Collecting Science Fiction: 'Special Editions' Versus True Limited Editions: Dune, Wyndham, Vance 

This chanel seems like a true breath of fresh air. This is coming from a book lover but someone who's not very versed in booktube so I will make sure to frequent this chanel from now on

Hi, I am just creating my “retirement library” and have gotten quite a few Folio Society and Easton Press editions. I enjoy them since it is much more pleasant reading them than paperbacks or standard hardcovers. I recently got some of the Library of America SF collections, which I look forward to reading, as well, though I got them simply to have decent, readable copies of books that are more difficult (for me) to find. I did splurge and got the new Suntup edition of The Stepford Wives. It’s nice knowing that a small team dedicated to making nice editions worked on the book. I appreciate your videos and do have your book (e-book edition). Even when I disagree with your assessments, I invariably learn a lot about the history of SF. Thanks!

I have an 1871 copy of '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' that needs some restoration. The spine is in rough shape, but the rest of the book is beautiful, with many full-page illustrations. I'm thinking of having it restored. I found it at a white elephant sale for $1.

What an informative and entertaining channel. Many thanks for putting in the time and effort to produce it.

I have the full leather signed matching number editions of the five Thomas Ligotti books that Subterranean Press did a number of years ago. Beautiful books. Got them, in person, from a collector in Edinburgh which is only a 45min train journey from where I live. Got them for a good price too. I have other limits, such as Gift Editions of Stephen King from Cemetery Dance. And PS Publishing as well. But, really, I'm a reader first and foremost. Quite happy with paperbacks! 👍😁

Never had the money for limited editions. I do like matching sets. I missed out on the Folio soc. Wyndham's as I didn't have the money after Xmas & as you say £120 is way overpriced as I doubt they were sold at a loss for £62-65. I did buy some of the quarter cloth bound Vintage classic you mentioned: the Calvino & Catch-22. Sadly the paper is quite rough. If they'd pitched them at £20 with better quality paper I think that would've been better. As for illustrations, I can take them or leave them as my imagination doesn't seem to match them. Thanks for the video 👍

My favorite small press publisher was Golden Gryphon, which is sadly now defunct. They seemed to specialise in short story collections by literary SF writers like Paul di Fillipo, Michael Bishop, Jeffrey Ford, Andy Duncan, Jack Dann, Neal Barrett Jr, Lucius Shepard, Joe Lansdale, and many more. These were beautifully produced books, most of which never got any paperback publication, and which were the only way to get stories by these writers which had originally been published in many obscure magazines or anthologies. Many are still out there at reasonable prices, partly because single author collections don't seem to be valued as much as novels. I would much prefer these to fancy Folio editions or reprint limited collector books which seem to be cashing in on old (sometimes classic) books. I also buy some books from PS, but they are tending more towards horror than SF now. Night Shade Books have done some nice stuff, but are pretty expensive.

Matt Griffin is a wonderful artist and a really nice guy. I was really excited to see his stuff on the Dune books.

Beautiful presentation on limited but as a reader I would be afraid to reck the book as I am reading. Your covers are well protected. I love hardcovers.

Great vid Steve. I bought a Folio edition of Fracis Bacon's Essays last year. Gorgeous presentation and typography, however Folio made the decision to substitute numbered footnotes to bullet point type markers. It made it extremely difficult to track the quotations/references through Bacon's essays, crazy idea from the Folio book/print design team. I sold it on and went back to my humble Penguin paperback with numbered quotes. A good lesson in function over form. Like the idea of "book care" I sometimes manage to avoid creasing my paperbacks, even a good book case/cover for my backpack would prevent a lot of damage. Stay warm in the Northern part of the world Steve, hope your well. 📔🔖

Nice video, Steve... even though I hate the weakness of the word "nice", it's a bit wishy-washy. The Folio Society has never been a publisher of limited editions per se, many of the books they publish go through multiple printings. Their beautiful edition of "Dune" is in it's eighth or ninth printing. Folio is really a direct sales publisher of high quality books. They have published a few limited editions over the last twenty years, I have a few and they're beautiful. Easton Press also is not a limited edition publisher, although they too have done a few signed editions and at least one signed series. I believe Easton was founded by a book-loving cattle farmer who didn’t know what to do with all the hides from his animals in this strange vegan age.

