LE: The Wasteland - T.S. Eliot

For our US contingent. Its not released yet but someone on the Facebook page found it on the FS website so here it is.

https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/the-waste-land-limited-edition.html?fbclid=IwAR...

Oh, I think I can live without that.

Wow, that's disappointing... $1500 for that? What am I missing? I was really looking forward to this one but that just seems like a rip off not to mention quite tacky with the large lettering all over the book. What is Folio doing these days?!? Can't we bring back the creativity of yore?

Prior to seeing the price I was toying with the idea that if the production was good enough I'd look into setting up a mail forwarding address from the US back to the UK. Now though.. ooph! Even without the pound crashing I don't think I'd have been prepared to spend a 4 digit amount for what I see in the production details. Either FS has become Apple-fied with the premium they charge on their branding or the copyrights to the Wasteland must have been rather steep.

>3 Joshbooks1: It's Tom Phillips illustrating it so the design is not really that surprising as it has definite similarities to Tristram Shandy and Waiting for Godot. As for the price, its letterpress on paper from Hand & Eye and seems to be made to a very high quality but even then the price is still eye watering.

https://www.foliosociety.com/row/the-life-and-opinions-of-tristram-shandy-gentle...

While this one is definitely not for me (because I already have a nice edition with which I am satisfied), perhaps it would make sense to wait for judgment until we see some typography? Other than a textual description of basic specs, the only thing I see in this listing is one low detail photo of a binding.

That said, it does seem unlikely to live up to the price.

$1500? Hard pass

>5 assemblyman: I thought it looked familiar! The large chaotic letters worked so well for Tristam Shandy because the novel is full of scenes that are both absurd and ridiculous but I'm confused why they would do it for The WasteLand. I guess we'll have to see what's inside but even for letterpress it is extremely overpriced. $1500 plus $50-80 shipping plus ~$90 taxes and we're in the mid $1600s. That gets in the price range of fine press publishers that tend to produce better products than Folio. I'm not even sure if Arion Press would be brazen enough to put a sticker of $1500 for that!

No Reply Press is making an edition of The Wasteland and I'm quite confident it will be far superior to Folio's edition.

>8 Joshbooks1: Yes the No Reply Press edition sounds like it will be fantastic. I keep an eye on the Fine Press forum as I enjoy the discussions and the knowledge given by the contributors but don't comment as I would not be a collector.

Looks pretty nice to me. I applaud the use of high end printers, binders and quality paper. I won’t be ordering a copy because I’m happy with my Thornwillow edition in half leather and great paste paper boards which cost under $600 back in 2018. Of course, that edition is not illustrated per Eliot’s wishes. Also I’ve signed up for the No Reply Press edition which sounds even nicer.

CAD $1,850 in Canadian dollars -- yikes!

>11 Son.of.York: Wait! It is $200 cheaper in Canada than anywhere else. You guys have the cheapest price!

So first off, what is the deal with "Please note, this title is only available in USA and Canada."? I've never seen the FS do this before, so is it a marketing thing? Is the FS going to release certain editions only in North America and others only in the UK/Europe?

That said, it does look wonderful. However, $1500 + shipping + taxes makes it a difficult pill to swallow when it's a mere 84 pages in length.

>13 astropi:
This is a one-off due to copyright issues.
Probably not a lot of interest outside North America, particularly at US$1500 + taxes + shipping.

>13 astropi: In the other direction, The Diary of Ann Frank wasn't available in North America for copyright reasons.

There were also market restrictions on the Northern Lights. The US market was stuck with the oddly-titled version, which still physically existed, though not for purchase, behind the counter in the dMR after the UK edition had sold out. I realise this is now going back a few years.

How utterly ridiculous. This is one of my favorite works of literature, but this pricing is absurd. And not even a commentary text to accompany it? Bah.

>17 Jason461: The price IS absurd. Yet, I am absurd because I still plan to buy the book, the ridiculous price notwithstanding. That said, FS really should've gotten an Eliot scholar or some major figure in modernist studies to write a good introduction.

>17 Jason461:
>18 CJDelDotto:

It does have the Eliot commentary on his quotes and allusions, no? Not the same as an introduction, I acknowledge.

>19 elenchus: It does. But a recent(ish) release of collected Eliot had a good couple of hundred pages on just The Wasteland. I'd expect at least that for $1500.

I'm willing to pay for good materials and good art and so forth in a book. That's why I buy from Folio in general. I do not care at all about swathing things in gold and/or having someone write their name. Which seems to be most of what the LEs have been doing lately.

Does anyone have any idea when FS will officially announce this title and make it available for purchase?

