New LE: Aurora Australis

Just up on the website. Facsimile - watching the video shows incredible hand craftsmanship and creativity. Ordered.

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/aurora-australis.html

Limitation 500. £495.

I'm in. Makes a nice complement to the South Polar Times LE.

There is also a three volume "Shackleton's Antarctica" containing his The Heart of the Antarctic (in two volumes) and South that has appeared on the website. Due in January 2022 ($295).

Very impressive, and interesting to see the detail of how it was "made" via the video - much more of a nuts and bolts view than FS typically share. Appropriate to the nature of the book, I guess.

Having fretted right up to the end before passing on Dante, I am glad to be able to admire this from afar. I have never been bitten by the Shackleton / Scott / Antarctic bug so am more likely to dip my toe in via the recently republished Journey (if at all).

>3 Chemren: Thanks for the heads-up on the Shackleton's Antartica, looks like another lovely set. With Everest, A Man on the Moon, Antartica and the new LE, this past year has certainly seen some really well produced volumes on exploration.

Wow, I really like the craftsmanship going into this edition. The video convinced me. Ordered 😊

Very interesting. The explanation is by Kate Grimwade (Folio’s Production Director), who did a similar explanation for the Studies from Nature facsimile. I see some similarities, at least in the faithful (and very manual) way of reproducing the book. Unfortunately I missed out on Studies from Nature, I expect I will order this LE.

I will be getting this!!

The forthcoming Shackleton's Antartica can be seen at-
https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/shackleton-s-antarctica.html

There's nothing like a video of a bit of hand crafting to help sell an expensive book to me, and this video does that in spades. Gorgeous.

I'm much more interested in the set than the facsimile. Many, many years ago, I bought for £5 a life-worn copy of the second volume of the first edition of The heart of the Antarctic - and for a long time always checked the polar sections of secondhand bookshops for a copy of the first volume, entirely without success. This second volume has the pocket at the back for the panorama and the three maps, most wonderfully drawn by Eric Marshall, MRCS LRCP (presumably a man after your own heart, Warwick). The maps in particular are in very good shape in my book, and the FS will do very well to match their quality.

>10 affle:
😀👍

I’m impressed with FS. Two beautiful limited editions back to back. Certainly expensive, but the quality is undeniably there.

I’m not sure I’ll bite on this particular one, but will definitely jump on the forthcoming Shackleton's set.

Shackleton's Antarctica looks fantastic.

How does one see what is forthcoming?

>14 punkzip: https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/shackleton-s-antarctica.html

Expected in Jan. This looks fantastic.

This LE makes a fantastic companion to James Freemantle's superb edition 'An Albion in the Antarctic', which was entirely printed on HIS 19th-century Albion handpress at his St. James Park Press. Of note, the slim commentary volume by Jan Piggott in the FS LE facsimile is entirely printed letterpress by Phil Abel at the Hand & Eye Letterpress.

The video sold me on this one, and I note that the free diary dropped in automatically this time, unlike my previous order. Why? Who knows.

This is turning into an expensive year, Folio-wise.

:-)

>16 dlphcoracl: Totally agree that this LE and ‘An Albion in the Antarctic’ would be perfect companions. Unfortunately, I came too late to the party to get a copy of ‘An Albion…’. Ordered the LE though :)

>17 Cat_of_Ulthar:

Seems a lot of people have been convinced by the video. I went from seriously sceptical to utterly convinced in the time it took to watch the video.

>17 Cat_of_Ulthar: This is turning into an expensive year, Folio-wise.

The last couple of months especially, for me anyway.

I was actually hoping the next LE would be Gormenghast. This is certainly one of the most interesting LEs craftsmanship wise. I plan to wait until people get it and review it as I have a casual but not great interest in Shackleton.

This one reminds me of Kitagawa Utamaro's Studies From Nature: A uniquely recreated facsimile that you won't find anywhere else. Ordered.

It does look absolutely wonderful. If only it was the sort of thing I enjoy reading....

>19 folio_books: It was a very convincing video. I envy those who get it :)

Has anyone read the book in another format? The cover and binding are fantastic but at that price point I would like to have some appreciation for the contents and FS does not spend much time on that factor on its website.

>24 LBShoreBook: Seems like it's similar in scope, if not size, to The South Polar Times.

>24 LBShoreBook:

Because it is a facsimile, the contents of the FS Limited Edition will be exactly the same as the original edition printed and crafted on The Nimrod. Another of the 60 original copies is in the library of Christ's College, University of Cambridge, and they have reproduced their copy digitally on their website. It can be read in its entirety at the link below.

https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-AA-00003-00008/1

Looks very lovely, but I shall pass. Too many books, not enough time and money. Also, here in the USA it is over $800 after shipping.

>26 dlphcoracl: cheers

I see FS just said that this is the final LE for 2021, so i guess i have a few more months to save my pennies ready for Gormenghast in 2022

Goodness, this is impressive—and duly ordered. I sat on my hands for Dante—other fine press versions will come along or can be acquired secondhand—but this one is truly unique.

>26 dlphcoracl: Thank you, that’s really helpful!

>23 assemblyman:

Received today and I'll just say I was not in the slightest disappointed with it in the flesh.