Regarding Subterranean Press, they’ve done a couple of nice John Crowley limited editions in recent years - Engine Summer and Great Work of Time. GWoT was the first hardcover edition outside of Crowley collections.

I also agree that Wyndham is savage! but refreshingly so, especially in this day and age.

ah Steve this was a joy, not least because you uttered the common as muck abbreviation "sci fi" not once, but twice! I immediately thought of the scene from Life of Brian where the fella is stoned for saying "Jehova". "all i said was.....". Well I thought it was funny. There are some very beautiful books there my friend, very beautiful indeed. I covet them all. Whilst I quite enjoyed the couple of Becky Chambers books I've read, I too was surprised to see one in a Folio edition. certainly punching above her weight in that company. lovely books mate. "ouch! all i said was those sci fi books are good enough for Jehova!."

The video is wonderful as it is. From the introduction, I thought there would be more shots fired across the bow of Easton and Folio. I guess that's where I fit in. Now I have never been such a big PJF fan as to buy limited edition specialty press versions of his books, but I remember a time, not that long ago, like your copies from the 80s that if you wanted *anything* better than a spent second-hand paperback, or a rapidly browning SFBC edition, you needed to pray that a specialty press would make a quality hardcover for you to find! In fact, I remember when these presses would offer things that were just available nowhere else; I remember in the mid-80s (early in my convention going career) I came across a small press specialty edition Charles Beaumont collection for $50. I couldn't afford it! Too much money on too much of an unknown. . . But if I wanted to read any Charles Beaumont stories, where else was I to find them? They weren't in print. There were no ebooks. There was no elaborately indexed worldwide web of booksellers for me to track down old editions. . . (I did however spring the $50 for a special limited edition Kull with full color illustration plates, consisting of REH Kull stories **not** medled with by Carter & DeCamp. . . Not even approached until the newer Dell Rey editions.) At one time Folio Society editions made some sort of sense: prestige editions of undisputed classics with a modernist air to the livery and execution. They were lovely executive gifts that you give to your upwardly mobile underling who is invited you over to dinner in your open floor plan, modernist, apartment. I mean, the style wasn't for me, but I totally understood its unity and cohesion of concept: Melville's "Billy Budd" in steel grey and navy cloth with Post Deco Moderne faux woodblock illustrations is definitely not *my* cup of tea, but boy does it say "Good work! You're a Company Man." But to see them now, brilliantly colored but underwhelming full page plates like the ones you showed, or the Folio Dune whose illustrations make it look like a role-playing game's worldbook- well, I'm sure it's really exciting for a 10 year old, but I find it cheapening. ESPECIALLY at those price points! And Easton Press. What the hell sort of time warp are THEY in? Their aesthetic says "I need you to bind these SF novels to match a wall of leather law books I already have." Don't get me wrong; if you comb through their back catalogue, especially a number of things selling on the second hand market that they are no longer producing, you can find a bunch of books that, perhaps, never had hardcover issues, or are genuinely nicely made hard covers of texts that you can keep together on a shelf as your favorites, no shame in nicely made leatherbound copies. . . But most of the time I see them show up on booktube there is a compulsiveness about the collecting of them. "My Easton LOTR & Dune. . . " Which is a bit odd as their Dune and LOTR have got to be the most botched, uninspiring versions on offer, seriously. That Dune cover illustration looks like it could be for The Unreasoning Mask by PJF. Compare that to the Barnes & Noble leatherette Dune in Orange Catholic Bible Orange at 1/5 the price. And both of those publishers seem to coin their fan base from the concept of conspicuous consumption - people discussing them have a very creepy cultish energy that seems informed by "The Emperor's New Clothes." Made doubly strange because usually these books are white elephants when secondhand, never approaching the original costs. . . That's why I put off commenting, I've spent over an hour on this. Time to go out get an espresso, and focus on other things. Please forgive. All this while Centipede, Subterranean, Nightshade, and Peagana Press and others are all doing amazing, *genuinely* collectable, valuable work. . . With nary a peep from Booktube. It's all too Suburban, too Petty Bourgeois. . .

