Folio Archives 223: Aeneid by Virgil – Limited Edition 2010

Aeneid by Virgil – Limited Edition 2010

Virgil’s masterpiece, The Aeneid, was written in Latin between 29 and 19 BC. It is a 10,000 line poem describing the voyage of the Trojan Aeneas from Troy (in modern northwest Turkey) to Rome. It is divided into twelve books divided into six each for the meandering voyage and the battles against the Latins. Aeneas was also a character in the Iliad.

The Folio Society limited edition of 1750 copies was translated by Robert Fagles and is illustrated with 17 bound-in colour plates taken from wall paintings illustrating the story found in Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The 512 page book has map endpapers of the voyage printed black on mid-brown, making them rather hard to read. There is a 43 page introduction by Bernard Knox, a 15 page postscript by the translator, a bibliography, a genealogical table of the Royal House of Greece and Troy, an extensive bibliography, numerous notes and a comprehensive glossary. It is an extraordinarily comprehensive production to suit both amateur browser and the antiquarian scholar.

Bound in sumptuous red-brown Nigerian goatskin, it is blocked in black on all sides with a pattern, the front and spine with gilt highlights. The page tops are gilt and there is a brown ribbon page marker. The thick paper is Cordier Wove.

The brown Solander case is gold titled on the spine and measures 28.1x20.5cm.

The original price in the UK was £195.





































































An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.

This is my #1 want. Unfortunately I wasn’t aware of FS at the time of publication. If anyone here is ready to move on from it, give me a shout!

So want this! Have the Everyman’s Library though, and don’t know if I need the Fagles translation too…not an LE person but just justified buying the Metamorphoses LE as well as the Everyman’s Library by reasoning they’re different translations.

Among the full leather series with Les Mis, War and Peace, Ulysses, Decameron, Don Quixote and Moby Dick the latter along with the Aeneid stand out amongst this set in terms of design and production; the Cordier Wove paper is easily amongst the most pleasantly tactile papers Folio uses. While I don't count it as a negative the one thing I find unusual is how hard the goatskin binding feels, completely the opposite of the super smooth and supple black leather of Moby Dick.

This LE is also special in that unlike those mentioned (apart from MD and Les Mis) it wasn't a rebind of a previous printing and to date I don't think I've heard so much as a whisper of any intentions to bring out a standard edition like they eventually did with Moby Dick.

Beautiful. Thanks for posting. I wasn't around either when this was solicited, so I missed out on it. But I have to say, what is really annoying is that FS never did an SE of this despite publishing SEs of The Iliad and The Odyssey also translated by Fagles.

I should mention that the FS also published The Aeneid in 1993. This edition was translated by John Dryden, introduced by Peter Levi, and had 72 illustrations by Francis Cleyn. Quarter bound in dark green leather with green cloth boards displaying an engraving in black. Image from internet.

This is one of my prized FS possessions. I managed to buy a copy 2nd hand about 3 years ago for much less than they are on sale for now.

The type of book FS don’t seem to make any more.

>7 Uppernorwood: Likewise. I really wanted the Fangles translation, so I picked mine up a few years ago for a slight premium over the original price. I’m glad I did it then, as some of the recent prices are crazy.

I lucked out on this one, getting #1750 directly from Folio.

>9 Chemren:

Good luck, indeed. One of my remaining Folio LE goals is to somehow obtain a last limitation number. Congratulations!

>10 folio_books:

Beat you to this one, Glenn: I have #100 of the 100 specially bound Bridesheads. And for good measure, but outside your interests, #1500 of 1500 LEC Poems of Shelley.

>11 affle:
And staying with the LEC theme, I have number 300 of 300 Seven Years in Tibet.

>12 wcarter: and for that, I am envious. It’s definitely on my wish list, but not at any of prices it is showing up for recently at. I’ll just have to keep waiting and searching.

>11 affle:

Well it's certainly something to be proud of, Alan. I am deeply envious. There's just something right about 100 of 100, maybe even more than 1 of 100. Just as tricky to land, anyway.

The LE version looks similar to the Russell History of Western Philosophy (which was a standard ed. I believe). Is this just a cut above that one, do you think? (I really like the Russell) Although if my memory serves, the Russell had no images, and this has heaps! (Half my books are in storage for another few weeks, including that one, sadly)

>15 Jeremy53:
You have a good memory. Both books are fully bound in goatskin and feel the same, but the only illustration in the Russell is a photo of himself as the frontispiece.