After the novel’s publication in 1965, it won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, going on to sell over 12 million copies, and spawning five sequels, as well as multiple board games, computer games, television series and feature films. Frank Herbert’s classic masterpiece—a triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time.

As the chosen ‘one’ emerges, we discover his role has little to do with goodness; the quakes of fanatical jihad – like the desert’s giant sandworms – rumble under the surface, waiting to swallow the galaxy one planet at a time. Like David Lean’s film Lawrence of Arabia – the modern work of art Dune most resembles – Herbert’s novel exhibits epic sweep while remaining, at heart, the intensely moving story of a young man caught up in a myth.E. Lawrence’s Bedouin desert revolt to cutting-edge terraforming techniques and the burgeoning environmentalist movement. The Duke of Atreides has been manoeuvred by his arch-enemy, Baron Harkonnen, into administering the desert planet of Dune. Folio commissioned Hokyoung Kim for the artwork, while the late author’s wife, Wendy Benchley, provides a fascinating new introduction. Dune, by Frank Herbert, was first published in 1965 and is widely recognized as the best-selling science fiction novel of all time.

He has written introductions to The Great Gatsby (2013), Dune (2016), East of Eden (2017) and Atlas Shrugged (2018) for The Folio Society. This collector’s edition of Frank Herbert’s phenomenal tale of far-future desert warriors, fallible messiahs and interplanetary intrigue is illustrated by award-winning artist Sam Weber, and published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world’s best-selling science-fiction title. It is a place where water is sacred – ‘a substance more precious than all others’ – where to shed a tear is the most taboo of all sacrifices.However, despite the grand scale of Herbert’s fully formed universe, at its heart Dune is the story of a single boy, Paul Atreides, who finds himself caught in the web of a myth, centuries in the making. There’s also certain elements that you want to tackle, for example in the first book I just had to do Shai Hulud.

I’ve worked with Adam for a good number of years now, and I think there’s a lot of mutual trust there, where I’m given the freedom to do my own thing (within reason!

With these books, my intention is more to give glimpses of the world and try to achieve a sense of atmosphere more than anything else. If you’ve seen a copy of that, you’ll know what to expect from these new editions of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.