I always look at the potential value added by special editions. Sometimes they're offering hardback firsts, expanded text or critical annotations...and in some cases signed (not tipped in) versions. Folio often have unique artistic offerings e.g. Mervyn Peake illustrated a number of books by R.L.Stevenson and others. On the other hand I never buy Subterranean for the artwork as I don't appreciate their aesthetic. The last factor is having a beautiful long-lasting volume to elevate the tattered paperback or library volume I may have been introduced to the work with.

The folio society sales are great. Especially the last one 50% in many books. I also got the Wyndham set this time. You can argue about the esthetic choices of them, but you can't deny their build quality is better than anyone else's in this price range.

Great video , I have the same Dune trilogy ace publishing set from Amazon US the books themselves arrived in damaged but upon opening them a lot of brown dust came out the box , and the first book sprayed edge was in such a poor quality that I complained to amazon and they refunded me the £96 I paid and told me to keep the books . I am currently 280 pages into children of dune , I currently enjoying these books . However I recently got “chewed out” because I dared to say how disappointed I felt on the first watching of the 2021 movie of dune ....have yet to watch the series .

I got the Ace box set of Dune, mostly so my husband could be able to read these (my personal copies are not in english), but unfortunately on mine the binding is coming apart on the page before the back end paper. I also could not resist and went for the Folio Wyndham set and while the font is nice and the paper is good, I dont like the illustration art at all! This is a problem I have with most of my Folio editions. To be honest, I much more prefer the Modern Library version for Wyndham, but I just wish they had printed those on acid free paper.

I spied the space ritual box,I hope you will treat us to a little review at some point . I would definitely like the John Wyndham books nice little set those ! jack Vance’s the blue world I must read . Have you shown all those Christopher priest hardbacks on the shelves in background. If not I wish you would .

Regarding the pronunciation of words in Dune. The Fremen were Arabic speakers: Muad'Dib: Teacher (of kids) Arrakis: Iraqis Gom Jabbar: Mighty people. Caid: Leader/officer. Jihad: Struggle, Crusade. Mahdi: The guided one. A Messianic figure, a Caliph expected to lead the Muslims in the end times. Lisan al-Gaib: Teller of things yet to come. Shaitan: Satan. With regards to historic references, the houses are clearly a metaphor for the European powers (England, France Italy) struggle over the newly discovered resource (oil/spice) in a world inhabited by wandering desert peoples (Fremen/Arab Nomad tribes) It's a goddamn shame that the Dune film adaptations shied away from Herbert's vision in that respect. Arabs could really use some positive PR these days.

Alex Berman at Phantasia Press has started publishing again after decades away. They've done a limited of Mickey 7 and are following up with Sundiver (to finish up the Brin trilogy) and then a Fracassi. I'd also add that I think you're being a bit dismissive of Subterranean Press who's best of collections and original novellas I'd put up against any of their competitors. The Wyndham, Reamy, and Waldrop books just in the last few months are outstanding.

I found myself inadvertently reading the Christopher Priest titles on the shelf in the background, OB, was it intentional to position your book presentation in this manner? I was taken by surprise, pleasantly, when you mentioned his "I don't like books with maps" quote. An insight into the man. You don't get that anywhere else on YT except for here on the Outlaw Bookseller channel! Great comparison, it was helpful and informative. I've oft wondered about Specials vs Limiteds. Thanks for all you do and, Cheers.

There is a nice Folio edition of "The King of Elfland’s Daughter" I wanted until I saw the price. $565 (before shipping to the US) Ridiculous.

Really enjoyed this. I've only ever dabbled with a couple of folio books. I remember hearing they were doing the Gormenghast Trilogy and going to the site to check it out......only a thousand pounds or so! My jaw nearly hit the floor. 😂 Cheers.

Did Christopher Priest ever say why he hated maps in books? Of course, I can see how a map of The Dream Archipelago would be an absurdity. Also, off topic, but do you happen to know if there's an available version of his radio play of The Glamour anywhere, in any format?

I have the complete gateway Dune series on kindle. I have yet to read them. I hope the books are unabridged. As I like to read the saga in all its entirety.