An exclusive peek at The Folio Society's new edition of "Perdido Street Station"

Image courtesy of Folio Society.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of China Miéville's groundbreaking novel Perdido Street Station, The Folio Society is releasing a lovely limited edition of this iconic work of weird fiction. With only a limited number of copies produced, this high-brow edition features dazzling artwork by illustrator Doug Bell, making his Folio Society debut.

Originally published in 2000, Perdido Street Station blends fantasy, horror, and science fiction in a dark tale set in the sprawling city of New Crobuzon. The novel won both the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Fantasy Award, establishing Miéville as an important voice in contemporary speculative fiction.

This special edition boasts a new afterword by Miéville, a detailed map of New Crobuzon, and striking artwork. Notably, the book arrives in a moth-shaped presentation box, includes printed map endpapers, and features iridescent foil highlights.

On discovering the book art of The Folio Society, China Miéville writes:

Sometime in my teens, rummaging in the bookshelves of a second-hand shop for the creased paperbacks that were my usual draw, I pulled out something that had no business being there: a pristine, slipcased, hard back copy of the Malleus Maleficarum. I'd never heard of it, but it was astonishing – and cheap. Everything about it was mysterious to me. It sits beside me as I write this, a 1968 reprint of Kramer and Sprenger's fascinating, odious, authoritarian and misogynist fifteenth-century Catholic tract, the 'Hammer of Witchcraft.' It contains an illuminating introduction by Pennethorne Hughes on the book and its place in social history, and is of an exquisite design by Fiona Campbell, announced by baleful  and beautiful red and silver flames. 'Folio Society,' I read within: I was  eager to learn more about this organisation responsible for the most  well-made and beautiful book I had ever held.

Only 500 copies will be available when released on March 18, 2025, timed to the 25th anniversary of the novel's initial publication.

Enjoy this Boing Boing exclusive reveal of Doug Bell's striking illustrations from the book.