Gift Idea No.7 – Franklin Library

Great Expectations Charles Dickens Franklin Library 1982 at Franklin Library

Franklin Library consists of fine classic leather bound books, collector editions produced over three decades, from the early 1970s until 2000.

Here are just a few of our favourites:

David Copperfield, perhaps Dickens’s most popular work, a sprawling portrait of life in Victorian England.

Poems of John Keats an English Romantic poet.

Tales From The Arabian Nights by Sir Richard Burton open the hidden door to an Eastern garden of delight.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

What’s your favourite?

Find our full range of books at Franklin Library

Gift Idea No. 6 – Exploration

Captain Cook’s Voyages 1768-1779 Folio Society 1997

Read about the life of Christopher Columbus an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer.

Take a look at our books detailing Captain Cook’s three epic voyages circumnavigating the globe, mapping thousands of miles of coastline, and ranging from the Bering Strait via tropical islands to Antarctic ice and delve into his last voyage.

Take a trip through time with Marco Polo the Italian merchant traveller from Venice whose travels were recorded in a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China.

See more of our Exploration Books at Exploration Category

Gift Idea No. 5 – Folio Society Limited Editions

All titles chosen to become Folio books are the finest in their genre and all are treated to extremely high production standards, but those selected for their Limited Editions Collections are, quite simply, exceptional. Great works of literature or history become great works of art.

For Limited Editions their production teams have leave to indulge their passion for exquisite materials and fine binding techniques which simply cannot be considered for longer book runs. Exceptional craftsmanship creates these highly collectable books – from and content perfectly married to produce a lasting legacy for generations to come.

During the 1930s, artist sculptor and typographer Eric Gill collaborated with the Golden Cockerel Press on a number of projects. The Folio Society has published in facsimile the three crowning works of this association: Troilus and Creseyde, The Canterbury Tales and The Four Gospels. They are among the most admired books of the 20th century, a sublime marriage of type and illustration.

My favourite Limited Editions include Spenser’s Faerie Queene; Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury; and Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

Browse These Folio Society at Limited Editions

The hcbooksonline blog is a single source for a complete listing of Folio Society Limited Editions from the first one published in 1976 to the latest ones.

Find the full list at at Folio Society Limited Editions Index

Gift Idea Number 4 – Walter Scott

What is the value of a reputation that probably will not last above one or two generations? ‘Sir Walter Scott once asked Ballantyne.

Almost 200 years after Waverley was first published, a constant tide of new editions of his novels flows from the press; his plots give materials for operas and plays; he has been criticized, praised, condemned: but his romances endure amid the changes of taste, remaining the delight of mankind, while new schools and little masters of fiction come and go.

Whether you just want to sample the Waverley novels or even read them all then please have a look at the books I have on offer. You may even want to revisit some of the stunning poetry written by Scott, browse a number of options for Scott’s Poetical Works.

Buy Walter Scott for Christmas at Books/Walter Scott

Gift Idea Number 3  – Reference Books

OK so we have established that novels aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. But surely everyone has some kind of reference book tucked away somewhere.

Whether you are looking for a Dictionary or an Almanack or you are just interested in Atlases or Books on Botany then find them all below.

Find More Reference Books at Books/Reference

 

Gift Idea No. 2 – The Superb Heron Books Collections

Heron Books / Edito-Service were responsible throughout the 1960s, 70s and early 80s for publishing ‘Collectors Editions’ of famous authors (illustrated, with introductions, decorated leatherette covers, silk bookmark, rarely dated, with some leather Special Editions). The books were sold directly through newspaper advertisements on a monthly, something like a book club, basis. The books were sold on a Free Approval basis with never any commitment to buy either the volume sent or any further volumes. Heron Books were phenomenally successful in their time and claimed that they sold approaching 100 million volumes world wide.

As well as substantial Author Specific collections they also produced a variety of sets such as; The Literary Heritage Collection, a collection of 50 books by some of the world’s best authors; Masters of Espionage, a terrific collection of 20 top spy novels; Books That Changed Man’s Thinking, a 29 volume collection of some of the most significant and powerful books ever written; Poets Of The English Language, a 5 volume anthology spanning 600 years; Women Who Made History, a 20 volume collection of women of note; and Men of Destiny, no details for this collection as yet.

And lets not forget the superb 39 Volume Agatha Christie Thriller Collection.

Currently Selling – Several Complete Agatha Christie collections, Joseph Conrad, Hammond Innes, Alistair Maclean, Somerset Maugham etc.

Gift Suggestion – Why not put your own collection together? If you are interested in more than one book as a gift then please email me with your selections and I will confirm availability and give you a Special Price

Browse More at Heron Books