date of the sale.

>235 L.Bloom:

MAGAZINE OFFER
One use only. Cannot be combined with any other voucher or promotion. Offer excludes the cost of delivery, the purchase of limited editions and the following titles:

China: A History; Culloden; House of Many Ways; Roald Dahl Collection (Set 1); Sharpe’s Fortress; Silent Spring; The Great Gatsby; Kafka on the Shore; Venetia; A Feast for Crows; A Bright Shining Lie; The Color Purple; The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoyevsky; Dracula; The Folio Book of War Poetry; In Search of the Dark Ages; La Belle Sauvage; The Living Mountain (including signed edition); The Lost World, The Man with the Golden Gun; Spider-Man; The Meaning of Mice; Waiting for Godot; Shackleton's Boat Journey; Shackleton's Antarctica; Love Poems (including signed edition); The Journals of Captain Cook; The Haunting of Hill House; The Bell Jar; The Origins of Totalitarianism; Cat's Cradle; Hulk; The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs; Roald Dahl Collection (Set 2); Sparkling Cyanide; The Tudor Age; Anna Karenina; The Wyndham Collection; A Wizard of Earthsea; Lord of the Flies; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; Alamein; India: A History; A Perfect Spy; Philip K. Dick Selected Short Stories; Syria: The Desert and the Sown; The Tombs of Atuan; A Walk in the Woods; Half of a Yellow Sun; Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Offer ends midnight Thursday 23 June 2022.

>236 bookfair_e: Thank you! I stand corrected. I can tell nothing from this offer. Usually they exclude new titles but here they exclude many that are not new. Still unclear why Yangtze Valley is excluded but not mentioned here.

>237 L.Bloom: On the Origin of Species appears to be excluded too.

Ok I've written to them about the phantom exclusions

>236 bookfair_e: Thanks for the info. I can confirm Jekyll & Hyde, as when I removed it from my basket earlier the discount amount was unchanged. It makes sense that more recent releases and reprints would be excluded, curious about the seemingly random ones folks are reporting.

And thanks as well for the coupon expiry date. Hopefully that does indicate a rough range for the sale date.

FS IT has always been… interesting. It’s conceivable, pure conjecture, that the random exclusions are appearing due to them being flagged for the sale and therefore getting caught up in the coding somewhere.

>213 strangenews: niiiiiiice...

>236 bookfair_e:

I've got the impression (and could be wrong) that they extended this voucher exclusion from just the spring and summer collection to titles published last year as well as reprints, which didn't use to be excluded.

>243 SF-72: I think it works on last year's spring and summer collection, but not autumn. I tried it with Around the World in Eighty Days (spring), Castle in the Air (summer), House of Many Ways (autumn)

>243 SF-72:

Late last year, that makes sense.

Customer service responded. Titles published after September 2021 are excluded from the promotion. The others were a mistake and have been fixed. It does make me curious if they will be in the sale though as >241 cwl: suggests.

Syria - the highlight of this collection for me. A must-have that I'll acquire sooner rather than later. Looks like Folio at its best.

The Tombs of Atuan - finally! My copy of A Wizard of Earthsea has been awaiting company for the past 7 years. But there is a very annoying but - the #$%^*g colophon! It doesn't match! Usually they try to stick with old unique colophons when continuing a series, but here I think at some point they reprinted A Wizard with the idiotic uniform colophon, so now they're matching to that later reprint, not the original ones. Urgh. Their insistence on using the one and only colophon everywhere whether it matches the overall design of a book or not is very annoying, and a prime example why marketing people need to be held in tight reigns. Ok, done with the rant - sorry everyone, just had to let it out. Despite the colophon fiasco I'll get the book soon.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - interesting choice. This book wasn't on my radar somehow, but now it is. I like the colored illustrations. To the wish list, will acquire at some point.

Dick's Short Stories - another one for the wish list and eventual purchase. I've never considered the LE, but a curated selection is exactly what I want to dip into Dick's short stories. Haven't read any yet. The book design though... At least the spine by itself, as would be visible while placed on a shelf, doesn't look so bad.

