Low stock ordinary FS editions #2

Continuation of "Low stock ordinary FS editions".

I thought I'd post the links since I'm always hunting around for the US link:

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/miscellaneous/last-chance-to-buy
https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/miscellaneous/last-chance-to-buy
https://www.foliosociety.com/au/miscellaneous/last-chance-to-buy
https://www.foliosociety.com/ca/miscellaneous/last-chance-to-buy
https://www.foliosociety.com/row/miscellaneous/last-chance-to-buy

Listings are the same at present with the exception of The Diary of A Young Girl which is missing from the US/Canada links.

I'll put a plug in for She-Wolves as I've been dipping into it and have found it an interesting read. It is a large volume (in series with Joan of Arc) with a silky cloth binding, and is a really nice production.

Also if you're a PKD fan, don't miss out on Ubik. Given the prices of FS sci fi on the secondary market this one is bound to be expensive later unless it gets reprinted.

ETA: I am relieved to find nothing on the list I need. I hope to place a single order for sale and non-sale items whenever the sale is so I can spring for speedy shipping.

Does anyone know why The Diary of a Young Girl is not available in the US? I'd like to get it but it seems impossible.

>3 amp123: It's been discussed in the Facebook group, and the consensus is that there are licensing issues, which seems likely. I'm sure it's not that hard to find a fine or like-new copy on the secondary market. Aside from ABE and eBay, there's a Facebook Folio Buy/Sell group that is quite active. https://www.facebook.com/groups/291415242124241

I had my partner pick it up for me in England a few months ago. He had it delivered to his sister’s home and brought it back to Toronto for me.

>3 amp123: Does anyone know why The Diary of a Young Girl is not available in the US?

The availability of the Anne Frank diaries in the US was touched upon here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/288102#6406342

with this link supplied by one of FSDs long-time members, (post #4) HuxleyThe Cat:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/18/anne-franks-diary-caught-in-fierce...

Let's see if I get this straight: Folio published Wells' trilogy back in 2004 and republished War of the Worlds and Time Machine recently. The former is sold out and the latter about to. Anyone know whether Folio recently republished Invisible Man as well? Or has any plans to do so? This is the only title I'm missing.

>7 Nicolas89: I don't recall seeing it as a separate volume. If the other two sold well it is reasonable to assume they might publish it, but you can always ask them if they have plans to do so.

>8 wdripp: Great to hear that. Wrote them an email to see what they think of this.

>6 bookfair_e: Thanks for the info about US copyright. I wish FS would have used the "premium" in excess of the exchange rate that US buyers are charged to pay the cost of obtaining permission to sell this in the US. Maybe that would not have been enough anyway. I guess I'll have to look in the secondary market as others have suggested.

The HG Wells Combo down to 29 and Catch 22 to 36. Suspect both will be gone soon. Ubik down to 60ish as well.

>9 Nicolas89: Did you ever hear back?

Ubik looks like it was reprinted. The Wells is down to 13 so most likely last call!

>14 PrestigeWorldWide: how do you know Ubik will be reprinted?

>15 punkzip: was removed from the Last Chance page and no longer has a counter.

>16 PrestigeWorldWide:
Not sure if it is a bug.
I was about to make an order just because it was selling out. I tried putting 50 copies in my cart but it wouldn't let me. But I managed with 40 copies.

So, yes, not sure how it works. But it might be that there are around 40 copies left.

>17 Kainzow:
And I tried again.
This time I'm able to add more than 350 copies of Ubik in my cart...

The Wells is now sold out! Sonnets is probably close behind!

Two new titles added. Little Women with 74 and Love Lies Bleeding with 105 copies left respectively.

Berlin seems to be down to 35 copies.

2 new books on the list.
House on Pooh Corner at 105
Blue Fairy Book at 92

Get your Fairy Book now and save yourself the hassle of making a "Why won't the reprint" thread in the future.

Tommy sold out. Think I got the last one. :3

>23 AtlantisLostAndCold:
It's crazy how it sold out so quickly, but understandable at the same time. A book of this quality at such a price is a bargain.

Had not checked the Folio website immediately after I woke up, I would have missed out!

Three new books:
True Grit
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Life in the English Country House

>25 foldout_chair: I have all of these and would especially recommend True Grit. Great novel and beautifully designed volume.

>26 RRCBS: Second.

Life in the English Country House has been on this list before, then left for a year or so until being posted there again, if memory serves. I wonder what that's about.

Couple new ones and some very close to sell out.

New:
The Greatest Benefit to Mankind - 67
The Folio Book of Food and Drink - 104

Close to selling Out:
The Blue Flower - 5
Blue Fairy Book - 2
Homage to Catalonia - 14
Behind the Wall - 15

Homage to Catalonia would be my choice from the above.

I am seeing more books published on the 1930s and the various infamous Dictators ... and that may be because the current rise of some authoritarian regimes is an ominous development and people wish to understand how democracies in the 1930s and 40s responded to aggression.

>25 foldout_chair: I purchased Life in the English Country House once it became low in stock, now down to 101 from 113 when I purchased a fortnight ago.
>30 English-bookseller: I am certainly reading more books written or about the 1920’s and 1930’s at the moment.

>30 English-bookseller:
>31 CarltonC:

Any recommendations?

>32 LondonLawyer:

Some recommendations regarding the authoritarian regimes of the 1920's and 1930's:

Fiction:

1. Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
2. Little Man - What Now? by Hans Fallada
3. Blood Brothers by Ernst Haffner. Available only in paperback, a fascinating look at a gang of young hoodlums in Berlin. The author was apparently a social worker with 1st-hand experience with this and all traces of him were lost during the course of WW II.
4. The Christopher Isherwood novels: Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin (Folio Society).
5. Fabian: The Story of A Moralist by Ernst Kästner

Non-fiction:

1. The Richard Evans trilogy: The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power and The Third Reich at War.
2. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer (Folio Society - 2 vols.)
3. The Berlin Diaries of Marie Vasiltchikov (Folio Society)

>33 dlphcoracl: Thanks. I've not read anything on your fiction list but will take a look. I have the Folio 2-vol version of Shirer, and a trade hardback of the first Richard Evans book.

I highly recommend:

The Spectre of War by Jonathan Haslam
Appeasing Hitler by Tim Bouverie

>33 dlphcoracl: Hans Fallada - that's a name I haven't heard in a while. What an underrated author and the two you listed by him are great reads. Not the most optimistic books though! Germany and Austria have some heavy hitters when it comes to 20th century literature and I keep on discovering more and more as of late. Boll's The Clown and Billiards at Half Past Nine, Koeppen's Trilogy, Zweig Beware of Pity and Chess Story and NYRB just published two books by Walter Kempowski, All for Nothing, and Marrow and Bone - fantastic reads. I've never been a fan of Thomas Mann and have tried The Magic Mountain twice, twice got to 200-300 pages and couldn't continue. Same goes for Buddenbrooks. Joesph and His Brothers looks intriguing but not sure if I should even attempt it. Berlin Alexanderplatz (about 30s Germany,) was good but with all of the raving reviews I was expecting something better. Same goes for The Tin Drum. And my favorite 20th century novel - The Man Without Qualities. Sorry for tangent, just got excited remembering those books - and great selections by the way!

OT to Joshbooks1 and LondonLawyer

>34 LondonLawyer:
>35 Joshbooks1:

The little gem in the books I have listed is the paperback book:

Blood Brothers by Ernst Haffner, Other Press, 2015. Excellent translation by Michael Hoffman.

It may not be fine or private press, but it has an authenticity few, if any, other books can match. The story revolves about a group of teens and young adults who have moved to Berlin from all over the Weimar Republic in desperate search of work. When they cannot find jobs, they band together to commit petty crimes as a means of support. Their struggles and frustration with the German bureaucracy explain much of why many Germans threw in the towel and supported the National Socialist Party.

