Collecting Moomin Books: Editions to Treasure
Collector’s Guide
Tove Jansson's Moomin Books
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Welcome to Moominvalley
For eighty years Tove Jansson’s gentle, big‑hearted trolls have offered readers of every age a cozy place where friendship endures and nature is valued. First sketched during the shadow of the Second World War, the adventures of the Moomins (Mumintrollen in the original Swedish) grew into nine novels, four classic picture books and a world‑spanning comic strip written by Tove between 1945 and 1970, and published in English between 1951-1971.
The books are beloved enough to have inspired theme parks, music, plays, TV adaptations, cafes, and a museum, not to mention lots of collectible memorabilia. But in this article I am focusing mainly on the books, with a guide to the original editions, some collectible titles to look out for, and the nicest versions currently in print. If you’re after more things Moomin (ornaments, mugs, even coffee and chocolate bars!), you should check out the Moominshop.
Reading order:
You can read the books out of order, but the characters do age throughout the series and a couple of events are linked. So if you’d like to read them sequentially here’s the best reading order:
- The Moomins and the Great Flood (introduces the family and their journey to Moominvalley)
- Comet in Moominland (introduces some more characters)
- Finn Family Moomintroll
- The Exploits of Moominpappa (also published as The Memoirs of Moominpappa)
- Moominsummer Madness
- Moominland Midwinter
- Tales from Moominvalley
- Moominpappa at Sea
- Moominvalley in November (read this one after Moominpappa at Sea – it’s set at the same time, but covers what happens back at the Moominhouse during the sea adventures.)
Video Review
Anniversary & Celebration Editions
Comet in Moominland: 80th Anniversary Edition
Sort of Books, 2025. 9781914502378.
The version of Comet in Moominland typically available in the UK and the US is a translation of Tove’s original publication of 1946. However, she later revised it to reflect a more Nordic setting, replacing characters – there’s a new kitten – and other changes like adding a new lullaby.
This 80th anniversary edition includes the text of the ‘definitive’ 1968 edition, newly available in English.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
The Moomins and the Great Flood
Sort of Books, 2024. 9781914502149.
Moominmamma and Moomintroll travel through dark forests and floodwaters in search of the missing Moominpappa, catching their first glimpse of the valley that will one day become Moominhouse and home.
The anniversary edition includes a fold-out Moomin history poster, a new introduction by Frank Cottrell‑Boyce and, for the first time in English, Jansson’s complete character notes on the residents of Moominvalley.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
The Moomins: The World of Moominvalley
Pan Macmillan, 2025. 9781035038084. By Philip Ardagh & Frank Cottrell‑Boyce.
This lavish 400‑page encyclopedia of Moominvalley combines character biographies, maps, thematic essays and behind‑the‑scenes material on Tove Jansson. The 2025 anniversary edition has a new dark blue gilded cover (replacing the earlier 2017 light blue with a cut-out) and the contents have been expanded with new chapters covering The Moomin Canon and The Comic Strips.
➤ Find 2025 ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
Moomin Pull-Out Prints: Tove Jansson's Art & Pictures
Macmillan Children’s Books, 2025. 9781529054118.
Packed full of stunning artwork from the Moomin archive including book covers, illustrations, and a detailed map of Moominvalley, showcased alongside quotes from the original books and characters.
The book includes 22 prints on A4 cardstock, which can be pulled out and framed, or the book can be read from start to finish to give a history of the Moomins and their unique world.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
Treasures From Moominvalley : The Collector's Guide to Tove Jansson's Moomins
Parlere Publishing, 2024. 9789152795262. Edited by
Anders Landén & Kjell Häglund.
For the true collector, this in depth book covers all things Moomin – from books and toys to coffee cups and jewellery.
➤ Find it at Moominstore | Abes | eBay
Core Stories
Moomin Collector's Editions
UK: Sort of Books, 2017-2018 / US: DQ, 2025-ongoing.
These pretty Collector’s Editions are facsimiles of the original Moomin novels, with restored 1950s/60s layouts, original cover designs and fold‑out maps.
US editions
➤ Find Comet in Moominland at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells
➤ Find Finn Family Moomintroll at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells
➤ Find Memoirs of Moominpappa from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells
➤ Find Moominsummer Madness from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells
UK editions
➤ Find Comet in Moominland from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Finn Family Moomintroll from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Memoirs of Moominpappa from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Moominsummer Madness from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Moominland Midwinter from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Tales from Moominvalley from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Moominpappa at Sea from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Moominvalley in November from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
Finn Family Moomintroll - Folio Society
Folio Society, 2024.