A Walk In the Woods - I don't have any of the Folio Brysons and have never read him before, but this looks like a good start. I know someone who walked the Appalachian Trail end-to-end, all 2,200 miles. He lost quite a bit of weight at the end, so perhaps it's an adventure I should consider for myself.

India - have the original edition already

Half of a Yellow Sun - have mild interest in the work, but whenever I get to it, I think I'll go for the author-signed TOC Berlin edition instead

All in all - not a bad release at all! I think this is the first time in the past few years I'm pleasantly surprised by two releases in a row.

>225 folio_books: My package arrived yesterday and didn’t even include the magazine, just the free notebook, which I quite like. No sign of any other surprise apart from sans magazine and the nicer than expected notebook.

The print catalogue for the Summer 2022 collection is now up for viewing on the FSD wiki here.

Tempting me:

- Fear and Loathing
- Dick stories
- Tombs

>248 elladan0891:

Sorry to be the bearer of more bad news but the older prints of wizard of Earthsea are bit taller. The new reprints are a bit smaller which now matches the height of tombs of Atuan so more mismatch on the shelf.

>249 pse1:

The magazine was removed from my basket as soon as I used my birthday voucher. Could it have been something like that?

>252 Charon49: Oh for... I mean... What the... But... WHY???
Thank you for the heads up, though, you definitely saved me from having an apoplectic attack upon receiving the book.

Have they ever butchered a series like that before, screwing over the early customers?

>254 elladan0891: The book height has not changed as both are 9 inches high. The older edition seems to have a slipcase which makes it taller than the newer edition. Someone on the Facebook page had a photo up which showed this.

>253 SF-72: Yes, exactly that! How strange but thanks for the information.

The Kipling series had a size mismatch between the Jungle Books and the reprints/later additions to the series. So yes, they’ve done this before much more egregiously.

>257 cwl:

Yes indeed, I recall having to replace the first two volumes. Very naughty, Folio.

>256 pse1:

Customer service kindly promised to send me a magazine when I asked about this. (I had a largish order, so I didn't feel asking for it was taking advantage.) It's just really weird - and doesn't come across as particularly customer friendly - that they seem to have programmed the website to remove the free magazine for people who use a birthday voucher. Put a limit on how large the order has to be, okay, I can understand that. I guess with one book or so they'd make a loss that way. But then how often does that happen, especially with shipping fees being what they are today? The notebook stayed in my basket, so I really don't quite get it.

>259 SF-72: I'm guessing they haven't specifically coded to remove the magazine. The birthday voucher probably has some stipulations about not being able to combine with other offers, so they probably coded to automatically remove other offers when the voucher is selected, and I guess the way they set up magazine is that it's a part of the offers class, so it gets removed automatically

I am not excited by the collection.

I think it's one of the best collections I've seen. The one before too was amazing.

Half of a Yellow Sun.
The Philip K. Dick stories.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Le Guin book

These four are must-haves for me.

Then Syria and the India set are extremely tempting.

Finally, I've seen so many people praise A Walk in the Woods. This too is on my wishlist.

Syria just arrived. The book is every bit as nice as it looks, but the paper on the map is thinner than I'd really have liked. I'm probably spoiled by the Arabia Deserta map.

>225 folio_books: Thanks again for the discount code, I've gone ahead and ordered Twelfth Night and Mythical Beasts. I'm content to sit on the rest of my list until the Summer Sale, unless any other title enters Last Chance before then.

If it’s not too paradoxical, I think this is a good collection but I don’t want to buy any yet.

FS prices are so high now I have to really want something to justify paying full price. I may get the India book if it ever goes on sale.

Went for Syria - Gertrude Bell is one of the few writers I really couldn't resist and wait for, and alternatives are either very expensive or not great on the photo reproduction. This is one where the FS do seem to have nailed sufficient added value for me, something they've done (as previously commented) on a number of classic travel/exploration books of late, the only genre I've bought new for a few years now.