Haffner obviously knew of these youths and problems first-hand and this novel is akin to being transported back in time to the Weimar Republic. It is a compelling read.

>33 dlphcoracl: Seems like I need to check out Blood Brothers.

I too would enthusiastically cheerlead for Alone in Berlin / Every Man Dies Alone. In fact, if I were forced to pick a favourite book, difficult as it would be, that would be the one. Since the German text is now, I believe, out of copyright, it seems like high time that Folio either commissions a new translation or procures the rights to Michael Hofman's translation from Penguin.

The Berlin Diaries of Marie Vasiltchikov was also great. But you put it under fiction. Is that a comment on the credibility of the claim that this is a war diary? Much of what is claimed in the book is corroborated by the photographs contained in the Folio edition. I reviewed that edition here: https://ubiquitousbooks.wordpress.com/2021/04/10/the-berlin-diaries-of-marie-vas...

>37 ubiquitousuk:

1. Agree. Both of Hans Fallada's novels are outstanding.

2. Michael Hoffman's translation of Every Man Dies Alone is outstanding. FS should commission his translation rather than reinventing the wheel.

3. Thank you for pointing out my error regarding Berlin Diaries. It is, of course, non-fiction and this was a temporary brain cramp - my post has been corrected.

>29 PrestigeWorldWide:
Man, The Blue Flower has been around for an eternity. I wonder how long those 5 copies will last? I remember a couple years ago they gave away a ton of free copies.

>32 LondonLawyer: suggestions for reading about the 1920’s and 1930’s, I realise what British, really English, taste I have. Apologies for length.
Fiction
• Christopher Isherwood novels: Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin (Folio Society, but they don’t match, and you need to like Beryl Cook and George Grosz, which I do)
• Autumn Journal by Louis MacNeice
• John MacNab by John Buchan (shamefully not done in a FS edition when Hannay set published)
• Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield
• A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell (in first FS volume of four Dance to the Music of Time sequence)
• Much of P G Wodehouse, and I would suggest Uncle Fred in the Springtime (in one of the FS sets)
• Much of Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham, and I would suggest Sayer’s Murder must Advertise (first FS set)
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (FS, but I don’t have)
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
• Scoop by Evelyn Waugh (there are FS editions, single and part of set)

Non-fiction
• Orwell’s non-fiction (Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier, Homage to Catalonia - all in the FS Reportage set)
• Berlin Diary by William Shirer
• Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper by Alexandra Harris
• Sybil and Cyril by Jenny Uglow (I appreciate about two little known British artists, but it is fascinating for deeper background of the period)
• House of Glass: The story and secrets of a twentieth-century Jewish family by Hadley Freeman
• Heimat: A German Family Album by Nora Krug
• As I walked out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee (FS or Slightly Foxed)
• Europe in the Looking Glass by Robert Byron
• A Time Of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople - From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube by Patrick Leigh Fermor (FS)
• Enemies of Promise by Cyril Connolly

>39 Mooch360: perhaps Penelope Fitzgerald is an acquired taste or a British taste, but The Blue Flower is one of my favourite books. Well worth a read.

>39 Mooch360: True.
This book was already there when I became a member some 8 years ago!

New to the list:
Memoirs From Beyond the Tomb - 102

Close to sell out:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - 3

Homage to Catalonia -1
Blue Flower - 2
She Wolves - 10

Looks like 40 or so Blue Fairy books were unearthed so they are back in stock

>43 PrestigeWorldWide: "Looks like 40 or so Blue Fairy books were unearthed so they are back in stock"

Images of flashlight-wielding* explorers scouring the labyrinthine twisty passages of an endless warehouse.

(* Torch, I suppose, for y'all speakers of UKese?)

Homage to Catalonia Sold Out
Blue Flower - 1
She Wolves - 2
The House at Pooh Corner - 7
Behind the Wall - 13
Berlin - 14
The Diary of Anne Frank - 14
Others on last chance to buy are 30+ copies

Only 1 Blue Flower. Who will be the one to own a piece of history and finally sell it out?

>46 PrestigeWorldWide:

"In other news, 40 more copies of Blue Flower were found and added back into stock"

Genesis and Book of Jonah both low in stock. 39 of Genesis and 54 of Jonah.

>48 assemblyman: "Genesis and Book of Jonah both low in stock. 39 of Genesis and 54 of Jonah." Anyone have any thoughts on these volumes? They seem pretty expensive for the length.

>49 punkzip: I think it’s worth picking up both but at the least, Genesis is a must. It’s a facsimile of one of the top Fine Press books, highly regarded among collectors. The Paul Nash woodcuts are excellent and well-reproduced.

>50 ChampagneSVP:

What he said.

This is a landmark 20th century private press book highly sought after by collectors, costing thousands of dollars. The FS facsimile is quite attractive and should be a "must have" for serious FS and private press book collectors.

>51 dlphcoracl: I believe "he" is a "she." 😉

>50 ChampagneSVP:
>52 LBShoreBook:

My bad. 😟. Apologies to ChampagneSVP.

>53 dlphcoracl: None needed!

A rather unconventional low stock post, but I could not resist sharing it since I have been collecting data on the Dracula SE for the past month. The current rate of sales indicate that this, barring reprints, will be gone by mid-May.

>55 F.Trier: Do you collect data on more books? It'd be interesting to know what the average rate of purchases are, or which titles linger vs sell out fast.

>55 F.Trier:
Wow, where did you get the data from?
I think it's super interesting.

>56 A.Godhelm: >57 Kainzow: I am not keeping track of other books. However, I think the ~5 Draculas sold per day even considering the overlap with the new year sale, is quite fast. Every time someone makes the mole aware of this on LT, they remove the 'feature' to check the present stock of a particular edition, hence it is usually hard to make a larger compilation of this kind of information. The method is simply to add as many copies to the cart as you can until the system will give you the message 'The requested qty is not available', i.e. corresponding to their current stock. This 'feature' is usually not enabled for limited editions.

>58 F.Trier: What would be the purpose of removing the ability to check stock only for the books mentioned here on this forum, while leaving it intact for the rest?

Also, in my experience, you can do the same thing for LEs, the exception being if there is a limit of 1 per customer per order (like Dune), where it’s impossible to add more than one to your cart.

>59 What_What: Though this is not foolproof - as with the recent Ulysses LE where all of the stock was not released initially so the stock level dropped down to around 200 then jumped up again to around 300 when they released further stock to the website.

>60 antinous_in_london: Yep. The only giveaway was that the stock originally didn’t start at 500, but instead at 300.

>59 What_What: The only reason I can think of is the financial side of it,. Given that freely available stock numbers and changes essentially give insight into FS revenue, which might be something that they perhaps do not want to share with everybody.

>62 F.Trier: something that they perhaps do not want to share with everybody.

My experience of Folio is that they guard commercially sensitive information jealously. Who can blame them?

Watched the rise of the nazis on BBC last night which covers a lot of ground in a short time but is well done. Anyway, I have Stalingrad and it reminded me to buy Berlin before it goes OOP.

New to the list:
Essays (around 100, no stocke listed)
Hangmans Holiday: 103

>62 F.Trier: Revenue, profit, manufacturing costs, staff costs, sales breakdowns per country, etc. is all easily and freely available from their filings as Companies House: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01015675/fili...

>67 JamesMcMinn: I see, thanks for the information. It seems odd then that the stock information somehow is attempted concealed.

Has Folio Society mentioned the return of True Grit? I would also like to see the return of The Snow Leopard + a SE of Arabia Deserta.

