New James Bond LE 2023 Casino Royale

According to Folio’s Instagram, available for preorder on April 4, 2pm BST. No other details at the moment

>1 cinnamonspirit: I’ll be interested to see the price point on this one. It strikes me as an LE that they want to be more accessible. Probably sub $500 usd.

Looks like a limited edition of Dr. No. It will be interesting to see how it will differ from the standard edition.

>3 SF-72: I don’t know a ton about the Bond series but isn’t this LE to celebrate 70 years of 007? Seems Casino Royale would make more sense since it was published in 1953.

You're right. They mentioned Dr. No in a tweet directly below the one about the limited edition, so I thought that was a hint. I could definitely be wrong, though.

They include in the post about the LE the quote "Mine's bond - James Bond." I think that particular variant is a quote from Casino Royale (but perhaps also other books in the series?). I agree with >4 Geo135: that the first Bond book would be the natural choice to celebrate this anniversary.

A more speculative possibility would be that they might do something else. For example, they could do a 3-book set as the first in a planned series of such sets. Or even a £2,000 megaset with the entire Bond oevre.

I'll be curious to see how it compares to the standard editions. For example, the illustration they teased does not appear in the SE of Casino Royale. Do we get the SE's illustrations plus one new illustion? I'd be surprised if they made a completely new suite of illustrations for the LE.

My assumption is that they are finishing the series with limited/signed and standard editions of the final volume, Octopussy and The Living Daylights.

I can’t imagine they’d do an LE of the short story collection. Especially when Casino Royale would make so much sense (the anniversary, etc.). Or maybe it will be a smaller set (e.g., the Blofeld trilogy, or another subset of the better novels). I’ve held off on buying any of the FS Bond collection so far. I’ve been meaning to get Casino Royale and From Russia With Love, which were the two of the maybe five or six Fleming novels I’ve read that I could see reading again. Fleming wasn’t exactly Greene or Le Carre, but there are a few of his Bond books that have some degree of lasting literary value. I’d put Casino Royale in that class. And I’d be very surprised (and disappointed) if the LE is Octopussy and the Living Daylights.

>7 Mr.Fox: I don’t think signed versions of a standard book would have such fanfare, but we don’t have long to see.

Also, this may be the only book where #7 might be a more coveted limitation than #1!

>9 What_What: True indeed! If one were to get copy #7, maybe this is one instance were it would be okay to personally write on the colophon and add two zeros :)

>10 astropi: Or Folio could add it themselves so that lucky person gets something extra special!

Casino Royale it is, i see, but for me not really worth the £500 for what it adds over the original

Even for a LE, the pricing seems far too high. Book is only 248 pages! The USD premium ($725 vs an exchange rate value of $625) is still there.

Well, I already own this title and don’t want to pay $725 for leather and two more pictures and a signature.

>13 hoyasaxa: Seems to be on a par with the ‘Turn of the Screw’ LE. Makes the PKD short stories set with 2560 pages across 3 volumes with the same limitation , for the same price, look like a bargain. Leather, a clamshell box & a couple of extra illustrations doesn’t seem to add enough value over the original edition. Even the design of the box & cover don’t do much for me. One for Bond collectors rather than book collectors I think.

>12 antinous_in_london: I agree. Looks lovely, but very overpriced. At £300 or maybe even £350 I'd have ordered this (I was hoping for the former but expecting the latter), but half the price of the LOTR and over two-thirds the price of Gormenghast is definitely excessive.

You'd think they'd learn from recent attempts at the "like a normal FS book but with a nicer binding and a limitation number" variety of LE. The Haunting of Hill House has sold out at £250, as has Frankenstein at £300, but Rob Roy (£310) and the Turn of the Screw (an even more inexplicable £500) don't exactly seem to be flying off the shelves, nor does the (admittedly much more recent) Roadside Picnic, despite its comparatively reasonable £295 price.

I suppose they're hoping that this'll be snapped up by Bond fans. I hope for their sake that they're right.

>14 Mr.Fox: Same. I rather like the SE construction and can see myself adding to the collection in the future. If I am to spend $725 on Bond it would be to purchase the majority of the SE collection, not a single book.

