Folio's Sample Sale is back from 1st to 3rd Jul!

Received this email earlier:

Our hugely popular sample sale is back this year and you’re invited to come along! Stock will include ex-display and library copies, end-of-stock books, slightly damaged editions and sample copies.
So, put the dates in your diary and we look forward to seeing you. You can find out the full details by clicking below.

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/sample-sale?

Time to sharpen elbows and get some judo practice!

>1 ThisLifeIrl: ..we look forward to seeing you..

..for 30 minutes only. (T&C #16)
Re-entry permitted after re-queueing. (T&C #17)

They should only allow true Folio Society fans who can show they were customers back in the good old membership days, rather than all these recent fans of all that sci/fi and fantasy rubbish.

I suggest one copy of the original Beowulf, one copy of a Folio Press book (any of the 20 will do), and one oversized Limited Edition pre-2010 showing proof of having paid by instalment.

I suppose I'll be seeing some of you next week at 1 on Friday. Perhaps I could make a side gig of selling refreshments to the folks in line.

Wish there was a version in my city!

Good luck to those who are able to go!

>4 What_What: add a copy of Year Round Things To Do, and you’re in

>2 cronshaw: Cue the Rocky training montage :)

>8 assemblyman:
ROCKY #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqOBR_Xbw2I
ROCKY #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SDec1UCzJ4

Looking forward to it. It is always chaotic and the books are offloaded randomly so you can get lucky on any of the 3 days.

I went to a couple of these back in the Laithwaite's days. The contrast couldn't be more start. The first was an extremely civil affair in which relatively modest numbers of people peacefully browsed heavily-discounted books dotted around a shop full of wine. The second--also the last of these events before the pandemic--was a disgusting scrum that must have resembled the rush for the last lifeboat on the Titanic. On both occasions the prices were absurdly good (e.g., Atlas Shrugged and South Polar Times for £20 each). But we've all seen how folio fever has since reached hysteria levels so I don't think I will do myself the indignity of entering the scrum again. I wish those who do happy hunting!

>1 ThisLifeIrl:
"Our hugely popular sample sale is back this year and you’re invited to come along! Stock will include ex-display and library copies, end-of-stock books, slightly damaged editions and sample copies."

I wonder where the " ex-display " stock has been displayed?

Will this be in place of the online summer sale or in addition to?

Some of the returned LOTR at 10% off maybe?

>13 ThisLifeIrl:

In addition to.

Well that is bad timing, I fly back to the US on the 30th of June!

An exceptionally kind member from this board visited a Folio sale and bought me The Faerie Queen LE years ago, then packed it and mailed it to me in the US. I was astonished when I received it. It’s huge and heavy and I’m pretty sure he lugged it home on public transportation. Anyway, I still have it displayed in a prime location on my shelves and it makes me happy every time I see it because it reminds me of the kindness of strangers.

>4 What_What: No admission without proving that you own a vintage Folio copy of Trollope! That's the ticket.

>17 ChampagneSVP: That's very cool. :)

>16 Hamwick: Delay! (1) Draw a red line across a Covid lateral flow test stick. (2) Send the photos of Trumped up test result to airline / work / spouse / missed wedding participants etc. as necessary. (3) Enjoy pre-sale euphoria for x hours in queue. (4) Immerse in Folio sale (N.B. do NOT use selfie-stick at any point) (5) Recover from Folio sale (may require A&E / specialist PTSD treatment / gin, as per your travel medical insurance cover). (6) Catch plane home. (7) On subtracting cost of airline excess baggage fee and cost of step 5 from amount 'saved' during step 4, regret at leisure.

>20 cronshaw: Cronshaw, I do hope you going to this event. I well recall reading your previous accounts of similar Folio Society sales at their former premises and thought your descriptions of what went on should have published widely for their wit and warmth.

>16 Hamwick:

Not to jinx you, but with all the cancelled flights these days, maybe you'll get lucky and stay?

>22 CobbsGhost: haha, who knows. I have had one flight cancelled already this week, from London to Toulouse. Had to take the train instead (14 hours in total!).

I’m here the better part of an hour before opening and the line is already obscene. Looking forward to some vicious book fights

Someone should live-stream this.

People are emerging with bulging suitcases …

>26 gmacaree: I saw a picture of one woman on Facebook holding a copy of The Wanderer LE, next to a suitcase containing Dracula, His Dark Materials trilogy, the Foundation Trilogy, and 4 or 5 other books

They’re only allowed to buy a max 10 books/sets though so I think that’s quite fair.