>69 saintmelville: I did ask them about True Grit while it was down to 30 copies. They said it wasn't in their plan to bring it back once it goes OOP.

So I pulled the trigger and bought it.

>66 PrestigeWorldWide:

I was hoping Essays would last until the next sale, and then hoping it would be 50% off again.... but now I don't like my chances. I really regret not picking it up in the last sale!

The Art of War is now on the low stock list. Currently 103 left

Structure of Scientific Revolutions now at 68.

Last chance for the Ray Bradbury ‘Illustrated Man’ too with 102 left.

Illustrated Man sold out.

After so long the Sappho finally hits the ‘last chance to buy’ section with 95 copies left !

>76 antinous_in_london: Can't recommend this thing enough. One of my favorite non LE's.

>77 L.Bloom: It’s hung around for quite a while, so I think many people were just waiting (especially given the £99.95 price), as they expected it to appear in a sale sooner or later.

Another vote for Sappho. I think it's just about perfect and will be one that sells for significantly inflated prices in the coming years (not that I'll ever part with mine).

>78 antinous_in_london: expected it to appear in a sale sooner or later
Is there any rhyme or reason to this? Does it being on low stock mean it's not likely to be in the summer sale, or mean that it might be to get the last copies out the door?

>80 A.Godhelm: I know a few friends who want the book but didn’t want to pay £100 for it if they could help it, so a ticker helps to focus the mind & the FOMO. It may yet appear in a sale, my point was that many potential customers for this volume may have been holding off in the hope of a reduced price, (this is after all a book of Ancient Greek poetry, which may not be viewed as a natural blockbuster, so is the type of book that may be likely to turn up in a sale) which may be why it has taken so long for this excellent volume to hit the ‘last chance’ page when it’s far superior to the majority of the current Folio catalogue.

>76 antinous_in_london: This book was my first Folio Society purchase, and remains one of my favorites from them. Really is an exemplary volume.

>80 A.Godhelm: I doubt seriously that it will appear in the sale now. The whole point of a sale of the type that Folio runs is to reduce the inventory of slow-moving titles (and sure, to stimulate more purchases, generally), so if a book has sold well enough over time that it's down to sub-100 copies without having gone on sale previously, it seems that there would be little point of putting that title on sale now. Not saying it's impossible, just unlikely.

>82 Shadekeep: I mean this question sincerely rather than in the glib way it might scan, but could someone explain to me what it is that is so special about the Sappho? I want to want the book, if that makes sense, but from the pictures that I've seen, it appears to be page-after-page of word fragments (yes, hence the title...) that aren't actually 'readable'.

Does the joy of the book come from imagining what these snippets of text would have said, or are there enough passages of coherent writing that one can enjoy the book as any other?

Thank you for your help.

>84 Caput_Lupinum: Speaking for myself, there are a number of aspects to the book that make it stand out. First of course is my interest in Sappho's work itself. But beyond that I do enjoy the way in which it is presented. While there are places where sufficient text survives to be worth reading on its own, much of it is as you suggest, text surrounded by lacunae which invites interpretation and invention. In a way it is a reduction of the text, or distillation, so that one has to appreciate the words themselves divorced of greater context. I know this sounds rather post-grad and all that, but there is a cumulative quality to spending time with the fragments, so that they build up within you to create a mood or impression.

That this is also a letterpress book is a further positive to me. But yes, it is as much a piece of art as it is a text to be read. I would recommend it with that caveat, that it is a more experiential kind of book than most other volumes you will encounter.

>85 Shadekeep: Thank you very much, I appreciate your thoughtful response.

I haven't had the sort of reading experience that you describe before, yet I can well imagine what you mean. I am rather tempted by the book, and will keep track on the stock counter while I remain, for now, on the fence...

>84 Caput_Lupinum:
>86 Caput_Lupinum:

As an alternative to the Sappho edition you may want to consider the edition of Montaigne's Essays, a beautiful book with an excellent translation. It is also on the low-stock list (under 100 remaining copies) and it is both readable and timeless.

>83 whytewolf1: However, FS has previously put books in their sales which have very few copies remaining. Presumably the thinking is that deep discounts can be offered (which make the sale as a whole look more generous and enticing) without very much negative effect on their revenues. Selling a couple of dozen copies of a book at a 75% discount will not cost much; selling several hundred at such a discount will cost a lot more.

I have the Sappho book and am happy with it. How many NEW letterpress books can you get in this price range - sub $200 USD? I can think of Century Press, TOC Berlin, the paper and half-cloth Thornwillow states, the Suntup Animal Farm - bottom line, not much. Perhaps people were hoping it would go on sale but that's almost certainly not going to happen now.

>87 dlphcoracl: Yes, I have the edition of Montaigne's Essays. A superb volume, as you rightly point out.

>89 punkzip: Is the Balbusso-illustrated version of Twelfth Night a Letterpress book? If so, that's only £50.

>90 Caput_Lupinum: Yes, and it uses Monotype vs the polymer plates utilized for Sappho.

>84 Caput_Lupinum: For a contrary point of view to a few responses you received, I purchased Sappho based on similar reviews to the ones espoused in this thread and promptly unloaded it. Nice cover, letterpress (although very light touch, can't really tell) and lots and lots of pages with one line on them. The paper is fine but not nothing exceptional that makes it unique. I think if you like Sappho it's probably worth owning but just purchasing as a nice Folio did not tick the boxes, at least for me.

>90 Caput_Lupinum: £50 - or £12.45 in the sale last year.
The Twelfth Night is letterpress, but nowhere on the website does FS mention that its letterpress. If I remember there was a theory that FS had rebound leftover sheets from the ‘real’ Letterpress edition & didn't want to shout about it, so apart from a few promotional sale leaflets letterpress was never mentioned - so if true, i suppose this wouldn’t be ‘officially’ considered a letterpress release & was thus sold for standard edition price !

>93 antinous_in_london: Ah, thanks for the information, I may have to pick this up as well. It does say in the description that it is "sensitively typeset", but every book is typeset in one way or another, so this doesn't automatically mean letterpress.

>92 LBShoreBook: I think that the Sappho would easily be a $100 + book without letterpress. So you aren't paying that much more for letterpress. As for the "kiss" impression that's not uncommon for letterpress and supposedly a sign of skill, although I would prefer more of a bite myself.

>95 punkzip: I am not sure I follow your post. For me, the book is not worth it. It sounds like for you, the book is worth it. 🤷‍♀️

>92 LBShoreBook: thanks for that. I’ve decided several times that this is not my kind of book, but those pesky enablers on this forum keep inspiring a rethink. So thanks for the counterbalance. And >87 dlphcoracl: I completely agree. The Essays is maybe my favourite FS book - can’t fault it: the right size, weight, tactile feel, binding and of course a timeless read…

>94 Shadekeep: at the end of my video on The Letterpress Shakespeare you can see a comparison of this Twelfth Night to the "real" Letterpress Shakespeare one. They look identical. https://youtu.be/aEXI3FRytso?t=458

>99 Bamf102: An increase of £10. It looks like it's not the only one, they have increased prices on a lot of others also on the website.

>99 Bamf102: Indeed it has, from £99 to £110, well ahead of current UK inflation. The MBA bean-counters at FS HQ must have judged that it's worth annoying their customers for the sake of a potential extra few hundred pounds. Or perhaps they're adjusting prices in order to subsequently discount them in the summer sale.

>100 assemblyman: Gosh, yes well spotted. Europe has jumped from £150 to £165, China from £140 to £150, Yangtze Valley from £79 to £90, to mention just a few.

>101 Bamf102: Books aren't taxed in the UK.

>103 cronshaw: Me too. I wouldn't say we're losers in the corner though, we're winners still holding £110!