>32 folio_books: Enjoy. It looks wonderful.

>33 assemblyman:

I will, thank you! I'm taking the commentary booklet to bed tonight to make a start.

>32 folio_books: That was fast! What number did you get?

>35 kdweber: What number did you get?

Modesty forbids ... :)

>36 folio_books:

Is it a number between 1 and 3?

ORDERED! I bought the Dante, too. I'll keep this new one with my South Polar Times. It wasn't limited but is sold out.

>37 bookfair_e: I had rather assumed it was 69

>37 bookfair_e:

Damn, you're good!

>39 gmacaree:

The perfect number.

>16 dlphcoracl:

Great point! Although this publication is not exactly my cup of tea, I am strongly considering acquiring this book as a companion to 'An Albion in the Antarctic'. Will decide in the next few days.

>42 vadim_ca:

FWIW, I ordered my copy earlier in the week. Aside from being a wonderful companion to the superb SJPP 'An Albion in the Antarctic', it is an excellent read. I, too, share your lukewarm feeling with regard to reading travel books but this is one of the best and most readable of them.

>43 dlphcoracl: good to hear. I have the SE of South Polar Times and it is a bit too much polar times for me - I would rather have a more focused amuse-bouche taste of life in the Antarctic versus a myriad of mimeographed pages of mediocre writing although an admittedly interesting and historically important topic. Put more succinctly, this one looks more interesting than the one I own.

Just received my copy - #15 (for some strange reason - out of the five new LEs I have ordered this year, two have been 15s and two 17s). I'm not sure what I think after actually having held it in my hands. It is most certainly a creative LE and well done. It's a very unique book and for that reason I am glad to have it, but, on the other hand, I am not sure if the contents will engage me enough on a regular basis to justify the cost.
Did I make a good decision? It's the first LE of the year (including the much debated Rob Roy) where I have felt a bit of a let down after holding it in my hands - like sitting down for a meal with fine china and silverware but then the meal itself isn't as tasty as one was expecting. That being said, it is an intriguing bit of history and, perhaps once I dive into the contents, my initial enthusiasm will be restored.

>44 LBShoreBook:

Precisely why I prefer 'Aurora Australis' to the forthcoming Shackleton 3-volume which includes The Heart of the Antarctic and South. It has a greater human element and less of the 'daily log' feel to it.

There hasn’t been a lot of chatter about this book, but it seems to be doing quite well - the counter is already up at 280 copies left.

Does anyone have more real life pictures to help further enable the rest of us?

I feel silly asking but is this thing letterpress? I think it is mentioned in the video that it is made the same way the original was made but I don't see it in the production details. Usually they really trumpet that fact if it is the case.

>48 L.Bloom: The commentary booklet is letterpress. Book itself is not.

>49 punkzip: Yikes, thank you. At first I thought it was a good price for a unique letterpress, now I just feel like it's overpriced for some paper sewn to some scrap wood and a thin strip of leather.

You cannot make an exact facsimile letterpress.

>50 L.Bloom: sewn? I thought it was just loosely tied together with some garden twine :-)

I may mock, but for those of you who buy this and already have 'An Albion in the Antarctic' I think you will have a rather nice and unique combination.

>51 wcarter:

I wouldn't say it's impossible, leaving aside the purist case that an exact facsimile can't be made at all: since the Basilisk Press Kelmscott Chaucer facsimile, from which the Folio version was copied, was itself produced letterpress. I doubt though that many of us would consider the much increased cost, beginning with casting or otherwise sourcing a precise copy of the type used (with any flaws themselves copied and correctly located?), to be justified in this instance - the Basilisk effort was prodigious, and a tribute to an aesthetically exceptional book.

>51 wcarter: Not clear on why you can’t make a letterpress facsimile, can you explain more?

>54 What_What:
A facsimile is an exact as possible replica of the original, which may include handwritten notations, unusual typography, illustrations etc. As mentioned by >53 terebinth:, doing this may be possible with some limited types of manuscripts, but at huge expense.

The highest class facsimiles by companies such as Faksimile Verlag or Moleiro (see https://www.moleiro.com/en/home.htm) are not letterpress but accurate photo reproductions printed on paper as close to possible as the original, and bound in a way that aslo reproduces the original.

It would be possible to do a reproduction (same text, but different style) in letterpress quite easily, but not a facsimile.

>55 wcarter: Seems like it could be done with photopolymer plates.

>55 wcarter: Thank you for explaining.

I think what you’re saying in others words is a photo printed onto similar paper would be more suitable to being described as a facsimile, versus trying to recreate the letterpress imprint itself?

Edited to add: apologies.
But if a facsimile is defined as an exact copy of something, it seems to me that a photopolymer plate letterpress edition would much more closely match the definition than printed photographs (assuming the original is letterpress).

>57 What_What:
Exactly. Good facsimiles show stains, tears, watermarks etc. on the original page.
One of the best is the FS King Henry's Prayerbook (see https://www.librarything.com/topic/328513).

Whilst the book looks nice, I fear the contents would be a long way down my reading list. If someone reads it, please could they review the contents? Thanks!

