

On 1 September 2016, the company ended its membership-based structure. Since 2011, anyone has been able to purchase from the Folio Society list without committing to membership. Lord Gavron was owner and chairman of The Folio Society from 1982 until his death in 2015.Īt its inception, The Folio Society operated as a membership-based book club as the list of titles grew, the membership commitment was established as four books per year. Under their ownership, The Folio Society published the collected novels of Dickens, Trollope, Hardy, Elizabeth Gaskell and Conrad.

In 1971 The Folio Society was incorporated and purchased by John Letts and Halfdan Lynner. ) Tales was followed in November and December by George du Maurier's Trilby and a translation of Aucassin et Nicolette, establishing a pattern of monthly publication. In October of that year Tolstoy's Tales went on sale for sixteen shillings (this would have been about US$3 in 1947, or just over US$33 in 2018. The society issued its first three titles in 1947. The Folio Society moved to its location in 44 Eagle Street, Holborn, in 1994 – in 2017, their offices moved to 4 Maguire Street, London.

Subsequent offices were located in the Mayfair and Borough areas of London, such as 70 Brook Street in the late 1950s. The firm's goal was to produce "editions of the world's great literature, in a format worthy of the contents, at a price within the reach of everyman." Folio and the Golden Cockerel Press shared premises in Poland Street until 1955. The Folio Society was founded in 1947 by Charles Ede, Christopher Sandford (of Golden Cockerel Press), and Alan Bott (founder of Pan Books). Some editions used to be stocked by independent bookstores, by Blackwell's in Oxford, and by Selfridges, Harrods and Hatchards in London. Folio editions can be purchased only online through their website, by post or over the telephone. Most editions come with their own slipcase.įor many years the Folio Society had a bookshop in Holborn, London, but the bookshop closed in December 2016 when the company moved premises. Folio editions feature specially designed bindings and include artist-commissioned illustrations (most often in fiction titles) or researched artworks and photographs (in non-fiction titles). It produces illustrated hardback editions of classic fiction and non-fiction books, poetry and children's titles. Formerly privately owned, it operates as an employee ownership trust since 2021. The Folio Society is a London-based publisher, founded by Charles Ede in 1947 and incorporated in 1971.