>102 cronshaw: Or perhaps they're adjusting prices in order to subsequently discount them in the summer sale

Exactly. As they do before every sale.

>107 Bamf102: No not all, usually just the ones that haven't been selling well.

>106 folio_books: >102 cronshaw: I thought exactly this when I saw it. I'm sad to say that this has pushed a few out of my to buy list.

>108 cronshaw: Well, here's hoping my tastes are wildly unpopular.

>98 ubiquitousuk: Thanks for the comparison video, they do look the same.

>100 assemblyman: Is it just the UK prices? The ones on my wishlist here in the States seem unchanged at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually changed as well, though. I hemmed and hawed on an order until the $30-off-$300 deal vanished, so it would be logical if I got dunned even further for my hesitancy.

I am hoping at least one or two of my wishlist titles ends up in the sale, should they have one. I think my tastes might be obscurantist enough that they'll qualify.

>111 Shadekeep: Sorry, I couldn't say as I generally only monitor the ROW and UK sites which show prices as sterling. There tends to be a difference in price anyway when it comes to the US and Australian sites so I could not compare.

I queried the price increases with FS and the response is below:

Unfortunately, Folio (like a lot of businesses) have seen costs skyrocket in the last two years. We never compromise on quality and, unfortunately, the price of printing and materials (especially paper, ink, foils and leather) have all significantly increased. On top of that, we have been impacted by price hikes in transportation, packaging, warehousing, storage and utilities, and, not insignificantly, the additional costs, admin and delays brought about by having to operate outside of the EU.

As a result, I'm afraid we have had to take the difficult decision to raise the price of some of our books and I do apologize for any disappointment caused. We are always monitoring our prices, and hope to offer value for money at all times.

>113 assemblyman: Well it's about what you'd expect and they're not unique but it definitely tightens the belt a couple of holes looking at these increases. Like they say, they're not the only ones increasing prices and with salaries not keeping up, each book is that much more dear. If the secondary market doesn't increase with a commensurate amount, those older books start looking all the more attractive over a new purchase (meaning the portion that haven't been subject to the speculation frenzy).

>114 A.Godhelm: There are more productive ways of doing it. Several retailers i know have raised prices, but they advised customers in advance, saying ‘ as of 1st of next month we will be introducing new pricing’ etc. This meant that customers knew about the rises in advance & had time to act if they wanted to. These retailers got extra sales from people rushing to buy before the prices went up & there could be no complaints about alienating/annoying customers by introducing stealth rises with no advance notice. Folio could easily have released this information in advance & made some extra sales out of it & maybe also garnered a modicum of customer goodwill.

>115 antinous_in_london: I was delaying a purchase because I wanted to see the summer collection so I would definitely have been one of those. Agreed on all counts.

Sorry if I've missed this elsewhere, but what is the usual print run of the FS standard editions? 1000? Or does it vary by title?

>117 Shadekeep:
No-one really knows what the print runs are, but it is suspected to be between 3000 and 10,000 depending on how popular FS thinks the title will be.

>118 wcarter: Thank you, and it does make sense it would be a secret for a number of reasons.

Looks like Art of War is now sold out.

Twelfth Night has dropped to 99. I'll probably have to grab it and a few others in advance of the Summer Sale. I'll let you know what I buy, as invariably those will be the titles that do later go on sale.

>121 Shadekeep: I would hold off until the sale. It has been on sale a couple of times and there are a fair amount up on eBay for cheap.

It is a very nice production however.

>122 PartTimeBookAddict: Thanks, I'll be patient, but if it drops below 30 I reserve the right to panic buy. ^_^

And it does look lovely. There are posts here that say it is probably made from leaves left from the letterpress edition, which is what is making me especially keen for it.

>123 Shadekeep: Of course! I wouldn't want you to miss it. But, it has been moving fairly slowly.

It is great to handle, large but light. I wish they had done a bigger series in this format: Non-LE, cloth bound, letterpress or not. Maybe a series of 8-10 best plays.

As it stands it is too tall for my "Plays" shelf, so it is relegated to storage currently. It is missing company!

>124 PartTimeBookAddict: Oh my, that is a large volume! I had neglected to read the dimensions. I think it might fit on the same shelf as the over-large Beehive books I have, at least, but it will be dwelling apart from the other FS titles for a while. And I agree, a more extensive series in this format would be most welcome.

>122 PartTimeBookAddict: However Twelfth Night was not in the last sale, and given that it is on the last chance to buy list I suspect it will not be on sale again.

>121 Shadekeep: I'm astonished that Twelfth Night has stayed in stock this long. I was only £12.45 in the Christmas sale a couple of years back - they were virtually giving it away, and I'm surprised that more customers didn't snap up a copy at that point. Even the current £55 price in the UK is good value for the production quality. (It's huge, and it might not have been officially confirmed that this is a letterpress production, but I refuse to believe otherwise - I've just run my fingers over the text again, and I'm convinced.)

I note that the blurb on the FS website still describes this as "the first of a new Folio series" - such a shame they didn't continue the series.

>127 CLWggg: It is surprising it's still in stock even after such a drastic sale reduction. I guess for some reason it didn't resonate with the majority of FS aficionados, and thus FS decided not to pursue continuing the series. That really is unfortunate.

>128 Shadekeep:
Easton Press has had trouble selling Shakespeare in recent years, too. Probably most people who want a set of Shakespeares already have one. It would take some really special illustrations to entice me to buy more. Also, I have a personal rule never to buy a book taller than 11 inches, because they are too cumbersome to hold on my lap.

Does anyone have a sense of when the summer sale will begin? In early or late June?

>130 new_collector: Based on the coupon expiry date mentioned in the post here - https://www.librarything.com/topic/341238#7841455 - it may be around June 23 this year. Assuming there is any connection between the coupon ending and the sale beginning, which apparently there is some precedence for. But I'm just going by hearsay.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is sold out now.

EDIT: And two more titles have joined the page: The Living Mountain (signed edition) and The Yangtze Valley and Beyond.

I wrote to FS to see if I could modify my order from two days ago to add two books from the Last Chance page, but they already have it packed up. However, the rep very kindly offered to let me place a second order for the books and they would refund the shipping on that one. That's quite a savings these days! Anyway, I've decided to pick up Life in the English Country House and The Yangtze Valley and Beyond. I strongly suspect that if I passed on them now, one day I'd be trying to find them from a reseller.

>133 Shadekeep: Have both of these, picking up Life in the English Country House when it was down to 103, and you will not be disappointed with the production. FS very generous on the postage.

>134 CarltonC: Thanks! I decided to go for English Country House when it hit 26 copies left, as I hadn't really paid much attention to it before but after checking it out it seemed really interesting. There were a number of posts here about the Yangtze Valley book, so when that landed in Last Chance I took a look at it as well, and it does sound like a compelling book too. Most of my FS purchases have been books I might not have otherwise found, rather than editions of classics and so forth, and I am grateful to the press for introducing me to these works.

>134 CarltonC:
>135 Shadekeep:

English Country House and The Yangtze Valley and Beyond are both outstanding works and strong productions. If enough folks haven't already recommended these to anyone out there.

The Prophet is down to 6 copies and Life in the English Country House is down to 12, just in case anyone has these wishlisted.

Life in the English Country House is sold out now.

Last Chance list updated, The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin has been added.

>139 Shadekeep: Thanks for all the great updates!

The maximum number of copies I could add to my cart for The Dispossessed was 49. I'm not sure how reliable that number is, but when it does eventually sell out I think there's a high probability that it will sell for uncomfortably high prices on the secondary market.

>140 jswift81: My pleasure! And I suspect there is still a fair number more copies left than that. They seem to put up a countdown once a title reaches a certain threshold, though I don't know what that number is. I do recall seeing numbers in the mid-100 for some of the titles on the list. But yes, this one has potential to jump up in price in the aftermarket. Science fiction and fantasy seem to be prone to that.