>58 wcarter:

There seems to me room for argument as to what a "good facsimile" is. Not so much with King Henry's Prayerbook or any other volume unique of its kind, where the aim would generally be to reproduce every visible feature of the original: with a printed book, though, is that a desideratum at all? It's surely legitimate to endeavour to reproduce as far as possible the state of the book as it left its original bindery, as the Basilisk and Folio Kelmscott Chaucer versions do - the Kelmscott production itself rather than any vicissitudes a particular copy may have passed through is what a contemporary reader will generally hope to experience. I'd hesitate to say that either is not a good facsimile.

I've placed my order for the LE after starting to read the work at archive.org,

https://archive.org/details/AuroraAustralis00EHSh/mode/2up?view=theater ,

to confirm to myself that it won't just be sitting on the shelf. To my mild surprise 17 months had passed since my last Folio purchase, easily my longest interval in the 21st century.

I'll pass on this, but will be getting the 3-volume set when it comes out. Replace my old paperback copy of South, and get two volumes I haven't yet read. FS just posted youtube video of the set. Looks beautiful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOsJz6ZhnTs

>61 DCBlack: thank you for the link, I was thinking of buying the 3 volume set, now it is a definite purchase for me. It is stunning. Unfortunately I will be moving from the UK to US at the end of this month, so will have fun experiencing the additional costs and transit times to acquire this when it comes out in January.

>61 DCBlack: That’s just fantastic! Must have.

247 copies left, which means it has sold over half of the limitation in a week. Not bad going.

>61 DCBlack:

That is truly an FS deluxe edition. When FS sets its mind to it, to produce something a bit special, e.g., The Malay Archipelago, Beowulf (Seamus Heaney), Ulysses/Finnegan's Wake (illus. John Vernon Lord), the results are impressive. Frankly, I wish they didn't spread themselves so thin by publishing 5-6 dozen titles per year to appeal to all readers in all genre. Rather, I would really like to see the FS decrease their output by about one half (2-3 dozen titles per year) and focus on publishing more of these deluxe editions.

>65 dlphcoracl: Very much agree with this. How many seasonal collections have you looked at and thought, meh, there's maybe one book I would buy if it ever goes on sale? When they put thought and effort into a volume it shows. Fragments of Sappho comes to mind. It is an exquisite piece and I think it rivals Arion's Sappho at a fraction of the price.

>65 dlphcoracl: What are some examples you’d see culled?

>67 What_What:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/335399#n7617981

Scroll down to post no. 19 on this thread.

>66 L.Bloom:

Exactly. Quality, not quantity.

I imagine their profit margins are better on the cheaper books, and more books at an accessible price point for casual collectors = more exposure, excitement, revenue. I'm personally hoping that they don't produce an LE I'll really like, because that would result in very difficult conversations with my partner about just how much is acceptable to spend on a book! 😂

>68 dlphcoracl:
That's a list of your favourites. >67 What_What: asked what you'd like to see culled. Interesting question - especially as one person's favourite is another person's most disliked. But then, I've been buying fewer and fewer anyway (although that 3-vol Shackleton is a distinct possibility!).

>67 What_What:
>71 Willoyd:

My bad. I misinterpreted your initial question.

What I would like to see eliminated (culled) are:

1. Many of the relatively obscure historical books with very narrow and limited interest.

2. Relatively minor works from major authors.

3. The need to publish complete series of books where a careful and intelligent selection of the best will suffice, e.g., Patrick O'Brian

>72 dlphcoracl:

"1. Many of the relatively obscure historical books with very narrow and limited interest."

I agree. On the rare occasion that one of these interests me, it also occurs to me that the last thing I need is a deluxe copy of it, so I end up just getting a used hardcover or something. I bought a few during my early years as a FADdict, but realized after reading that I'd never read them again, had no real desire to keep them in my library, and ended up selling them.

I don't mind 2 and 3 though. I recently read The Black Tulip by Dumas Pere and rather liked it. And I plan to keep it. And I'm actually hoping for the continuation of the Barchester Chronicles. I doubt that will happen though, seeing how they were literally giving the first two away a couple of years ago as part of their "free mystery book" promotion, they can't be selling well.

>41 MobyRichard: "The perfect number."

That would be 6, 28 or 496, no?

>72 dlphcoracl:

I gather there's a consensus that the quality of O'Brian's writing diminished toward the end of his twenty-volume sequence, and I confess myself to have run aground at least for now somewhere in the middle of I think the eleventh volume, but publishing only a selection of the books would have alienated most of the folk with any interest in them at all. Not sure if O'Brian devotees would have alternative ideas, but to me his method doesn't furnish much scope for a "careful and intelligent selection", with its developing narrative rather hobbling any policy other than starting with the first book and deciding at what point it's not worth carrying on.

I should admit that my own tendency is, where possible, to acquire at a stroke in an agreeable form the complete works of any author who bids fair to exert a considerable and lasting claim on my attention, so the FS has already wandered far enough away from publishing long series of volumes by single authors of serious merit to diminish my interest in many of the books it does produce.

