Illustrated by Jonathan Burton
Introduced by Jonathan Burton
Preface by Carlo Rovelli
Limited to 750 hand-numbered sets
Including introductions by Terry Jones, Adam Roberts and Jon Canter
Ready for excitement, adventure and really wild things? The Folio Society limited edition of Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy arrives in a spectacular presentation box with DON’T PANIC written in large, friendly letters on the front. All five volumes feature new illustrations by artist Jonathan Burton.
‘This book can be witty, iconoclastic, godless, savage, sweet, surreal, but above all, it dares to be silly. Fiercely, beautifully silly.’
- Russell T. Davies
The first novel in Douglas Adams’s celebrated Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series has been a beloved cult hit since 1979. Now, all five novels and a short story have been brought together in a spectacular limited edition fit for the far future times of 2023. Series artist Jonathan Burton has returned to provide additional illustrations, including five colour double-page spreads and new binding designs, as well as a delightful introduction exploring his own relationship with the Guide. Theoretical physicist, philosopher and Douglas Adams fan Carlo Rovelli has written an exclusive preface, and ‘Young Zaphod Plays It Safe’ – a short story set before the events of the novels – is included with Mostly Harmless. Strictly limited to 750 sets, this outrageously froody edition features blocking in coloured metallic foils and comes with a tipped-on limitation label signed by the artist. Presented in a space age box and accompanied by a funky print, this is the essential collection for any hoopy frood hoping to see the wonders of the universe for less than 30 Altairian dollars a day.
Submission for Kingsbury Press's Canon Book Printer of the Year Award
Five volumes bound in cloth blocked in holographic silver, turquoise, pink, blue, green, red and orange foils
Set in Freight Text with Kavo as display
Printed on Munken Lynx Rough paper
1,240 pages in total
44 colour and 30 black & white illustrations in total
Limitation label signed by Jonathan Burton
Metallic foil page-tops
Endpapers printed with a design by the artist
9½˝ x 6¼˝
Presented in a two-part box covered in cloth and paper blocked with metallic foils and lined with paper printed with silver stars
Print for framing presented in a folder printed with a design by the artist
‘It changed my whole life. It's literally out of this world.’
- Tom Baker
Douglas Adams’s comedy odyssey follows the adventures of average Earthman Arthur Dent, who is thrown into the wider universe when the Earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. On his extraordinary journey Arthur must deal with depressed robots, hyper intelligent mice and sulky teenagers, all while searching for the meaning of life and a decent cup of tea. Starting life as a cult BBC radio serial, this unlikely publishing phenomenon has since appeared in a myriad of forms: a TV series, a video game, a play, a big budget movie and a bath towel. But perhaps it is the series of novels that gave the world the purest and most satisfying glimpse of Adams’s genius. Within these books there are no limits on his imagination, and his ideas have poured off the page into popular culture, inspiring a generation of writers, comedians and scientists. Achingly funny, vastly humane and with an uncanny sense of what our modern world would look like decades before the internet was a part of everyday life, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series is a truly unique masterpiece of science fiction.
‘Douglas Adams’s universe is rich enough to just let us journey into our flights of fancy and is an absolute gift to an illustrator.’
- Jonathan Burton, from his introduction
For this extraordinary limited edition, series artist Jonathan Burton has returned to the project he calls ‘a dream job’ to add even more depth and character to his celebrated illustrations with five new double-page spreads and 30 new black-and-white drawings. Like all great illustrators, he gives us not just what is on the page, but also what could be happening beyond the written word. From Zaphod Beeblebrox’s golden platform boots to the slavering fury of a boghog beast, Burton’s lovingly crafted images are packed with personality and delightful details. The new binding designs are blocked in an eye-catching rainbow of foils and, arranged next to each other, they create a pleasing single image. The five volumes are presented in a display box fit for the President of the Galaxy himself, part-bound in glittering blue cloth with an explosion of silver stars on the interior. A transparent window – with DON’T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters – allows a peek at the foil-blocked spines. Limited to 750 sets signed by Jonathan Burton, this splendid edition is completed with a unique print of the Guide itself. Every aspect of this astonishing production has been designed with care, precision, and an appreciation of the brilliance of Douglas Adams.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly are two of Philip K. Dick’s most celebrated novels. In this celebrated Folio Society collector’s edition, these classics of dystopian science fiction are presented in a mind-bending format – two illustrators, two covers, one spectacular book.
It’s the end of the world as we know it … The Folio edition of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle features illustrations by Joonho Ko and an introduction by Michael Dirda.
Featuring giants, duels, man-eating swamp rats and, of course, true love, Goldman’s funny and poignant lampoon of the fairy-tale tradition has inadvertently become a classic of the genre.
To mark Folio’s 75th anniversary, Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story is published as a magical new edition, beautifully illustrated by award-winning artist Marie-Alice Harel and bursting with exquisite design details.