>140 jswift81:

42 Left. I'm pretty sure that number is real and they don't have any in reserve unless they find a couple in a back room. Unless you wait on a reprint or want to get rakes over the coals on ebay I would highly suggest buying right away before resellers bulk buy the remaining stock.

>142 PartTimeBookAddict: Looks like you are correct. Curious that they haven't added the Low Stock counter to it in that case, as that's lower than a number of other books which are showing their remaining stock. Perhaps that counter runs on a background schedule and will appear on the next run.

>143 Shadekeep: It is weird. Some bug in the website I guess. “Montaigne” still doesn’t have a counter and it has been Last Chance since the winter sale.

>144 PartTimeBookAddict: You're right, that one is missing a counter as well. Doing the basket-add check, it looks like 79 copies left at the moment. Maybe the counter is something FS has to manually enable for each title.

>143 Shadekeep: The stock counter must be something that has to be manually enabled and disabled. There's no stock counter on The Dispossessed, so someone likely just forgot. On the other hand, very occasionally, they'll decide to actually restock something that has appeared on "Last Chance" (I choose to believe they're not being this manipulative on purpose and just decided late in the day to order a reprint after all). This happened with The Jungle Book about a year ago, and someone forgot to turn off the stock counter, and all of a sudden The Jungle Book is at something like 3000 units! :P

Same happened for Ubik.

Quite a few people bought the book, fearing it would sell out. Even I was about to go for it, but thank God, I delayed my purchase, and by magic Ubik was no longer on the Last Chance to Buy page.

>147 Kainzow: An even more recent example of going from "last chance" to back in regular stock is Art of War which was on "last chance" the last few months, sold out a month ago, but is already back in stock. Did they find a bunch of old boxes of Art of War in the back of the warehouse or did they know it was already being reprinted and put it on the "last chance" page anyway?

>146 whytewolf1: Ha, that is a generous last chance quantity indeed! It is good to know that just because it lands on this page that doesn't mean they won't have a change of heart and order a reprint. Though it is unfortunate for folks who decide to panic buy because it's on the page. I've purchased a number off the page myself, including some which have previously been discounted, so I'll be a little sad if they decide to restock those and then put them in the Summer sale. But at the same time I do think they are worth full price, so I won't exactly feel cheated.

>148 rsmac: Oh wow, thanks for letting me know that it's back! I was resigned to never owning that book in Folio.

>149 Shadekeep: I am more cynical than whytewolf1 and believe FS puts titles in the 'last chance to buy' section they know will be reprinted.

As many reprints are not announced ahead of time, I consider it an opportunity to really consider how much I want the book in question, whether it is a good value for me, and whether I would be really disappointed if it never got reprinted.

Shipping to the US makes purchasing a single book quite expensive so I am rarely convinced to order due to FOMO, but it has happened and I appreciate having the time to consider my options rather than just having a title disappear.

>151 wdripp: ‘I am more cynical than whytewolf1 and believe FS puts titles in the 'last chance to buy' section they know will be reprinted.’

If that were true they would probably make it much easier to actually find the ‘last chance’ page, since unless you hang around in places like this or stumble on it by chance & bookmark it you wouldn’t even know there was such a page as there’s no link or menu navigating to it on the site itself, so many who visit the site probably aren't even aware that there is an actual ‘last chance’ page so it doesn't drive as many sales as it could.

>152 antinous_in_london: Agreed, the page is a pain to find on your own. I had to keep hunting it up here before I finally bookmarked it. I wonder why they maintain a page like that if they're not going to publicise it. Though I'm grateful it's there.

>152 antinous_in_london: Maybe? But their website continues to be pretty awful and there has been a link to the 'last chance to buy' page in the past which makes me think it's unintentional rather than hidden. Also, I periodically receive emails advising me of a last chance to buy a particular book, and I am pretty sure at least a couple of those titles were later reprinted. I don't think this is particularly nefarious. Just normal advertising practices.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole has been added to the page.

Just noticed, The Book of Jonah now down to two copies remaining.

>156 folio_books: Thanks for the notice! The Dispossessed still doesn't have a counter, a quick basket check puts it at 31 copies remaining.

>157 Shadekeep: and it’s one of Folio’s gorgeous books, with a cloth cover that shimmers like silk and feels great in the hand. They may well reprint it, as they seem to be on a Le Guin trip at the moment, but there are no guarantees!

>158 stopsurfing: A reprint would be good, since they are in the process of increasing their Le Guin portfolio with more Earthsea books. I would love to see them do The Lathe of Heaven, but since it's a shorter novel perhaps it could be double-booked with The Word for World is Forest.

The Dispossessed is now sold out.

>160 PeterFitzGerald:

As is, unsurprisingly, The Book of Jonah.

The Prophet is still holding on with a few copies. I just noticed it's the deluxe edition, so that probably explains part of its slow sell-out. This book seemed crazy popular when I was a kid in the 1970s.

>163 Shadekeep: Yup - up there with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the mystic adventures of Carlos Castaneda, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Erich von Daniken et al. In the UK, the work of Lobsang Rampa was sometimes to be seen in the more advanced bedsits, until he was revealed to be not a Tibetan monk but a gas fitter called Cyril Hoskins, which rather took the edge off.

>164 red_guy: up there with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the mystic adventures of Carlos Castaneda, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Erich von Daniken et al

Indeed, the usual favourites. I loved Jonathan and still have my original hardback. Mister God This is Anna was a local favourite, I recall. Motorbike Zen didn't last very long on the cool books list, and von Daniken was so illogical even the 12 year old me could see through him, but definitely books of their time. And of course I have the Folio (standard) version of The Prophet.

>164 red_guy: Ha, I almost mentioned Castaneda in my post. He was as inescapable those days as framed copies of the Desiderata.

Equally flaky were the Seth books by Jane Roberts, mystical communications with a spiritual being who looks like a prison janitor. These belong on the shelf right between the books of Elizabeth Clare Prophet and J. Z. Knight.

I think besides The Prophet, Seagull is about the only one of these books that still holds up today.

>164 red_guy:

Oh Wow! I'm having a flashback, man.

That takes me back, Castaneda was big among my Brixton friends and I ended up reading several of the series but, being a bit of a science geek, I found it pretty far-fetched.

From that same period of youthful folly and exploration, I have copies of Zen, Seagull, and The Prophet but I don't think I ever got past the first few pages of any of them.

I got on better with the likes of On the Road and Steppenwolf, though.

>164 red_guy: An enjoyable review of The Prophet--perhaps overly harsh, but memorably put: https://newcriterion.com/issues/2007/12/the-false-prophet.

>166 Shadekeep: as inescapable those days as framed copies of the Desiderata.

And I still have my framed copy of Desiderata in the dining room.

>165 folio_books: >166 Shadekeep: Jonathan Livingstone Seagull? Really? ... but I did hear the Richard Harris interpretation, so maybe that was it. I think Zen and the Art... wasn't too bad, was it?

One of the great things about being that age and an enthusiastic reader without the distractions of technology was just the sheer range of stuff that you devour without too many preconceptions. I cheerfully ploughed my way though all kinds of challenging and often frankly dull stuff which I could not face nowadays (except Walter Scott, and I accept that was my loss) and that was the period when I read the most.

Other bedsit favourites which I did not get round to but seemed everywhere were Gravity's Rainbow and A Glastonbury Romance. I think that everyone was looking for the next LOTR and thought that the thicker the book, the more mind-blowing it might be. I do want to read The Crying of Lot 59 though, I think I would love it now (and it is short). A perfect Folio, perhaps.