>75 terebinth: The Aubrey-Maturin series represents the core of my relatively modest FS collection; and even only having read about half the series so far, I have to say FS maintained a high production quality through all the volumes I have read. Maybe not up to the level of their fine editions, but still.... Excellent selection of illustrations and photographs. Maps detailing the battle sequences. Beautiful matching bindings that look great aligned on the shelf. It is clear that they took much time and attention to detail in putting those books together. I'm definitely glad they published all 20 volumes, even if it takes me another 5-10 years to finish them.

It sounds like their production values on the Sharpe series have not maintained the same level, but that's not one I was inclined to start anyway.

>76 DCBlack:

I find the small number of illustrations, mostly only black and white, in the Sharpe series very disappointing. In addition, I wish they'd chose the Lords of the North series by the same author instead. But I guess Sharpe is better known, partly due to the series with Sean Bean, even though there's also a current series of Lords of the North. And then there's the British military connection that seems to appeal to FS and some of the customer base.

>72 dlphcoracl: Thanks for sharing, and no worries. I personally only buy a select few volumes each year anyway, so most of what they publish is not of interest to me. I suppose it must be of interest to someone, such that they keep publishing them.

And books like Jurassic Park, which I thought was on odd decision, turned out to very popular, needing a second print run in a very short period of time. Perhaps they do have a wider spread to try to see how many "hits" they can make.

Just as I thought that Folio's turn to consumerist mainstream made me lose passion for their new releases, I see this! While I've been a big fan of FS standard and Fine editions, their LEs rarely excite me. But this facsimile looks absolutely wonderful!

I have special interest in polar exploration as my great-grandfather was a polar researcher who spent many a winter at polar stations, setting up some of them from the ground up. He went through some rough times: death of a teammate, scurvy, having to stay for another unplanned year or few multiple times - once a steam icebreaker coming with supplies and a replacement team got stuck in ice on the way to his station so he had to stay for another year; another time he was staying at a polar station getting meteorological data during WWII and was scheduled to go home in the fall of 1942, but the icebreaker coming to pick him and his team up was sank by a German heavy cruiser. The attempt to lift them up by a seaplane failed with the seaplane ending up dropping food supplies from the air, most of which perished in the fall, forcing great-grandfather and three of his crew to winter for another year, hunting polar bears and seals for food (one did not survive). After a few failed attempts they were finally lifted by a seaplane in the autumn of 1943. Etc. etc. Yet the Arctic and all things polar in general were his love and his life. He amassed the most comprehensive private polar library in the country and wrote dozens of scientific and pop science articles. He was buried on one of the uninhabited Arctic archipelagos according to his will, and one of the capes of that archipelago bears his name now. So naturally polar exploration fascinated me since I was a child.

But dear god - the price! After the colonist rip-off add-on, $55 shipping and the nonsensical tax that FS shouldn't be charging, the total is well above nine hundred dollars. In GBP it comes to £685 - for a £495 book! I think I'll still end up ordering it, but I'll probably ship it to one of my British friends and pick it up whenever I visit the UK. But then I won't be able to inspect the book for defects before it sells out... Grrrr

Also very excited about the upcoming Shackleton's Antarctica set. It looks fantastic, another must have for me.

>79 elladan0891: I thought your post was fascinating and thank you for sharing it.

One question please - what is the nonsensical tax that FS is charging you upfront please?

>80 English-bookseller: There seems to be an additional fee built into the US price. If you convert 495 gbp to usd, it comes to around $660, but the price for this LE on the US site is $795. Someone may have more context as to why this is. It has certainly given me pause as well...With $55 shipping fee, and nearly 10% California sales tax, the total price for me would come to around $930.

>81 Nightcrawl: I completely agree. I wish we could simply purchase in BPS, and let our credit card company convert to USD. Folio's conversion rate is way higher than any credit card company charges us. Sure, increase the shipping charge, but why they charge their overseas customers such a high conversion rate baffles me.

>80 English-bookseller:
Short-ish version: I think it's silly for a foreign entity like FS with no presence in the state of Georgia - or the US for that matter - to charge my municipal sales taxes (4% Georgia sales tax, 3% Fulton County sales tax, 1.5% Atlanta sales tax, 0.4% combined Atlanta Special Purpose Local Option Sales Taxes (for local schools, infrastructure, public transport)).

>83 elladan0891:
Do they have a choice? They don't in Canada. Once the Canadian government has identified you as selling a substantial amount in its country then it obliges you to collect its taxes at source if you want your goods to make it past customs. All sorts of companies weasel their way around this requirement, but FS is at a disadvantage in once having had subsidiaries in Canada and the US. And perhaps, unlike me, they suffer from old-fashioned upright behaviour. If foreign companies didn't pay these taxes, then domestic companies, who must pay, would be at a disadvantage. Of course a civilised country wouldn't tax books anyway, I tell myself as I buy from the cheapest source.

>83 elladan0891: So how does that work? Folio Society has to remit the tax to three separate entities in the USA? crazy! If that is really the case - with the extra work involved - I can understand how they might be tempted to up the price substantially for customers in the states!

Edited:
I was curious so investigated further and found:

'U.S. states can only require sellers to charge sales taxes if that seller has “sales tax nexus” in that state. Nexus simply means that your business has significant presence in that state.'

and

' If you live outside the U.S. and have no sales tax nexus in the U.S. – In this case you won’t have to worry about registering for a sales tax permit and collecting taxes. You might still make sales to customers in the U.S., but if you do not have sales tax nexus in any U.S. states then you do not have to collect U.S. sales tax. Congratulations!'

