Collection: The Folio Society Books

Whether you are a lover of beautiful books, good-quality, sewn bindings or exquisite illustrations and engravings, Sancho’s Rare Books has an ever-expanding collection of editions published by The Folio Society. From some of the rarer, highly-limited volumes from the days of yore, to more recent titles, we have more than 300 different Folio Society titles in stock at all times, and we buy and sell most volumes of higher value in very good condition....

Folio Society Limited Editions and Special Publications

True beauty, rarity and durability; one cannot think of fine binding in today’s book publishing world without inevitably thinking of at least one Folio Society limited production. Folio Society limited editions are often hand-numbered, and feature unique, high-quality bindings (often leather or silk), special paper, and unique features such as gilded page edges, intricate tooling on covers and spine, letterpress limitation labels, and hand-marbled endpapers. They are often signed by well-known illustrators, distinguished scholars and introducers and, where possible, the authors themselves, and the editions come housed, most times, in either solander boxes or cloth-bound slipcases, sometimes with additional signed prints and paraphernalia. Their limitation today can vary between 250 and 2000 printed copies, with the rarest Folio Society limited edition—Hermsprong or Man As He Is Not—having been limited to only 25 copies. The rarer and more coveted the title, the higher the price, and some titles, once sold out, can command several thousands of pounds on the secondary market depending on scarcity (see, for example, Folio’s limited edition of Illustrations of Birds Drawn for John Gould by Edward Lear featured on our website). In fact, Sancho’s Rare Books sourced and sold one of the 25 elusive limited copies of Hermsprong, signed by illustrator Cecil Keeling and bound in green Morocco, in June 2023 to an Australian collector for £1000. With Folio’s limited editions being art works in themselves, they are generally coveted by both collectors of Folio editions and collectors of fine binding works.

Folio Society Standard / Core Editions / Signed Standard Editions

These books are the backbone of Folio Society’s offerings, and a selection of ten to twenty new titles is published with every season, known as the Folio Autumn, Winter, Spring or Summer Collection. Perhaps unjustly described as “standard” editions, these books still boast wonderful designs, high-quality acid-free paper, (often) specially-commissioned introductions, and illustrations, engravings and/or photographs. A handful of these titles are published in a standard format following a successful sale of the title in a limited format. There are also several “finer” standard editions, known as fine (non-limited) editions, and what separates them from their purely standard counterparts are generally a larger size, a better binding such as a quarter-leather binding with cloth sides and sometimes better paper (see, for example, our standard fine edition of Voltaire’s Candide or the 2010 edition of Beowulf). Finally, in 2015, Folio has also started selling occasionally standard editions featuring the author’s or artist’s signature on a bookplate affixed to the endpaper at a surcharge; highly limited and often selling out within hours, these editions are ideal for those not seeking the pinnacle of excellence exhibited by a limited copy, but want the book to have a closer, deeper connection with the author, illustrator or contributor (see, for example, our copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or The Wind in the Willows). While standard editions have a low price tag when in stock at the publisher, ranging between £30 and £250 for the larger boxed sets, some of the more-coveted titles become very pricey on the secondary market once sold out. Notorious here are some of Folio’s children’s and kids’ books, including the 12 Rainbow Fairy Books edited by Andrew Lang.

Folio Press Fine Editions

Folio also published 20 Folio Press Fine Editions between 1987 and 1991; these were “slim volumes [produced] to the highest standard, using mould-made paper and letterpress printing, with bindings and, where appropriate, illustrations in the private press tradition”. See, for example, our copy of These Things also are Spring's, poems by Edward Thomas, or Peter Grimes, Peter Grimes: The Poor of the Borough. These editions are a testament to traditional bookmaking and a beautiful blend of unpretentious craftsman and artistry.

Who is The Folio Society?

Founded back in 1947, the Folio Society is nowadays a UK-based independent publisher with an excellent reputation for above-average, higher-quality classical, fiction and non-fiction books. Folio has been among the first publishers to truly push the boundaries of bookmaking and creative possibilities to create beautifully-illustrated, collectable books for the everyman. Only a handful of the books published by The Folio Society every year are limited, numbered and special editions that represent the pinnacle of excellence and can be very expensive; this latter feature is especially so in the case of highly-coveted titles that are out of stock. Until 2013, the Folio Society only sold books to its members, with only its spin-off publisher, Folio Press, selling books to the general public. Nowadays, Folio Society no longer operates as a membership organisation, and all its published books are available to the general public.

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