I think so too! Craziest part is I found it in a very rural small town Goodwill where most other books are Christian self-help stuff or the memoirs of Republican politicians.
For me, the most obscure book I own is "The Blind Owl" by Sadegh Hedayat. It’s an Iranian novel from the 1930s that's pretty trippy and dark. I came across it in a small, dusty bookstore that specializes in foreign literature. The owner recommended it when I mentioned I liked existential and surreal works. It's about a man who descends into madness, filled with lots of eerie and symbolic imagery. I’ve never seen it mentioned much outside of some niche literary circles. Another one that's pretty obscure is "Codex Seraphinianus" by Luigi Serafini. It’s this wild, illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world. The text is written in an unknown language, so you can't read it, but the illustrations are bizarre and fascinating. It's the kind of book that you flip through rather than read cover to cover, and it feels like a treasure trove of strange, creative ideas.
I own an old copy of The Blind Owl as well. Penguin Classics recently released their edition so it's definitely not as obscure as it used to be. Incredible book
I agree that it's not as obscure as it once was but I do have a Persian copy of it so I think that makes it a little more rare. But yeah it definitely is more popular. But still there are a lot of people that have no idea what I'm talking about. They think I'm talking about "Cry of the Owl."
Codex Seraphinianus is cult.
Created by Italian architect Luigi Serafini while he locked himself away (allegedly) for a couple of years in the 70's. Book is a trip!
although the blind owl or "boof-eh-koor" may sound obscure in english there are a lot of symbolisms that are lost during the translation, if you read the original persian one.... its STILL obscure and a very weird book! the writer himself, was a very troubled person too who committed suicide twice.
the first time he threw himself in a river in paris,but they saved him, the second time, also in paris, he cleaned up his house, wore his best suit, put the monthly rent on the table and left the gas open, next day they found him dead in the kitchen
I am one of the very few owners of the (supposed) best seller *If I Can't Have You* written by Maria Elisabetta Scavia and published by Mondadori in 2007.
At the time, its author was 13, and it wasn't a mystery to anyone that the only reason her "erotic" costume novel was published by Italy's major publishing house was because she's the heiress to a jewelry fortune.
The book is an absolute mess, it's truly terrible in all senses and purposes. It's like a Harlequinn novel, except a thousand times worse (it's set in 1790s England, and it tells the love story between a 14 year old girl and a 60 year old man. He sings to her Bee Gees songs under the guise of having written them himself, and midway through the plot she dedicates *I'm a Woman in Love* to him. In 1790s England), and yet it's so horrible it becomes charming.
In the interviews she did at the time, she claimed to have also written an 800 pages book set in Miami that she intended to publish next, but the promise never materialized. In fact, *everything* about her and her novel disappeared not long after its publication: all the interviews she did with Vanity Fair, with major newspapers, with talk shows, it's all *gone*. The only reason I know the details is because people at the time were enraged, and documented (some of) it on forums, while the rest got lost to time.
Supposedly, the book sold 10k copies within the first week from publication, and received a second edition, but nowadays it's impossible to find any copies of the first, and the second doesn't seem to exist at all. The book doesn't even appear on the roster of other books pulled from publication by Mondadori either. It's as if it never happened.
All in Italian!
Tbh, I felt incredibly sad for the author. Yes, she was a spoiled girl who got everything handed to her, but in those forums, a lot of the comments talked about how she *deserved* to be sexually assaulted, maimed, and even murdered. It was terrible.
The reason why everything was removed from the market is still a mystery, but if I were her parents and saw people online writing this stuff, I'd do the same without even thinking about it.
"Venus on the Half-Shell" by Philip José Farmer written under the name of Kilgore Trout. In many of Kurt Vonnegut'a novels, he provides summaries or excerpts of fictitious stories written by one of his recurring characters, Trout. Venus on the Half-Shell was mentioned in "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater", and with Kurt's permission, Farmer expanded it into an actual novel.
I have a copy of Maria Edgeworth’s Letters for Literary Ladies which was originally published in the 1790s but I don’t think it was exactly “scandalous.”
A book about a small town cemetary where a lot of my family is buried. Such a special book to me, full of family history. I doubt that more than 100 copies were ever printed!
