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The Web site of Michael P. Sauers
Librarian, Trainer, and Writer.


Limited editions held by public libraries

I'm a librarian but also a book collector. In some cases, this makes my relationship with books difficult. As a librarian I understand that you must do certain things to books to make them last through many handlings and to be able to track them. As a book collector, I abhor most anything someone would do to a book that would not keep it in pristine condition. Which side wins? Well, I'm still not sure.

However, I've started to notice more and more limited edition books from small presses appear in public libraries. In many cases these are $40-$100 books that are signed by the author, sometimes numbered, rarely more than 1000 copies, and sometimes in special bindings. These beautiful collectable books are then mutilated (sorry, I couldn't find any other word) in order to make them "circulation ready."

This is a list of limited edition books I've found, or seen reference to, in public libraries. I've seen many others but didn't track them at the time. If you know of any, please drop me a line and I'll be happy to add them to the list.