So it seems the Folio Society - if shipping from UK - does not need to bother with USA sales tax ... possibly!

Caveat: I am a scientist not a legal/tax expert!

>85 RogerBlake:

That sounds out of date to me. There was a court ruling, or something like that, that rendered a lot of info you'll find out there no longer relevant.

>83 elladan0891: you think they have a choice?! FS don’t charge these taxes for the pure fun of doing so; it’s a legal requirement.

Blame your local government if you have a problem with it.

P.S. I am a tax accountant. Sales and excise tax is not my specific expertise, but cross border tax is always more complicated than the lay person thinks. Also no sensible business risks falling foul of tax authorities, especially not US tax authorities. It’s a sure fire way to incur astronomical fines.

I don't have a problem with the sale tax. I just don't understand the conversion rate. As mentioned, £495 gpb should come to about $660 usd. $795 is a heck of a mark up.

One of the reasons why for example non-US businesses such as The Folio Society or ABE Books UK enter into these arrangements with overseas tax authorities is to make life easier for their customers.

There are stories around about US-based bibliophiles buying a book from abroad where no such upfront sales tax is deducted, and getting a demand for the US sales tax from the courier firm if they want their book delivered, and sometimes with an administration fee charged for collecting the sales tax on top.

Many years ago I used to work in UK tax and at that time the US IRS had a formidable reputation for aggressive behaviour. UK businesses with US sales really did not want to give the IRS any excuse for having themselves targeted by the IRS.

>89 English-bookseller: this works both ways.

I’ve bought plenty of things from US companies, followed by an email asking me to pay $20, $30, $40 before the package will be released to me.

None of this was disclosed in the sales price. The companies I’ve experienced with are usually a similar size to Folio (boutique business which make specialist products).

My point is it’s not Folio Society’s fault. They could probably overcome it by setting up a US entity and distribution centre, but they just aren’t big enough to justify the cost of doing this.

Thanks for your reply.

Do you think these US companies were just trying it on? Or did they provide a valid reason such as the cost of a courier from the US to the UK?

>84 Jayked: Do they have a choice?

They certainly do. These are not import taxes, customs have nothing to do with these. FS, particularly being a small company struggling to be profitable, didn't have to volunteer to collect taxes for foreign local/municipal entities that
1) didn't ask them to in the first place
2) have no jurisdiction over FS
3) don't track FS sales
4) have no means of enforcement

In Canada you got customs controlling the entry of goods and enforcing tax collection. The US customs control entry of goods into the US, but there are no federal laws that would require them to collect any tax on my Folio purchases, so they just let them through. Even if states asked Customs to collect local sales taxes on their behalf, which they never would, Customs would laugh. Just like states are not obligated to enforce federal laws, federal agencies couldn't care less about state laws.

None of the much bigger foreign companies without presence in the US that I ever ordered from collect local state taxes. Even some foreign subsidiaries of American companies happily ignore them: although I try minimizing purchasing from amazon, when I recently saw that Book Depository somehow got a hold of a new, sealed copy of the out of print F&F Members edition of The Bell Jar, I pulled the trigger. Amazon - ahem, UK-based Book Depository - didn't charge me my local taxes.

>85 RogerBlake: Fortunately for merchants the process is not that crazy - you pay all through one channel, and then they redistribute to three different entities. The information you looked up is correct, however as usual the devil is in the details. Here the devil is in the definition of nexus. To give some background, first nexus was defined as physical presence of a seller in the state. Not necessarily a brick and mortar store or a sales office - it could be a warehouse/distribution center, for example. States have been trying to lay their greedy hands on out-of-state sales to their residents since before the internet during the mail order times, tried challenging the physical nexus requirements but weren't successful. Quill Corp vs North Dakota Supreme Court decision in favor of Quill pretty much sealed the physical nexus definition for roughly 3 decades.

But the emergence of e-commerce really increased sales to out-of-state merchants and decreased local sales tax revenues. So states were always very eager to get rid of Quill. The Quill decision specifically stated that Congress could change the rules through legislation, so many states tried to go that route but failed. Then sometime in 2010s in one of Supreme Court cases Justice Kennedy mentioned that he doesn't find Quill fair, so the states smelled blood and jumped at the opportunity to overturn Quill. The first case to reach the Supreme Court was South Dakota vs Wayfair/Overstock/Newegg, and this time Supreme Court overturned Quill, but only barely - by a 5-4 decision. Since than the economic nexus does not necessitate physical presence. Most states now define it by sales numbers if there is no physical presence.

Now, the current situation is not uncontroversial by any means - again, the Supreme Court decision was a very tight 5-4 - but domestically, it is what it is, and I'm not complaining about legality of local state taxes on internet purchases within the US whether I like them or not. The question is about purchases abroad from from foreign companies with no US presence.

>87 Uppernorwood: >89 English-bookseller:
Local state taxes are NOT the matter of the US tax authorities/IRS/customs. They are completely out of the picture. IRS/customs don't collect or enforce collection of local taxes.