>266 Willoyd: Agreed, that's the one volume from this collection I had to get. I love these travel books. I threw in Yangtze Valley for good measure!

Alas, It seems I must wait for winter now to get my hopes up about Shogun again.

Visually it’s a lovely collection. Nothing in it sparks my interest but that’s fine. Pleased to see so many on here happy with it. So rarely happens around this place when a new collection drops.

>268 Sorion: There is a recent "collector's" edition of Shogun. It's not FS quality, but it seems much better than a standard hardback version of Shogun. It looks a bit unwieldy, but the price is affordable:

https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/shogun-bhdr.html?#541=94

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjZk2-NQ3gA

>269 icewindraider:

That looks appealing. Do you have an ISBN for it, and if so, is it 9781982537524? Wherever I try to find it (in Europe), I get a totally different picture for the hardcover edition by this publisher.

>270 SF-72: I can't find it, and it seems like it's mostly just sold straight from the publisher. Not much information on the binding other than "leather."

>271 icewindraider:

Thank you. I'm not keen to import books from the US if there's an alternative due to the high shipping costs and customs fees, but if there isn't, this one would be worth it to me.

>272 SF-72:

There seems to be one available through ABE:

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?bi=h&bxp=off&cm_sp=Sear...

>273 affle: It seems as though those offered on ABE are the standard hardcover, not the collector's edition.

>272 SF-72: If you want to wait and see, I've ordered it from the publisher and I should have a copy in a couple of weeks to look at and report back to you on.

>273 affle:
>275 icewindraider:

Thank you very much, I appreciate the help.

I wrote to Blackstone Publishing and they already replied that the 'ISBN for leather hard bound is 9781982537524'. It keeps showing up with a completely different image in shops, but the publisher should know so I'll risk it and buy a copy from a German online store.

>269 icewindraider: Thank you for that, I have just ordered it.

>277 Hamwick: Not to further belabor it, but I spoke with the publisher and they said it was sewn binding. Now, the paper looks a bit thin, and the front artwork is a bit too promotional for my taste. But, for the price, it still looks like a good deal.

It took me a while to decide this time around. I knew I wanted the 2 Earthsea books by LeGuin and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But wanted to toss something else in to make it worth my while to spend that 52.00 for express shipping. I ended up picking out the Flower Faeries set, so I am set for now.

If they have a summer sale, there are very few books I am interested in that I don't already have, unless they have something hidden away, like the good ole days, but I rather doubt it. Next order may not be until the fall collection for me.

>269 icewindraider: Thanks for the heads up! I’ll definitely take a hard look at that.

>267 L.Bloom:
I don't think you'll be disappointed! I have the Yangtze Valley volume, and came very close to including it in my Desert Island Folios in the eponymous thread. It's pretty stunning. Apart from a couple of distinct sale bargains, I've only bought travel/exploration books in the past 4 years or so direct from FS, finding the rest of their output largely very uninteresting, and rate them all very highly: Snow Leopard, Man on the Moon, South/Heart of Antarctica being the others.

Got my order.
PKD seems to have a bit more bleed through than usual. Abbey Wove paper but perhaps thinner to accommodate the page count? Not a huge deal, it's a very nice book, lots of illustrations (the LEs must feel a bit cheated with 4 books getting the same amount). The eyes stare at you as you read through it.
Fear and Loathing is also top notch. Steadman's drawings are iconic but I think they look a lot better with a splash of colour.
The reprints also look fine at first glance (though I don't have the originals to compare with). Well pleased, all that's missing now is a FS Blood Meridian and this'll be the best book year I've had.

>282 A.Godhelm: Argh, I was planning on buying the PKD book :|
Might have to swap.
Thanks for letting us know!

