In keeping with the theme of my blog, I decided to start bringing you updates of the newest and greatest bookish addictions in my life so I can share with you some awesomely bookish things or discuss if maybe we share the same bookish loves. It seemed like a great way to get a little discussion going in a very relaxed way.
This Edition’s Bookish Addiction? International Editions
Way back before I was a blogger (and even after), I wasn’t the kind of person who actually kept books once I was done reading them. I borrowed a lot from my sister, some from the library, and the only books I really bought at full price were ones I was going to keep for sure. Some secondhand books I ended up reading and just selling back to the used bookstore. Nowadays, well… You’ve seen my shelves. They’re filled with all of my favorites and then some. I do go through and pass along or giveaway books that I don’t feel the need to keep, but if I have a favorite, boy, do you bet that book is staying on my shelf and even in multiple formats.
Some books I just have in both hardcover and paperback — like when I already had the paperbacks of If I Stay and Where She Went, but purchased the hardcovers when I met Gayle Forman so I could have her sign them. Other books, I’ve basically just started collecting in all forms and any editions I can get my hands on. I’ve purchasing both paperbacks and hardcovers of The Lunar Chronicles and The Grisha Trilogy, but that obsession didn’t start until Macmillan did this cool thing where they had a special page of blogger acknowledgements in the paperback. I mean, how could I NOT purchase a book that my blog’s name is in!?
Then my lovely friend Amy from Tripping Over Books bought me the Spanish editions of Cinder and Scarlet for my birthday back in March… And a new obsession flourished. The international editions of this series are so gorgeous and I MUST own them all.
There are a few places to go to get some international editions like Fishpond and The Book Depository which ship for free internationally, but they don’t really have a wide selection of international versions. AbeBooks actually has a pretty great selection, but of course, if you want an international edition, you’re going to have to pay more for it! Since AbeBooks is less of a distributor straight from their warehouse and more like Half.com or the area of Amazon where users are able to list and sell their own books. Some sellers offer free shipping, but most of those are for American editions or if they are international, the book itself starts to get costly. I haven’t made any purchases from AbeBooks yet, but I’ve been eyeing these books for a while now, still not ready to let go of my money with all the things I have going on at the moment. I may look into making a purchase soon though!
Some International Editions I’m Dying For!
THE LUNAR CHRONICLES
Italian, another Spanish edition, Portuguese
Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish
THE GRISHA TRILOGY
UK, German, Italian, French, Polish
German, Polish, Portuguese
HARRY POTTER
Original UK, German, Italian, Dutch, French
Okay, REEEEEEL it in here, B. I could honestly show you each and every international cover I want but this would be ONE LONG POST (like it wasn’t already).
NOTEABLE OTHER AWESOME INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: Tamara Ireland Stone’s Time Between Us has some GORGEOUS international covers! I’ve also seen some really neat ones for Just One Day by Gayle Forman and the international covers of Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell aren’t as snazzy but I love it so much that I’d end up collecting those someday too!
19 thoughts on “My Latest Bookish Addiction [11] – International Editions”
All of those Grisha books are just beautiful! <# Some of the Harry Potter covers though, they make me giggle. I honestly don't have multiple copies of any book but I have a list of international cover I WANT. I blame bloggin 100% I never wanted multiple before.
Ooh some of those are SO pretty. I love the Spanish editions of Cinder & Scarlett and all of the Grisha trilogy ones 😀 WANT!!
The Spanish editions you got are my favorite, but all of the pictures you posted are lovely. I do sometimes prefer the international editions over the US ones, but they are so much harder to get. I paid like 3X the cost of a book just to get the UK paperback edition of The Diviners because I thought the cover was GORGEOUS and even though it is gorgeous, it’s totally a different size than the rest of my paperbacks dammit. I don’t regret it though.
Oh, I love this! I have a problem with buying multiple copies of favourite books, I feel like when I have a beautiful hardcover, I don’t want to ruin it by actually reading it, so having an extra paperback is the perfect solution. I have definitely admired some international editions of books, that I would love to get my hands on.
