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5/18/2021 • comments off • Filed Under: Classics, Reviews, Special Editions

Special quote inserts are throughout the books

The Secret GardenBefore 2017, it was rare I ever went out of my way to get a collector’s or special edition of any book. A book is a book, after all, but thanks to Instagram, I found myself enamored with special editions. When OwlCrate began to do their own editions for the monthly boxes, I realized how special they were. Fast forward to now, my shelves are full of them. I would buy special editions of every one of my favorite books now, lol. My latest acquisitions are the Books-A-Million Seasons (Spring) editions of Emma by Jane Austen and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The jackets of those books are laser-cut with stunning artwork; for Emma, it features who else but Emma at its center, surrounded by trees, flowers, and picnic baskets, to name a few things, and for The Secret Garden, Mary discovering the garden is beautifully set against a magenta case. I was worried about the laser-cut being fragile but the publisher thought of this, including a removable plastic cover on top.

The books are quite solid, weighing almost two pounds each, which surprised me, given the length of The Secret Garden but as they say, I really do like big books! When I was taking the photos for this post, it took a while to figure out how to hold them and it was impossible for me to hold both up at the same time. Just a blogger things ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One of my favorite things about these editions is that they’re numbered. Personally, it’s never been a huge thing if a book is numbered; it doesn’t affect my reading nor my collector experience. But it’s an added touch to these editions, as the back card explains they’re each limited to 10,000 copies and individually numbered. On the front endpapers, you can write your name or add your personal library stamp in a special spot provided.

There's something satisfying about the number 8,848 My Emma is number 3,075

Everything a collector could possibly desire is packed into these special editions. There’s a ribbon bookmark or under the info card, they included a laser-cut bookmark which gorgeously compliments the books. The one included with my copy of Emma was surprisingly a little burnt but I didn’t actually notice it at first and it probably should be expected, given that they use a whole laser to cut paper, lol. At first, the editions do seem expensive, priced at $34.99, and if you’re not a collector, they probably are, but the quality is superior for what you get out of these very special books. They’re meant to be put on display and are on par with the popularity of custom editions that so many companies seem to be doing these days. There are two other books in the Spring edition I did not pick up: The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. If you’d like to order a copy of either of these Books-A-Million exclusive editions, click here for Emma and here for The Secret Garden.

Books-A-Million also has Summer editions available for purchase and preorders are open for Fall editions! I’m for sure going to need The Wonderland Collection and Dracula. I mean, I’m absolutely obsessed with the latter. To see more pictures of these beautiful editions, head over to my Instagram.

Currently Listening To: Die For You - Starset


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