>21 CJDelDotto: You can put your email to be notified.

FS finally sent an email alert indicating that the book is available for purchase. Also, the listing online has been updated with more pictures and a YouTube video. Incidentally, I bought my copy. I'm hoping it's #22.

It's out now - https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/the-waste-land-limited-edition.html

EDIT: And cross-posting again. ^_^

For $1660 after taxes and shipping it makes Arion Press non-subscribers price look like a bargain!

>25 Joshbooks1: In addition there is the recent No Reply edition which was a much smaller limitation for about the same price. On handmade paper as well. I suspect this FS LE will have trouble selling.

>25 Joshbooks1:

It is a beautiful and unique book, unique because it is illustrated by Tom Phillips. As has been noted previously, T.S. Eliot was quite specific in stating he did not want The Waste Land illustrated. Additionally, the FS did everything right in this edition including letterpress printing on Zerkall mould-made paper by Phil Abel at Hand and Eye Letterpress and fine binding from Ludlow Bookbinders.

However, as you have noted, the price doesn't make any sense. Nevertheless, it will sell out quickly.

>27 dlphcoracl: I don’t agree that it will sell out quickly. But we will see.

>28 punkzip: Yes, I'm curious to see how long this takes to go, especially as it has a restricted buying pool (US and Canada only). Though I do wonder how many folks in other countries are making back-door purchasing arrangements through folks they know in those two nations.

>29 Shadekeep: Here's a simple question: Is anyone here planning to buy this and if so why?

The price is absurd IMO given the limitation. Compare this to the recent public domain letterpress books put out by other presses (e.g. Dorian, Peter Pan) which are longer, and half the price. There are multiple other letterpress versions of The Waste Land (No Reply, Arion, Thornwillow).

>30 punkzip: If for no other reason other than the last one you quote - so many other options - I feel this won't be a smash hit, especially priced the way it is.

>30 punkzip: I frankly don't know what they're thinking, as far as LE pricing, these days. It was a much less expensive edition, but considering what was being offered, The Turn of the Screw LE was equally absurdly-priced.

Is it the most expensive book ever sold by FS?

>33 David_Mauduit: That would have to have been the Bayeaux Tapestry table.

>33 David_Mauduit:
Maybe.
Historically, that honour goes to Luttrell Psalter LE 2006. £1090.
The exchange rate has changed over the years, and inflation has to be taken into account, so that Waste Land would be £1307 at today's exchange rate, but in 2006 would be £862.
Also, the tendency for the FS to price in USD far higher than the official GBP:USD exchange rate needs to be included. If sold in the UK, Waste Land may have been £1000.
The Bayeaux Tapestry table was even more expensive, but was not a book.
The Luttrell Psalter is a far more magnificent book than Waste Land.

Still looks kind of horrible imho lol.

>34 kdweber:

I thought it was a pinball machine?

Have they found Eliot hiding on an island....and got him remote signing?

>38 NorthBank: What do you mean?

I personally think this is a gorgeous edition. Nevertheless, at $1500+shipping+Taxes it's just not feasible to most collectors. You could argue it's overpriced, but even if you don't think so, many people just can't up and spend $1500 on a book willy-nilly. In the past the FS used to have financing available. Sadly, that is not longer the case. No financing, no ability to pay in pounds, unfortunate.

I’m also in the camp of this being a really beautiful edition. It’s unfortunately far out of my budget, though.

I’d love to see a more modest FS edition of the facsimile, with Ezra Pounds annotations, since the recent Faber release is a somewhat boring paperback.

>41 SpoonFed: might I suggest the Thornwillow press version, which is very nice and about 10% of the cost of the FS LE

>42 jsg1976: Thanks for the recommendation - the Thornwillow version does look extremely nice!

>42 jsg1976: I regard the Thornwillow edition highly, but their comparable version (half-leather) is a lot more than 10% of the FS LE cost ($1,170.00).

Half-cloth is $375, which is obviously less pricey but also less impressive. The particularly striking aspect of the Thornwillow edition is the paste paper boards reminiscent of a moonscape, which you only get with the half-leather state.

>44 abysswalker: Agreed. By the way, Thornwillow kickstarted their Wasteland, and the price for the early bid half-leather was $600! As you pointed out, it's now double.

>44 abysswalker: I wasn’t suggesting that the paper bound Thornwillow was the same quality as the FS LE, but rather that you could get a very nice letterpress version of the poem, with Eliot’s notes and an original monograph, for 10% of the cost of the FS LE, which I think is in line with what the OP, who was asking for a “more modest version”, was looking for. I certainly agree you’d need to go to a much higher state to get a comparable binding to the FS LE, but that wasn’t what I was going for with my recommendation.

