Latest news with #FolioSociety
The Verge
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
It gets elaborate.
Posted Jul 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM UTC The Folio Society has chosen Stephen King's horror opus as the latest book to get one of its stunning collector's editions. This one features artwork by Jim Burns and a foreword from Guillermo del Toro. It'll also be both rare and expensive: it's limited to 500 copies, which cost $825 each. You can grab one here. 1/8 Image: The Folio Society
Gizmodo
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
This Special Edition Release of ‘It' Is Both Gorgeous and Terrifying
It has been a TV miniseries and a two-part feature film, and a prequel series—It: Welcome to Derry—is coming to HBO later this year. But there's no out-creeping the original 1986 Stephen King novel, released long before the phrase 'un-Google-able title' came into existence. With over 1,100 pages, it's one of King's longest works, and to have even a paperback copy means you'll need ample shelf space. But a new special release from the Folio Society is so fancy, it may need an entire shelf of its own. Maybe even a display case. This edition, limited to just 500 copies and approved by King himself, features both color and black-and-white illustrations by Jim Burns; the box, binding, and endpapers are by David Curtis. (Curtis also designed 'instructions on how to make a paper boat,' according to a Folio Society press release, in case the book inspires you to go hunting for a sewer-dwelling demonic clown.) But that's not all! There's also a new introduction by no less a nightmare authority than Guillermo del Toro, who writes, 'It speaks of the struggle that never ends, the eternal vigil against evil that is, by necessity, cyclical. The many shapes the cosmic dread takes keep changing: sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning at us.' 'It was a presage of what was to come in adult years—it struck great fear in me—irrational fear and then, slowly, a fragile kind of bravery— the tenuous understanding that when all is said and done, all we have is each other.' Those themes are there, for sure, and in this particular case, they're wrapped in some rather beautiful gore. Check out more images here: Beep beep! Such ghoulish glamor doesn't come cheap; this It will set you back $825 and is available now. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Fast Company
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
This ‘Elden Ring' book costs nearly $300. Fans say it's worth it
The $297 collector's edition of Grace Given has shimmering gilded edges, a simulated white antique leather cover, lush full-color illustrations on heavy coated stock, and a flocked slipcase with extensive gold-foil detailing. Such elaborate, ornate bookmaking is the purview of a handful of passionate and obsessive publishers—most notably among them The Folio Society. But whereas The Folio Society is known for its luxe editions of classic and contemporary works, Grace Given is, against all odds, about a video game. Of course, it's not just about any video game: it's about the mythology of Elden Ring, FromSoftware's 2022 Game of the Year winner. The game just crossed the $30 million mark in sales, putting it in the company of Call of Duty titles, Super Mario Odyssey, and Diablo III. Video game books tend to be flimsy, mass-produced affairs. But publisher Jason Killingsworth believes in the staying power of FromSoftware's cult-fave games, which launched the 'Soulsborne' genre with titles like Demon's Souls, Bloodborne and the Dark Souls series. So the Dublin-based creative launched a publishing company, Tune & Fairweather, that celebrates their rich worlds—and the obsessive fan bases they command. Five years in, he says the enterprise has crossed the €10 million ($11.7 million USD) mark, and made around €3.5 million ($4.1 million USD) last year alone. In the process, Tune & Fairweather's books are perhaps doing something else via their elaborate form factors: elevating the art form of video games at large. And the runaway success of Elden Ring gave them an opportunity to take it all to an unprecedented level, creating perhaps the most opulent video game book ever made. 'You're hoping for that project that's just going to let you throw everything you've ever learned [at something], use every tool in the toolbelt—and Grace Given just seemed like the perfect project to take that kitchen-sink approach,' Killingsworth says. LEVELING UP Killingsworth was born in Ireland to Christian missionaries, but found himself drawn to the demons of scripture over the angels; he just saw them as more textured and interesting. He also loved role-playing video games, so after working as an editor at Paste in its heyday (where he launched its video game coverage), he got a gig at the U.K.-based game magazine Edge, where he discovered Demon's Souls. He was entranced by FromSoftware's strange immersive worlds where every detail felt considered and intentional, and went further down the rabbit hole—eventually writing a book about Dark Souls in 2016 with video game journalist Keza MacDonald, dubbed You Died. Named after the screen that pops up in the notoriously difficult Soulsborne titles when you, well, die (a lot), the book explored the game from a variety of angles, from its creation to the psychology behind its popularity to its fandom (which includes director Alex Garland). The thing was, the book was released by a small publisher, 'and I had been cajoling and sort of begging them to do this really exalted fetish object of a book that I knew that Souls fans would revel in—and it just wasn't what they wanted to make,' Killingsworth says. So they released the book at a low price (and the production specs to match), and that was that. Until it wasn't, when Killingsworth bought the hardcover rights to the project. 