This special edition features Jansson’s original illustrations, several of which have been newly colourised by Neil Gower. It’s bound in printed, textured paper, and housed in a pretty illustrated slipcase. It has illustrated duotone endpapers, and includes a removable poster of the Moomin family at the back.
Note that Folio Society also released an earlier 2007 edition that has only b&w illustrations and does not contain the poster.
➤ Find it at Folio Society | Abes | eBay
Pop-Up Books
The Moomins and the Comet: A Pop-Up Adventure - Elena Selena
Macmillan, 2026. 9781035076987. Illustrations and paper engineering by Elena Selena.
A pop-up adventure based on Tove Jansson’s second Moomin story, Comet in Moominland.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells
The Moomins Find a Home: A Pop-Up Adventure - Elena Selena
UK: Pan Macmillan, 2025. 9781035038404. US: Boxer Books, 2025. 9781915801920. Illustrations and paper engineering by Elena Selena.
A pop‑up retelling of The Moomins and the Great Flood with gorgeous intricate die-cut scenes. Each spread uses a different colour palette and pop-up mechanisms.
See also the 2026 sequel Moomins and the Comet.
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
Moomin And The Great Treasure Hunt
Puffin, 2014. 9780141352695.
When Moomintroll finds a mysterious map in the attic of the Moominhouse, he and his friends follow it on a treasure hunt which takes them to the furthest corners of Moominvalley.
Includes a fold-out treasure map and 6 pop-up spreads.
A Year in the Moominhouse: A Carousel Book of the Seasons
Macmillan, 2025. 9781509853595. Paper engineering and illustrations by Filippa Widlund.
A delightful carousel book, featuring pop-up scenes from the Moominhouse throughout the seasons, that can be tied off with a ribbon to make a 360° carousel.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Interactive Books
Moomin Mail
UK: Pan Macmillan, 2024 9781035050581. US: Boxer Books, 2024. 9781915801418. By Amanda Li & Filippa Widlund.
A beautifully produced “kit of correspondence” in which readers open real envelopes to pull out and read letters, postcards, recipes and even origami games exchanged between the Moomins and their friends
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
Moomin Shape Books
Pan Macmillan, 2024-ongoing. Adapted by Riina & Sami Kaarla and Anders Vacklin.
A collection of simple but cute house-shaped storybooks with lift-the-flaps to peek into cupboards and peer behind doors.
➤ Find In the Moominhouse at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find In the Lighthouse at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find In the Observatory at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find In the Theatre (UK edition) at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells; In the Theater (US edition) at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells
The Comic Strip
Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip
Drawn & Quarterly, HBs published between 2006 and 2015. PBs published from 2024-ongoing.
The Moomins debuted to their biggest audience when the comic strip appeared in the London Evening News in 1954. It was syndicated to 40 countries around the world.
The 10 volumes in this complete collection are quarter bound in cloth, and each runs to about a hundred pages. The first five collect Tove Jansson’s comics, the second half were penned by Tove’s younger brother Lars.
Hardback ‘Complete Comic Strip’ editions
➤ Find Vol 1 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 2 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 3 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 4 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 5 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 6 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 7 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 8 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 9 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 10 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
Paperback ‘Moomin Adventures’ editions
➤ Find Vol 1 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 2 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find Vol 3 at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Blackwells
A few more fun things...
Moominland Midwinter: Colour Edition
Sort of Books, 2021. 9781908745996.
In 1961, at the request of her Italian publishers, Tove created a unique edition of Moominland Midwinter with a beautiful new cover illustration and seven full-page colour illustrations. This was the only Moomin title that she illustrated in colour, and this lovely facsimile edition is the first time it has been available in English.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
The Dangerous Journey
Sort of Books, 2010. 9780954899592. DQ, 2018. 9781770463202.
A new version of a ‘lost classic’ that pairs Tove’s artwork with a playful rhyming text, when a little girl is magically transported into Moominvalley.
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My - Sophie Hannah
Sort of Books, 2005. 9780953522743. US: DQ, 2009: 9781897299951.
Tells the story of Moomintroll’s journey through Moominvalley with imaginative cutout pages
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
The Moomins cookbook: an intrduction to Finnish cuisine - Sami Malila
Turnaround, 2010. 9781906838164.
Includes over 150 different “forest” recipes for drinks and dishes – salads, soups, vegetables, fish, meat and desserts – plus all the delicacies of Finnish life, from breakfast at the end of a sunny Nordic summer night, to garden parties, campfires and birthday celebrations.