It would be interesting to see the reason for Folio's decline in sales when it comes to limited editions as of late. Is it inflation? New company direction? Poor choices in titles? The post-covid craze for books has declined? Over a year ago it took maybe a week or two for a limited edition to be sold out and if it was fantasy or science fiction sometimes less than a day. Now the more recent editions have been in stock for months with fewer than fifty sold of The Waste Land. It's an interesting new business model - telling their customers that they plan to vastly overcharge their books and eventually they'll sell out or be put on sale (probably at the price in which they should have started).

Personally, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It has turned me off from the company I was once so loyal to. In the past, even if I was unsure of a limited edition, I would purchase it with almost always positive results. There was a sense of trust. I would wake up early upon the release just so I could be one of the first to see and potentially buy the unveiled new limited edition. Recently I don't really care and will take a peek sometime during the day not even bothering to view the two minute video about the book. After Philip K Dick, Ulysses and Lord of the Rings which I found all decent but very overpriced I no longer blindly trust Folio Society and their new business model. I feel like the production and creativity is average at best while the prices have skyrocketed. There are just too many fine press companies I'd rather spend money on than Folio. When I see the price of The Waste Land it's equivalent to seeing someone post The Orange Fairy Book on eBay for $1500 - If I absolutely loved the title I would purchase it full well knowing I am grossly overpaying for a book in terms of quality and production.

>47 Joshbooks1:

"I feel like the production and creativity is average at best while the prices have skyrocketed."

Yes and no.

The productivity and creativity are not the problem, it's the pricing, especially for the last few Limited Editions. In this range the FS Limited Editions are competing against the Foolscap Press, the Nawakum Press and the Barbarian Press, etc. Compare the recent Foolscap Press editions of 'The Travels of sir John Mandeville' ($1,200) and 'Brief Loves That Live Forever' ($1,100) and there is no comparison.

>47 Joshbooks1: I don't think the COVID-fueled book-buying bubble should be used as a benchmark. Also, I think recent highly priced LEs (Ulysses, LoTR, Divine Comedy) sold briskly. Gormenghast has been on the market only a few months and is down to 100. Granted, Turn of the Screw probably will linger for quite a while, and time will tell with The Waste Land. Still, I think FS isn't necessarily seeing a decline in LE sales because of its business and artistic decisions. I am in agreement, however, in that their LEs have trended toward the overpriced category for me personally. I feel that a midrange (say $500-$800) sweet spot is being neglected.

>49 AMindForeverVoyaging:

I would agree that their sales seems perfectly fine. They just seem to be releasing more Limited Editions than normal.

>47 Joshbooks1: Think about this from the business perspective versus the consumer perspective. LEs that sold out in hours turned up on eBay in droves at multiples of the original price and those flipped pretty quickly. Why should FS leave margin on the table to the benefit of arbitrage buyers who gain all of the benefit. If you think about this from the business perspective a set of books that sell at a much higher margin over a few months or whatever versus low margin in hours is a better business model.

>48 dlphcoracl: I think their production is average, maybe I was being to harsh and would call it above average but find it lacking when compared to the older limited editions. I know they're not that popular but the complete Letterpress Shakespeare is a masterpiece and the books are superbly done. I find the production of their recent books in no way equate to the absurd prices they are asking for. And I completely agree and loved the last two Foolscap releases. I just received Endgrain Editions Four and Sudden Immobility and the books are stunning. For Endgrain Editions Four I was a little skeptical spending so much money on a book solely consisting of wood engravings but now I see why people buy them - it's almost mesmerizing to hold and flip through and I'm sure it'll get much more use than I previously thought. I just wish I discovered Barbarian Press before The Splendour of a Morning sold out.

>50 MobyRichard: That's actually not true if you look at the list of LE printed by year.

>51 LBShoreBook: You're probably right and Folio is making much more money now. I thought pricing before was still a little high but now it's absurd for what you get. It just now feels with Folio that I'm buying a beer at a football game. Sure the end result is pretty good, especially if its an IPA on draft, but all the same every sip I take I'm bitter because I'm reminded that I'm getting hosed.

>52 Joshbooks1: "It just now feels with Folio that I'm buying a beer at a football game. Sure the end result is pretty good, especially if its an IPA on draft, but all the same every sip I take I'm bitter because I'm reminded that I'm getting hosed."

A very apt and amusing analogy.

I wonder how Waste Land is selling? It's a very beautiful edition, I would argue the most beautiful edition I have seen of the work - but

1)It's $1500 - that is the far in excess of what people are paying for fine press publications such as Lyra's Press, Thornwillow, etc.