'There was this unfinished quest line with You Died, where there was an ideal version of that book in my mind that hadn't been created, and it was still sitting in there like a little splinter,' he says. He formally launched Tune & Fairweather in 2019 when he announced a Kickstarter campaign for an updated, expanded, and, most importantly, richly produced volume, from the art to the paper stock and the hardcover bindings (one tier even involved an etched pine 'coffin' box for the book at $347). Because of their high level of difficulty, FromSoftware games can be a punishing experience for casual gamers who are not expecting to die dozens upon dozens of times before learning the right moves to conquer a given foe. As such, they are polarizing—and they yield either enraged naysayers, or rabid obsessives. Would the latter be willing to support the ultimate book tie-in, not to mention the price it would command? 'I had a really strong, strong hunch,' Killingsworth says. Gaming is, after all, a largely intangible experience—and when you have a physical object that deepens that experience, not unlike music fandom and a vinyl record box set, you might have exactly what a devoted fan would want. And Killingsworth would know. It's what he wanted. 'I just knew that video game fans were some of the most collector-minded audiences on the planet,' he says. Moreover, with Kickstarter, there really was no risk in probing the concept (save embarrassment, he notes with a laugh). It went on to provide compelling proof of concept when it made €126,346 on a €50,000 goal. But the true watershed moment came when Tune & Fairweather Kickstarted Soul Arts in 2021, a book featuring a range of work from YouTuber Michael 'VaatiVidya' Samuels' Soulsborne fan art competitions. It was funded in one hour, and made $2.15 million on a $58,880 goal. advertisement At the time, Killingsworth had been laid off from Riot Games, where he had been working, and was coasting on (the last of) his severance. The Kickstarter came at a critical moment: 'It really was those first minutes of the Soul Arts campaign where I had the realization that I was going to be able to do Tune & Fairweather full-time,' he says. (Curious about the IP legalities of all this? Killingsworth notes that FromSoftware doesn't interfere, and similar to fans who make YouTube videos about the company's games, Tune & Fairweather is essentially doing the same thing in print, providing original analysis and art.) A DESIGN FREE-FOR-ALL The publisher has since scaled up to making three to four books a year, and moved from Kickstarter to an internal sales system. It's worth noting that not all of its output is Soulsborne books. While those remain Tune & Fairweather's bread and butter, they allow Killingsworth the space to explore other projects, like this year's typographic/visual novel Process. Its most ambitious book so far is Grace Given: The Mythology of Elden Ring. When it came to the production, Killingsworth drew inspiration from a few critical places—notably Italy, where all of Tune & Fairweather's books are printed. When he ventures over for each production run, he tacks on a few days for exploration—and that can be immediately seen on the cover, which was designed by Elliott Wells (whose double gatefold also dominates the middle of the book). The debossed demigod faces that frame the cover echo, say, the carvings in the Golden Staircase of the Doge's Palace in Venice. The weathered marble throughout Italy finds its way into the faux antique white leather, and the gilded edges are synonymous with so much ornamentation in the country. Another key influence is the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, and its permanent Arts of the Book exhibit featuring elaborate tomes of the ancient world, where Killingsworth often finds inspiration, as in the case of the overall color palette or the fabric spine labels that made their way to Grace Given. Ultimately, 'We used almost every design technique that you could think of,' Killingsworth says. 'It was just an absolute free-for-all. It was so fun and so indulgent.' The book showcases more than 20 illustrations by the popular artist Shimhaq and more than 100 spot illustrations by MenasLG —both regarded for their takes on the genre. The core text detailing Elden Ring 's mythology, meanwhile, comes from Geoff 'SmoughTown' Truscott, who maintains a popular YouTube channel where he explores game lore. Tune & Fairweather printed 5,000 copies of the collector's edition, which have been shipping, and Killingsworth says they're nearly sold out. While the collector's edition is limited to just one run, a $144 deluxe edition with downgraded (but still impressive) specs is on its way in the coming months, as is a $42 softcover. Like the games that Killingsworth documents, the high-tier pricing can polarize—and he has weathered his share of commenters online who aren't thrilled about it. 'It's just such an expensive enterprise. Never mind the price of the materials and the production costs, which themselves are eye-watering,' he says. 'I just made a conscious decision that even if there was some blowback, I felt like I had built up enough trust with our audience where I could say, 'Trust me. I will make this worth your while.'' And hey, when it comes to that price tag, if there's one group that's used to really grinding for what they want, it's a Souls fan. The super-early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Angela Lemaire obituary