>282 A.Godhelm: I'd just like to second this if people are on the fence and this kind of issue is a consideration for them. I'm genuinely surprised at how much bleed through there is in this edition. You can actually read the words on the pages underneath where there are blank parts on the one you are currently looking at. And see aspects of the illustrations on the next page. I cannot recall ever having seen this to this extent in a Folio edition. It's a shame, as it's a fine edition, though it doesn't look like one on the page, so to speak. Having said that it is 'lavishly illustrated' and the binding is very fun. But the reading experience will certainly be negatively impacted - I feel a bit strange saying that of a Folio edition in all honesty. I hope this does not become the norm, and wonder what the reason might be.

That's a shame about the PKD volume, as that was on the margin for me, but has fallen into the "pass" pile now. I wonder if the paper is a reflection of what stock was available at the time, if they were printing during the worst part of the paper drought.

On the positive side, I'm getting more and more interested in the Syria volume. The more I read about it the more fascinating it sounds. And that cover is stunning.

When I first flipped through the latest PKD volume I didn't think the paper was Abbey Wove. It felt a bit different, and the bleed through was pretty noticeable to me as well.

However, I still think it's a fantastic edition. The blocked cloth binding feels nice, the slipcase is sturdy, the 20+ illustrations are wonderful, and the bleed through, while noticeable, is not a significant detriment to the reading experience. The font is actually quite large and thick, making it one of the most readable FS books I own, even with the bleed through. I hope the FS doesn't make a habit of doing their paper this way, but if you have any interest in PKD I wouldn't skip this one.

You can get some idea of the degree of bleed-through from Folio's own 30s promotional video, particularly if you pause at the 6s and 12s mark.

>288 cronshaw: Just watched the video and yes it is quite noticeable.

Mine hasn't shown up yet, but it already looks like I'll be sending it back as that will be distracting and frankly not acceptable for a book at this price. I guess I shouldn't be ordering books on release day and should wait until I see customer feedback. Not good, Folio.

I didn't buy the Dick myself (I have the limited edition set), but I got a copy for a friend. The metallic foil on the slipcase could be better. There are little black spots in places, and some of it's been abraded - on a brand-new copy. I know this stuff is notoriously fragile and the damage isn't severe (I didn't complain or anything). But I'd still expect it to at least arrive in mint condition. What happens afterwards is the buyer's problem, but this is less than ideal, especially for such an expensive book.

I placed my order after much thought:

Syria
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
On the Origin of Species
The Descent of Man
Stasiland
1776

I didn’t wait for the update on Canadian shipping since I was able to get 10% off most books and also because I don’t know exactly how discounted a new shipping option would be given the significant cost to ship these days. I find DHL very reliable and like not having to deal with the hassle of getting replacements for damaged books. Looking forward to receiving them, even though every new book I add the my library makes me feel shame for being too lazy to organize it!

Well I've just received my copy of Syria, The Desert and the Sown, and I have to say that, much to my surprise, I'm mildly disappointed. My own fault, really, as I didn't really look at the production details particularly closely, and had stupidly assumed, given price, pages, photos etc, that it would be similar to the Isabella Bird The Yangtze Valley and Beyond, but it isn't - it's a smaller format, photos are integrated into the text more (which means that the photo gloss of the Bird volume is missing, and the photos are smaller), and generally it isn't as impressive. It's nice enough, but it doesn't quite grab in the same way. It's much more similar to The Snow Leopard (although not in the same bracket even there: the latter had a binding to die for, and full page photos on glossy paper - it's a favourite), which I bought in 2020 at the full price of £40. Syria is £80. OK, one gets the map, and I appreciate prices have risen a lot, but double?

All in all, I like Syria, but frankly I feel it's a fair way overpriced. It's not as if I'm not prepared to pay - I have for instance bought both the Shackleton set and Man On The Moon - but this time I'm not convinced. I'll certainly be twice as careful next time. Just hope it grows on me.

>292 Willoyd: That is indeed disappointing. Between this and the PKD volume's issues, it seems like quality isn't quite what it should be in some cases this go-round. Hopefully not indicative of a larger trend. If anyone has received Half of a Yellow Sun, A Perfect Spy, or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I'd be curious to hear how those turned out.

