rare book

American  

noun

1. a book that is distinguished by its early printing date, its limited issue, the special character of the edition or binding, or its historical interest.

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Etymology

Origin of rare book

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, graciously gave me status as a “reader” with access to its formidable rare book collection.

From Los Angeles Times

If Hughes’s poems sound familiar it’s because in 1994, Oxford University Press published a revised version of the book after Nancy Toff, the executive editor of Oxford’s children books, found the unpublished manuscript at the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale.

From New York Times

Now the collection is kept at Emory, in Atlanta, in the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library as the Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade Papers and numbers some 280 boxes with content spanning the years 1900 to 2018.

From New York Times

Guildhall library will be showcasing the rare book as part of a celebration of 400 years since the playwright's birth.

From BBC

Times Festival of Books, immediately raced to the rare book annex.

From Los Angeles Times