>17 Geo135: Yes, with the current £20 off £200 promo, you could buy all 13 of the Bond’s currently in print with FS as SE’s for only £90 more than this one LE !

I too think it overpriced. Just as a correction though (comparing the SE with the LE), the LE has 9 colour illustrations and 7 black and white illustrations, compared with frontispiece and 6 colour illustrations in the SE.
I am surprised the LE is 11x7 and a quarter inches. I personally prefer the SE size of 9x6 and a quarter inches.

>14 Mr.Fox:

Same here, but to be fair it's 2 new colour illustrations and 7 black & white illustrations that aren't in the other edition. That's a lot more than it was with Dune or some other recent limited editions that also had a standard edition. I actually prefer the aesthetics of the non-limited edition with regard to the slipcase and cover, and I really like the cloth binding they used there and mostly prefer that material to leather. The illustrations would be a nice extra, the signature isn't bad, but none of this is worth that price to me. The regular edition is nice enough. I'm sure it's going to sell well, though.

>18 antinous_in_london: and have a pretty nice looking matching set. If you love bond enough to spend £500 on the LE, then you are going to want them all. And won't the odd book out just annoy you then?

Edit to add, though, that we do have 2 new colour illustrations, 7 new black and white, a leather binding, a clamshell box, a signed sheet (albeit tipped-in), silvered page edges, custom endpapers, and an upgrade of the paper. So in fairness to Folio Society, I do think they have done what they can to produce a decent upgrade. I'm just firmly in the "I'll never pay £500 for something that isn't private press" camp.

Seems pointless. Redoing a title already available with only two new illustrations isn't enticing.

I guess doing a leather binding is better than the recent Roadside Picnic LE (which was basically a fine edition, plus a couple unnecessary prints and an artist signature at five times the price of a fine edition) but Frankenstein LE managed to also have a leather binding and wasn't this expensive.

I suspect this will be sitting in the Folio warehouse even longer than the similarly overpriced Turn of the Screw LE.

>21 ubiquitousuk: Personally, at almost exactly the same price i‘d go for 11 Bond SE’s over one Bond LE (that would also just stand out on the shelf as a one-off that, as you say, doesn't match the rest of the series).

>22 NoBueno: Bond has mass appeal. I don’t think this will have nearly as hard a time selling out as The Turn of the Screw LE. Even at this price point

Given the enlarged page size, at least it is not a simple rebind of an existing standard edition. I prefer larger editions (especially for LEs), so that is a significant plus point for me. However, ultimately I am not interested at that price point.

>24 Geo135: Maybe - we'll see. Turn of the Screw LE at least was completely new whereas any Bond fan aware of Folio probably already bought Casino Royale SE years ago. Do they need a second copy that won't match the rest in their Bond set?

>26 NoBueno: If there’s one thing collectors like to do it’s collect - even things that to anyone else seem totally unnecessary ! They have been pushing this online to Bond collectors so i think they're expecting many of the sales to come from Bond completists.

They’re not shipping until mid-May so will probably be sold out before anyone actually gets to hold one in their hands & comment on the quality of the production.

My only comment is that I have no idea what the Folio Society is thinking anymore.

Incorrect price. That is all.

Well, at least they chose the right title for the LE. Still, I concur that this is one targeting Bond collectors and offers very little value for either folks who want the series proper or those who are regular FS fans. I don't see where the price makes much sense for what one gets, and merely targets those Bond completists who'll happily throw money at anything collectible.

Not for me. It doesn’t seem like great value, and then it wouldn’t match the other Bond books. Seems like a missed opportunity

Im sorry but folio does it again - this is an absolute rip off. $725 before shipping and taxes is absolutely absurd and gone are the days when i loved Folio.

I was hoping for something totally distinctive and different from the SEs (which already look great). Agree, this is similar to what they did with Turn of the Screw. In a vacuum, this looks great - but it basically replicates the theme and colors of the SEs. There was so much they could have done here - the heart motif from the first edition, distinctive leather colors (like the gorgeous distinctive color of the Dune LE), etc. I’d probably still buy this at $250. But the exceptional price needs an exceptional design. I will save my money and get a couple of the SEs and use the rest for my next LE purchase (Shakespeare, if nothing else before then).

