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Publications by the Folio Society of works
by Oscar Wilde
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The Folio Society was set up in London in 1947 by
Charles Ede, a young man who had returned from the Second World War with the
dream of publishing beautiful books that would be affordable to everyone. |
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Ede had always loved art and before the war had
considered working in the luxurious private press world - where men such as
Eric Gill and William Morris had set new standards of design. But the war had changed him – he wanted
beautiful books to be within the reach of everyone, and he could already see
how fast publishing standards were declining. |
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He intended to set up a small private press,
producing high-quality editions of books he loved in fresh designs, but at a
price that was little more than that of an ordinary hardback. Other publishers tried – some gently, others
outright – to tell him he was mad. Ordinary
people, they insisted, didn’t want fine-quality books, and wealthy people
wanted wall-to-wall leather classics, not original woodcuts illustrating
Tolstoy, but more than sixty years later, the Society has published over
1,400 books, ranging from the first ever facsimile of the 17th-century artist
Maria Sibylla Merian’s Surinam Album to commissioning an eyewitness history
of Wellington’s campaigns in the Peninsular war and at Waterloo. The following books by Wilde have been
published, listed here in chronological order. All are published in London except for the
editions rebound by Baynton-Riviere, which come
from Bath. We thank Mr Michael Cumes and
Mr Tim Sell of the Folio Society for their help. |
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Click here for the Folio Society
website. |
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