By Philip K. Dick

Folio Society, available to order now

Bibliophiles and connoisseurs rejoice! Two of Philip K. Dick’s most popular novels (both of which have been translated into popular movies) get the lavish Folio Society treatment in this beautifully illustrated two-in-one edition.

There’s something delicious about Philip K. Dick’s works, the epitome of future tech, getting the sort of old school hardbound treatment that would normally be reserved for Jane Austen, Herman Melville and other literary giants. But, heck, PKD is a giant in his field, and when technology breaks down as he predicts, the world is irradiated and we all go to the off-world colonies, this sturdy, handsome volume will still be a tangible thing – unlike your digital book reader.

Illustration by Chris Skinner from The Folio Society edition of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick ©Chris Skinner 2017

It’s hardly coincidence that this edition is being released at the same time as Blade Runner 2049, it being the sequel to 1982’s Blade Runner, loosely based on 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It’s an excellent time to return to the source material of bounty hunter Rick Deckard hunting down Nexus-6 androids, while saving up for a real animal – the ultimate status symbol.

But then you flip the book over and can read Dick’s semi-autobiographical 1977 novel A Scanner Darkly about undercover narcotics cop Bob Arctor who finds himself succumbing to Substance D, later made into a rotoscoped film by Richard Linklater in 2006. Binding the novels in the tête-bêche (head to tail) style is a lovely throwback to the Ace Doubles of the 1950s to the 1970s or Gollancz’ Binary 2 editions of the early 1990s. Utilising a double-feature format normally reserved for pulp publishers in such a prestige edition is a lovely conceit, and also means that neither story gets priority, each sporting its own cover and meeting its upside-down counterpart in the middle.

Illustration by Andrew Archer from The Folio Society edition of A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick ©Andrew Archer 2017

Continuing the theme of each book having its own identity, each novel’s cover and glossy plate illustrations are created by a different artist. Chris Skinner’s illustrations for Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? are in full colour and illustrate a place somewhere between Dick and Scott. Andrew Archer’s A Scanner Darkly black-and-white line art is more trippy, focusing on the protagonist’s hallucinogenic journey – particularly striking is the man’s head covered in eyeballs!

For those after the technical details, and to work out if this beast will fit on your bookshelf, here’s the specs. Quarter-bound in blocked cloth with paper sides printed and screen printed. Set in Mentor. 488 pages. 12 full-page colour integrated illustrations and one double-page-spread colour illustration by both artists. Plain red slipcase. 10˝ x 6¾˝. At £75 it’s not cheap,  but if you wanted cheap you can still pick up a paperback for under a tenner.

Verdict: If 2007’s Blade Runner: The Final Cut is the definitive celluloid take on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? then the Folio Society’s deluxe edition of these classic Philip K. Dick works is the last word in the printed version. A Work of Art that could be the cornerstone of your sci-fi book collection. 10/10

Nick Joy

The Folio Society edition of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly illustrated by Chris Skinner and Andrew Archer is available exclusively from www.foliosociety.com/PKD