Seeing the price made me feel like a part of my anatomy was being hit repeatedly with a carpet beater

Jokes aside, I also think that this is overpriced. Way more, much more than the controversial LOTR LE. I'm unsure if it will sell at this price point.

>32 Joshbooks1: Agreed and same.

Interesting that they chose page 88 to highlight in the photos, that includes the sentences: "It was their savings and the savings of their families. It was, literally, a small fortune."

I don't think it's aimed at Folio Devotees at all - why on earth would we buy it, with the admirable SE set etc.?

For some strange reason, a huge number of luxury brands sell Bond-branded nonsense, and have done for a long time, and I reckon Folio is tapping into that market with this LE. Look here:

https://007store.com/collections/james-bond-luxury-highlights

Hideous trash the lot of it, IMO ...

>37 red_guy: "Hideous trash the lot of it, IMO ..."

Wow. The target audience for that must be those middle aged guys who made a lot of money in their family's plumbing business and their midlife crisis includes them trying to convince the girls at the strip club that they work for the CIA.

If there are actually people willing to pay those prices for that nonsense, then maybe this LE will in fact sell out sooner than I predicted.

Def not for me. I would be interested if any FSDers end up purchasing it!

Disappointing but not surprising from FS. There will be buyers as Bond is a big brand. They must be expecting it with a 750 limitation but it will be interesting to see how long it takes to sell out.

>37 red_guy: Crockett and Jones is one of my favourite cobblers and they do the same. I am not inclined to buy some shoes with 007 written on them, unless suddenly they transform me into a master spy, gambler, etc.!

https://us.crockettandjones.com/products/hamilton-black-calf

>38 NoBueno: that’s like exactly who this is for. It’s a niche group of people with money to burn. I’m sure they will not have issues selling this. it’s not for anybody here. I’ll stick with building my SE collection.

>40 assemblyman: Roughly 85 are spoken for so far.

>41 Hamwick: Those look rather good, and no sign of the annoying loop on the heel that most Chelsea boots have which catches the bottom of your trousers. I could live with the 007 soles and shoe trees, no problem ...

>38 NoBueno: It is distinctly odd. Can you think of another brand that inspires the same sort of high-end trinkets? That site has a huge number of items.

>38 NoBueno: "The target audience for that must be those middle aged guys who made a lot of money in their family's plumbing business and their midlife crisis includes them trying to convince the girls at the strip club that they work for the CIA."

You've just described me, and I'm not even interested!

>37 red_guy: And all the flash kit that Bond wears, drives, etc, isn't even his. It's provided by the agency out of their budget, which in turn presumably comes from taxes (unless they've got a lucrative sideline in selling off seized volcanic lairs and the like). So Bond is basically passing as an affluent member of high society by showing off status signifiers. Which is the exact mindset of the target demographic who would shop at the marketing site you provided.

>45 thebookrunner:

How many of the girls have fallen for the CIA bit?

>47 CobbsGhost:

Nobody yet, but it only takes one...

>37 red_guy: Oh my. You just mapped out a rabbit hole.

>44 red_guy: Bond films are set in a glamorous present day ‘real world’ with an iconic ‘aspirational’ main character, so attract a lot of product placement from current high-end brands who use the films & especially the main character as a shop window. The Mission Impossible films use the same cocktail of espionage/stunts/exotic travel etc yet seemingly due to their much more anonymous main character never seem to attract any merchandising at all.

Other large franchises like Star Wars / Harry Potter etc deal with fantasy worlds / younger viewers where a £4000 suitcase, a £10,000 watch or an expensive pair of boots have no relevance. If your film is set in space 1000 years in the future you cant really use it to sell watches & fountain pens so high-end brands have no look-in - though these brands also have huge amounts of ‘hideous trash’ !

I am very disappointed.
I was hoping for a full set of novels of a slightly higher higher quality than the standard editions housed in a box like the Dick set. I would have paid a significant premium for that, but this one off edition is ridiculous in both price and presentation.
I have bought almost every LE ever published by the FS, but this one will be an exception.