2)The FS seems to think it's okay to charge American customers 50% more than those in the UK. If Waste Land had been around $1000 I think it would have received far more favorably. As it stands, I've basically stopped purchasing new FS publications and just stick to the second-hand market and likely will do so until they decide to make their pricing fair. By the way, does anyone know if it's actually legal for the FS to charge exorbitant rates for anyone outside of the UK despite the exchange rate being nearly 1-to-1?

>55 astropi: Apple charges different amounts in different countries as does McDonalds. Yes, this is legal - not that I think this makes things correct. We have heard about insurance being the explanation, but I would be keener to know more about the difference. If 2% of books delivered in the U.K. are damaged, but 10% in the US this would explain it, but I wish they would explain, otherwise we all wonder how justified it is

>56 DMulvee: I think a better and more appropriate analogy is this - if you purchase an Easton Press book directly from EP it will be shipped from the USA and anyone in the world will pay the exact same price plus shipping costs. Similarly if you purchase a book from Lyra's Press in the UK, you will pay what everyone is paying plus shipping costs. That, is 100% fair. However, the FS is charging everyone in America something like 30-50% more per book! I'm not entirely sure it's legal, and if it is, well as you noted it's definitely not "correct".

>57 astropi:
Except that you cannot buy a book directly from Easton Press if you are outside North America.
I agree with what you say in principle though.

>58 wcarter: Although they may have temporarily stopped some international shipping during the pandemic, Easton Press have always shipped internationally. They specifically note that there is an extra shipping charge outside of the USA for Canada AND the UK which should (in principle) be automatically added when ordering online -
https://www.eastonpress.com/faqs/FAQs.html
They suggest contacting customer service if you are having problems or if ordering outside the USA, Canada, UK

customerservice@eastonpress.com

>59 astropi:
I have been Unable to order from them since 2018.
Maybe they just don't like Australia.

>60 wcarter: haha, hopefully that's not the case :)
Did you email them? I'm guessing if you tell them you want to order x-y-z and you live in Australia they would get shipping costs and then send you an invoice.

>61 astropi:
I have actually done that and they said no.
I have a few of their deluxe limited editions that I bought from them directly initially, but now have to buy from the secondary market a couple of years after release (eg. Phantom of the Opera).

>55 astropi: Are you seriously asking if it’s legal for companies to sell their products for different prices in different countries?

>63 What_What: Indeed. It is pretty well-known that Amazon, for instance, algorithmically decides to offer different discounts (charge different prices) to different customers even in the same country based on their spending profiles and other factors.

Also, I'm not sure comic publishers do this anymore, but I remember, oh... about 25 years ago, buying graphic novels where the prices were printed on the books in USD, CAD, and GBP. And at that time, you often had a book that may have been priced at US$24.99 and at £19.99, which at historical conversion rates would have been about $30.00 or 20% higher. And this had been a common practice for years.

So, while not trying to discourage legitimate discussion, as I've said in another thread, I really do feel that this whole discussion about Folio's practice of variable pricing is on a repeat loop, with people making the same complaints over and over. I really don't see that there's much more to say, absent a more public statement from Folio (very unlikely) or a change in the practice (also unlikely).

>64 whytewolf1: And not just comic books. A lot of publishers print multiple prices on their books (UK, US and Canadian for example) which may be close in actual value at the time of printing but can get wildly different when the currencies change weirdly - looking at the ones on my desk there is a $12.99 (in Canada $18.99) book, a ‎£12/$18 book, a $20 US / $27 Can book and a US $19/ CAN $27 / UK £14.99 book.

Folio does not print the prices on their books but the practice is the same - price in the currency of each market regardless of the current exchange rate when you buy the book.

>65 AnnieMod: Excellent point.

I received my copy today. My wife thinks I'm nuts to have paid so much for it, but I like it. Shantih shantih shantih!

>65 AnnieMod: The reason comic books and standard hardcover books have different prices has always been to reflect the difference in currency exchange. A comic book might be $1.95 using USA dollars but $2.95 in Canadian dollars because the exchange rate is that $1 USA > $1 Canadian. Ultimately, all customers basically pay the same amount or close to it regardless of where you purchase the aforementioned book/item.

Folio does not print the prices on their books but the practice is the same - price in the currency of each market regardless of the current exchange rate when you buy the book
-> That is absolutely NOT the same practice as what I noted above. If it were, customers in the USA would be paying the same rate, or honestly at the moment perhaps even slightly less, than what UK customers are paying. The FS even tried playing the "Apple card" by "arguing" (very very badly "arguing" with no facts to back them up) that this was common practice across industry including high-tech such as Apple, but a little bit of research shows how inaccurate that supposed analogy is. I honestly believe people are NOT happy to be taken advantage of, and that the FS will continue to lose patrons in Canada, the USA, and rest of the world.

