Books bound for glory

Picture an edition of The Wind in the Willows, bound in green silk with a scene from the riverbank printed in gold on the front cover. An expensive limited edition from a specialist printer, you may think. Not at all. It is in fact one of reasonably priced editions from The Folio Society, the mail order publisher which this year celebrates its fiftieth anniversary.

The Folio Society was the idea of Charles Ede, who in his early twenties came out of the army after serving the war years "fit for nothing, as one hadn't been trained to do anything". He did, however, have an interest in fine books and was a devotee of William Morris's work, as a socialist and as a private press printer at Kelmscott.

"The war had produced a social revolution at home," explains Ede, "and all the pressures were towards providing wider opportunities for everyone. The arts, not least literature, were to be made more available, and there was a new consciousness of the importance of good design. My ambition was to marry up the typographical and artistic standards of the private presses with the latest industrial technology." In this way the price of the books could be reduced. Ede also hoped to help revive the standards of book production that had declined due to the austerity measures of the war.

To produce the first batch of Folio books he had to search all over the Continent for extra paper, since his own ration was limited to ten tons, only enough to produce five editions. It was necessary to be inventive and enterprising to make the best of what was available. Some publishers used parachute silk dyed in different shades for their bookbinding. Before the war there had been a richly creative period for book publishing. Private publishers, particularly Golden Cockerel and Nonesuch, were producing beautiful limited-edition books. Charles Ede strove to produce the same sort of results in a more cost-effective way. The demand for good books was strong, since so many people's education had been cut short by the war.

"For a long time we had many members in the services," says the editorial director, Sue Bradbury. "They'd come out of the army having missed out on university, with an appetite for books and a need to be reassured that they were reading the right things."

Folio publishes a wide variety of books. They like to cater for minority taste as well as producing the works of more popular authors: Hardy, Austen, Dickens and Trollope. The most distinctive feature of Folio books has always been the magnificent bindings and the fine illustrations which are a feature of all the editions. Edward Ardizzone, John Buckland-Wright, Richard Shirley-Smith, Joan Hassall and Nigel Lambourne are just a few of the artists to have worked with Folio. Edward Bawden's contribution was spread over 30 years, beginning with coloured lithographs for Gulliver's Travels. His final commission for The Hound of the Baskervilles was in 1983.Quentin Blake has so far undertaken The Hunting of the Snark, Cold Comfort Farm and Cyrano de Bergerac's Voyages to the Moon and Sun. Artists not normally known for their illustrative work have also been persuaded to take up the challenge, with dazzling results. Elisabeth Frink illuminated The Odes of Horace, Beryl Cook added contemporary flair to Mr Norris Changes Trains and Paula Rego penned exquisite drawings for Peter Pan and Nursery Rhymes.

So. just how good, how significant, is the Folio Society?

The Independent's Literary Editor, Boyd Tonkin, said: "As Alice asked: `What is the use of a book without pictures and conversation?'

"For half a century, the Folio Society has set itself apart from cheaper lists of classic reprints by lavishly meeting the first of her demands. Even on the picture front, however, it no longer stands quite alone. Its edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, with John Tenniel's original illustrations, will set you back pounds 29.95. The Everyman's Library hardback - also complete with Tenniel - costs pounds 7.99.

"In general, the Everyman imprint - recently revived with great success by publisher David Campbell - only illustrates its Children's Classics series, although the 250-strong list includes a handsome version of Dante's Divine Comedy, in a fine translation, with 42 engravings by Botticelli - a snip at pounds 14.99. The Folio Society creates very covetable objects; still, readers who don't share Alice's picture craving but do like sturdy, elegant hardbacks will find that Everyman offers broader choice and better value.

"Its range now stretches from Homer to Toni Morrison, from the King James Old Testament (introduced by George Steiner) to Nabokov's Lolita (introduced by Martin Amis). Above all, David Campbell's bold venture has proved that high production values in reprint publishing need not go along with staid middlebrow tastes."

None of this will deter the Society and their enthusiasm for birthday celebrations. It is putting on an exhibition which begins next week. Fifty Years of The Folio Society, at the old British Library, showing a selection of the illustrations and book covers that have been commissioned by Folio.

For the last 22 years, Folio has run an illustration competition with the RCA, open to students of the college. Already, 12 of the student prizewinners have been used to illustrate Folio editions. This year they opened the doors to illustrators worldwide and received more than 700 entries.

Folio also sponsors the British Library's annual bookbinding exhibition and competition, Designer Bookbinders, which will be at the library until 13 February.

In April the society launches Folio Fifty, a list compiled of their members' favourite 50 books, those that have been most influential and loved in their lives. Any that have not already been published by Folio will be issued over the next two years. Apart from that, titles for this year include Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales and Other Verses, with illustrations by Posy Simmonds, and The Genius of James Thurber, illustrated by the author and bound in silver cloth.

Though the company has changed hands twice since Charles Ede's days, the ethos remains unaltered. The present owner is Bob Gavron, who owned the large printing group, St Ives. "He took Folio on as a quaint and enchanting publishing phenomenon, successful almost in spite of itself," says Sue Bradbury, "but he also wanted to show us that it could be put on a sounder financial footing without compromising its essential character." Folio has come a long way since its first lean years after the war, when Charles Ede could barely pay his own salary of pounds 10 a week. Membership has increased by 150 per cent in the last eight years and Folio now takes full-page advertisements in the Sunday colour supplements, offering an irresistible selection of presentation volumes to new members.

The Folio has managed to retain its close relationship with its ever-increasing band of members. There is a members' room in the office at Holborn where you can sit on big sofas and look at current releases. You can also visit the more traditional, library-like surroundings of the Folio Gallery in the basement of Henry Sotheran, the antiquarian bookseller in Sackville Street, near Piccadilly Circus.

Sue Bradbury talks with affection of the members and refers to people "becoming folio-ised" - in other words, becoming initiated to the Folio ethos. She still writes letters to members in her elegant italic handwriting, a habit formed in her early days in the membership department where she was once discovered by an incredulous American management consultant replying to members' letters in verse. Membership includes the rich and famous - Martin Scorsese, Sir Peter Hall and Tatum O'Neal - but it is drawn from all walks of life. Charles Ede's socialist principles have not been compromised.

It is easy to become folio-ised. The Folio Society is addictive.

For membership details contact The Folio Society on 0171-400 4200. The Folio Gallery is at Henry Sotheran, 2 Sackville Street, London W1X IDD.

Here's a chance to win a collection of Folio Society books by playing independent Fantasy Book League. This week, Waterstone's published their readers' top 100 books of the century. It was topped by The Lord of the Rings, included Trainspotting, Jurassic Park and The Horse Whisperer and was greeted with universal derision, dismay and disagreement.

Tell us your top 10 best books of the last 50 years. The winner will be the one with the top 10 nearest to the choice drawn up by our literary editor, Boyd Tonkin. The prize: a Folio Society book token worth pounds 150 or a selection from the society's compilations such as PG Wodehouse, Graham Greene or EM Forster.

Closing date is this Thursday. Usual Newspaper Publishing rules apply.