>50 antinous_in_london: Other large franchises like Star Wars / Harry Potter etc deal with fantasy worlds / younger viewers where a £4000 suitcase, a £10,000 watch or an expensive pair of boots have no relevance. If your film is set in space 1000 years in the future you cant really use it to sell watches & fountain pens so high-end brands have no look-in...

>52 astropi:

LOL!

>52 astropi: haha touché - this truly is hideous trash ! Makes the Bond stuff look almost sophisticated !

>51 wcarter: Forget the slightly higher quality , at the very least i expected a complete set of the current SE’s in a special limited edition anniversary box !

>51 wcarter: https://thecarycollection.com/products/30408

>56 EPsonNY:
A bargain!

>56 EPsonNY: yep, I think that is the ultimate set

I suspect that if The Folio Society carry on in this vein they might be a good subject for a future MBA thesis on 'How to trash a prestigious and valuable business'.

>59 Elmbridge: This LE is part of the Covid-induced collectible book bubble. Most likely we will see at least a couple more FS editions like this during the remainder of this year and maybe even beyond that were conceived during the pandemic and are meant to exploit the collecting craze that unfortunately to FS (and other 'collectibles' publishers) seems to be gradually fizzling out in the face of persistent inflation and overall cost of living increases...

>59 Elmbridge: I’m sure that FS would argue that their current strategy which pulled the business back from the brink of bankruptcy & has seen them making decent profits in recent years is at odds with your perception of them ‘trashing a prestigious & valuable business’ - wasn't it only 10 years ago that FS was posting a loss of £3 million for the year?

If anything it seems to be a more ‘valuable business’ now than it has been for decades. Whether you agree with the choice of titles or their strategy they do at least seem to be managing to keep the business afloat which is half the battle & better than having no FS at all.

>61 antinous_in_london: this is exactly it. The prevailing attitude of this forum doesn’t exactly mesh well with reality. Profit is the measure of success and Folio is doing much better now than they have in the past by leaving behind the hardcore bibliophile and opening up to a newer and younger consumer base. There’s a lot to agree and disagree with so I understand the feelings people have about this.

>61 antinous_in_london:

I think you have a pretty good point but I also think Folio has to be mindful of how quickly they fulfill pop-fads. That is not a lasting business model. If we're to purchase something akin to Funko-pop books, then expect when money gets tighter, the first folks to stop buying books are the Funko-pop people. Folio needs to maintain a healthy balance, which I believe is part and parcel to >59 Elmbridge: & >60 EPsonNY:.

This James Bond venture was pretty cool, even if I purchased 0 of them. I may have bitten on this particular one if the price was more akin to I Am Legend or Mort LE's, even with expected inflation. Overall, Fay Dalton was the perfect illustrator for the series.

>62 Geo135:

I think most here accept the altered reality, and some are enthusiastic participants in it. I've no feelings about it specific to the FS, I just shrug at an ever larger proportion of new books from them that I wouldn't find shelf-room for if they were offered at a hundredth the price. Maybe in a few more years I won't bother looking and shrugging any longer.

>63 CobbsGhost: Personally I just think this LE is rather boring (a grey clamshell case with 007 written across it in red & a pumped-up version of the SE with the usual LE additions - foiling, leather, coloured page edges, a few extra illustrations etc - surely they could have thought of something more creative & interesting to set it apart from the SE) but as you say if the pricing had been more sensible it would still have flown off the shelves. Even given the smaller limitation, ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ LE sold out in just one hour as the price was right for what you were getting over the SE.

I've been convinced by the business arguments here. If they need to plop one of these things out once per quarter to subsidize things I like, cool. Things I like (Thucydides LE for example) do not usually have mass appeal and are unlikely to keep FS afloat on their own.

>65 antinous_in_london: I agree that the design is uninspired and undercuts the idea that this is a luxury version.

Having a big graphic on the cover makes this look like the same design they probably would have gone with had this been one of their textured paper covers. Something more restrained like the Mort LE is a better choice for a leather cover.

>61 antinous_in_london: "Whether you agree with the choice of titles or their strategy they do at least seem to be managing to keep the business afloat which is half the battle & better than having no FS at all."

I fully agree with this.