I arrived at just before midday to queue, so had an hour to wait for it to open - then maybe another 25 mins to actually get in. Anyway, it is a much bigger room than at Laithwaite’s - not that this would be difficult! - with a better selection than before. A good few LEs and even some books dating back to the 50s! Of course, the bigger the room and the better the selection, the longer the dwell time. If you are at the back of the queue now then I’m afraid to say you have a long wait …

In case of interest, I bought

Brief History of Time - £20
Eagle against the Sun - £30
John Adams (bio) - £10
English Country House - £30

All seem in VGC.

Very nearly succumbed to Man on the Moon for £50, albeit with badly dented SC. Another browser asked if I was going to buy it and I surrendered it. Now I have non-buyer’s remorse …

>27 jsg1976: I wonder if FS could get in trouble for selling Foundation after 30 June...

I escaped the melee with exactly what I was looking for: a copy of the Studies from Nature LE

They should definitely post the date of the next sample sale earlier, it will boost hotel and flight bookings for sure

>32 woodstock8786: I don't know how long the line got but at one point I heard a Folio Society staff person mutter "all the way back to the tube station"

>31 gmacaree: a copy of the Studies from Nature LE

Congratulations! That's been top of my Folio wants list for some time.

>32 woodstock8786: See >33 gmacaree:.

How many more buyers do you think they need?

>33 gmacaree: Wow, maybe it's not bad I couldn't go. The suspense is probably killing everybody in line.

>34 folio_books: How many people are there to really ready what they are going to buy and how many will just resell?

>35 woodstock8786: Does it matter? Everyone knew the time and location, so all have equal opportunity of access. Enjoy the scrum, everyone!

There truly is an extraordinary pre-occupation/paranoia about people buying books to resell. It is sad to see the enjoyment of these books infected by such a relatively small issue.

Sounds like a wonderful opportunity to get out of print editions at an excellent price. I really didn't expect people to be able to buy The Wanderer or Studies from Nature in the sale. And the discounted more current editions are a great bargain. I'm really happy for the members here who could go there and who found some nice editions. The queue is quite something, though. Phew.

>38 SF-72: I really didn't expect people to be able to buy The Wanderer or Studies from Nature in the sale

Me neither. I'm imagining they must be in some way imperfect copies - returns. They're both long sold out. But if the imperfection doesn't spoil one's enjoyment of the book and you're getting it at a bargain price ... well!

As a US customer, I've been avoiding reading anything in this thread and on FB re the sample sale, to avoid causing intense jealously.

From FS twitter account: sale so successful the next 2 days are cancelled...
https://twitter.com/foliosociety/status/1542905618176294912?t=clZHwpasc7ZhtJxHOd...

>41 ian_curtin:

Yeah, just received an email about that.

>42 folio_books: Notice the last line of the email: "In the meantime, you will be able to discover a wide selection of Folio editions with up to 75% off in the online Summer Sale, which begins next week."

The deals were pretty insane. Don’t browse The Facebook group if your prone to jealousy. It diminishes the upcoming Sale because of the current books and all time greats which you could score today. Hopefully the Summer Sale leads me back to FS, as I haven’t ordered many books lately due to the hefty price increases of the last few years. Congratulations to all the lucky devils!

It was crazy, I thought scheduling 3 days might be ambitious. I don’t know if it’s another change caused by the post pandemic world, but with Folio’s popularity these events are never going to be low key.

I arrived at 11.30 to queue and didn’t get in the room until after 1pm.

I eventually Atlas Shrugged for £30 and The War With Hannibal by Livy for £10 (a pleasant surprise), so it was just about worth it.

Nothing else stood out to me, but there were a few copies of the a Song of Ice and Fire books which I would have grabbed if I didn’t already own them!

>43 ubiquitousuk:

Yes, I noticed that. It's a confirmation of what most of us were expecting anyway but nice to have it made official. Will it be classic sale like in the olden days? If the intention was to bolster it with unsold volumes from the sample sale, not so much.

I turned up about 15 minutes before it started (I live 5 minutes from it) but saw the length of the queue and went straight back home. Shame to miss these deals, but I didn't have an entire afternoon spare.

To all who participated in this raid on the shores of Thames I have just two words: lucky b*st*rds.
Oh, and congratulations!

