The first special Christmas publication by the Folio Society was the story
'Christmas Eve at Bracebridge Hall' by Washington Irving, released as a
Christmas greeting back in 1957. So it's fitting that this story was also
included in the first of their special Christmas collections released in 2000,
titled The Folio Christmas Book. This anthology contains 23 seasonal stories
and ten poems, with 16 color illustrations by a variety of different
artists, as well as several black-and-white sketches. The artwork for
the volume represents many familiar Folio faces, including Quentin Blake,
John Vernon Lloyd, Claire Mackey, David Eccles, and John Lawrence.
The book is bound in red cloth with printed paper boards.
The second collection of seasonal writings was released in 2002, with this
volume being illustrated by John Holder. It includes seven color plates, with an
additional 36 black and white illustrations in the text. There are many
different genres of English Christmas writing represented herein, including
excerpts from classic novels such as Wind in the Willows. The volume is
strikingly bound in dark red buckram with gilt lettering
surrounded by a holly design.
After the previous volumes proved relatively popular, a short series of
thematic christmas anthologies followed, with the first being my personal favorite,
The Folio Book of Christmas Crime Stories published in 2004. This volume
is illustrated by Michael Foreman, with 14 color plates and a couple of
pen-and-ink vignettes. It features 15 Christmas crime stories
to cozy up with, from the likes of Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham,
Arthur Conan Doyle, and Ellis Peters. The volume is quarter bound in blue linen
with illustrated paper boards.
The following year, The Folio Book of Christmas Ghost Stories was released in
2005, illustrated by Peter Suart. This one features 20 ghostly tales by
Walter de la Mare, Charles Dickens, Joan Aiken, GK Chesterton and others,
and contains 15 color plates.
The volume is quarter bound in gray linen with illustrated paper boards.
The last in this series is A Traveler's Christmas, published in 2006 and illustrated
by Paul Slater. This collection contains stories by a variety of authors, such as
Tolstoy, Washington Irving, Richard Burton, and Dostoevsky, arranged in
thematic sections, such as 'seasonal feasts and entertainments', and
'in time of war and other perils'.
It contains 15 color plates, and is quarter bound in red linen
with illustrated paper boards.
The other Christmas publication that has seen quite a bit of love from
the Folio Society is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
The first Folio edition was published in 1970 - being a facsimile of his manuscript
with illustrations by John Leech. This was followed in 1988 with an omnibus
volume of Dickens' Christmas books illustrated by Charles Keeping, then again
in 2007 with an updated binding. The edition I'm showing here was published
in 2003 with some dreamy illustrations by Michael Foreman.
It is bound in blue buckram
with a blocked design on the cover, and contains eight color plates
along with 29 black-and-white vignettes in the text.
A modified version of this edition
in reduced size was and with monochrome illustrations was also
released in 2016 as part of the Folio Collectibles range.
Thanks for watching, and I look forward to sharing some more
beautiful books with you soon.
Bye!