Illustrated by Tom Phillips RA
Limited to 350 hand-numbered copies
Please note, this title is only available in USA and Canada.
The perfect centenary edition of a landmark of Modernist poetry. Hand bound by experts using only the finest materials, Folio’s tribute to T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is limited to 350 copies illustrated and signed by renowned artist Tom Phillips RA.
‘Eliot’s Waste Land is I think the justification of the ‘movement,’ of our modern experiment, since 1900.’
- Ezra Pound
This magnificent Folio Society limited edition celebrates the centenary of T. S. Eliot's influential masterpiece The Waste Land. Limited to just 350 numbered copies this spectacular edition, of arguably the most important poem of the 20th century, features exclusive artwork by Tom Phillips – elected to the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts in 1989 and one of Britain's finest contemporary artists. Half-bound in vellum blocked in 22-carat gold and printed letterpress, each copy has been signed by the artist.
Hand bound by Ludlow Bookbinders
Half-bound in vellum blocked in 22-carat gold
Cloth sides printed with a design by Tom Phillips
Colorplan Damask Amethyst endpapers
84 pages set in Walbaum
Printed letterpress on Zerkall mould-made paper by Hand & Eye Letterpress
11 colour plates giclée printed by Pureprint on Symbol Tatami Ivory paper and hand-tipped on to the Zerkall paper
Limitation page signed by Tom Phillips
Gilded top edge with natural deckle retained on fore and bottom edges
10½˝ × 14˝
Cloth-covered clamshell box lined with soft, napped fabric in purple
Blind-blocked on front and blocked with brown foil on spine
11˝ × 15˝ × 1½˝
‘April is the cruellest month’
- T. S. Eliot
Consisting of five sections and Eliot’s own ‘Notes’, which explain his many cultural allusions, quotations and half-quotations, the poem has become a beacon of literature in English. Combining the Grail legend with that of the Fisher King, and mixing it all with a large dose of contemporary British society, the poem alternates between prophecy and satire, and features unannounced changes in speaker, time and location to produce a vast and dissonant cultural collage, which, infused with a post-First World War sense of depression and futility, became a rallying cry of youth against an older generation and a landmark of Modernist poetry.
‘I will show you fear in a handful of dust.’
- T. S. Eliot
For the letterpress-printed text, Folio secured handmade mould-made Zerkall paper – the last available anywhere in the world – with the deckle retained on two edges and gilding on the top edge. Tom Phillips RA, well-known for his ability to read within a text and peel back its layers of meaning, has contributed 11 stunning illustrations printed giclée on Tatami paper and hand-tipped onto the page, as well as his own ‘Notes on the Images’. He has also designed fabulous hand-drawn lettering for the title, printed on the binding and blind-blocked on the cloth-covered clamshell box. Limited to just 350 copies, and only available in the US and Canada, each hand-numbered book has been signed by the artist.
Seamus Heaney’s deeply felt interpretation, widely acknowledged as the greatest Beowulf translation of modern times, is presented in parallel with the Old English verse in this fabulous Folio edition. Featuring extraordinary illustrations by Clive Hicks-Jenkins and an exclusive introduction by Janina Ramirez, each of the 750 numbered copies has been signed by both contributors.
Limited to 750 hand-numbered copies
Over 100 of Thomas Hardy’s greatest poems newly selected and introduced by Robert Macfarlane and with more than 30 specially commissioned illustrations by Stanley Donwood. Each copy is numbered by hand and signed by both anthologist and illustrator.
Published to mark the 250th anniversary of Wordsworth’s birth, Selected Poems is a celebration of the poet’s key shorter works selected and introduced by Seamus Heaney, with exquisite wood engravings by Peter Reddick.
A new limited edition published to commemorate the poet’s death in November 1918 and designed to emulate the fine press editions of the early 20th century. In series with Selected Poems Rupert Brooke and Selected Poems Edward Thomas.