>68 astropi: Except that currency exchange rates change - and the difference can get all distorted within days of printing the books. It is exactly the same practice.

But you can believe whatever you want.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination

Price discrimination is a microeconomic pricing strategy where identical or largely similar goods or services are sold at different prices by the same provider in different markets.123 Price discrimination is distinguished from product differentiation by the more substantial difference in production cost for the differently priced products involved in the latter strategy.3 Price differentiation essentially relies on the variation in the customers' willingness to pay234 and in the elasticity of their demand.

In a theoretical market with perfect information, perfect substitutes, and no transaction costs or prohibition on secondary exchange (or re-selling) to prevent arbitrage, price discrimination can only be a feature of monopolistic and oligopolistic markets,16 where market power can be exercised. Otherwise, the moment the seller tries to sell the same good at different prices, the buyer at the lower price can arbitrage by selling to the consumer buying at the higher price but with a tiny discount. However, product heterogeneity, market frictions or high fixed costs (which make marginal-cost pricing unsustainable in the long run) can allow for some degree of differential pricing to different consumers, even in fully competitive retail or industrial markets.

Price discrimination requires market segmentation and some means to discourage discount customers from becoming resellers and, by extension, competitors. This usually entails using one or more means of preventing any resale: keeping the different price groups separate, making price comparisons difficult, or restricting pricing information. The boundary set up by the marketer to keep segments separate is referred to as a rate fence.

Price discrimination differentiates the willingness to pay of the customers, in order to eliminate as much consumer surplus as possible. By understanding the elasticity of the customer's demand, a business could use its market power to identify the customers' willingness to pay. Different people would pay a different price for the same product when price discrimination exists in the market. When a company recognized a consumer that has a lower willingness to pay, the company could use the price discrimination strategy in order to maximized the firm's profit.

>69Simply saying it is exactly the same practice without one shred of evidence, absolutely does NOT make it the same practice. Not sure why you're trying to defend the Folio Society's price discrimination practice, but you're allowed to do as you please of course.

>70 What_What: I was reading up on price discrimination - examples
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022199620300192
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/price_discrimination.asp
Seems like it's more prevalent in Europe than in the USA it also seems that for the most part, this is accepted in many/most countries. Regardless, a huge price discrimination will turn away patrons which is what I suspect is happening with the Folio Society.

>70 What_What:
Price discrimination is a hot political issue in the U.S. when it comes to prescription drugs. Americans pay more (way, way more in many instances) than citizens of almost every other country. Why do the drug companies soak Americans? Because they can, and we have no choice but to pay them or go without. They say they need American dollars to finance research into new drugs. We can buy insurance but that only passes the buck to the insurance companies who then have to recover their costs from their customers in the form of higher premiums.

The issue with books is different only in that they are not life or death items. Customers can freely decide not to be Folio customers anymore as I have done.

Interesting that we're discussing this price discrimination issue in a thread about a title that is ONLY available in North America. There's a thread specifically about this entitled "Americans -- Have you stopped purchasing new Folio Society books?". I know that threads do digress and that I'm being a bit pedantic, but it would be great if we could bring this thread back to the The Waste Land LE itself. Tell us more about it >67 CJDelDotto: and anyone else who has it in hand... Cheers

>73 stopsurfing: I bought my copy shortly after FS made it available for purchase. I was hoping that the number would be in the single digits. Instead, mine is copy #17. As for the book itself, I'm really taken with Tom Phillips' illustrations. I think his aesthetic is very much in line with the high modernist aesthetic of the poem and its moment in cultural history. Also, I love the feel of the book, particularly the Zerkall paper. In purely haptic terms, the book feels like a high-end, expensive production, which I appreciate, given its cost. Furthermore, despite seeing the dimensions of the book stated in the specs online, I was still taken aback by its size. At 15" tall in the clamshell case, I think it's the tallest book that I own. At the very least, it's certainly one of them.

For those who want to see images, check out my Instagram account (handle: cjdeldotto).

It looks like there are 253 copies left out of the original 350. Anyone think this will eventually makes its way into one of the FS sales? (I'm hoping so!)

>75 BooksFriendsNotFood: It made its way to the last FS sale, the price went down from $1500 to (if I recall correctly) $1300. I can't imagine that moved many copies...

