There's no doubt that this is a nice and beautiful copy of this book, but for $303 (after tax and shipping), I was unfortunately left wanting more.
It's the most expensive book I've ever purchased yet it is not the nicest in my collection. I loved the sparkly slip case, but unfortunately the cover's painterly canvas style didn't resonate with me and almost felt grainy or low resolution.
The Foundation title text inside is beautifully displayed, but that's really it as far as unique aspects of the book. The art is certainly beautiful but I disagree with the decision to make them fold outs. Opening them up takes me out of the narrative and I would have preferred them to just take up 2 pages.
I think it's coincidental or even ironic that Brandon Sanderson wrote the forward for this edition, as I find he sets the highest bar for special bound editions.
I own all of Sanderson's special editions and they are the best there is. His Secret Project books are absolutely the most beautiful books I've ever seen and those were less than $100 each.
Similarly, his leather bounds set the standard for top quality special editions, and those come in at under $200.
I understand that Asimov's work is perennial, but for me, the quality of this book is not reflected by the price and I can't justify continuing to buy the rest of the series, especially given that the second one is now more expensive than the first.