>293 Shadekeep: Heard someone say Fear and Loathing is pretty nice, just the slipcase doesn't sit right with him - but I guess that's personal. 🤔

>293 Shadekeep: Unless you're an enormous fan of Le Carre I'd skip A Perfect Spy. The book fits tightly in the slipcase, which feels cheap. The font is small and the binding is perhaps the thinnest of all my FS books. I like the illustrations and will not be returning it, but this was the biggest disappointment in my order by a pretty wide margin.

On the topic of paper, it uses Abbey Wove and has a minor amount of bleed through. However, I just looked through my copies of Dune and American Gods, and they technically have a little bleed through too. Not an issue in my opinion, but I also think the concerns over the PKD volume are overblown (if valid to a degree).

Edit: The font isn't unusually small, just not as a large as I would have liked.

>295 jswift81: If the complaint is valid, I don't think it would be overblown.

If I wanted some PKD as a reading copy and presentation didn't matter I'd get the three volume box set from Library of America which has no illustrations but more content (the novels) and is $80 with free shipping. Folio is $125 and $32 shipping.

I'm not buying something to stick on a shelf and not read and bleed through is going to distract me while reading. If others don't mind it (or are only buying for the illustrations or cover design) they can pay Folio's premium. If I'm paying nearly twice as much I want it done right.

>293 Shadekeep: Fear and Loathing.
Abbey Pure Rough paper, definitely on the thicker side, no bleed issues to my eyes. There are several pages that are ink stained however, I thought it was some printing error at first but it seems like an artistic choice. That is, these pages are not illustrated, but splatters of ink in the same colours as the illustrations smatter some of the latter pages for effect. The slipcase has a velvety finish that's picked up my fingerprints easily (mild annoyance). The printing on the cover of the title and cacti is metallic. Seems like a great book to me, unless any of these issues is a major annoyance for you.

>296 rsmac: I agree that we should hold publishers to a much higher standard when they charge a premium price for their books, as FS does. And Library of America, along with Everyman's Library, offer, in my opinion, the best value on the market by far. However, in the case of the latest PKD volume, LOA offers nothing comparable. If they did offer a selection of PKD's short stories I would definitely buy them, but the only current available options for this content are paperbacks (some of which I own), the FS LE, and this latest edition.

I'm looking at that edition right now, and it offers, without a doubt, a higher quality reading experience than any of the LOA books I own. Not one of them has a font nearly as large as the font used in the FS PKD edition. I understand bleed through can be distracting, but the only areas in the book where it becomes significantly noticeable is in the pages before an illustration. And the illustrations are extremely nice and plentiful.

As I stated previously, I would not like to see the FS replicate the way they did the paper in this volume, but it is still not a significant hinderance to the reading experience and I firmly hold my view that the reaction, as it relates to the reading experience, is overblown.

Ultimately, if PKD isn't an author you're particularly interested in, then I would agree that this is an edition not worth having. However, if PKD is, in fact, an author you're interested in, and $125 won't break the bank, then it's a no-brainer in my opinion. It offers a great experience to the reader, and I would easily recommend it over any of the other FS PKD SE offerings (all of which I own).

Thanks for all the feedback so far. A Perfect Spy isn't a must have for me, but still, it would be nice if were top-notch for those who do want it. >297 A.Godhelm: The spatter effect in the text of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas actually sounds nice, since it echoes the style of the artwork.

I'm more casually curious about Half of a Yellow Sun, since I have the TOC Berlin edition. But it does deserve a quality release, and it would be good if FS unambiguously hit it out of the park on at least one book in this batch.

>299 Shadekeep:

Half of a Yellow Sun is A pretty good production, typical Folio standard. There are only seven illustrations, and the paper is not as thick as Fear and Loathing, so you can detect print lines through it, but it is perfectly readable. It's over 500pages. Memminger / Spinner on Abbey Wove, and the binding is fine.

>300 ranbarnes: Thanks, I'm glad that one turned out okay. So far it sounds like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas might be the most solid release of the bunch in terms of construction, provided one likes the eccentricities of the design.

