Special edition books

 

 Midnight Edition of The Dandelion Dynasty from The Broken Binding

To the detriment of my bank account, I have become addicted to buying special edition books this year. If I had to trace the practice to any singular event, it would be Brandon Sanderson's Secret Projects Kickstarter. The premium hardcovers looked so much nicer than regular hardcovers that I wanted to populate my bookshelves with more special edition books. Now, a year later, I have one bookshelf where two-thirds of the books are special editions.

It's not just Brandon Sanderson and his premium hardcovers and leatherbound editions that fueled my new book buying addiction. Social media and the rise of book subscription boxes have made books with stenciled or sprayed edges enticing and easy to obtain. My latest arrival, shown in the photos above, are the Midnight Editions of Ken Liu's The Dandelion Dynasty series. I jumped on that purchase as soon as I saw The Broken Binding advertise the books. Given the amount of money I've spent on special editions in the past year, I need to be better about budgeting my book purchases. Because special edition books are more expensive than typical hardcovers, I will need to buy fewer books than before. That sounds outrageous to a book lover like me, but unless I want to go broke or until I win the lottery, it's the prudent thing to do. On the other hand, I consider it a price worth paying (pun intended) for filling my bookshelves with such pretty books.