>76 astropi: Ah yes I think you're right. It was probably on sale for $1,350 as that outdated price is still displaying over a quick Google search. I remembered that The Turn of the Screw LE was on sale but this one must've slipped my mind.

I was determined not to get this because of the price but I've been eyeballing it lately. I guess I'll wait for the next sale and hope for better discounts.

>77 BooksFriendsNotFood: It is a very beautiful edition, BUT compare it to say the half-leather Thornwillow edition, which I think is also stunning, and the Thornwillow edition is still nearly $200 less than the sale price -

>78 astropi: True about the price! I'm still pretty early in my "getting obsessed with beautiful & increasingly expensive books" journey (lol) - I think I only really became addicted to FS in 2022 - and so I have yet to properly admire this more traditional binding style, but give me a few years and I wouldn't be surprised to find myself an avid Thornwillow fan XD

>78 astropi: for those curious, I have a copy of the Thornwillow and it is my favorite edition of The Waste Land that I have seen in person. The moonscape style paste papers are a perfect fit for the work and are also quite unique as a general point.

Though I haven't seen the Folio LE in person, it is worth noting that the production is pretty different in style from the Folio LE, with form factor being the biggest difference. The Folio LE is a large quarto (10½" × 14") while the Thornwillow edition is a small octavo. So a major factor will be whether one prefers big books or handy books, if one is choosing between the two editions.

I also personally like the Thornwillow grayish tone paper as well but the Zerkall mould-made paper is almost certainly by most standards a nicer paper.

>80 abysswalker: Thanks for this comparison! Really glad you're enjoying your Thornwillow edition.

Was adrenaline-filled for a bit because I just pulled the trigger and ordered The Waste Land! I'm going to feel so salty when it's $300 off in January but I had maxed out my waiting capabilities (and hey, at least the shipping was $27 cheaper than a few months ago). I'm really excited for it because 1) it's gorgeous, but also 2) it'll be my first book with several traditional fine press elements such as vellum, letterpress printing, a natural deckle, tipped-in illustrations, etc.!

I've spent two days with The Waste Land and unexpectedly...this is my favorite LE that FS has ever done. Wow. 🥲



I've re-read it twice already - I cannot imagine a greater way to experience this poem - and I've flipped through the pages and touched, held, and admired the book even more often. Just wow.

Thank you FS for improving the quality of my life. 🫶

i completely agree. this edition is so beautiful. it turns the poem into a genuine interractive experience. a masterpiece.

>84 ClarenceBodicker: Yes!! It's very cool how the illustrations are evocative and almost serve as a kind of commentary to the poem — the illustrator's ‘Notes on the Images’ was really interesting to read.

And from a purely physical standpoint, the purple "cloth sides" of the binding feel somewhat plastic-y (an absolute fail of a description) but with that linen texture, and it really feels so good with the vellum.

I've been out of the loop on Fs and LT for a while and just noticed this LE.

Does anyone know how much this sold for in the FS Australian website?

>86 LesMiserables: Due to copyright reasons it is only available to those in the US and Canada

>87 DMulvee:

Ah okay. The price would no doubt be beyond my humble means, but it looks very well put together.

Is this the first time a book and or an LE have only been available to one market?

I don't recall this happening before.

>88 LesMiserables:

There were also limitations for Anne Frank and after a while the Foundation-set, if I remember it correctly. But this is more limited than those were, I think.

I don't know about this financially, of course, but a forwarding service might be an option for those outside the US. I'm not sure if a non-US billing address would be a problem, though.

>89 SF-72: Thanks.

I'm looking for some advice, if anyone has the time: If you had to pick between two copies of The Waste Land —

A) The title on the spine is missing some gold foil on one or two of the letters but I don't have a problem with anything else, VERSUS

B) The gold foil issue is fixed but
1 - the vellum is not as smooth (looking or feeling) and has more natural discoloration, striations, little dots, etc.,
2 - the limitation number was written under the main paragraph of the colophon instead of in-line like it's "supposed" to be (plus the number + signature just look less aesthetically pleasing),
3 - some of the mould-made pages have a tiny, random black dot in varied locations, and
4 - on 2 pages, the darkness of the ink varies a lot from the top of the page versus the bottom

— which of the two would you decide to keep? I feel like my phrasing implies I should keep A but I'm confused because I don't know how much that imperfect spine will bother me in the future plus the missing foil is the only actual "defect" among everything I've listed, and maybe the things I find annoying about B wouldn't be as big an issue if I didn't also have A right in front of me. Any decision-making help is appreciated!

>91 BooksFriendsNotFood: It isn't sold out yet - can't you return them both for a normal copy? It's a lot to spend only to be dissatisfied with it. And it seems you'd be unhappy with either of them.

