Feature Archives

Abebooks regularly publishes fascinating features about a huge variety of bookish subjects, including rare books and collecting, authors, publishers, and interesting characters in literature and notable anniversaries. Our lists are second to none in the book world and designed to inspire your next read or collectible purchase. Browse our feature archives below and you will discover unique content that will both entertain and inform.

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October 19, 2021
Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time high fantasy series is epic in more ways than one. There are 14 novels where Jordan creates an imaginary magical world in immense detail and introduces thousands of good and evil characters.
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By Jessica Doyle
November 30, 2021
Written for the stage but just as good a read as any novel, a plays book is a book that contains the script of one or more dramatic plays. This list of 15 plays books includes well-known classics like A Street car Named Desire and Twelve Angry Men alongside modern award-winners including Water by the Spoonful and Wit.
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By Jessica Doyle
November 08, 2021
The top fiction and non fiction books of 2021. Our top picks for the best books of the year include Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners, New York Times bestsellers, and many titles shortlisted for the year's big book awards.
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November 25, 2021
Discover 25 books written by African American authors between 1850 and 1930. Our list includes novels, memoirs, autobiographies, short stories and essays, poetry, and investigative journalism.
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April 04, 2022
Books have always struggled to convey the spectacular beauty of Rome’s Sistine Chapel. Until now. A five-year collaboration between the Vatican and two publishers has resulted in this luxury three-volume art book.
By Julie Oreskovich March 23, 2022
The New Naturalist Series is an on-going series of books published by Collins that focuses on natural history. The series, famous for its dust jacket designs, began in 1945 with Butterflies by E.B. Ford and more than 100 titles have been published.
March 17, 2022
In 1941, with Britain facing invasion by Germany, Collins published series of social history books called Britain in Pictures to create a record of British life. George Orwell, Graham Greene and Edith Sitwell were among the writers to contribute books. Today, these books are highly collectible.
February 28, 2022
Celebrate these rare bookselling businesses owned and operated by women. Discover how these booksellers launched their careers and their advice to young women wishing to enter antiquarian bookselling today.
By Richard Davies February 23, 2022
The Grand Budapest Hotel was one of the most successful movies of 2014. But are you aware of the inspiration for this film?
February 15, 2022
From Silent Spring to Gorillas in the Mist, this list features books published between 1911 and 1999 that highlighted environments and species in danger.
By Richard Davies February 10, 2022
Moraine Books is a proudly Finnish antiquarian bookselling company that’s dedicated to bringing Finland’s culture and literature to an international audience. Located in Vantaa, near Helsinki, this family business offers used and rare books, including numerous books by Tove Jansson who created the Moomins.
By Richard Davies February 10, 2022
Steve Powell’s bookshop is located in Hulls Cove, a beautiful hamlet, on Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine. On AbeBooks, Steve sells as the Mystery Cove Bookshop but his bricks and mortar store is called the Bar Habor Book Shop. Steve's sold used and rare books since the early 1980s and has a passion for mysteries.
By Richard Davies February 10, 2022
Antiquariat F. Neidhardt is an antiquarian bookselling business based in Böblingen, Germany. Fritz Neidhardt started the firm with a bookshop in Stuttgart in 1953. Today, Max Neidhardt, Fritz’s son, runs the business, which specializes in rare and illustrated books.
February 08, 2022
Cosway bindings are beautiful books with miniature paintings inset into fine leather bindings. They are named after miniaturist portrait painter Richard Cosway. Bookselling firm Sotheran's invented the concept with Miss C.B. Currie providing the art.
By Sandra Hindman January 24, 2022
Books of Hours were medieval bestsellers. Sandra Hindman, an expert on medieval manuscripts, explains why these books were, and still are, so important.
By Jessica Doyle January 19, 2022
Discover collectible editions of famous children's books with this list of first editions from authors who either won a Newbery Medal or received Honors.
January 18, 2022
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was a pioneer, addressing Black civil rights and gay rights in his writing. Famous for Go Tell it on the Mountain and Notes of a Native Son, Baldwin's contribution to Black literature is immense.
By Jessica Doyle January 13, 2022
The John Newbery Medal celebrates the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children. Discover every winning book since 1922.
December 20, 2021
Want to learn how to bake bread, host a dinner party, or cook like Stanley Tucci? Our bestselling cooking books include everything from the beloved Joy of Cooking to James Beard award-winning cookbooks, and even food history books.