>298 jswift81: but the only current available options for this content are paperbacks (some of which I own), the FS LE, and this latest edition.

Subterranean Press printed the collected short stories in 5 volumes hardcover, both a signed and trade edition. The trades used to be cheap (I think I bought each one for about $20-$30), but the prices seem all over the board based on the volume now.

>302 spindrjr: Yes, I had stumbled across those in the past and forgotten about them! They seem pretty nice. I'd definitely pick those up if I could find similar prices.

>302 spindrjr: Out of curiosity I looked at my local library apps to see how availble the shorts are and it turns out there are quite a few PKD short story collections available (and audiobooks, including a couple with Keir Dullea from Kubrick's 2001 reading them). You probably meant physical copies, but for digital versions it looks like you could access 80% of the stories in this set by checking out a few of those anthologies, plus get many more not present in this collection, all for free. It's something to look at, anyway, if you want to read more PKD for no cost.

>4 SolerSystem: Which Bond title is coming up next?

Watching the way FS is going, I'd say "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

>306 N11284: didn’t they already do that one?

>306 N11284:

Yes, they did.

>293 Shadekeep:

About A Perfect Spy: I'm happy with the edition. It has a solid slipcase, not a simple one, but it's printed on one side. It's a few millimetres deeper than it needs to be, otherwise it fits perfectly. The book itself has a pleasant cloth binding, I like the illustrations, the size of the font and margins are pleasant (they shouldn't be any bigger, the book is big and heavy enough already), and the paper (Abbey Wove) is also fine with me. The price is a lot higher for what you get than it would have been just a few years ago, but that's unfortunately how it goes. It's a well-done book, in my opinion.

What I wasn't happy with this time around were a lot of small flaws throughout my books. None was bad enough to ask for replacements or even write to FS, but I think one can expect better in this price range. The metallic print has missing spots and rubbed off places in one edition, the top of the spine of another was pressed down / looked bumped, a third has a small bump to the slipcase and book, and the paper on the slipcase wasn't cut off properly, but stood over the edge and started to tear there. I fixed that myself as best I could. But four out of seven books weren't what you would call mint condition, and that's really not good.

>305 bookaroo: Not sure, but I'm guessing it'll be For Your Eyes Only.

>309 SF-72: That is an awful lot of quality control issues on one shipment. And it sounds like not all of them could have resulted from mishandling in transit. I know the supply chain issues have made things difficult for a lot of printers, but all should be wary of the slippery slope. FS should be careful to maintain the reputation they've built. I suppose I'll find out more about the state of things when my two in-transit shipments arrive.

>311 Shadekeep:

None of this was transport damage on the way to me. Everything was well packaged and the damage must have been there before the books went inside that safe packaging, in one case a book inside a perfectly fine slipcase was affected. So this definitely falls under poor quality control. I just hope I was unlucky this time and that's not the general direction this will go in.

>311 Shadekeep: "FS should be careful to maintain the reputation they've built." You appear to be deriving a lot of large-scale conclusions from a rather small and anecdotal data set.

>313 LBShoreBook:

As someone who's been buying from them for a decade, I do have the impression that there are more quality control issues than there used to be. That's based on my buying a rather large number of books over that time, as well as reading the discussions here. It also grates more when it happens due to the huge price increase. So I do hope that this will improve again.

>313 LBShoreBook: Not at all. I'm not saying they have widespread quality control issues, just that they should be careful to maintain them. Certainly this is but a single data point, but in concert with other statements about recent books, I am noting more concerns at the moment. Again, I lay some of these issues at the feet of the supply chain woes, rather than a failure of diligence at FS. But regardless they should always strive to maintain their reputation, because not many places have one so sterling.

>305 bookaroo: The only Fleming Bond books not yet done are the two short story collections - For Your Eyes Only (5 stories) and Octopussy (2 stories + 2 vignettes). Octopussy is only half the length of the other books in the series (it was issued after Fleming's death, cobbling together what was left unpublished), and IMHO does not warrant being given a book of its own in the FS series. I speculated some years ago that FS might publish the two books together - either as a single short story collection, or as 2 volumes in one slipcase.

