Folio partners with Waterstones

The Folio Society is set to extend its customer reach through a partnership with Waterstones’ London bookshops.

The publisher—which concentrates on selling beautifully illustrated editions of “the world’s greatest books”—has previously only sold its books exclusively through its own website and bookshop in Bloomsbury, London, and at the British Library and British Museum.

After success selling Folio Society titles through Waterstones’ flagship Piccadilly branch and Hatchard’s bookshop since April, it will now sell out-of-copyright titles—such as The Selfish Giant and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde and The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford—to selected Waterstones stores across central London from next January.

Christopher Keith-Wright, commercial manager at Waterstones, said: “Folio has been one of the publishers at the forefront, over the past few months, of new exciting book offers in Waterstones Piccadilly and Hatchard’s, which our customers have unsurprisingly embraced. We look forward to a continued collegiate relationship with Folio over Christmas and into 2014.”

Simon Toombs, head of business development at The Folio Society, said: “Waterstones is an important retail partner for Folio as we develop our reach into the trade. Showcasing Folio’s beautiful editions at these two iconic central London stores has proven to be very successful and we look forward to working with Waterstones as we roll out across London next year. In the long term we have ambitions for Waterstones to stock our books nationwide, helping us to reach as wide a possible readership.”

Earlier this month the publisher also announced a partnership with Harrods.