Is Folio Society worth the money?

>>8605113
obviously not

>>8605113
its a luxury good
if you have to ask you cant afford it

you dont buy it cause its "worth" the money

>>8605113
worth the money, no.
they're some of the best hardcovers you can buy, better than Everyman's, and they're boner-inducingly nice, but no. It's just a book. Its got the same words as a mass-market paperback.

They're something you buy because you want them.

I have one of their Canterbury tales. Got an eye on their book of common prayer. Maybe I'll get one of their Bibles but I feel that might be a little vain.

>>8605113
It depends on how much you need your money otherwise. If you've got plenty of disposable income, they seem so.

No, absolutely not. And nobody's going to be impressed by you spending the money on it cause it's not a hot pair of jordans or whatever.

They are if you get them cheap and 2nd hand. They are the idea of luxury for people who think gold plated taps and antimacassars are elegant.

>>8605113
Seems like a good gift desu

I've always wanted their LotR box set.

I could easily afford it, but I'm a cheap fuck.

Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.

>>8605113
>"WE KNOW YOU VAPE OKAY!" -Capt. Ahab

>>8605114
I could beat your ass you arrogant little faggot

Beaver offering a commentary on Dick.

>>8605202
i bought the old penguin paperback with >>8605227 and its fantastic. why would i spend an extra hundred-odd dollars to get the same thing, broken into two volumes and with a few illustrations?

I'd rather pay to get my old tome leather bound by a book binder than spend even more for a tacky hardcover.

>>8605139
I have plenty of potentially disposable income (making 10k/month) but I save the majority and Folio Society books seem like a huge waste to me.

The vast majority of my book collection is digital, stored on my Calibre library or on my beat-up, cracked, time-worn Kobo Aura. The only physical books I own, period, are technical (math/science) books or books that don't have digital versions.

Books in general take up a ton of space, and given that you're going to read them at most a couple times a year (in the extreme case) you're just buying decoration. (I can see a case for buying a lot of physical books if you're doing research and therefore need to easily crossreference a lot of different sources, but that isn't most people.) And if I'm buying decoration, which I seldom do, I would rather get a nice potted plant or something.

>>8605260
the cost of a handful of $1 paperbacks and an ikea bookshelf is a small price to pay for not looking like an illiterate fuckwad to everyone who you have over.

i know literature shouldnt be about pretension or presentation, but you're probably paying more for ebooks than you would if you went to a used bookstore; that or you're stealing them. plus if someone is able to look at your shelf they might actually discover something to talk to you about.

i agree that folio society books are a huge waste though.

>>8605515
>Owning books to impress people
That sounds like a miserable existence.

>>8605260

youre reading retension is suffering because youre not reading physical copies.

maybe youre reading it perfectly, i dont know. seeing that study posted a while ago made me forever avoid ereading.

>>8605528
IIRC that study either only counted tablet/phone reading and not eink displays, or lumped in eink with tablet/phone displays.

Either way it used flawed and unscientific methodology.

>>8605260
>>8605515
>>8605521
>>8605528
>>8605554

my thoughts

its satisfying to have a physical manifestation of a great novel. i have about 220 (all very cheap) and im sure i wont love all of them, but i like having them around, even if no one sees them.

also collecting books can just be a hobby. it's certainly more justifiable than stamp-collecting or some such practice.

it makes sense that the guy who makes 10k a month is very pragmatic about his library choices. I have a feeling that he and i would not be friends but hey.

Also, yes i would love to have friends who are impressed by my books, just like i appreciate compliments on my clothes, or any other external part of my personality. thats not the reason for my interest in those things, its just nice. its part of the human experience to want people to like u lol

>>8605113
some are, some aren't
most of their ordinary books are not worrh buying new. they don't keep their value. they are still fairly nice books though so keep an eye out for them secondhand. it's common to find a book for £3-£6 that would be £25-£30 new.

some (many, actually) of their special and/or limited editions increase in value over time or at least retain most of their value. i noticed recently that the oxfam online bookshop has a full set of pepys' diary that folio published a few years ago. it was £690 new i think and oxfam is selling it for £650. still thinking about it.