My older / first Ed copy of Folio’s wizard of Earthsea has the back endpaper glued incorrectly, with it overlapping the cover by a millimeter or less - just enough to create a sharpish edge, and which means the cover isn’t fixed properly and creaks a little each time you open it.

For the life of me I don’t know why I didn’t get a replacement at the time - I must have been really distracted or something.

Considering getting it fixed by a local bookbinder, but the cost may be not worth it - and now with the new editions not matching…

My order (express shipping from UK to MA) arrived on Friday.

I love the Earthsea books. I never bought the original Wizard of Earthsea because there was no hint of them doing the entire series, but now I invested in them, since they say they will do them all. I kind of want her 2 other books now, too. I think they did a nice job on them.

Also got Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, since my copy is 2nd hand and has no slipcover.

The Flower Faeries was a fun treat for me, which I've been coveting and kept putting off over time.

Now I am curious what will be in the fall collection. Hoping so much for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

>269 icewindraider:

Thank you for mentioning this edition of Shogun here. It is ISBN 9781982537524 and available in online stores internationally, though unfortunately the image of the paperback edition is used, which is sure to decrease sales since it doesn't look nearly as good as what you actually get. A rather weird mistake. It's a nice-looking book. I hope they will continue the series (they call the author's Asian books that) since I'd really like to have Tai Pan like this, too.

>319 SF-72: Happy to help. Enjoy.

>320 icewindraider: my copy of Shogun arrived in good time, I have started the reread over the memorial weekend. I am very happy with this Blackstone version. It is just the right size to hold, feels nice when held, it lays open nicely, there is bleed through however that is not off putting and the text size and spacing works for me. The feel of the paper reminded me of the texture of Christmas wrapping paper, which is just an observation.

Blackstone did very well with this I think and I agree, hopefully they will release the others in the same style and format.

I took a couple of books from this collection. Half of a yellow sun is typographically good, and very well produced by the excellent German team of Memminger and Spinner. I do have a few quibbles. I very much like the illustrations by Unyime Edet, the website trumpets that this is the first illustrated edition and provides a brief bio of the artist, yet the book itself bears no mention of him bar the minimum copyright line in the colophon. As the book will long outlast the website, this seems ungracious. The website also quite prominently claims an afterword by the author, but this turns out to be no more than a page and a half of acknowledgements. A more serious issue to my mind is that no introduction has been provided, and for a high quality edition of an important novel that is rather a surprising defect. Overall a very worthwhile acquisition however.

The Gertrude Bell book is a worthy addition to the FS's outstanding travel output, again well made by the Memminger/Spinner combination. >292 Willoyd: is quite right, it is just short of the outstanding quality of the Isabella Bird Yangtze book, but still good value in my estimation. The book would have been improved had they tried a little less hard: I know the separately bound maps have been popular eg Arabia Deserta, but here they would have been better advised to use a pocket at the back as in the Bird book. There have been a couple of fairly recent films about Bell: Letters from Baghdad is the better one, and well worth trying to find for extra insight into the life of this extraordinary woman.

>322 affle:
Letters from Baghdad is the better one
That's a distinct understatement - vastly better! I can also thoroughly recommend Georgina Howell's biography, Daughter of the Desert later renamed Queen of the Desert, even if it tends slightly to the hagiographic. Janet Wallach's Desert Queen has also had good reviews, but I have yet to read it.

>322 affle:

Are both printed on abbey wove or something else?

>325 adriano77:
The Adichie is on Abbey Wove, the Bell on Abbey Pure Rough

>324 Willoyd:
Thanks for the bio recommendations

>326 affle:

Thanks.

>297 A.Godhelm:

Which company handled printing Fear and Loathing, by the way?

>327 adriano77:

Gomer Press Ltd, Llandysul, Wales. Printed on Abbey Pure Rough.