I’m totally obsessed with (one day) collecting all the foreign editions of Harry Potter with pretty covers! I think, when I fall completely and irrevocably in love with a series, I usually can’t resist buying any and all copies of it that I can because — HELLO GORGEOUS. Love this post!
I completely understand book-collection obsession! While I haven’t started collecting international editions (yet!), I am particular about my covers matching – it drives me mad when publishers change the design of book covers mid-way through the series! It’s not uncommon for me to re-buy books to get a matching set. Maybe all of us book-lovers are a little crazy :p
These covers are absolutely gorgeous! I actually like some of them better than the US covers. Sometimes, I have been tempted to buy a book I already have just because I like a different cover better, but that is usually only the case with the classics. Now I kinda want some international editions to add to my shelves. Wonderful post! 😀
*GASP* THOSE COVERS FOR SCARLET!! Oh man, they’re pretty. They’re so damn pretty.
I love different versions of covers. Whenever I go to buy a book I’ll always make sure to buy the cover that’s prettiest, even if it means paying extra lol. I’m a total cover whore like that
Wow I LOVE the Italian and Portuguese versions of Scarlet! The UK and French Shadow and Bone editions are beautiful too. And I love love love the Dutch Philosopher’s Stone!
I actually own Harry Potter books in 10 different languages 😀 When I was younger, I wanted to collect at least one HP book in each language that it was published in; I have a ways to go! But I own: all the US editions (duh) (PB, HC, new editions), PB Philosopher’s Stone and Prisoner of Azkaban & HC Goblet of Fire (UK), Goblet of Fire (German), the first three books (Hebrew), Chamber of Secrets (Dutch), and Sorcerer’s Stone in Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese, and Latin. A couple of the UK ones I bought in England, the Hebrew books I bought on Ebay, and the rest were all gifts from friends or family members traveling abroad that knew I collected them!
Good luck in your collecting adventures 🙂 This was a really really cool post!
Those Spanish editions of Cinder and Scarlet are so pretty! I don’t collect international editions anymore, but back in my Harry Potter days, I was OBSESSED with having international editions of the series. I have the UK ones and an adult UK one as well. I don’t own multiple copies of books anymore though just because I don’t have space and I’m pretty minimalist about what I own. I do think they’re fun to look at though!
It’s so cool that you’re able to collect these! I love all the different covers. I wish I could collect them but unfortunately I have no where to actually keep/store physical books. 🙁
I completely understand this obsession, since I too have been collecting other editions of books. I think the UK comes out with some of the most gorgeous covers! My favorite would be Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. A very sweet British friend brought me that edition when she came to the states. I’ve been eying the UK edition of The Summer I Turned Pretty for quite awhile as well. My most favorite book cover is the Aussie edition of The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta. I actually ordered a copy from Australia, then mailed it to a friend in NYC who was meeting her, to have it signed. I’m crazy, I know. But man is it awesome!
I LOVE those spanish editions of Cinder & Scarlet. So pretty!
I have a UK edition of The Book Thief and I bought it from Abebooks. It wasn’t too bad actually, I think I spent around $6 for it. But it was already in the US. I just loved the UK edition so much more than the US one that I knew if I was going to buy the book, I wanted it to be that one.
I’d love to have the UK editions of Throne of Glass! And I’ve long wanted Harry Potter foreign edition. I really wanted the Latin Harry Potters too, since I took Latin in college(NOT that I could still read it, haha, but I want them for my shelves!)
Have you seen the UK editions for the Throne of Glass series?? They are stunning and I want them so badly!! Those Lunar Chronicles editions are beautiful. Now I am itching to go buy them. My husband will murder me tho. Lol. He will not understand why I need multiple editions of the same book.
I love the comparisons! But I have to admit I rarely even think about the covers for International editions. I don’t even really come across them.