Back to Gibran, I do find it the most awful drivel. Like really rubbish Rumi, which I imagine must have been a huge influence. I know that it is much loved in almost a quasi-religious way by some. Still, if you want something to stencil on the kitchen wall of your Air B&B, you're sorted. And such a missed opportunity for Folio not to bind the deluxe edition in Limp Morocco. 'Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror ' 'Thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly' Good grief, I feel a pokerwork plaque coming on.

Seth looks a lot of fun, doesn't he? I don't think he made it big over here, but then for spiritual nourishment we had Patience Strong and Fanny Cradock.

>167 Cat_of_Ulthar: Steppenwolf was (and still is) great! Did you manage The Glass Bead Game? I thought it was going to be weird science fiction, and it sort of is, which I wasn't expecting...

How about the Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson? That was everywhere (and could even be the birthplace of all the current conspiracy stuff) although I didn't get very far with it. But here's a thought: Folio have done On The Road, The Prophet, LOTR, and now Fear and Loathing ... after starting a very successful Folio Cult maybe they are hatching a 70s bedsit upscaling revival masterplan and not telling us. Is the so called 'Sample Sale' just a cover?

(sniff the goat, man)

>168 JacobHolt: Sounds good, but it's behind a paywall for me.

>170 red_guy: Jonathan Livingstone Seagull? Really?

Really. If I were to read it today I think I'd still enjoy it though it'll be a bit cheesy now.

>171 red_guy: Steppenwolf was (and still is) great! Did you manage The Glass Bead Game?

I went through a phase in my twenties when I read all of Hesse's novels, one after the other. Some good, some less so. Steppenwolf, which is the one most readers have at least heard of, left me cold. Still can't imagine what all the fuss was about. His must-reads, for me, are Siddharta, Narziss and Goldmund and at the very pinnacle, The Glass Bead Game, which I pester Folio for at every opportunity.

>170 red_guy: The Crying of Lot 49 is my favorite Pynchon, so yes, I say go for it. There's a kindred vibe between him and two of the other Toms, Stoppard and Robbins. Some Vonnegut overlap as well.

I think Seagull is one of those books you become fond of if you read it in a certain time and place and headspace. Those kinds of things don't often convey to other readers. But I do think it remains a cut above so much of the piffle of that period.

And I agree, Gibran certainly seemed to be high on Rumi, who produced much superior work.

>172 folio_books: I went through a phase in my twenties when I read all of Hesse's novels, one after the other. Some good, some less so. Steppenwolf, which is the one most readers have at least heard of, left me cold. Still can't imagine what all the fuss was about. His must-reads, for me, are Siddharta, Narziss and Goldmund and at the very pinnacle, The Glass Bead Game, which I pester Folio for at every opportunity.

I'm with you there: I read most of them in my twenties too (the 90s). I've got the FS Steppenwolf of course, but I can't bring myself to read it again. Folio should perhaps do Siddharta next, then Narziss and Goldmund (my favourite book), then The Glass Bead Game (which I'll admit I haven't read yet)? They're certainly better than the others mentioned here IMO (Zen and the Art.., JLS are the ones I've read). I wonder how they'd sell? I'd snap them up in a heartbeat, esp. if they do as good a job as they did with Steppenwolf...

>174 strangenews: Well, I know I wasn't including him in my piffle category. Not everything that fit into the zeitgeist was inherently bad. The times just produced a lot of bad stuff, as every period and every literary trend is wont to do. Sturgeon's Law and all that.

>174 strangenews: Surely, most would agree that Herman Hesse was very far from being a purveyor of piffle?

I'd like to think so but I long ago gave up trying to understand the thinking behind popular taste.

>172 folio_books: Demian, Siddhartha, and Narcissus and Goldmund were my favorites, though is has been a long while. Steppenwolf also didn't make as much of an impression on me, and I never got around to The Glass Bead Game.

>171 red_guy:

I did read The Glass Bead Game, but it's so long ago that I can't remember much other than that I enjoyed it.

I love Illuminatus! and have sung its praises in one or more previous posts. A Folio edition of the trilogy would be heaven for me but I don't know if there are enough other fans out there to make it worth Folio's while. I admit it's a bit non-linear (Wilson was a big Joyce fan), which could be off-putting to some readers but if you get into it, it's hilarious :-)

Defeat Into Victory was added to the list.

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho is down to 10 copies.

The leatherbound edition of The Prophet sold out at last.

If Not, Winter is sold out now.

The Greatest Benefit to Mankind sold out now as well. No new additions yet, and the sale is supposed to start this week.

Essays by Michel de Montaigne is sold out now. It had been on the Last Chance list for a while and was part of the Summer Sale.

Another Last Chance / Summer Sale title has sold out, The Folio Book of Food and Drink.

And yet another Last Chance / Summer Sale title gone, The Folio Book of Science.

Will "Love Lies Bleeding" survive yet another sale?

>190 PartTimeBookAddict: Twelfth Night certainly seems poised to do so.

According to the counter, it seems there are 7 copies left of Guns, Germs, and Steel. Not sure if that is accurate.

>192 ashwise: Seems possible, I could only add 6 to my basket. Unless a lot of folks have a copy sitting in their cart, current stock is probably due to run out soon. Perhaps it's getting a reprint, however.

Listed as out of stock now. Curious if they will reprint.

Last chance page has been updated to include:

Stranger in a Strange Land
Tales of Ancient Egypt
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
Jude the Obscure
Far from the Maddening Crowd
On the Psychology of Military Incompetence

>195 rsmac: Ouf.

:/

>195 rsmac: That's a lot. Hoping Stranger lasts until the Fall releases.

>87 dlphcoracl: ...Montaigne's Essays... It is also on the low-stock list (under 100 remaining copies) and it is both readable and timeless.

The FS Montaigne's Essays has survived another test of time in that it refuses to go out of stock permanently. Come Winter, New Year and Summer SALES or low-stock counters but it manages to remain in print. :)

Can any buyers - perhaps beneficiaries of the recently concluded FS Summer SALE in July 2022, confirm if their copies are first prints or reprints?

>199 mr.philistine: That’s a surprise - it seems they did another print run, even after having to put it on sale! I believe it was £70 a month or two ago.

I will check mine to see what print run was stated.

It seems about 70 copies of “Diary of a Provincial Lady” appeared on the site. No mention of a slipcase.

A Confederacy of Dunces is sold out.

On the Psychology of Military Incompetence. 86 copies left. Just bought a copy

Was Miss Marple ever shown as low stock?? I'm trying to reach $300 and it's not on the website anymore aww

Montaigne's Essays are listed on Last Chance to Buy with 35 copies left.

https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/miscellaneous/last-chance-to-buy

https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/essays.html

Unfortunately, they are back at their regular non-sale price. Still, a very nice edition.

Real head scratcher that one. Put on sale at almost half off, hit the last chance to buy, then there's a reprint (?), increases in price and now on last chance again. It was a steal at the sale price in the xmas sale.

>206 A.Godhelm: I suspect that there wasn't a reprint. Instead, they probably found some more copies somewhere, or held a couple back, knowing that they could sell the remainder at full price for those with FOMO.

*Now Gone*

The Yangtze Valley and Beyond is down to three copies.

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/the-yangtze-valley-and-beyond.html

PSE

The Yangtze Valley and Beyond is now sold out.

>209 vestigialtrumpet: It's a splendid book, I hope everyone who wanted it was able to get it in time.

>210 Shadekeep: I was one of the final buyers. I made the purchase a week or so ago before the number got critically low. I'm looking forward to it.

Stranger in a Strange Land is sold out.

Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs and Elie Wiesel's Night are now on "last chance."

The impossible has happened! "Love Lies Bleeding" has finally sold out!

>214 PartTimeBookAddict: Praise be.

