Folio Society Reveals $2,200 Game of Thrones Books

The Folio Society’s 30th Anniversary Edition of A Game of Thrones is a legitimately stunning piece of bookmaking. The 872-page volume is bound in textured “dragon leather” designed to look like scales, deep red in color, and housed in a white clamshell box covered in gold foil work featuring dragons and house sigils.

British artisans handled the production, including specialized leather makers, the James Cropper paper mill, and Ludlow Bookbinders. Lustrous golden pages round out the construction.

Inside, you get new illustrations throughout by Jonathan Burton, who deliberately avoided referencing HBO’s adaptation to keep the artwork true to Martin’s original vision. There’s also a rolled map of Westeros and an exclusive introduction by fantasy author Joe Abercrombie. The whole thing feels like a prop from the Citadel’s library, which is basically the point.

Every copy is hand-signed by Martin himself, and the collection is hard-capped at 1,000 units.

At $2,200 retail, this is one of the steeper entry points we’ve covered. After eBay fees alone you’re looking at roughly $286 in platform costs on a $2,200 sale, so you’d need to clear well above retail just to break even. Add potential shipping costs on a delicate, heavy collectible and the margin requirement climbs further.

The upside case is real, though. Game of Thrones has a massive, global fanbase built across 30 years of books and one of HBO’s most-watched series of all time. Superfans and serious collectors with deep pockets are exactly the audience for a numbered, author-signed luxury edition capped at 1,000 copies.

The question is timeline. Anyone buying this to flip should be prepared to hold. The kind of collector who pays a premium for a piece like this often moves deliberately, and this market doesn’t have the same velocity as sneakers or trading cards.

This is final sale only. No refunds, no returns. If you buy a copy and can’t find a buyer willing to pay above your all-in cost, you’re sitting on $2,200 plus shipping in inventory. This isn’t a casual flip.

Orders open July 14 at 4pm UK time (11am Eastern, 8am Pacific). Given the fanbase size relative to 1,000 copies, it will almost certainly sell out quickly. That’s a necessary condition for a flip to work, but it doesn’t guarantee one.

DYOR on this one. It’s worth watching even if you don’t pull the trigger.