My sister-in-law Angela Lemaire, who has died aged 80, was a printmaker, painter, wood engraver and writer. She lived and worked in Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders. Influenced by artists such as William Blake, Samuel Palmer and Odilon Redon, her main interest lay in developing metaphysical/spiritual themes and ideas, often through combining words and images. She is probably best known for the handmade books she produced with the Folio Society and the specialist fine art publisher The Old Stile Press, including The Journey of Thomas the Rhymer (2000), The Pyde Pyper (2002), Joys by Thomas Traherne (2004), Secret Commonwealth (2008), A Christmas Sequence (2008), Jubilate Agno (2012) and Talking Through Trees (2016). She was born in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, to Derry Lemaire, an army officer, and his wife, Monica (nee Grimble). Her parents had an acrimonious divorce, after which her father remarried and gained custody of Angela and her brother, Michael, emigrating to Australia in 1956. She later wrote about her unhappy childhood in her book Are You Trying To Annoy Me? (1969), under the pseudonym Katherine Blake. After attending Pymble ladies' college in Sydney, Australia, Angela returned to the UK in 1962 to live with her mother and stepfather, Douglas Lyne, finishing her schooling at the Lycée Français in London and then Wispers boarding school in West Sussex. She then went to the Chelsea College of Arts in 1963, and from 1964 to 1967 studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, where she specialised in printmaking and gained a diploma in art and design. At Camberwell she produced and printed her first book, The Plague (1967). After leaving college she worked part-time as a clerk while selling her work and taking on commissions. For the next few years Angela had part-time jobs as a typist in solicitors' offices and in art teaching, until in 1973, on a holiday in the Scottish Highlands, she met a salmon fisherman, Roddy Macaskill, and they married in 1973. Moving to live in Inverinate on the shore of Loch Duich in the Highland region, they had a son, Calum, but separated in 1984 (and divorced in 1987), after which Angela relocated to Edinburgh, working as a cleaner up to 1991 and then as a part-time typist at the Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church until 1999, all the while still producing her artwork. After Calum went to live with Roddy, she moved to Jedbugh and finally became a full-time artist. Over the years Angela contributed to many group exhibitions and had several solo shows, the last being at the HAGB Gallery in Jedburgh in 2023. Her work is in many private collections, while much of her writing and correspondence is archived in the National Library of Scotland. She is survived by Calum, her grandchildren, Sorley, Fia and Eda, her brother Michael and her half-sister Jules.
The Guardian
07-04-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Simon Brett obituary
My dad, Simon Brett, who has died aged 81, was a leading wood engraver, prolific writer, curator, teacher and champion of other artists. His Wood Engraving – How to Do It (1994) remains the classic manual. Simon was instrumental in reviving wood engraving as a fine art. Over the 60 years of his working life, he made more than 1,000 engravings, including private commissions, bookplates and independent work on themes including politics, war, ethics and religion, that stretched the boundaries of the art form. He illustrated more than 60 books, including the Folio Society's Middlemarch, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, The Legends of the Ring and Shakespeare. His intellect and passion for literature matched his meticulous technical expertise, emotional depth and imagination as an engraver. For his prize-winning Pericles, Prince of Tyre (2011), Simon engraved more than 140 blocks, aiming to 'stage the play on the page'. In 1998, he was commissioned by the Queen's Medical Household to create a print commemorating the golden wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. He served as chairman of the Society of Wood Engravers 1986-92, and in 2021 he was made an honorary member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. Simon was born in Windsor, Berkshire, to Bay (nee Brownell) and Antony Brett. Antony's job as steward of St Bartholomew's hospital in London came with a flat above the hospital's 'Hogarth Stair' – a grand staircase decorated with canvases by William Hogarth, which were an early influence on Simon, as were the surrounding bomb sites. At Ampleforth college in North Yorkshire, he was taught history by Basil (later Cardinal) Hume and drawing by the sculptor John Bunting, then went on to St Martin's School of Art in London, where he was introduced to engraving. Afterwards, Simon moved to Taos, New Mexico, for two years as a painter, joining his great-aunt, the painter Dorothy Brett, who lived there, then moving to France and Denmark. He returned to the UK and became an art teacher at Marlborough college, 1971-89 – former students remember his shy smile, cowboy hat and teaching that inspired many careers in the arts. By the end of the 70s he had himself given up painting to focus on engraving. As quiet, kind and as deep as they come, he had an extraordinary talent for correspondence. I remember him at the kitchen table, without a computer, sifting through engravings for An Engraver's Globe (2022), which collated 225 works by artists from 23 different countries. Living with Parkinson's from 2008 changed his engraving technique but Simon continued working until two days before his death. Parkinson's robbed him of easy movement and speech but never of his spirit or artistic vision. In 1974 Simon married the painter Juliet Wood, my mother. She and I survive him, as do four stepchildren and 11 grandchildren, and his sister, Vanessa.
