This post is in response to a number of requests I receive along the lines of “where do you find all these beautiful books”, and “how do you afford them”. Well, one way of getting books at well below market price is to preorder them early – often there is a big discount offered if you are willing to take a bit of a risk on preordering. If you are a collector, it’s also a good way to ensure that you will have a more valuable “first edition, first printing” – although I have found that if you order signed books from larger stores like Waterstones, they may be later printings, so if this is important to you definitely check first. First print runs can also have special extras, like sprayed page edges, or decorative ‘hidden covers’ on the boards under the dust jacket. And some publishers even offer fancy extras if you preorder, although this is more common in the US than elsewhere. So, please find below a list of beautiful books that I have on my horizon – and let me know if this is a useful feature and I’ll do it again for you in a few months.