Today, March 3, the Folio Society is launched its 2026 Spring Collection featuring nine new titles that range from science fiction and fantasy to reportage and epic poetry. While last year’s Christmas Collection was notable for its nonfiction headliners, this time around the biggest standouts are genre fiction — beginning with a well-timed contemporary sci-fi classic.
The Martian by Andy Weir ($110 unsigned, $230 signed). With the film adaptation of Weir’s Project Hail Mary just a few weeks away, Folio’s take on The Martian is arguably the lead title of this collection. The colorful, slightly surrealistic art by Dániel Taylor looks like a nice complement to the novel’s sense of humor, and I really like the contrast between the Martian terrain-inspired cover/spine and the starry slipcase. The red planet cutout is also a nice design touch. I personally found The Martian to be one of the rare instances where the movie (by Ridley Scott) was better than the book thanks to an expanded cast of characters (Mark Watney is a bit too twee for me as a narrator), but this is a gorgeous package.
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville ($130). The second headliner here for me is largely considered Miéville’s masterpiece (though I have a soft spot for Embassytown) — a weird fiction epic set in a dystopian, steam-and-magic powered city-state called New Crobuzon, which is filled with a fascinating array of human and non-human subcultures. The design and art here by Doug Bell does a great job capturing the weirdness of Miéville’s world while still preserving a lot of the mystery. For my money, this is the highlight of the Spring Collection and a bit of a fence-swing for Folio compared to some of their usual bestsellers.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel ($85). Another timely release given Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel forthcoming this September, Exit Party, and the way HBO’s adaptation made Station Eleven even more popular than before. I really like Zoë van Dijk‘s art here, with warm and bright colors that reflect St. John Mandel’s more optimistic take on a post-apocalyptic future (at least compared to, say, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road).
Rounding out the rest of the collection are:
- The Iliad by Homer ($165). This is actually Emily Wilson’s translation, which is great to see given the Folio treatment.
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ($115). Did we need another fine press edition of Gatsby? Probably not, but these endpapers are really nice.
- The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle ($110) – The classic fantasy novel with a new introduction by Patrick Rothfuss (too bad he can’t find the time write his own books) and Peter S. Beagle. This comes of the heels of Folio’s (sold out) limited edition that pubbed last fall.
- Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller ($145). The quintessential Father’s Day gift for dads obsessed with World War II, with a new introduction by Tom Hanks.
- Conrad’s Fate by Diana Wynne Jones ($70) – Folio loves her! This is their ninth Wynne Jones book in recent history, by my count.
- Jerusalem by Simon Sebag Montefiore ($145). A doorstopper narrative history of city.
Alderbrink 