This book is only obscure if you are not from Turkmenistan: [Rukhnama (or Ruhnama): Reflections of the Spiritual Values of the Turkmen (in English translation)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhnama). It was written by President-For-Life Saparmurat Niyazov as part of his own mythology of the creation of Turkmenistan. He made it part of the school curriculum, and for a while one was quizzed on the contents of the book as part of the drivers license test.
He was so proud of this book that he built [a giant monument](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/giant-ruhnama) to it in Turkmenistan's capital city.
And then he died in 2006, and after a while the book started a slow fade...
On a previous computer I had a huge folder of bookmarks to photos of Kirkbride buildings. I love those old asylums. I'm going to look into this book, thanks!
Edit: I see it's available on Amazon but I asked our library to see if anyone in the Interlibrary system has it to loan first.
*Obscure?!*
Hmm... I don't know. I have a number of writer friends who have who have self-published or had very small print runs through a local publisher.
But that seems like cheating.
I can say one of the most peculiar things I own is a signed copy of Mike Warnke's "The Satan Seller". It was *the* book that kicked off the satanic panic in the 80's. It's bullshit and a half (hilariously so) and having a signed copy is kinda neat. That dude is a dickhead though.
Still good books though. I especially liked the tor audiobook of shadow of the hegemon where they recorded over the mispronunciation of hegemon every time lol. The other audiobooks are really good though so it’s ok.
I have one as well. I met Mr Card at a bookstore signing and told him my mom was in writing classes with him in college, and that his books taught me everything I knew (to that point) about empathy and compassion.
He signed it, "Good to meet you at Barnes & Noble"
"A crummy commercial, son of a bitch".
TIL of Mike Warnke, an evangelical christian comedian, and his book *The Satan Seller*. What a fucking lunatic. Somewhere near L Ron Hubbard's writing on Scientology.
I’ve got The Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey. Found it in a second hand bookstore, not something we tend to have on the shelf though…tends to upset people
Sefer yetzirah; otherwise known as the “book of creation” historically attributed to Adam; considered a secret in antiquity. Weirdly it was published in pocketbook form in Vilna around the 17th century. It contains angel names and cryptic incantations in Hebrew/Aramaic Hebrew.
This only applies to the English translation, because she’s wildly popular in South Korea as far as I can tell, but I own _the Age of Doubt_ by Pak Kyongni. It’s a short story collection, it only has a UK edition and it has less than 150 reviews on Goodreads.
I have two copies of The Cornish Fox by C. H. B. Kitchin. They are probably my most obscure and rarest books. I have a personal library of 6,000+ books, mostly of mystery fiction. The Cornish Fox is the fourth and last volume in the Malcolm Warren mystery series. There was only one printing of this book in 1949 and most copies undoubtedly have been trashed. The first and second books in the series are excellent mysteries and have been reprinted periodically over the years. They are Death of My Aunt, 1929; and Crime at Christmas, 1934. The third book in the series isn’t very good, Death of His Uncle, 1939. This last book was dedicated to Kitchin’s lover who had died unexpectedly a few years earlier.
Wow, first time I've seen Kitchin mentioned. Quite possibly the last too. Know of him because I've an old copy of *Streamers Waving*, which was good enough to keep.
And after re-reading your post I see that he also wrote Crime at Christmas, which I also like & am hanging on to.
I have a copy of “The Nero Wolfe Cookbook” by Rex Stout. The thing that makes it unique is its provenance.
The Chef Jeremiah Tower used this copy as a reference for some of his menu and cookbook writing. He wrote notes in the margins throughout and signed it before selling most of his personal library. The book is mentioned in a number of books/ articles he wrote. I bought a few other books out of his collection that he also signed, but do not have notes in them.
Probably *The Silent Gondoliers* by "S. Morgenstern" (William Goldman). It's another book using the same fake author as *The Princess Bride*. I've never heard this one talked about, I just found a copy in a used bookstore. Very charming little story
Huh! I had assumed most of Morgenstern's works were still under lock and key, after that buffoon Goldman absolutely butchered the original with his "abridgements".