Is the Agatha Christie Five Little Pigs gone? It was still available yesterday but today seems like it’s disappeared. It was in my Wish List and looks like they’ve removed it from my Wish List too.

>216 j3tang: If it was out of stock or sold out it would just state it on the webpage. It shouldn’t just disappear altogether. I think it’s just a website error.

My apologies, I should have read a couple posts further higher. It was mentioned that Five Little Pigs is last chance. Unfortunately didn’t realize that yesterday when I was still looking at the product page.

The Neverending Story down to 43 copies. I wonder if that's all there is or if a reprint is coming.

Chitty! Chitty! (Bang Bang) down to 63 copies.

>219 dyhtstriyk: I’m very confident there will be a reprint…!

>220 plasticjock: The Neverending Story is now OOS. As per their website: ‘More copies to arrive by April’. I suspect this title will be kept in print much like Dune

>221 dyhtstriyk: Not my interest, but I'm glad it's been such a good seller for them.

Wow, I was not expecting The Neverending Story to sell out so quickly. I had it in my wishlist but was in no hurry to buy it. I'm glad it's been a success for them and will definitely pick it up when it's reprinted!

Not one I was looking to buy, but Iron Kingdom is now low stock, with 91 left.

I just noticed that Starship Troopers is out of stock.

Iron Kingdom is a great edition

>226 wwfield: I was hoping to nab it in a sale but that is looking unlikely.

Just saw on social media that Rubicon in coming back in stock in February!

>228 David_Mauduit: great news, thanks for the heads up!

Rubicon returned and Persian Fire is gone!

I've been having the most frustrating issue with low-stock books from Folio. Three times in as many months I've purchased books with less than 10 left - one was the last the other two were stated as having several left. In every case I was told the purchase shipped along with other titles bought at the same time only to be "told" days later that this was not the case by receiving a refund. There was no explanation for why I was told it was shipped nor an apology - just a somewhat confusing automated refund I had to suss out myself. I complained the first time and to their credit they gave me the purchase-price on top of the refund. The other two times I have simply "walked away" in disgust at how poorly managed it seems to be.

I say this with all sympathy for your frustration and disappointment, but this seems to be the very root of the problem: "Three times in as many months I've purchased books with less than 10 left ."

If you're tracking the low-inventory page, it seems like a bad idea to purposely(?) wait until they're almost completely out of a book before ordering. The reality is that even with computerized real-time inventory, original counts can sometimes off by a few books, a few dinged-up copies may very well have been set aside and not properly removed from the inventory count, etc. I think not allowing for even the slimmest margin for error is the actual problem.

Got an email today that The Neverending Story is back in stock.

>233 owf_117: Well, it is neverending, after all.

"Tales of Greek Heroes" added.

"Defeat into Victory" down to 2!

>235 PartTimeBookAddict: Well, I guess my hopes of Defeat Into Victory landing in a sale are dashed!

>236 coynedj: It's back up to 3. You're still safe.

1776 is gone

>238 SinsenKrysset: Whoa! Did I get the last copy?? Ordered it in the early morning yesterday UK time (I’m in the US) and didn’t even know it was low stock. Hope it arrives safe and without flaws.

>239 Nightcrawl: Perhaps you did order the last copy. It had been up on the "Last chance to buy" page for some months, but without a counter, so it is hard to say.

Fingers crossed that it arrives safely at your doorstep.

>231 ProbisPateo: It happened to me once and it is a frustrating experience.

It’s not just that the book won’t be sent, it’s the really poor communication. They don’t tell you anything, just refund. That’s not the way to do it.

>242 AlexBookshelfFrog:

Will it go extinct?

Will Folio Society, somehow, in the distant future, learn to clone this book and produce new copies?

(sorry)

>243 treereader: I appreciate this. If LT allowed emojis you could expect a laughing face one from me here.

>243 treereader: And will Folio Society decide to have a premises to house and display these new cloned copies for customers to visit and gawk over?

I just saw that Middlemarch by George Eliot is now on the page, but I don't see an indication of how many copies are left. Over time, I've come to really want this edition. I guess it's now or (barring the secondary market) never?

>246 wongie:

Book Island!!!!

Iron Kingdom: 5
The Folio Book of Children’s Poetry: Sold out
The Living Mountain (signed edition): 7
Twelfth Night: 14
De Profundis: 11
Eagle Against the Sun: 20
Tales of the Greek Heroes: 22
Under Fire: 16
The Folio Book of Great Short Stories:30
The Mayor of Casterbridge: 49
Middlemarch: 37
The Dam Busters: 57
Europe: 70
A History of the Indians of the United States: 80
Love Poems (signed edition):66
Love Poems: 99
The Hornblower Set 2: Captain Hornblower: 69

>250 SinsenKrysset: I would have loved the Europe set, but I will miss out. It’s too expensive right now.

>251 NLNils: Yes it is. There is another 3 volume set about Europe that was published 10 or so years ago. Does someone know how it compares to this?

>251 NLNils: I'll save What_What the trouble of responding: "It's exactly the correct price because it's in the low stock list!"

Jokes aside, I bought it when there was free shipping +10% voucher. I would say it was worth it at THAT price. Not at full.

>252 SinsenKrysset: Beside the obvious difference that the older title by HAL Fisher was published in 1935 and the newer set presumably covering post-WW2 history, I would love to know this too. Both authors appear to have academic backgrounds and experience with Fisher also having been a Liberal politician and Davies having a special interest in Central and eastern Europe which I would expect those respective biases to be reflected in what and how they present their information and conclusions.

I managed to get the Europe set for 30 EUR, second hand but as new, so naturally Folio's price seems a bit steep to me.

But then I thought the same also for Iron Kingdom, and still couldn't stop myself buying it once it was down to 5 left. It was on my books-to-read list before I even knew Folio existed.

>253 L.Bloom: lol ❤️

I just noticed that The Velveteen Rabbit is on the Last Chance page! There are 89 copies left. This is one of my favorite FS editions and I actually just re-read it a few weeks back. 🐰 (I had been out of unread books in the home so I also took the chance to revisit The Meaning of Mice and it hits even better the third time.)

>257 BooksFriendsNotFood: JK lol apparently there are now 1586 copies left.

According to The Folio Society, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is at an extremely low stock of 1008 copies.

>258 BooksFriendsNotFood: Rabbits do tend to multiply.

>259 Mujaddadi: I'm glad it was seemingly re-printed. It gives me hope they will publish the next in Brusatte's series called "Mammals" in series with Dinosaurs.

>260 coynedj: 😆

Folio Society mastered the Low Stock strategy 🤣

The cover of the dinosaur book gave me a Proustian Moment when I first saw it.

I am sure it is taken from some tacky Grolier partwork that I persuaded my parents to get in (maybe) the early 60s. I was allowed two issues after which even I had to admit it was a bit of a scam. If anybody has the book could you tell me whether this might be the case?

>264 red_guy: It uses an extremely modern reconstruction of Spinosaurus plus a feathered dromeaosaur, so it's certainly not from the 60s. Folio did a good job with this one apart from the completely inexplicable map.

>261 icewindraider:

I'd enjoy them publishing 'Mammals', too. The same goes for Pax by Tom Holland to go with the other two books they already published, Rubicon and Dynasty.

>265 gmacaree: Thanks for that. Probably a false recovered memory! It does look like a pastiche of that sort of thing - in my mind, anyway ..

>267 red_guy: It's a modern spin on some of the old tropes, so I can understand the suspicion. I think it works quite nicely as a cover.

>268 gmacaree: Yes, the cover's great. Sadly my dinosaur interest is minimal - teaching too many obsessed small boys, probably ...

Last copy of the Dam Busters sitting there.

