Folio Society - expensive and poncey or worth it?

[housemum]

I love the feel of a decent hardback book (not averse to the odd bit of paperback cheap fiction, but I'm talking of books to re-read here), and I'm sure that when I was a child the "classics" in WHSmiths came in both paperback and hardback editions as a matter of course. Recently I ordered what looked like a nice hardback edition of traditional fairy tales for DD2, but it was really disappointingly cheap quality with pages coming adrift, so it was swiftly returned to Amazon.

The Folio Society books are very expensive (apart from the joining offer to get you hooked!) but given that I don't plan to buy that many, are they actually worth it or just a bit naff and overpriced?

Any advice appreciated :)

They are very good editions, and a good choice if you are buying for the aesthetics.

And some of their editions are books you don't find often elsewhere.

I love the Folio society.
You do need to be choosy and get the editions that aren't available elsewhere though.

Mind you I do have an obsession with beautifull hard backs.

I don't like them. They're very expensive and the sets can be odd. I tend to browse 2nd hand bookshops instead which I prefer anyway.

The Folio fairy tales ones are absolutely beautiful - especially any illustrated by Edmund Dulac/Arthur Rackham.

Also the Phillip Pullman 'His Dark Materials' set. And the Viking myths and legends one.

I love them, myself, but I freely admit I've wasted far too much money on the additional books to make up the membership quota. It was ok when I had a disposable income, Pre-DC shall we say but now it's just too expensive...and they keep sending me the tempting special offers, godammit!

[will NOT be gulled back into joining emoticon]

I might start trawling eBay, there seem to be a few on there in very good condition - perhaps a good way to test them out! I just like the idea of sitting quietly with a cup of tea and a quality book. It might happen one day...