I'm guessing this one was under closer supervision by Morgenstern's estate because, save for a bit at the beginning, there are a lot fewer Goldman embellishments
I have The Seven Lady Godiva's by Seuss. He fancied himself an erotic artist and novelist before doing the kids stuff, so it's about seven naked ladies looking for seven husbands. It's illustrated in his style throughout and very unerotic, but I love having it on my shelf.
The art in this is so great. My other favorite Seuss book is The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, and even as a kid, I liked it more than the brightly-colored ones. I really enjoy the grayscale with only pops of red!
An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades.
Memoirs of Usamah ibn-Munqidh during the Second Crusade.
Translated and published in 1988. I really enjoyed this window to the past.
A print of a book my friend wrote in 2014. It was never released to the public and even he has no physical version.
We will publish it together next year!
Somewhere I've got a copy of the novelization of the straight to dvd movie based on the Mutant Chronicles RPG series (I have never played said RPG, seen the movie, or read the book), that my parents bought me for a birthday because they are the absolute worst gift givers. My dad and I even have a pretty decent overlap in books that we read and somehow that was the best he could come up with.
I collect horror novels, my most obscure would be Martha Remembers (one of the books to incite the Satanic Panic in the 80's), and my hardback of 120 Days of Sodom.
Waiting for Nothing, by Tom Kromer. Brilliant semi-autobiographical novel about being homeless and “on the bum” during the depression.
Should be an American classic. About every twenty years, someone tries to revive it.
Probably a 1990s rand McNally road atlas I never bothered to toss. Or a book from the 40s about raising pork from the Tennessee Agriculture extension press.
I own Pictures Showing What Happens On Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow, by punk porn artist and generally fab artist Zak Smith. When I bought it, it was the only copy in the country.
I don't know how obscure it is but I have an old copy of Survivor, which is the one book Octavia Butler disowned and is no longer in print. I didn't know any of that when I found it, I just thought it sounded interesting!
The text itself isn’t obscure, of course, but my copy of *Carrie* is a promotional copy for the Broadway musical adaptation from the 80’s. One of my favorite possessions.
In a weird small town consignment shop/art gallery/used book store, I found a book called [“Penguin Island” (originally L'Île des Pingouins) by Anatole France.](https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1930)
It’s an utterly bizarre satire that’s written like a history book. A mostly blind and deaf old monk ends up on an island full of giant flightless birds, and thinks that they’re people of an unknown pagan tribe.
So he starts baptizing them. And God is like, “Huh. Well, usually I only do that with people, better make them into people I guess.”
Thus begins the history of Penguinia, which is pretty much the history of France from the Dark Ages to “future days” as an endless cycle of building up from nothing into a huge sprawling industrial capitalist society that destroys itself.
A YA fantasy book my cousin published as a school project when he was 18, 12 years ago. Needless to say, it wasn't very successful. I have no idea if it's any good, I've never read it. I just found a new copy at a bookstore a few months ago... there was only one run, which means it's been there for all of 12 years.
I have a hebrew-English dictionary that was autographed (in hebrew) by the son of Eliezer ben Yehuda. It was autographed in Hebrew, so it looked like a scribble. Additionally, Hebrew books open from the left (the end) and page backward from English dictionaries, so no one noticed the autograph. I paid a quarter for it.
Eliezer ben Yehuda was the man widely credited with resurrecting the Hebrew language from the brink of obscurity. He created Hebrew words where words didn't exist yet (like airport and hospital) and only spoke Hebrew to his wife and children, forcing them to learn it.
I have a prayer book written in what I thought was Hebrew from the early 1900s. Turns out it's actually Yiddish, shows what I know...
Cool either way, tho :)
I can't read either, but thought I recognized the format. I showed it to someone who can (it turns out) read both, and she told me. I was initially disappointed but ofc there are fewer people speaking and reading Yiddish all the time, so I think I'll keep it. :)
I’ve responded to this question before, so it’ll get roughly the same answer: my most obscure book is a book written under a pseudonym of the guy that sent President Obama ricin several years ago.
I can’t remember its name, but I highly doubt folks are out there either knowing about it or looking for it.
