Home Rare & Collectible Books

Rare & Collectible Books
Our Rare & Collectible collection focuses on truly extraordinary editions. Discover out of print books,
signed copies, first editions, decorative bindings, or an obscure, limited edition.

The Curator's Reading Room

These collections have been chosen by our Rare Books Curator as personal favorites - the most compelling and interesting of all our books. See all the collections

Banned Books Collection

The Catcher in the Rye
by J. D. Salinger
$2150.00
Books are still regularly banned, even here in the U.S. From Harry Potter to Huck Finn, controversial titles are pulled from library shelves when content is considered "inappropriate" or "inflammatory." These titles may seem like classic favorites or juveniles literature
Juveniles literature are books originally or primarily written to be read by (or to) children.
, but all have had their share of social controversy.
Interested in this kind of collection?
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Crazy Titles Collection

Caring For Your Miniature Donkey: Second Edition
by Bonnie S. Gross
$102.50
Have you ever picked up a book just because the title was so outrageous? Or been so intrigued by its ambiguity that you just had to read the book jacket
A book jacket is the decorative paper wrapper placed around a book to protect the binding.
? Each one of the books in this collection has a title that begs a curious second look.
Interested in this kind of collection?
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Signed + First Editions Collection

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Trilogy Series #1)
by Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland (Translator)
$1999.95
First editions
First edition usually refers to the first appearance and first printing of a work, either in book or pamphlet form.
, often the purest form of an author's work, are the first and most undiluted attempt at literary greatness. When combined with an inscription
An inscription usually refers to an author's signature, often with a personalized message to a specific person or bearing some brief notation along with the signature.
, these editions are a personalized piece of an author's greatness. The books in this collection truly showcase a love of the written word.
Interested in this kind of collection?
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Greatness for Less than $150 Collection

Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen
$95.00
Enjoying rare & collectible books 
When a book is rare, it is extremely scarce, perhaps turning up only once every ten years or so.
doesn't have to be expensive. There are countless affordable titles - from from modern first editions 
Modern first editions are all first editions published in this century.
to signed copies - for less than $150. These make thoughtful and valuable gifts, or they can be the beginning of your own personal collection.
Interested in this kind of collection?
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Fine Editions from The Folio Society

The Secret Garden (The Folio Society)
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
$46.95
Barnes & Noble.com is proud to be the exclusive U.S. source of extraordinary new editions from The Folio Society. Their gorgeous bindings
The binding includes the entire cover of the book.
, exquisite illustrations, and protective slipcases
A slipcase is a cardboard case covered in paper, cloth, or leather that holds a book with only the spine exposed.
turn each work into a gorgeous, collectible edition.
Interested in this kind of collection?
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Spotlight Collection

Emerging Authors
  • Product Image. Title: Great House
  • Product Image. Title: Wolf Hall
  • Product Image. Title: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
  • Product Image. Title: Then We Came to the End
  • Product Image. Title: The Help
  • Product Image. Title: Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
  • Product Image. Title: Little Stalker
  • Product Image. Title: The Wrong Mother
  • Product Image. Title: Room
  • Product Image. Title: Virgin of Small Plains