>91 BooksFriendsNotFood: I was going to say B until I got to point 4. Inconsistent printing is, in my view, a fatal flaw with the most important part of the product. That would be true even if a trade paperback and certainly of a higher end book. The publisher's main job is to put the text neatly and legibly on the page

Assuming these are copies you bought new then, as >92 What_What: said, I think you'd be justified in returning both and insisting on perfection given that this is sold as a high-ticket luxury item.

>92 What_What: >93 ubiquitousuk: Thank you both so much for the thoughtful comments! Your advice has been exceedingly helpful, and it's also good to know that in general, inconsistent printing is in fact an actual problem. Returning them both for a normal copy is certainly the preferable option to settling for one or the other, so I'll be asking FS if they can do this for me.

For anyone interested, I wrote a short review with some pics here --
https://www.librarything.com/topic/357146#n8356633

Bottom Line: The most magnificent edition of The Waste Land ever published.

>95 astropi: YAYYYY I'm so happy that you love it!! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

>96 BooksFriendsNotFood: Love it! Here is my personal opinion regarding your previous questions --

1 - the vellum is not as smooth (looking or feeling) and has more natural discoloration, striations, little dots, etc.,
Vellum naturally has discolorations and other "imperfections" (such as little dots). That said, there shouldn't be anything that's clearly a printing/bounding error such as the vellum coming off.

2 - the limitation number was written under the main paragraph of the colophon instead of in-line like it's "supposed" to be (plus the number + signature just look less aesthetically pleasing)
Could you share a pic? In general, I would say that's nothing to worry about, and in fact might make your copy just a little more "special" :)


3 - some of the mould-made pages have a tiny, random black dot in varied locations,
It's common for high-quality paper to have pulp residue and/or other little random variations. Without seeing pics my guess is that this is absolutely normal.


4 - on 2 pages, the darkness of the ink varies a lot from the top of the page versus the bottom
Also very common in letterpress printing. One page might be slightly darker because the plates had a fresh batch of ink, and another page might be a bit lighter. This is perfectly normal. Now, if it gets to the point where you can't read it or it looks "quite bad" that is something else. I'll be happy to look at pics, but otherwise, I hope what I wrote helps :)

>95 astropi: I'm holding out for No Reply Press edition (on order) although this looks like a nice one.

>97 astropi: I appreciate you taking the time to share your takes on these scenarios! Thankfully FS was willing to provide me with a copy that I was more than happy with, but this is useful information that I'll certainly keep in mind if I ever experience something similar. What really pained me was that the first copy was so perfect despite the one flaw and it made the second copy look and feel quite subpar in comparison — I adore the new copy I ended up with though so all's well that ends well ◡̈

I’m sorry to break up a celebration, folks, but I like to understand what I read, and I doubt that even Eliot understood what he wrote. I might pay $50 for a copy if it were lavishly illustrated. Lovecraft’s satire “Waste Paper: A Poem of Profound Insignificance” makes as much sense. :-)

>100 jroger1: I first read the poem in ebook form (when trying to feel better about not being able to afford the FS edition at the time) and didn’t really like it, probably because I didn’t really understand it. When I finally got the FS copy and I read it, I LOVED it because between the spaced out text and the amazing imagery, I was inspired to ~find~ meaning in the text, even if it may not have been the meaning that Eliot intended. And then the copy has illustrator’s notes as well as Eliot’s notes which provide further meanings, and Google provides even more insightful meanings, so all these different possible interpretations make The Waste Land a wholly luscious work to me. No re-read of it is boring. Most of the time I go with my brain’s interpretation during a casual re-read - which usually reflects how I’m feeling at the time - but every time I go a bit deeper I go wow. So that’s why I love it, if that makes sense!

I absolutely get that it’s not for everyone though, and I fully support that.

>100 jroger1: I'd actually love a fine press edition of Lovecraft's satire! Parodying important/popular works is nothing new. The Song of Hiawatha has numerous parodies, including the wonderful Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (Bugs Bunny)! Poe's The Raven has likewise been parodied numerous times --

Once upon a midnight lately, might be seen a figure stately,
In the Tuileries sedately poring over Roman lore;
Annotating, scheming, mapping, Caesar’s old positions sapping,
When there came a something rapping, spirit-rapping at the door.
“’Tis some minister,” he muttered, “come, as usual, me to bore.”
So to Caesar turned once more.