Doubtful to get a reprint.

>270 PartTimeBookAddict:

Dam.

>270 PartTimeBookAddict: Thank you. I just picked it up. Last time I looked at the low stock list it wasn't there so I was waiting to see if it would show up in the January sale. Evidently not.

>272 Pendrainllwyn: It's a dam good read!

>272 Pendrainllwyn: Excellent. I love those Brickhill books, especially the FS presentations.

>274 PartTimeBookAddict: Good. I also have my eye on The Great Escape. Reach for the Sky has sold out now.

32 Peter Pans left in stock

>276 bacchus.: The whole Last Chance page has been updated. Anna Karenina is also down to 33. Wouldn't be surprised if it sold out today.

The full list of those now on the Last Chance page (excluding those already sold out), in descending order of remaining copies:

Rob Roy LE - 187
The Living Mountain - 139
The Prophet - 129
Outlaws of the Marsh - 124
Wilfred Owen: Selected Poems LE - 110
In Search of the Dark Ages - 103
The Selected Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - 94
The Secret Agent - 91
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England - 91
The Great Escape - 83
Letters from Fairyland - 77
Edward Thomas: Selected Poems LE - 75
Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems LE - 74
London & New York LE - 71
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker - 70
Waterloo - 63
The Story of Babar LE - 51
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - 47
Sharpe's Tiger - 40
Peter Pan and Wendy - 31
The Mask of Command - 30
Under Fire - 17
The Mayor of Casterbridge - 16
Love Poems (signed edition) - 11

>278 PeterFitzGerald: Ms. Mole's friends seem to have missed Larkin Collected Poems - 116

>278 PeterFitzGerald: New additions with counters on them:

Shackleton's Boat Journey - 145 left
Thermopylae - 192 left
Mayflower - 196 left

>278 PeterFitzGerald: The Living Mountain now down to only 19 copies. That's a sheer drop from the 139 you recorded only two days ago.

>281 cronshaw: Just four copies left...

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has 9 copies left.

>282 English-bookseller: It's gone, thereby removing my last temptation to place a second order. Saved from myself!

An updated list:

Mayflower - 182 (-14)
Rob Roy LE - 172 (-15)
Thermopylae - 151 (-41)
Wilfred Owen: Selected Poems LE - 95 (-15)
The Selected Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - 92 (-2)
The Secret Agent - 89 (-2)
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England - 89 (-2)
The Prophet - 88 (-41)
Shackleton's Boat Journey - 82 (-63)
The Great Escape - 80 (-3)
London & New York LE - 67 (-4)
Edward Thomas: Selected Poems LE - 61 (-14)
Outlaws of the Marsh - 59 (-65)
The Story of Babar LE - 42 (-9)
Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems LE - 40 (-34)
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker - 37 (-33)
Peter Pan and Wendy - 24 (-7)
Under Fire - 17 (unchanged)
The Mayor of Casterbridge - 15 (-1)
Love Poems (signed edition) - 7 (-4)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - 3 (-44)

The Living Mountain - sold out (-139)
In Search of the Dark Ages - sold out (-103)
Letters from Fairyland - sold out (-77)
Waterloo - sold out (-63)
Sharpe's Tiger - sold out (-40)
The Mask of Command - sold out (-30)

Interestingly, the Last Chance page, having spent a long time being hidden away and difficult to find unless you knew what to look for, has now been given star billing on the FS main page (and appears to be being regularly updated again). Long may it continue!

>285 PeterFitzGerald: And (though admittedly not on the Last Chance to Buy page):

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - 178

Commendably down from 289 on Jan. 4th.

And now:

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - sold out (-47)

A few changes:

Outlaws of the Marsh has sold out.

And three new additions:

Selected Poems: William Wordsworth - 99
The Longest Day - 98
The Hundred and One Dalmatians - 92

Shackleton's Boat Journey down to 3.

There seems to have been a sudden run on ‘101 Dalmatians’ over the past day or 2 - only 19 copies left (down from 60 a few days ago)

>290 antinous_in_london: Also Hawking's History of Time is added at 90 copies. Could these be the mystery books?

>291 PartTimeBookAddict: It’s possible, though Dalmatians isn’t a slow-moving book that’s been sitting on the shelves for years & i don't think it’s ever been in a sale. It would also be quite a generous giveaway at a £60 retail price.

I just noticed that the Thomas Hardy Selected Poems LE is now sold out.

And "Dalmatians" has been removed from the page, but still shows only 5 copies. Maybe it's getting a reprint.

"American Gods" is down to 101

>295 drizzled: I imagine it'll get a reprint like ‘101 Dalmatians’ which was on the last chance to buy, then was removed from the last chance page just before it sold through & now they ask you to enter your email to be notified when its back in stock. Recently they definitely seem to be using the ‘last chance to buy’ as a way of playing on FOMO , then reprinting. When is ‘the last chance to buy’ not really the last chance to buy ! Lol

>296 antinous_in_london: using the ‘last chance to buy’ as a way of playing on FOMO
how? "last chance to buy" link isn't even on the website

>295 drizzled: Not sure if FOMO will get me on this one. The Folio edition of Anansi Boys was my first Gaiman book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it (both the text and the edition).

The design of American Gods is not particularly exciting to me, especially for the price.

It's confusing! Internal Audit alert.

The Last chance to buy page currently has 18 books.

There is also a Low stock page with 6 books. 3 of these books are LEs and 3 are SEs. Having searched for Low stock, if you click on Low stock under Category on the left it returns the 3 LEs. If instead you click on View All on the right it returns all 6 books.

The 3 LE's also appear on the Last Chance to buy page but weirdly, for the 3 SE's 1 has been sold out for months and the other 2 (Velveteen Rabbit and The Night Before Christmas) don't appear on the Last chance to buy page. The Night Before Christmas only got published late last year which suggests someone is maintaining the Low stock page.

None of this makes much sense. They should probably get rid of the Low stock page.

I wonder, what's that hard to have a routine that checks if the books are under 100, and moves them to last chance to buy stock? Shouldn't be that difficult

>300 Paulopaperbooksonly:

For some companies it's very complicated, and sometimes impossible. Inventory can be located at different kinds of warehouses, not all of which are configured or meant for shipping. Inventory can be in transit, not-yet prepped/packed for shipping, still held by the vendor, misplaced or lost, and probably a whole host of other weird little supply chain situations where it is technically created and sell-able but not actually available. Which set of books from all those various states should Folio chose to feed its customer-facing website? I suspect most companies won't foot the bill for a real time inventory management system - they can avoid that expense by refreshing manually, either daily, weekly, monthly or whatever. That being said, Folio isn't that big or complicated of a company. I'd expect daily refreshes and settle for weekly refreshes of inventory on the website.

Going OT here (me? never!) just to note that the Enablement thread is still acting very, very weird, at least for me. All the others I've looked at are just fine.

If you can describe "weird" in just a tad more detail there may be folk here who can help you. I very much doubt I might be one of them but FSD attracts many adepts in the dark arts.

>303 folio_books: I'll try.

It all started here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/309553#unread (Enablement: Hard to find Folio Society books thread if I've got my links right).

The problem for me is that, as I described here (https://www.librarything.com/topic/359207#unread), I can read the posts in this thread but I have no available (or, at least, no visible) options to reply to any of the posts.

The 'Enablement' thread jumps to, and then seems to stick on, this post: https://www.librarything.com/topic/309553#8465274

That may be unrelated, or maybe it's the heart of the matter. I don't know. But I do know that I seem to be able to read and reply to other threads but not that one.

>304 Cat_of_Ulthar:
I just posted to that thread with no problem so it may be that the problem is with your computer.

Holland's "Dynasty" is down to 16.

His books can go crazy on the secondary market.