Folio Society Books

Is this cheap for the FS? What impression are we on now anyway?

BH

£22.95 is not bad for The Hobbit it is a nice book, 2 copies on ebay at the moment and at about the same price with the discount.

Impressions for Folio Society are very difficult to gauge, does anyone know of any good resource for Folio Society publications in terms of impressions?

Hmm...

There's a lot of copies out there --& with careful & persistent questioning it's pretty easy to nail down 1st impressions (in this format) of all the FS Tolkien editions. I've never really seen the point (personally that is --as I wasn't collecting when they first appeared in the late 90's) of buying direct (FS Tolkien that is), as they can all be picked up second-hand (as you suggest) for comfortably under £50. Not new admittedly; but pretty close, as people probably don't read FS copies too many times, I don't think.

FS have produced some fine books over the years. A good resource is FS's own bibliographies which, again, can be picked up second-hand. I have Folio 50 --a beautiful (an immense) book in its own right (--altho' only covers to 1996, if I recall.)

I've got a Silmarillion first impression signed by Mosley actually...

BH

The latest FS bibliography, I think, is Folio 60 btw --it cover to 2006, so would probably have the kind of impression information you're looking for. If I can find a decent copy, for a decent price, I'll buy it & tell you what it says.

BH

The latest FS bibliography, I think, is Folio 60 btw --it cover to 2006, so would probably have the kind of impression information you're looking for.

We have Folio 60. The first printing of The Silmarillion was issued in 1997, bound in "full blue vegetable parchment ('Elephanthide') with a design in gold, red and black by Mosley; pale grey flecked endleaves. Dark red-brown slip case." The binding was uniform with 1997 printings of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

A second printing of the Folio Society Silmarillion was issued in 2002, and a third in 2003; it is said that "some copies" of these (no number given) were bound "in quarter dark brown morocco, gold Indian silk boards; dark brown endleaves. Brown morocco-covered slip case", the slipcase and spine with calligraphic lettering by John Andrew.

"Some copies" of the fourth printing (2003) were bound like the second and third "but with flecked cream endleaves" and with an additional leaf before the half-title giving a limitation as 1750 numbered copies (this is the only quantity noted for the several printings).

The bibliography also lists a fifth printing in 2004, but without further details.

We have the first and fourth printings in our collection. The limitation statement in the fourth describes the leather as "Wassa goatskin" and the Indian silk (what some would call "slub silk") is hand-woven. The fourth also includes a slip laid in giving instructions on how to care for the leather.

Wayne & Christina

Thanks for that Findegil. I didn't mean to imply that Folio 60 (or any other FS bibliography) would supply impression quantities, just that it would probably give the number of impressions & dates. The detail about the 1750 deluxe is very interesting though.

So, are we to interpret those statements as FS saying that they bound up "some" second & third impressions prior to the actual 1750-numbered deluxe (--with its limitation statement & loose note describing care of the leather)? The only difference would appear to be the earlier brown endleaves. I'm curious as to why they document this if the number released wasn't of reasonable quantity.

On impression quantities --I've asked FS before, but they don't appear to keep (or perhaps just disclose) figures on how many copies make up impressions.

BH