Gift your favorite reader a special edition this year

Special edition books often make the best gifts. Some are beautiful editions perfect for gifting someone their all-time favorite book. Others have additional content to enhance your reading experience or are just so eye-catching that they attract new readers, too.

Keep reading for Kim and Melissa’s picks that will delight readers of all ages — plus our team’s favorite special editions that are hanging out on their own shelves at home!

Kim’s picks

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone - This one is a personal favorite: a sci-fi time-traveling romance perfect for romance and lit fic readers alike! This edition features new cover art, stenciled edges, and designed endpapers.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown- The start to the beloved sci-fi/dystopian series is getting a makeover with a new illustrated slipcase with foil, designed sprayed edges, a new cover and full wrap-around book case art, fold-out poster, and full-color illustrated endpapers with a new map.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - As timely as its classic, this new edition features a striking slipcase (you can actually light a match with it!!!) with foil, sprayed edges, ribbon marker, and designed endpapers.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty - the first in this fantasy series now features a reversible jacket, stamped book case, designed endpapers, and stenciled edge.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman - This modern fairy tale classic with a cult following has a beautiful new paperback edition with delightful sprayed edges and gold foiling.

Slow Horses by Mick Herron- The book behind the new hit TV series, this very cool edition features a die-cut paper-over-board hardcover that peeks through to full color endpapers, stenciled edges, Slough House-inspired illustrations, a fold-out poster, and a new preface from Mick Herron.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - No one does Greek myth retellings like Madeline Miller - this heart-wrenching story now features elegant sprayed and stenciled edges, sparkling gold foil, endpapers featuring a map of Homer's Greece, a guide to Greek gods, mortals, and heroes, essays by Madeline Miller, and discussion questions.

Melissa’s picks

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For Young Adults:
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer – the iconic vampire series you either love or love to hate–turned twenty this year and we have the Special Edition to End all Special Editions to prove it. Remove the hardcover from its foil-stamped slipcase and flip the gilded sprayed edges one way to reveal a hidden portrait of Bella and the other way for a portrait of Edward. (It’s actual magic.) Bonus for the stunning apple blossom cover, ribbon marker, and interior art inspired by Stephanie Meyer’s favorite scenes and her own classic book collection at home.

For Kids:
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White - they’ve gone all out for the new deluxe edition of this classic (and one of the greatest family read alouds), with sprayed edges that spell out “SOME PIG,” a full-color interior, custom endpapers,, a case binding that brings the Zuckerman farm to life, and a gorgeous metallic jacket with the original cover art. This edition also includes not-to-be-missed bonus content from the story’s earliest days, as well as an author’s note from E. B. White himself!

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers - another classic got a makeover this fall with plentiful full-color artwork by British darling Lauren Child, known for an artistic whimsy and eccentricity that’s perfectly matched to children’s literature’s favorite nanny.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones - If you’ve never read this international bestseller, which many consider one of the best contemporary middle-grade fantasies, you’re in for a treat! The new collector’s edition features luminous cover artwork and full-color endpapers by artist Devin Elle Kurtz (of The Bakery Dragon fame), sprayed edges with bursts of colorful magic, shimmering foil stamping, and striking black-and-white interior artwork by Stefan Bachmann.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - For the 75h anniversary of this beloved fantasy series comes a deluxe seven-in-one edition of The Chronicles of Narnia, with shimmery metallic cover art by Cliff Nielsen, gorgeous endpaper maps, vivid sprayed edges, and ornate design detailing at the start of every chapter.

The Prophecies Begin by Erin Hunter - Erin Hunter’s Warriors series, an epic fantasy series starring fierce warrior cats, has been responsible for turning so many young readers onto reading over the years. Now, the book that started it all–The Prophecies Begin–has landed in a keepsake hardcover edition, featuring sprayed edges that look–wait for it–like actual cat fur! The series has far too many titles to own them all, so consider this a symbolic keepsake for your young reader’s shelf.

The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snicket - The first in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events also got a deluxe collector’s edition this year featuring the prettiest, most ornate sprayed edges and endpapers, as well as a leather lamination cover with gold-foil stamping. See also bonus content by the elusive Snicket himself!