AbeBooks is a booklover's paradise. You can explore the shelves of avid reader staffers Jessica, Lily or myself (Beth). Depending on your mood, you can explore feel-good reads, books that made us angry, or the bleakest books imaginable. More interested in book design? Check out gilt-decorated covers, leather inlaid covers, fore-edge paintings, books in white vellum and more. If you're a travel junkie, we'll take you to Africa and Australia, Paris and India, and from the tippy top of Mount Everest down to the London Underground.
But with millions of items to see, it's easy to miss some of the most wonderful, and unique offerings from our thousands of booksellers worldwide. To show you the most rare and remarkable gems, we searched and searched and narrowed. Plenty of fantastic finds didn't make the cut, like this complete set of Ernest Hemingway first editions - two signed by Papa Hemingway himself.
Here are 12 unusual items, from rare first editions to collectible literary ephemera, that we wouldn't want you to miss.
An original painting created by Jack Kerouac of his brother Gerard, circa ~1962. Signed in blue ballpoint pen.
This gorgeous 18th-century gem is a small collection of recipes from a German tobacconist. Some blends include opium!
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Comprised of nine books in total, this gorgeous little wooden house for books is extremely rare, as it was offered as a limited edition in 1927. The story behind Olive Miller Beaupre is quite remarkable (see listing).
This 1954 art book from Andy Warhol is one of only about 150 copies printed. It's signed by Warhol.
Albert Einstein signed this 1920 first American edition in black fountain pen on the half title page. Comes with a blue cloth clamshell case.
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Set of 7 different complete menus with Royal Hawaiian envelope, week of February 2-8, 1950, each with color cover illustration by John Kelly.
A 1940 Christmas card from the noted black activist, written when he was still simply known as 'Malcolm Little'.
Dated 1918, the certificate recognizes F. Scott Fitzgerald's Military Service in World War I, and the fact that he left Princeton to serve.
Original and genuine, issued in the parish of New Orleans, showing the birth of Truman Streckfus Persons, September 30th, 1924.
Pictured: George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon. Photograph is from 1991 and signed by all five former U.S. presidents.
Issued to allow the Schooner Eineline to leave the harbour in New York in 1804, carrying, sugar, beeswax, piments, pepper, coffee, and cotton - signed by President Thomas Jefferson and his Secretary of State James Madison.
All designed (and some signed) by E.H. Shepard, famous illustrator of Winnie-the-Pooh, for his family's Christmas and New Year celebrations. Designs include characters from Pooh as well as The Wind in the Willows.
Use the search box above to find your own rare gems on AbeBooks. What other items should be included here?