I suspect that the production of this edition involved some delicate decisions re limitation and price point - it might have been more profitable to issue 1750 copies at £300 each, but I think that would have been much more difficult to sell out. Yes, it would have opened up the market to several members of this forum, but I think it would have turned off the Brash Bond Collectors alluded to elsewhere in this thread, as a limitation of 1750 gives the impression of being an order of magnitude greater than a limitation of 750.

The idea of a full set at a slightly higher spec was, I suspect, never on the cards. I think this would have competed with the standard edition - selling 750 of these sets would have meant not far off 750x13 fewer sales of the standard edition. And it would have made little sense to issue a "full set" when the standard edition is not yet complete.

I think other posters in this thread are quite right to surmise that FS is going after a different market here - and, like it or not, that is probably a sensible business decision.

>65 antinous_in_london:

I could agree for the most part. I meant producing the series was/is a cool venture even though I purchased 0. Personally, Casino Royale is the one of 3 books I bothered to read in whole. I thought Casino Royale was entertaining for the few days, but it's not a series I'll bother to finish. I'm not awed by the LE either; I think it's fine though and a reasonable price for the one book I'd probably read again could've swayed me even with the less than spectacular presentation.

And once again, my "no LEs" pledge shall remain in place. I thought the SE versions were of borderline value, given the lack of great literary merit mentioned several times in this and other threads, so an LE holds no appeal to me. May they sell all of the copies, so they can once in a while produce an SE version of a book I have interest in.

>62 Geo135:
Profit is the measure of success
Profit is a measure of success.

>61 antinous_in_london:
& better than having no FS at all.
In that it's sad to see any business go to the wall, and see employees suffer, yes, very true. Otherwise it's marginal. (I remain a devotee of their backlist!).

>70 coynedj:
so they can once in a while produce an SE version of a book I have interest in.
I look forward to the day!

>59 Elmbridge: It’s almost like different people like different things. Maybe someone’s MBA thesis could be about how businesses pivot in order to remain relevant.

>72 What_What: basically adapt or die. Which is true for most things, people, companies and technology.
I echo the sentiment that hopefully it will allow them to keep producing books like the Herodotus, Thucydides and Dante LE’s.

If FS does anymore adapting they’ll be selling inspirational crystal therapy self-help books.

>74 DanielOC: Haha that's one the best comments I've read on here.

>73 Hamwick:
I echo the sentiment that hopefully it will allow them to keep producing books like the Herodotus, Thucydides and Dante LE’s.
I don't - they are the most disappointing aspect of the way FS has gone: totally unaffordable, almost all rehash titles. To me the saving grace has been the thread of interesting American lit titles (eg Hurston) and the occasional non-fiction (mainly travel) title - eg Bird, Bell. The trouble with the former is that for me they're often head-to-head with Library of America, and, in terms of coverage and value, LoA wins hands down. It's a pity they don't do more from other areas (Europe, Latin America, Africa), but presumably they're aiming at the American market.

> 74 >75 Joshbooks1:
Agreed!

...still holding out that this some sort of elaborate April Fool's joke.

>74 DanielOC: If FS does anymore adapting they’ll be selling inspirational crystal therapy self-help books.

or car insurance :-)

(Here in the UK every company once seemed to be jumping onto the car insurance bandwagon even if it had nothing to do with their core business.)

>77 treereader: ...still holding out that this some sort of elaborate April Fool's joke.

That was actually my first reaction when I saw this. I thought it was an April Fool that got put out a day early by mistake! :-) Sadly it didn't take very long to realize my error :-(

>73 Hamwick: "I echo the sentiment that hopefully it will allow them to keep producing books like the Herodotus, Thucydides and Dante LE’s."

Agreed, I hope they'll continue with the Classical Histories series to produce LEs of Livy, Caesar and Tacitus as well ;)

>80 Dr.Fiddy: and Polybius! The SE they did sells for exorbitant prices.

>52 astropi: don't forget the "White Walker" edition Johnny Walker scotch. (Game of Thrones tie in.)

FS promo video for Casino Royale LE 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux2ypoxE5iQ

Could the thread name be amended to include the book title for better tracking?

>83 mr.philistine: Could the thread name be amended to include the book title for better tracking?

Your wish is my command.

>84 folio_books: I am pleasantly shaken, but thankfully not stirred.