Disappointing given I'd spent £38 on train tickets and that was on the itinerary. Still, not the first time the country has given the lottery prize to the retired in London.

>31 gmacaree:

Result :-)

>31 gmacaree: Wow, congratulations! That is one of the FS LEs I have oft looked at with longing.

They said on twitter they will have another one around Christmas.
Maybe they will think that a store somewhere in London might prove useful? Wouldn’t that be nice 😜 A bit like the old membership room

>52 woodstock8786: Maybe they will think that a store somewhere in London might prove useful?

On the last occasion they moved they promised they'd continue to seek out a new location for the Members Room. Don't hold your breath.

>53 folio_books: The only Members Room in the new FS can be the toilet.

I found out about the cancellation literally on London Bridge, 15 minutes ago, having travelled overnight from Manchester on the coach and spent £50. I'd gone into my email to check the exact address and... the rest is history.

Happy for everyone who got something nice, but gutted doesn't begin to cover it.

>55 Retronaut78:

Badly organised does not begin to describe these sales. I have never been able to attend due to being unable to stand in a queue for more than a few minutes. Folio Society have never considered people with less ability which breaks the UK Disability Discrimination Act.

Given past experience one would have thought they could organise a ticketed event with regular entry slots – extremely easy these days – and distribute the stock fairly over the duration of the event. To cancel the remaining days at such short notice like this is atrocious behaviour and I really feel for folks like you that have travelled down for nothing.

>56 RogerBlake:

I'm not in the UK, so have never been personally affected by how they run these sales, but yes to what you said. Being disabled I wouldn't be able to participate in something like this since I can't queue for a long time. And people who can't just take a Friday off can pretty much forget it. I'm so sorry for people who travelled there for nothing.

>52 woodstock8786:

I'd love it if they had something like the member's room / a place where you can look at and buy FS books regularly, be they new or slightly defective returns and the like. I completely missed out on that despite having been a member since 2012 due to the consequences of an accident and not being able to travel until the room was already closed. It must have been great to be able to browse and buy in a physical shop as opposed to online only. Or in these sales, which are clearly stressful and don't work that well in several regards.

I lived around the corner from Eagle St when the members’ room was in its glory days. Having the ability to see the books personally directly led to buying LEs and editions that I otherwise would certainly not have based on web images alone, so I can personally say that it helped drive sales. To be honest, these ad hoc pop-up sales do not seem good value for time. One can indeed get lucky, but one can be equally lucky popping into our local Oxfam for similar pricing. Given that it takes a whole afternoon now with numbers of purchases capped, what really is the hourly savings rate?

>58 cwl: I think that for those who buy books to sell it is worthwhile - you buy x books (whatever the limit is) that have the largest difference between the price at the pop vs the price you can sell them for.
But for readers who are looking at their own collection it is a more marginal decision.
I agree that seeing the books in person would lead to more sales, but feel they don’t need a permanent basis for this. If each month they went to a different part of the country for one day, and displayed their books this would also stimulate sales.

>55 Retronaut78: That is really sad to hear.

>56 RogerBlake: Hopefully it’s okay to ask - is the law being broken because they ask customers to form a queue? That would be different from other laws I would have come across.

The Folio Society could have generated much more revenue in as little time by simply doing some research on the current market prices of their out of stock books, and finding a better balance between that and their sale price.

Dune sells for $1500-2000 and was $300 at the sale. Someone bought a pile of hard to find and LE books (Gene Wolf LE, Dracula LE, Dante LE, I Am Legend LE, Mort, Zarathustra, and two copies of Heart of Darkness) for about £700.

They could have had much higher prices and still sold out pretty quickly, or dropped the prices on the final day if they didn’t sell on the first two.

Now they’ve practically given everything away and likely have to pay rent for two more days.

>56 RogerBlake: RogerBlake: Hopefully it’s okay to ask - is the law being broken because they ask customers to form a queue? That would be different from other laws I would have come across.

The DDA act (or maybe Equality act) requires reasonable adjustments to be made to allow disabled people not be overly disadvantaged. In the case of queuing, not requiring them to actually *stand* in the Q for 90mins would be sufficient I guess but a timed entry solution would be better for everyone. I think the silly 30 minute limit in the saleroom was another problem. It would also have been good to have an option to post purchases for those unable to lug heavy books back home.

>60 What_What: I'm sure most buyers are glad you were not on the FS marketing/ pricing team organizing this event. It's good to know that while many things have changed with the new (always!) FS management, some things remain the same for now..

