The Folio Society Edition of The Man In The High Castle
The Folio Society put out a leather-bound edition of Philip K. Dick's alternate history novel a few years ago. It's one of their more notable titles, and if you're thinking about buying it, there are a few things that aren't obvious from the product page. It comes in full red morocco leather with gold tooling on the spine. The paper is ivory laid deckle-edged, which means the edges are rough and untrimmed. Good for smell and feel. Bad for keeping the thing closed at an arbitrary page while you're multitasking. The binding is Sewell-style with raised cords and a silk ribbon marker. It weighs roughly 2.8 pounds. You won't be reading this on the toilet without both hands. Page count is 352 plus front and rear matter. The type is a custom 11-point serif cut specifically for this edition. It's readable but smaller than you'd expect from a large-format book. Your eyes will adjust or they won't. I have 40-something vision and I don't need glasses for it, but someone with presbyopia might want to check before committing.
What actually makes this edition worth the money
Most Folio editions you buy are basically pretty paperbacks with expensive bindings. This one has something extra: a foreword by a literary scholar and an afterword that actually engages with the text rather than just summarizing the plot. The endpapers have a subtle embossed pattern that's only visible at certain angles. The head and tail bands are hand-sewn in contrasting thread. These are small things individually but they add up to something you can feel when you handle the book. The dust jacket is removable and printed on heavy stock with a matte finish. It's a nice design with Art Deco influences that fit the period the novel references. I've seen people who leave the jacket off and just display the bare binding. That works too but you lose the cover art which is genuinely well done.
Download options and digital companion materials
The Folio Society doesn't offer an ebook version of this title. If you see a "download" link somewhere claiming to be the Folio Society edition, it's not official. They occasionally release supplementary reading guides and author essays on their website that you can print or save, but these are PDFs of promotional material, not the text itself. There's no audiobook released by them either. Some people scan the contents pages into a notes app and use that as a reference while reading. It's unnecessary unless you're doing academic work on the book. My copy arrived with a small wrinkle in the leather on the lower right corner of the front board. Not a defect in the binding itself, just a manufacturing quirk where the leather was pressed slightly off-center during production. I contacted Folio customer service and they offered a partial refund rather than a replacement. I kept it. The wrinkle is nearly invisible once the book is on a shelf and it doesn't affect readability at all. If this happens to you, ask for a replacement first. Their policy allows it within 30 days of delivery. After that you're negotiation territory. Another issue: the ribbon marker is positioned to stop at the front matter, not the main text. This means if you bookmark with it you'll be marking the half-title page instead of Chapter One. I worked around this by placing a small folded corner dog-ear on the first page of the actual story. Cheap solution. No one will notice unless they're looking for one.
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Counter-intuitive things about owning this edition
People assume a Folio Society book is a safe investment. It isn't. The secondary market for these is thin. You'll likely sell it for less than you paid unless it's a first printing with the original dust jacket in near-mint condition. Most copies circulate among collectors who know exactly which titles hold value and which don't. This one falls in the middle tier. Good quality but not rare. Another thing nobody mentions: the size. This is a large format book, roughly 10 by 7 inches. It won't fit standard bookshelves in apartments built after 1970 without sticking out. I had to rearrange a shelf specifically to accommodate it. Measure your shelves before you buy. Seriously. You'll regret it later.
When this edition is the wrong choice
If you want a portable version for travel, get the Penguin Classics paperback. It's £8 and fits in a coat pocket. If you want the best critical edition for study purposes, look at the Anchor Books edition with its extensive notes and bibliography. The Folio version is a collector's item, not a scholar's tool. It prioritizes aesthetics over annotation. If you're buying this as a gift, the recipient needs to actually care about physical book objects. Otherwise it's just a nice paperweight with a story inside. I gave one to a friend who preferred ebooks and it sat unopened for two years before he decided to read it. He enjoyed the book but complained about the weight. Fair enough.
Where to get the Folio Society edition
The Man In The High Castle Folio Society edition is available directly from the Folio Society website. They occasionally have member sales that drop the price by 30 to 40 percent. If you're not a member you can still buy at full price but it's not worth it unless you plan to order more titles. Joining just to get a discount on one book rarely pays for itself. Wait for a sale or buy from a bookseller like AbeBooks if you find a used copy in good condition. The binding on used copies is usually fine since leather only improves with handling over time. Amazon carries it too but the price markup on third-party sellers can be steep. I've seen copies listed for double the retail price during holiday seasons. Don't fall for that. The Folio website has it in stock most of the year and prices don't fluctuate nearly as much.