And here lies the problem. State laws are written in a typical America-is-the-world manner and don't specify whether a sale happens in the country or not. But there are multiple problems with imposing local taxes on foreign imports, both legal and practical:

1. South Dakota vs Wayfair shouldn't even apply to foreign imports - the case refers to INTERSTATE commerce, not foreign commerce.
2. The Foreign Commerce Clause clearly gives only the Federal government the authority to impose rules/taxes etc. on foreign commerce. Multiple previous attempts of states to mess with international trade have been shut down by the Supreme Court. I'm not a constitutional lawyer so I can recall only one such case off the top of my head, but as far as I'm aware this stance has been consistent. I'm in the supply chain business, and although I don't deal with the import process directly, certain things are known. LA and Long Beach tried to tax Japanese shipping containers sitting in their ports for a long time. This tax was thrown out specifically because local authorities have no business messing with foreign imports and if the federal government said they're not going to tax these containers, no local government can.
3. Local state/county/city authorities have no knowledge of FS sales. They have no idea about FS sales volumes to their states.
4. They have no means of enforcement. States can't go after FS in the US courts as FS has no presence here. Federal agencies like Customs will not act on the States' behalf. Going after FS in the UK courts is impossible since FS didn't break any UK law.
5. FS is a tiny fish in the pond that nobody cares about (or, likely, even knows about its existence). Whenever states decide to take on someone, they go for big $$$. In previous cases, such as South Dakota vs Wayfair/Overstock/Newegg, they went for the companies with the highest $$$ (amazon wasn't there because by the time of the lawsuits they changed their distribution model and had warehouses and other facilities in every state so already collected local taxes because of physical presence).

>90 Uppernorwood: "I’ve bought plenty of things from US companies, followed by an email asking me to pay $20, $30, $40 before the package will be released to me."

These were obviously not sales taxes. No local state sales tax would apply to a foreign address. A tiny mom-and-pop shop that doesn't use a web platform but processes payments manually might not know what to do and could charge their local sales tax erroneously, but that would happen at the time of transaction, not asking for it separately later. These were probably additional shipping fees. I've seen this practice by both US and UK merchants, usually small booksellers, but I consider it a shady business in most cases and, unless I really, really wanted something, would probably refuse to deal with a businesses that quotes you one shipping price, than demands more after transaction takes place.

>32 folio_books: and anyone else who laid their hands on the LE:
how is the paper? Is it thick? Textured? Or closer to the standard Abbey Wove? Also, how is the text block looking? As the boards don't snug the text block tightly like in traditional bindings but rather hold it loosely like a file binder, is the block constantly wavy? Does it look like it will hold up over the years?

>92 elladan0891: I didn’t mention the IRS. I referred local government (State, City etc), which are precisely the bodies which enforce local taxes.

>90 Uppernorwood: "I’ve bought plenty of things from US companies, followed by an email asking me to pay $20, $30, $40 before the package will be released to me."

>93 elladan0891: "These were obviously not sales taxes. ..."

They might have been some form of customs fees, perhaps due to incorrect labelling or declaration on the shipper side. My sense is that paying duties on direct retail purchase imports is pretty rare for US residents. I had it happen only once or twice during the years I lived in the US. I live in Canada now, and the outcome >90 Uppernorwood: mentions is much more common. And, as someone above noted, Canadian customs will collect provincial taxes (charging a hefty fee, generally several times the actual taxes being collected, for the "convenience"). It is not that uncommon for me to see a UPS charge which is something like $5 CAD provincial sales tax and $20+ UPS admin fee for collecting and remitting the tax.

In fact, here is a fun one for a recent secondhand book purchase:



Oh, Canada!

(I have learned to just shake my head and expect a certain number of these as more or less "cost of doing business" and roll it into my general expectation of average costs when shopping online.)

>95 Uppernorwood: I took your "US tax authorities" to mean the federal level, that's why I bunched up the response with >89 English-bookseller: who did mention the IRS. So even setting aside the legality/applicability issues, local governments don't track Folio sales, completely unaware of them, aren't trying to enforce collecting from Folio or other foreign entities, and have no means of going after Folio. It would have been much wiser for Folio to adapt the wait and see approach and not shoot themselves in the foot preemptively.

>96 abysswalker: They might have been some form of customs fees, perhaps due to incorrect labelling or declaration on the shipper side

Yes, that's another possibility.

>97 elladan0891: apologies, I was a bit vague in my post.

But I still doubt very much this is Folio’s choice. The world is becoming increasingly protectionist, and operating cross border business is getting harder.

Most governments have a huge Covid related deficit to deal with in the next decade, so this is likely to get worse not better.

Businesses like FS have to navigate tax and customs rules in every country they sell in (and sometimes local rule with countries), and often it’s not worth the costs or risks of trying to save customers these costs.

I don’t like it anymore than others, but that’s how it is. FS make their choice and have presumably factored in that it might cost them sales sometimes.

>94 elladan0891:

The paper is cream in colour, thicker and heavier than the Abbey Wove of Arabia Deserta (does Abbey Wove vary in weight?) and not nearly so smooth of surface. Not at all wavy now, and I wouldn't expect it to become so unless subject to serious dampness.

