Dune (Limited Edition)

A science-fiction phenomenon

It is impossible to live in the past, difficult to live in the present and a waste to live in the future.

The far-future universe created by Herbert is nothing short of a phenomenon. After the novel’s publication in 1965, it won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, going on to sell over 12 million copies and spawning five sequels, as well as multiple board games, computer games, television series and feature films. It is a universe of ‘traps within traps’, of human computers, secretive witch-cults and fanatic warriors, all with their own intricate histories and intentions. Humanity has resorted to a delicately balanced feudal system of governance, each aristocratic family struggling for survival and competing for control of a decadent empire. However, despite the grand scale of Herbert’s fully formed universe, at its heart Dune is the story of a single boy, Paul Atreides, who finds himself caught in the web of a myth, centuries in the making. Is he the fabled Kwisatz Haderach, able to span time? Betrayed and exiled in the waterless deserts of Arrakis, his destiny will not only be fulfilled, but the future of humankind decided, and from the dunes will arise a saviour.

Award-winning illustrator

The meticulously constructed characters and ecology of Dune have become enshrined in science-fiction folklore, from the grotesque, bloated mass of the evil Baron Harkonnen to the towering sandworms, breaching the mountainous dunes. This exceptional new limited edition is illustrated by Sam Weber. The recipient of The Society of Authors Gold Award, and the Spectrum Annual, Weber’s work also appears in the acclaimed Folio editions of The Book of the New Sun, Fahrenheit 451 and Lord of the Flies. His detailed illustrations perfectly capture the intricacies of Herbert’s vision, realising the faces and landscapes of Arrakis as never before.

Illuminating commentary

If you’ve never read Dune, this handsome Folio Society edition, enhanced by the haunting artwork of Sam Weber, will introduce you to one of modern literature’s most exciting and unforgettable books.

1. Michael Dirda

Beautifully presented, the commentary opens with the four appendices and the Terminology of the Imperium. These are followed by an essay by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Michael Dirda, influential advocate of science-fiction as serious literature. In the construction of Dune, Herbert drew on a range of influences both literary and scientific, from the origin story of the Abrahamic desert religions and T. E. Lawrence’s Bedouin desert revolt, to cutting-edge terraforming techniques and the burgeoning environmentalist movement. Dirda’s essay examines both the origins of Herbert’s unlikely success and the hidden depths of his ‘grand operatic vision’. On the surface Dune is a classic adventure story, but soon Herbert strikes a darker vein, exploring the terrors of prescribed destiny and the problematic notion of hero-making. Dune is a compelling dissection of literature’s, and humanity’s, mania with the godlike ‘hero’ – as Paul’s friends become worshippers and his family become idols, the thin line between god, liberator and oppressor is increasingly indistinct.

Also included is an illuminating afterword by Brian Herbert, son of the author, who has penned a number of best-selling novels that expand the Dune universe. Together these pieces, included as the introduction and afterword to Folio’s collector’s edition, add greatly to the appreciation of this science-fiction classic. The stunning map, formerly printed on the endpapers, has been redrawn by Sam Weber. Presented as a separate piece for the limited edition, it nestles in a specially designed pocket on the inside front cover to complete the commentary volume.

What makes this limited edition so special

Printed throughout in black and gold ink on FSC certified paper, sourced from responsibly managed forests, this beautifully appointed limited edition is a treasure-trove of exceptional bookmaking techniques and materials. Each of the 500 copies includes a limitation tip, printed on Sirio paper and featuring a chapter-head illustration, signed and numbered by Sam Weber. The artist has also created two exclusive new illustrations for the edition: one joins the eleven extraordinary colour illustrations – including three double-page spreads – and ten black-and-white chapter headings that Weber crafted for our best-selling collector’s edition, and the second is presented as a separate print for framing. Weber has also reinvented the original binding design as a spectacular new frontispiece and imagined a striking motif for the endpapers; an intricate pattern that evokes the repetitive complexity in the book and represents the multiple futures navigated by Paul in the spice trance with stars to reference space and the universe. His work is also present on the blocked cloth binding, which features an atmospheric illustration of Paul. Finally, Weber has redrawn the stunning map to include an image of the protagonist. The edition is housed in a beautifully designed, central opening, clamshell presentation box with a magnet closure. Covered in cloth and printed and blocked in black and gold, it features the Reverend Mother with the box into which Paul must put his hand. As you open the presentation box, so the box in the image opens too.  Our designers, in collaboration with the artist, really have thought of everything.

About Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1920. He took his first newspaper job at the age of 19. After serving in the US Navy as a photographer, he studied briefly at the University of Washington. His first science-fiction story, ‘Looking for Something’, was published in the pulp-science-fiction magazine Startling Stories (1952), and his first novel, The Dragon in the Sea (1956) was serialised soon afterwards. In 1959 he began work on his most famous work, Dune, which was serialised by Analog magazine between 1963 and 1965. Finally published as a book, with modifications, in 1965, Dune won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Hugo Award in 1966. Herbert went on to write five popular sequels. He also wrote for a number of newspapers, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, lectured at the University of Washington, and served as an ecological consultant in Vietnam and Pakistan. Herbert published many other science-fiction novels, such as his WorShip series and the ConSentient novels, but Dune, which was made into a film in 1984 (two years before the author’s death), and into a television series in 2000, remains his most enduring work.

About Sam Weber

Sam Weber was born in Alaska, and grew up in Deep River, Ontario, Canada. After attending the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Sam moved to New York to pursue illustration and attend graduate school at The School of Visual Arts. His work for The Folio Society includes the limited edition of The Book of the New Sun (2019), Fahrenheit 451 (2011) and Lord of the Flies (2009). Weber’s illustrations for Dune were painted in oil on board, with the black-and-white chapter headings in ink and charcoal on paper.

About Michael Dirda

Michael Dirda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning literary journalist, a weekly books columnist for the Washington Post, and the author of five collections of essays: Readings (2000), Bound to Please (2005) which includes his renowned science-fiction reading list, Book by Book (2006), Classics for Pleasure (2007) and Browsings (2015). He has also written the memoir An Open Book (2003) and On Conan Doyle (2012), which received an Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America. His current project is an appreciation of popular British fiction during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He has written introductions to The Great Gatsby (2013), Dune (2016), East of Eden (2017) and Atlas Shrugged (2018) for The Folio Society.

About Brian Herbert

Brian Herbert was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1947, the elder son of Frank Herbert. His biography of his father, Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert (2003), was a finalist for the Hugo Award. Keeping alive the fantasy world which Herbert Snr created, he has collaborated with Kevin J. Anderson on numerous prequels and sequels to the Dune novels, which have regularly featured on the New York Times best-seller list. His other novels include Sidney’s Comet (1983), Sudanna, Sudanna (1986), Man of Two Worlds (1986, co-authored with Frank Herbert), The Race for God (1990), and Ocean (2013), which he co-authored with his wife, Jan Herbert.