The Folio Society is partnering with award-winning fantasy and sci-fi author China Miéville for the ultimate edition of his iconic steampunk novel Perdido Street Station. First published 25 years ago in 2000, Perdido Street Station blends elements of fantasy, horror and science fiction and was nominated for several awards, winning the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Fantasy Award, establishing Miéville as a central figure in the “Weird Fiction” genre. The Folio Society limited edition will include the full text of the first edition, a new afterword by the author, and a map and striking art by award-winning illustrator Doug Bell, who is making his debut with the Folio Society.
Crafted with China Miéville’s close involvement, the 707-page Perdido Street Station Limited Edition from the Folio Society will feature a limitation page signed by the author and artist, printed map endpapers, iridescent foiling, a presentation box in the rough shape of a moth, and a black ribbon marker. Illustrator Doug Bell has contributed a binding and map revealing the layout of the city of New Crobuzon, as well as 8 black and white integrated chapter opening illustrations and 12 full-colour illustrations. The book will be bound in screen-printed and blocked canvas cloth, printed in black and metallic copper ink, and presented in a clamshell covered in paper which has been silver cold-foiled, printed, laminated and over-blocked in translucent foil with a design by the artist.
“Having encountered my first Folio Society edition as a child and been blown away by the beauty and mystery of the text, It has been a great honour to work with the Society on one of my own books,” said author China Miéville. “I’m still astonished that something I wrote will be part of this beautiful oeuvre, and grateful to everyone at the Society for making the whole process such a pleasure.”
A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Miéville is the only author to have won the Arthur C. Clarke three times. His novels include The City & The City and Embassytown, and his writing has been compared with the works of Franz Kafka, George Orwell and Philip K. Dick. Along with Keanu Reeves, Miéville is the co-writer of The Book of Elsewhere and was also the writer of an acclaimed run on DC Comics’ Dial H series.
“Artist Doug Bell and author China Miéville are a match made in heaven,” said James Rose, The Folio Society’s Head of Editorial. “Doug’s immersive scratchboard-effect illustrations vividly realise the grimy world of New Crobuzon and its mix of steampunk, monsters and magic. With a host of characters as intricate as the city itself, Perdido Street Station is the ultimate steampunk novel and one that holds the reader gripped from its opening pages to its dramatic conclusion. No wonder it won the Arthur C. Clarke award and continues to hold the baton for Weird literature.”
Perdido Street Station will be published by the Folio Society on March 18, 2025, timed to the 25th anniversary of its original publication.
In the sprawling, chaotic city of New Crobuzon, where magic and machinery intertwine, a dangerous experiment unleashes a nightmare that threatens to consume everything. Isaac, a rogue scientist, unwittingly sets a monstrous force loose and must rally an unlikely band of outcasts to confront it. As the city teeters on the brink of destruction, the battle delves into the darkest corners of human ambition and the eerie beauty of the bizarre. China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station is a spellbinding journey into a world teeming with grotesque wonders, savage horrors, and the relentless pulse of revolution.
The Folio Society is an employee-owned, independent publisher that has thrilled and delighted a band of dedicated readers across the globe since 1947. Folio’s team of editors, designers and artisans will do whatever it takes to give each title everything it deserves, from outstanding intellectual firepower to extraordinary craftsmanship.
China Miéville is a New York Times-bestselling author known for blending fantasy, horror, and science fiction in novels like Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Miéville has won the Arthur C. Clarke, World Fantasy, Hugo, and British Science Fiction Awards. He has also been shortlisted for the Folio Prize. Formerly an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Warwick University, he’s also held roles at Birkbeck and Roosevelt University. Miéville is a founding editor of Salvage and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction in 2018.
Doug Bell is an award-winning illustrator celebrated for his intricate line work and mastery of light and shadow. Using techniques like woodcut, scratchboard, and engraving, Bell creates images that bridge viewers to his subjects with depth and emotion. His work, recognised by institutions such as Communication Arts, the Society of Illustrators, Spectrum Fantastic Art, and American Illustration, reflects a commitment to capturing both form and feeling. Bell’s line-driven storytelling allows him to continually find new perspectives, bringing a sense of magic and precision to each stroke and making his work distinctive in commercial and fine art.