>96 abysswalker: I always ask US booksellers to ship USPS, which hands the package over to Canada Post. There is still 5% tax (there is federal sales tax but not Ontario tax on books) and sometimes a $10 brokerage fee from Canada Post, but not the made-up charges that you get from UPS or FedEx.

>101 Flaubie: I second this. I too ship to Canada and have no problems with Canada and USPS. I refuse to ship with UPS as their fees are essentially a scam.

>72 dlphcoracl:
Thank you - interesting!
That certainly highlights the fact that one person's must can be another person's cull: taking the last first, for me the FS no longer publish sufficient complete series (at least of authors I'm interested in - I'd certainly cull Sharpe and Bond): I wouldn't have bought any of the O'Brians if they hadn't published the complete series, and bought several complete sets of classic writers. It's their fixation on only the standard classics that has largely stopped my buying in its tracks.
As for 1, I suppose that depends on what you regard as of very narrow and limited interest (I'm not sure whether you mean historical fiction or non-fiction; any specific titles in mind?); and on the minor works from major authors, that depends on the authors! I really wish FS would actually publish some of Virginia Woolf's other fiction for instance.

For me, I'm never sure why they continue to publish many (most!) of their various anthologies - they always seem to land up in the sales. Presumably somebody does buy enough. I'd also cull the 'ordinary' history books, like the current battles series; an awful lot there that I wouldn't buy in much more than paperback at best (or is that what you mean by limited interest historical?).

The brochure for this limited edition can now be downloaded from the FSD wiki here.

Internet Archive has posted two copies of Aurora Australis and in both the illustration on the title page is in color. My Folio version is in muddy black and white. Is Folio's reproduction an Almost a Facsimile or did the original copies have two versions of the illustration?

>105 Steve92084:
There were many variants of this hand made book, and the FS has exactly reproduced the version to which they had access.

>105 Steve92084: Did you read the included commentary?

Thank you wcarter. I did not receive a copy of the Commentary with my book and I appreciate your answer.

I cast my vote selfishly in favor of FS's charging sales tax. My state, like so many others, has a law requiring its residents to pay sales tax (or "use tax") whether Internet merchants charge it or not. Compliance rates by consumers have been low in the past, pretty much reserved to those who are compulsive law-abiders. It's nice to have my fellow citizens now being taxed at the same rate that I am.

>109 cpg: Yah! Lets continue to tax the middle class their fair share and continue subsidizing billionaires to play space, mega corporations, substandard health care (if one is lucky to have any at all,) and, of course,the military! If I lived in Scandinavia, absolutely; In the US however...

>104 wcarter: Thanks again! Btw. nice touch with the file name… 😊

>110 Joshbooks1:

As far as I can tell, my state sales tax doesn't fund billionaires in space or a military. I'm fairly agnostic about whether taxes are too high or too low, but I would like whatever laws there are to be equitably enforced. The same book that is untaxed at our campus bookstore is taxed at an off-campus bookstore; I'd like to see that changed. Before Amazon started collecting sales tax, my state effectively only taxed Amazon buyers whose consciences told them to obey the law; I'm glad that that has changed. Once when I called the State Tax Commission to complain about the Use Tax, I got personal and asked the official I was speaking to if she paid Use Tax. She said she didn't, because she never made any Internet purchases! I'm glad that Amazon and others are now helping her remit the sales tax that the state says she owes.

>112 cpg:

Agree 100%, thank you for posting

>112 cpg: I don't mean to continue to go off topic but nothing in the US tax system is "equitably enforced" where one small group gets fatter while the large majority struggles mightily. There are so many loopholes for state and federal taxes that I don't see how it isn't directly funding billionaires and large corporations. Sure a lot goes to very great and needed services, but not enough. I laud your willingness to do the right thing and also heartily agree with you regarding large online retailers like Amazon who FINALLY have to pay sales tax but at the end of the day it's all just a joke since they became a monopoly having had such advantages for, what, several decades? If things were fair I'd gladly and even willingly welcome taxes for Folio books, even when I didn't need to, but at this stage of the game I begrudgingly do so.

>114 Joshbooks1:

I am SO thankful I live in the UK with our extremely enlightened policy of exempting physical books from sales tax ...

>114 Joshbooks1: So don’t do it at all, if it can’t be done perfectly? cpg doesn’t care if you pay it happily or begrudgingly, just pay the tax man his dues.

Although to be honest I see your perspective. It’s similar to things like recycling and water conservation. I read somewhere about water conservation policies in California, where so much responsibility was placed on regular people, when they account for a paltry 11% of water use. Similarly, placing the burden of recycling on consumers when corporations could do a lot more to change the materials they use.

>115 RogerBlake: And I am so happy to live in Japan, where bringing up politics, policy, and taxes is in most cases considered uncouth and inappropriate.

>117 mnmcdwl: there used to a phrase along the lines of never talking about ‘sex, politics or religion’ in public.

I’d be happy to go back to that!

>118 Uppernorwood: On one hand I agree with you. On the other hand I can safely say that this has never been observed in the history of our species so there is nothing to be gotten back to...

Back to Aurora Australis for a brief moment; stock is down to 99. It's sold over 400 in less than a month. Anyone betting against it being sold out before Christmas?