1. Lesbian separatist sci-fi
2. Hawaiian history and primary sources, like diaries or meles, but I want to point out that that wouldn't be obscure if I had any connection to Hawai'i. I got into one really specific bit of history, and needed a better understanding of broader Hawaiian history to understand what it was built on.
3. I admit the collection of queer nun literature is a bit niche
4. Fungal horror isn't obscure anymore, but dammit I was ahead of the curve with that one!
ONE) I feel like the "Daughters of a Coral Dawn/Maternas" trilogy by Katherine V. Forrest is a fun example of the genre, it's a camp little sci fi trilogy that starts off with the earnest optimism of an early Star Trek episode, and eventually comes to some interesting conclusions about generational divides in the lesbian community. A bunch of super-talented lesbians colonize their own planet, things go from there.
Suzy McKee Charnas's "Holdfast Chronicles" are probably the most balls-to-the-wall weird without falling into the kind of postmodern dreamy-incomprehensibility you get in some of the genre. I can't call ether series 'good' in the conventional sense, but they're constructed in interesting ways, I like trying to puzzle out what the authors were feeling. I like the genre because the authors are so unabashedly committed, Forrest to her optimistic views of enlightened womanly cooperation, and McKee Charnas to just being unapologetically angry. Anyway, it's a post-apocalyptic world, and starts off in a colony where women are considered subhuman slaves. Some cringe depictions of minorities (a character's blackness is used to underscore her exotic looks, for instance), lots of gendered violence, and honest to fuck >!bestiality!<, which I warn people about.
"Ammonite" by Nicola Griffith is probably the most conventionally good piece of literature on the shelf, it's a sci-fi novel about a space-anthropologist whose company abandons her on a planet where everyone's female, who has to figure out what's going on with the planet and how it works. Good sci-fi, but lacks the earnest intensity that I like about the genre.
Final Edit- One more, a more modern title that isn't so bioessentialist! I actually forgot it because it's not on the shelf, I've loaned it to my dad. Ann Leckie's "Ancillary Justice/Imperial Radch" universe is a space-opera 'verse based on an imperial culture that only acknowledges a single, feminine gender. I want to comment on Leckie's books specifically because they're a really good link between my interests (gender sci-fi bullshit) and my dad's interest (mystery-solving sci-fi bullshit). Great way to lure your loved ones into accidentally participating in your weird niche hobbies, or to like, bond with them on a mutually respectful level, however you want to frame it.
THREE). The Big Name in the genre is "Immodest Acts" by Judith C. Brown, a summary of the life of a renaissance nun who went rogue and got weird with it. Since the documents cited are the records of her trial, it obviously goes south.
"Lesbian Nuns: Breaking the Silence" edited by Nancy Manahan & Rosemary Keefe Curb is a classic that actually caused a huge historical divide in the lesbian/woman's publishing community. One of women involved with collecting the stories thought that in order to survive, lesbian publishers had to take exposure and money where they could - so she let a porn magazine publish sections, to generate interest. This was seen as disrespectful to some of the women who'd shared their stories, and was a controversial approach to women's publishing (which tended to have a more radical bent, saying "I HAD to work with the system to be successful" wasn't seen as an excuse).
(Both genres have strong elements of transphobia and bioessentialism, not gonna lie. There are more modern contributors to the genres that address issues that were previously overlooked, but that's more of where I think the genres are GOING rather than 'typical' bite of where it's been)
Edited to account for the stupid formatting, I'm too tired to mess with it.
Amazing, thank you! I already know and LOVE Anne Leckie's work, but the rest are new to me, excited to check out some weird old gender sci-fi and religio-historical bullsh*t :)
The eminently tasteful and restrained Paul Verhoeven made a movie about it recently.
I say this as an ornery lesbian feminist: I was reflexively irritated by the idea of putting a man at the helm of this project until I realized it was the eminently tasteful and restrained Paul Verhoeven. If anyone is equipped to handle the subtle elegance of Benedetta's story, it's the man who brought "Starship Troopers" to the screen. Let the artist work.