>58 cwl: ..what really is the hourly savings rate?

While true passion can never be equated with money, never underestimate the drive of passionate savers. If I were within reach, I'd probably have spent the night on a sheet in front of the door! :)

I really feel for anyone who bought train tickets to London for this sale, expecting it to be open at the weekend. Train tickets cost a fortune nowadays!! And I feel for anyone who couldn't get time off work. I'm in the UK but as a teacher there was no way I could go during the week, and it would have been a 7 hour round trip in the car...

I'm usually the one critzing folio but it's so easy to bash them with the power of hindsight. They clearly did not recognize there would be such a large turnout and did the best they could and probably future sales will be different.

I am envious of some of buyers but good for them and I'm sure they'll always remember and cherish that day. Sometimes things work out and other times they don't. It's a bummer for people who made plans for the weekend but it's London - home to the best pubs in the world. Grab a few pints and drink all day or go to a museum. I think folio deserves a break and be happy for the people who found bargains.

>64 Joshbooks1: They definitely had plenty of "hindsight" with previous similar sales hence
the long list of terms and conditions such as: you will queue again after spending 30mins in the sale!

The real shame, I think, is that searching eBay UK for Folio Society recently listed turns up plenty of books obviously bought in the sale. I'm normally Mr free market, but how many sincere collectors of limited means missed out so that a few could cynically flip suitcases full of books?

Well, they used the same information and resources everyone had and whatever they do with their purchases is their decision. Or, one could view it as nothing more than throwing yet more potentially damaged copies on the market for the majority who couldn’t attend? That, and the more copies available, in general the lower the secondhand prices will be. Is there any actual difference between flipping immediately and selling a few weeks, months or years down the line? If it’s a psychological motivation issue as suggested, would some sort of purity test at point of purchase calm one’s nerves? In reality, perhaps the ire should be placed on the collector hoarders, rather than those making otherwise unavailable copies obtainable at a negotiable price? ;)

>57 SF-72: I am sorry you never had the chance. I am lucky enough to have had the chance of going there twice. It was always great to see all the books and to sit in a chair.
It would be so great, if they could do something like that again. There are so many tourists travelling to London, I am sure it would generate a good turnout.
Who knows, maybe they will have a store one day again

It does feel like there must be a better way of organising these events. I say this as someone who queued from 1150 but at least got into the sale room at 1325. Maybe the FS could email its distribution list - a good few weeks ahead of time - and ask for people to apply for a timed ticket, which could then be allocated at random. Each group could then be allowed in for a strict 30 minute slot - and then be emptied out and the next group allowed in.

Clearly this would involve more admin for the FS but would negate a lot of the criticism about wasted time and travel expense.

Either that or they just sell them in a section of the website for damaged items, but I guess the time they would have to spend detailing the individual ‘issues’ makes this uneconomic.

Much as I would also love to see the old ‘shop’ reincarnated, I think that they would need to make a huge number of incremental sales to justify the fit-out, rent, business rates and staff costs. I suspect that the maths only made sense for Eagle Street because FS owned the freehold and they didn’t have many alternative uses for the space.

>69 jranstead: I don't think they would necessarily have to list the issues in detail. They could simply have a section with the caveat "returned and damaged stock, buy at your own risk". If they are selling books like LE's at double-digit prices, and more routine books in the £10-20 range then I don't think there'd be a shortage of buyers, and this kind of arrangement works fine for Taschen.

But it would indeed be more faff for Folio, which presumably just wants to unload the books an minimal cost. I also thing we would just get a mad rush followed by website crash anytime the books went up because there is such a frenzy among the wider pool of collectors who seem to have come on board since the pandemic.

Too bad: I have the pleasure(?) of living close to London but it would be great if these opportunities could be opened to a wider audience.

When they announced that they were cancelling the last two days of the summer sample sale, FS mentioned that they were planning another sale at Christmas. Have I missed details or do we think it will be announced at very short notice? The various train strikes will not help non-London FSDs attend … (albeit I am a local). It was one thing queuing in the pleasant weather in the summer, I am not sure I could face standing outside in the ice for that long!

>71 jranstead:

Have you considered asking Folio? I'm at the other end of England and with the weather and rail strikes there's no way I'd be going.

>71 jranstead: I pretty sure someone on the Facebook group asked them already. They showed a screenshot of the response which said that they were no longer planning on doing it.