Given that this is now below 100 and I'm on the fence about it I would appreciate hearing some pros and cons about this book as I haven't pulled the trigger yet. My take on it is that is more or less a well-produced novelty item and the actual reading material wouldn't be of great interest to someone (like myself) with a casual but not great interest in Shackleton? What is the value for what you get, compared to other LEs?

My copy was ordered on day one, but has been stuck in customs for over two weeks, a frustrating rarity for a FS book.

>121 punkzip: The text is public domain so you can see if you are interested in it. What you get is individual - I like novelties but not at this price so I am skipping this one.

>121 punkzip: As someone else said, it’s public domain; wcarter shared the link somewhere up above, so you can read the entire thing.

I bought it because I would eventually like to read it, and it is also quite the unique production in my eyes. Happy to support them investing in these kinds publications.

>18 Dr.Fiddy: There is an upcoming facsimile of “An Albion in the Antarctic” which may be of interest. Keep an eye on the St James Park Press website for details.

>125 paulm16: Thanks, I saw that. So, will definitely keep an eye out for that one 👍

>100 terebinth: Thank you! I needed some reassurance. Finally pulled the trigger!

Was really tempted to ship to my friends in the UK, mainly not even to save money but because I'm so irritated by the ridiculous USD upcharge (about $140) and the senseless tax collection ($75.66 for the book + $4.90 for shipping=$80.56). But as it's an expensive LE, I didn't want risking leaving it unexpected until I visit the UK, and I didn't want to bother my friends unnecessarily with inspection of the book and possibly dealing with the replacement process. So it's on the way!

>125 paulm16: I was a bit confused by the note - did it mean a Folio Society LE, or one by James?

>128 What_What: James is working on a facsimile of his own book. A digitally recreated copy with likely letterpress covers. Knowing James it will still be a short run but should make a nice “inexpensive” complimentary read to the stand-out Folio Society LE.
For those lucky few who bought an original copy of An Albion in the Antarctic, the broad smile on their faces will remain intact for the foreseeable.

Only 36 copies left... anyone think it'll last longer than the week?

>130 ChampagneSVP:

A little while back I was certain it would be gone by Christmas. it's slowed down over the last couple of weeks. Perhaps people are wary of trusting it in the mail over Christmas

I was supposed to receive my copy of the Aurora here in Atlanta yesterday, on Monday the 13th, delivered by DHL. Here is a little Christmas wonder of supply chain:

Sunday December, 12 2021
11:46 Local time | Arrived at DHL Delivery Facility ATLANTA - USA
ATLANTA, GA - USA

Monday December, 13 2021
07:18 Local time | Shipment arrived at incorrect facility. It will be sent to the correct destination for delivery
ATLANTA, GA - USA

18:27 Local time | Processed at ATLANTA - USA
ATLANTA, GA - USA

22:14 Local time | Shipment has departed from a DHL facility ATLANTA - USA
ATLANTA, GA - USA

Tuesday December, 14 2021
00:25 Local time | Shipment is in transit to destination ATLANTA - USA
ATLANTA, GA - USA

02:12 Local time | Arrived at DHL Sort Facility CINCINNATI HUB - USA
CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA

AHHH!!! So to get my package from one Atlanta DHL facility to another DHL sends it to Cincinnati.... Hope I receive the package before the book sells out so in case of any issues I could still get a replacement.

>132 elladan0891:

They very likely keep a couple spares on hand for such an eventuality, even in the case of LEs. Though I do wonder how the numbering works out in that case.

So after following an interesting route from DHL's facility in Atlanta to my Atlanta home via Cincinnati, OH, the package finally arrived yesterday! Yesterday happened to be my birthday, so perhaps it was a detour worth taking :)

>133 AtlantisLostAndCold:
Thankfully, all is good!

>100 terebinth:
Thanks again, the paper is indeed nice and thick.

>130 ChampagneSVP: Only 36 copies left... anyone think it'll last longer than the week?

Despite my earlier pessimism is see it's now down to 18. Maybe it will be gone by Christmas, after all.

>134 elladan0891: Yesterday happened to be my birthday

Happy (slightly belated) birthday, Pavel :) Enjoy your book.

>136 folio_books: Thank you, Glenn, appreciate it!
I will certainly enjoy the book. I only had time to leaf through it for a couple of minutes to make sure there are no glaring defects, but I'm very much looking forward to spending more time with it.

just placed my order, the video showing the extent of the craftsmanship really sold it to me, I couldn't resist.

10 left……….

Now down to lucky number 7.

And it's gone.

>141 podaniel: Wow - it's a bit like a parabolic curve, once the number available gets relatively low FOMO kicks into high gear. Happy for those who got one, will be interesting to see the premium requested when these inevitably show up on FB.

I just wanted to let everyone who may be interested know that I have updated my website as of today with details of my upcoming facsimile of An Albion in the Antarctic, which was mentioned in the Folio Society’s edition of Aurora Australis. A digital proof of the edition has now been finalised, which will be on show at the Oxford Fine Press Fair and pre-orders are now open. The limitation is 92 copies only. All best wishes, James
https://www.stjamesparkpress.com/albionantarctic