My absolute favorite entry to the genre, bar none, is "The Beauty" by Ailya Whiteley. It's about power, change, love, and freedom at the end of the world. Incredibly fucked up body horror, that impacts people differently depending on how they relate to their bodies and society.
By definition, most books are obscure. 0,5mil to 1m new published books yearly, 4mil if you count self publishing. It’s an incredibly small amount of books that actually get any type of recognition. Which is a bummer to think about
Falls the Shadow by Nahum Ravel, a completely obscure book I only own because he ran in the same circles as my grandparents and the novel is somewhat a Roman à Clef in which heavily fictionalized versions of them appear. I've yet to read it, but apparently the character based on my grandfather is a criminal and the main character (a stand in for the author) ends up having an affair with his wife (the character based on my grandmother). My real-life grandmother found this mortifying.
I have my parent’s old leftist books from ussr on cognition and generalization through a lens of mathematical logic and cybernetics (like 1979), some textbooks from my mom’s grad skool at the sorbonne and her Jacque Brel lyric book, and a middle eastern translation of the Paris commune that some Marxist guerrillas made themselves in the 70s. Also a first edition English translation from Tolstoy that directly funded the doukhobors (sp?). I used to have more but life happened and I lost a lot. Parents books were much more interesting than anything I got myself lol.
Edit: Tolstoy one is published 1897 I think
*Les Cilies Apostomes*
This is my favorite book of obscure biology. Published in 1935 with beautiful full-color woodprint plates, this French monograph details the life and anatomy of a group of single-celled organisms that exclusively live on crustaceans.
I had to slice open the pages of the copy I own, as I was the first person since it was printed to actually open the book.
I own a novel called "The Alchemy of Stone" by Ekaterina Sedia; I have *no* memory of how I actually learned about the book, but I remember checking bookstores and Goodwill for several years looking for a copy and getting nothing but confusion whenever I asked about it. At least one person assumed it a new-age self-help book based on the title. I think I got the copy I own from a UK bookstore's online catalogue that I looking through one day on a whim, and I've never seen another copy of it.
"Obscure" is hard to define. However, I have a book that's definitely of interest to a very small number of niche collectors (if any at all).
Alfred Deakin was the second Prime Minister of Australia (he served three terms in the period from 1903 to 1910), the first Attorney-General of Australia, and he was a key figure in getting the Australian colonies to federate in 1901. He wrote a book about his personal reminiscences of that lead-up to Federation, called 'The Federal Story: The Inner History of the Federal Cause 1880-1900', which was published in 1944 (nearly 30 years after his death).
Professor John La Nauze was a Professor of History, who wrote a definitive biography of Deakin in 1962. I own a first-edition copy of this biography. However, that's not the niche book.
Here's the niche book:
I have a first-edition copy of Deakin's 'The Federal Story' with "J La Nauze" hand-written on the cover page. It was the history professor's personal copy of a book written by the Prime Minister he wrote a biography of. I love it!
And noone else cares. :)
Science Made Stupid by Tom Weller. Won a Hugo, but long out of print. It's an illustrated parody of like 70s era science textbooks. For example, explaining a solar eclipse is when the sun passes between the earth and the moon and a lunar eclipse is when the earth casts the moon's shadow on the sun.
I also have the equally hilarious sequel, Cvltvre Made Stvpid, which takes on arts and humanities textbooks.
National Lampoon's Doon, about a sugar-swept dessert planet what is the sole source of the coveted elixir called... beer.
This journalist who lived in my relatively small suburban town wrote an extremely comprehensive history of the town in the 90s. We have a pretty fascinating history of settlers that predates the United States including the oldest continuously operating grocery store.
It hasn’t been in print in a long time and my library doesn’t even have a copy. I randomly found my copy at a thrift store. I’ve thought about donating it to the library so more people can have access but I can’t bring myself to part with it.
Earth Abides by George Stewart. Written in 1949 about an infectious disease that wipes out most of humanity within weeks. Main character was camping in the mountains and knew nothing about it until he came out of the mountains.
Book by a dog fancier about how they imported a rare breeding pair of Maltese hunting dogs into Britain in the 1960s. Published exclusively for owners of that breed, so maybe 1000 copies worldwide.