>>8605260
I find if you keep your library modest it's not a problem. It's all about keeping a good ratio of:
-books you find indispensable
-books you plan on reading, and
-books you've read and would comfortably recommend so you can return to them whenever or lend them to people
This just leaves books you don't care for, which I usually donate or give to a friend that wants it since there's no need keeping it. If I'm moving, the third category is the easiest to whittle down. The second category I think has to be there in some amount since it's helpful to have a physical reminder of what I have yet to read, and then get the satisfaction of gradually working away at it. There comes a time though when you have to vet out the books you're sure you'll never read, whether you're not interested in them anymore or whatever. The first category, the favorites and stuff that's useful for reference, that stuff goes with me wherever I go. It's not a huge amount to move when it comes to just these.
I find by keeping to this I always have interesting stuff in my shelves but I'm not being choked by excess. And I can appreciate the physicality of having the books in my hands to do with what I want. They have a presence when not in digital. And I'll never understand going pure digital just for the sake of not looking interested in the thing you are interested in.

For 'LOL i'm such a nerd XD' teen girls, yes. For grown men - kys if you buy these gaudy pieces of shit.

>>8606160
you sound very bitter anon. do you need a hug?

you can find them at used bookstores for much more reasonable prices, but they can still be quite pricey

>>8606160
>poser teenage girls dropping thousands of dollars on a copy of moby dick
Lol

>>8605260
I don't want my children to exclusively read from a Kindle.

Space isn't really a problem for me either, I guess. It's only wall space that books take up, and even if you'd rather have art on the walls, you can have it over the bookshelves. I don't know what else you'd put on walls besides shelves/pictures.

>>8606160
What kind of teen girl is going to spend upwards of a thousand dollars on things like Troilus and Criseyde and The Faerie Queene? Would anyone really go to that length for something they aren't actually interested in?

>>8605554
hm, doesn't seem worth the risk. It's either as good or worse, and books smell good

>>8606686
Most of them are a lot cheaper than that, 50$-80$ for a good quality book, not a limited edition.

They have some good uncommon books that are difficult to find in other editions such as Aubrey's Brief Lives, The Newgate Calendar and Malleus Maleficarum but most of their catalogue is just a tacky waste of money.

>>8606742
What do you think of the Lang fairy books?

They're not "worth it", but a lot of things aren't "worth it". I own a $300 Brass lamp because it's beautiful. This lamp is not "worth it", because it does the same thing as a $10 Walmart lamp.

Get folio if:

A. have tons of money and spending 15x for a book does not matter to you. Even in this case I would never read a book first as Folio.

B. The body of your work deals heavily with this book and you want it to be prominent in your collection. I've written thousands of pages on Tolstoi, and I have five or more leather-bound copies of all of his works.

C. It's just your favorite book. If you really love a book and want a really nice edition of it to own and pass down, Folio is a good choice. Only use this "excuse" to buy it for something that makes you truly proud. Something you will be excited for your children to have a cause to read(because it's that fancy book dad had).

>>8605521
>wilful misreading

have fun after the great solar flare emp burst of 2019

>>8606746
Would love that set but if I was ready to spend ~£400 on such a set I would prefer something less gaudy.

https://onceonatyme.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/andrew-langs-fairy-books/

>>8606777
Well, they're supposed to be for children, so I see the gilded parts as a plus.

You'd definitely NOT want to get first editions for children.

>physical books
>2016
I bet you download and store videos of people fucking on your harddrive too

File: 1458308899228.jpg (76KB, 594x395px) Image search: [Google]

76KB, 594x395px

>>8605528
lmao the spook

>>8606791
I doubt I would buy them for children these days, the stories are too quaintly old fashioned.

>>8606843
If people deliberately chose to fuck on my hard disk I probably would keep the video of it.

>>8605113
Oh man that's a nice book

File: IMG_5672.jpg (630KB, 1600x1236px) Image search: [Google]

630KB, 1600x1236px

holy...i want more

>>8605113

Barnes and Nobles classics hardcover editions for rich people.

I'm just waiting for them to give Ulysses a spin. I hope that fucker ends up being $1000

>>8605260
I have about 18k in disposable income a month, and I go to the fucking library.

>>8605260
>>8608470
guyz can i have some money, i swear ill use it well