All that said, I very much enjoy having a beautiful version of such an important work as The Waste Land. It's not easy to understand because there are different speakers, as well as different locations and periods invoked. Reminds me a bit of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury -- also difficult work to read but satisfying :)

>102 astropi: “… difficult work to read but satisfying”

You and I differ in our writing philosophies. To me a writer of fiction who is hard to read is not a good writer. Difficult concepts I can handle but not a difficult style. I’m not sure I’ve ever finished a Faulkner novel, and surely Joyce is just playing with us. Henry James is barely tolerable but only because he wrote a lot of short stories and novellas.

While it is true that I am not in general a fan of poetry, I do enjoy “fun” poetry like Hiawatha and The Raven (not to mention Ogden Nash). But Eliot could have got his point across better through the medium of an essay — that is, if he even had a point and was capable of expressing it clearly.

>103 jroger1: That's the great thing about literature, everyone can find works that they enjoy :)

I'm not saying I always like "difficult" concepts or ideas, but I do very much enjoy Faulkner and similar works which really make you ponder what you read. Apparently Faulkner said this regarding Hemingway "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary" and Faulkner was clearly the opposite! Nevertheless, I very much enjoy Hemingway too. And this also goes beyond poetry and Nobel-winning authors. One of my favorite science fiction novels is Shadow of the Torturer, and you can find plenty of people complaining about the language and overall structure -- it too, has plenty of "difficult concepts".

>104 astropi:
As a rule, I read fiction for entertainment and nonfiction for learning. Melville could write an adventure story par excellence, Wells drew us into new and previously unimagined worlds, and Blatty scared the bejeebees out of us with “The Exorcist.”

But there are those rare authors who can entertain and educate us at the same time. Dickens showed us how it was to be poor in London, Michener taught us about the history of Hawaii, Alaska, Texas through the imagined lives of generations, and John Grisham continues to teach us about abuses in the legal establishment, all the while entrancing us with characters and imagery of the time. We learn much from these and other authors like them without feeling preached to.

>105 jroger1: I'm a big Melville fan, but have you read his poetry? That's pretty dense material, definitely not what I would call "easy" nor "pleasurable" reading.

>103 jroger1:

Well one issue with this view is that every book eventually becomes hard to read because of changes in any given language so that would mean all good books eventually become bad. Although it's not always strictly chronological. I find 18th century prose style much easier to understand than many 19th century works.

>106 astropi:
I haven’t read Melville’s poetry, but dense is okay as long as the meaning is clear. Just don’t leave me guessing what he’s getting at or I’ll tune out really fast.

>107 MobyRichard:
There is a difference between aging language (Shakespeare) and language that was poorly expressed in the first place (Eliot). Once I learn the elements of Shakespeare’s English, I can understand and admire his stories, but no amount of tutelage could help me to grasp the meaning of a writer (Eliot) who is deliberately vague.

>107 MobyRichard: That’s not quite right.

>103 jroger1: What is your definition of 'hard'? Is Proust hard because In Search of Lost Time is over 3,000 pages? Is Bernhard hard because there are no paragraphs and just text for hundreds of pages? Is Saramago hard because he doesn't use quotation marks?

>105 jroger1: It probably just boils down to personal taste but some of your examples are of authors I do not particularly care for. I understand the allure of Dickens but I find his novels to be entertaining soap operas which isn't my cup of tea.

Maybe try giving Faulkner another chance. I find him to be one of the greatest authors of the 20th century and if you haven't finished a novel by him maybe that's why you dislike him. He has a knack of initially creating conflict and confusion in the beginning of his novels and always beautifully pieces everything together later on (with exception of a few novels which he wrote hastily for money and biographers suspect he was intoxicated most of the time). He's a fascinating individual and his works have been incredibly influential, especially amongst some of the South American greats.

>111 Joshbooks1:
As I read mostly nonfiction, I confess to not having read Proust, Saramago, or Bernhard, but not using paragraphs or quotation marks would certainly be off-putting. Why would an author do those things if not to make them difficult to read? Length is not necessarily a criterion as I’ve read with pleasure Don Quixote, Gargantua & Pantagruel, and several Micheners, although padding to increase length is boring (as in Tolstoy’s 150-page description of wolf hunting in 19th century Russia, apparently for the purpose of making a long novel even longer.)

Perhaps I’ve been unfair to Faulkner, but being influential does not impress me. Mahler and Picasso have been influential, but I dislike most of their work.

>112 jroger1: I think we're all entitled to enjoy what we enjoy, regardless of whether the work is influential or not. That said, I do feel there is value in reading an "influential" work since it gives you perspective and insight. Fortunately with poems, even if you are not impressed, they tend to be rather short :)

Also, one of the wonderful things about the FS edition is the gorgeous illustrations. Even if you're not a fan of Eliot's writing, the illustrations are beautiful.