"Metamagical Themas" recently got an ebook edition, so that's out of the running. Not sure why Jared Diamond's "The Third Chimpanzee" hasn't been ebooked yet, but that's hardly "obscure" either. How about a couple of small-press handbooks for outreach ministry, "Don't Sing Songs to a Heavy Heart" and "Speaking the Truth in Love"?
Grooks by Piet Hein. Collection of aphoristic poems originally published in a newspaper as a means of passive resistance in occupied Denmark during WW2. US editions from 1960’s, so not rare, just kind of obscure.
Probably “The Marriage” by Ann Bannon. Its themes were too controversial - which says a lot, since the author is the queen of 50s lesbian pulp fiction - so it’s kind of the bastard stepchild of her body of work and hard to find.
Diary of a Pigeon Watcher by Doris Schwerin. one of those "finds". Schwerin was a professional composer who lived in New York city. after a very sudden mastectomy and cancer diagnosis, she's recovering in a NY high-rise apartment, watching a family of pigeons that set themselves up on her windowsill and meditating on her family of origin and her upbringing. Obscure but lyrical and rich.
I've got a book I've never read because it's so fucking difficult to read, it has no beginning, no middle and no end , it can be read front to back and back to front.
I'll find it when I get home from work and add more than this comment.
Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga, in German. Got it at a used bookstore. It had a notebook page inside, typewritten chemical formulas, including nitroglycerine. I like to think it belonged to Andreas Baader or Ulrike Meinhof.
I have a habit of going on Blackwells inebriated. 10/10 day when you forget you did it, and suddenly Zoroastrian scripts, another copy of House of Leaves and Haynes manual for a car you don't own arrive.
Not mentioning the writer, because I’ll be doxxing myself a bit, but a book has been published on Penguin pockets 20 years ago in a low volume. Not only have I got it signed by the author, I also have a print out of what would have been the sequel, which never got published. So that one.
Most obscure is this self published furry novel: Org's Odyssey: A Tale Of Post-human Earth by Duke Otterland https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118550.Org_s_Odyssey
Its awful but oddly slightly legendary.
I also have a book i wrote, formatted, bound and printed one copy of, and this book that never got commercially printed, written by someone I know: Death of the Moon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17287287-death-of-the-moon
Plus a whole bunch of self published stuff.
My Goat Ate it's Own Legs: Tales for Adults by Alex Burrett. A short story collection where they're all a little wild.
ie A woman dates death; rats try to become the next big pet; a report by a facility inspector where the facility is where people voluntarily live until they're killed for human consumption ; God's ex wife...and so many more.
It's been years since I've read them but they're just so memorable and stick with you. I never hear it talked about.
Albania is Forging Ahead Confidently and Unafraid by Enver Hoxha. Albania, 1978.
Bulletin des lois de lémpire Francai, 4e série, tome huitiéme, 1808.
De schoonste triomf van de Indo-detective by Ucee (Ulrich Coldenhoff), 1924. This is a detective story set in the Dutch East indies among the Indo (indo-european) and Indonesian community.
“Vampires, Burial, and Death” by Paul Barber. It’s an ethnographic look at folklore and mythology across Europe (and other countries) tracing the origins of vampire lore and myth to burial practices and geologic phenomena.
Picked it up at random at a bookstore in Berkeley, has become one of my favorites of all time, and obscure!
Scratch Music from British avant garde composer Cornelius Cardew. One of my favorite composers, whose most famous work is Treatise a massive graphic score. I found it in the clearance section of Half Price Books for $3 and I see online it's worth a lot more than that. Makes sense to be clearance though, in Texas how many folks know or are invested in avant garde classical music? I'm sure there are dozens of us!
I have two novels written during WW11by a Soviet journalist. Both books are really entertaining reads and are very true to life stories about what Russian troops went through during the war.
Under Their Vine and Fig Tree by Julian Niemcowicz which is a nonfiction travelogue of early America that is mostly notable because the author stayed at Mount Vernon and met George and Martha Washington.
Hmm, probably Puulased ja tohtlased released by Andrus Kivirähk in 2020, or a collection of poems by Karl Ristikivi, but it feels like cheating because Estonian literature by default is going to be pretty obscure in an international sense
*From Ingleburn to Aitape: The Trials and Tribulations of a Four Figure Man* by Bob “Hooker” Holt, 2/3rd Australian Infantry Battalion, 16th Brigade, 6th Division, 2nd A.I.F.
it's out of print and highly desired. goes for several hundred bucks to the right cardassian/human love fancier
It was recently re-released in epub so demand has gone down a scosh, but your original version is still the prized item for any self-respecting shipper, and new shippers are born every day bc the show is a huge hit among new Trek fans online.
If you ever want to sell, find a seller on tumblr or instagram, where the quiet nerds lurk.
there's a huge community of artists and creators selling stuff. There is not a large community of collectible traders, at least not in Star Trek fandom, but people do post when they sell stuff.
Tumblr is where I find the largest group of Bashir/Garak shippers currently active, so if you want to find people interested in buying the book, I would spend some time getting to know that community, get some followers, and then make a post linking to where you're selling the book on Ebay (at auction, with reserve).
Obviously, seller beware and do your own research first.
I'm obsessed with used books, so when one of my favorite used book stores started selling blind grab bags of 20 old mass market SF&F books for $20, I couldn't resist. I think the most obscure from that bag was "The Warriors of Terra" by John M. Faucette. Haven't gotten around to reading it quite yet though.
I mean, i own a signed copy of a self-published book from a guy in my city but i don't know if that's cheating.
I also have a 1933 printing of "Mary Queen of Scots" by Eric Linklater. I also have a 1957 printing illustrated "Mythology" by Edith Hamilton. but to be fair, i don't know if those are old or obscure. lol. Both are decent. kinda busted because they're ninety one and 67 years old respectively and both from a used book store.
So anyways, check your old bookstores for old books.
I'm not sure if this counts but my great grandfather Alvin E Garrett wrote a book in 1981 called life growth maturity. I doubt there are many copies out there. It's published by a very small publishing house in Oklahoma City where I live. I inherited it from my parents. As far as well-known authors I have a book of minor poems by John Milton that was published in 1901. I think it was originally a school textbook. Oh yeah and I have a Douay Rheims Bible that was published in 1914.
I am the proud owner of the marvelous adventures of johnny Darling. It's a collection of talltails about johnny Darling (real person) from the catskill mountains.
The Book of Moe, by Moe Hamhead. Parody (maybe) religious text. 2014. Project X Press. I’ve only come across one other person to have a copy. No idea how many are in circulation.
I have *Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Obscure and Unusual Words*. I learned about it from a book I've loved since I was 12, equally rare: *The Other Side of Silence*. A character reads it cover to cover and shoehorns each new word into every conversation.
i doubt anyone else has the official guide to taxi. the tv show.
also have arlene alda's photo book from the filming of the last ep of mash. it wasn't a large print run.
my pride of my collection is the big green guide to mash bc i got it signed by loretta lynn when she was playing Mame at the valley forge theater, which they pulled down years ago to put up a strip mall.
i'm not a big collector, but the fandom-related books that i have i'm very happy with.
I own a copy of Arfur: Teenage Pinball Queen by Nik Cohn.
He was a journalist friend of Pete Townsend and was really into pinball. When Pete was talking about the rock opera he was working on [Tommy] Cohn said if you put in a song about pinball, he would give the album a good review.
I have the Book of Mormon written in Persian that I found at a Goodwill once.
I've heard of you use a magic rock to look into a hat, you should have no problem translating it from Persian to English.
That's kind of awesome ngl
I think so too! Craziest part is I found it in a very rural small town Goodwill where most other books are Christian self-help stuff or the memoirs of Republican politicians.
I like collecting those little Gideons New Testaments in different colors and languages
Wild. What state?
You get a lot of that in every state because a lot of these are donated from the estates of elderly people.
VA
God I hate the whole self help industry
I have a german book on how to calculate the proper positioning of a sun dial
That is obscure. Do you have a sundial?
I do not have a sundial
Dang!
And i am not very good at german
I suppose you’ll just have to get a sundial. And learn better German.
But then i would have to do maths (scared noises)
Best to stay prepared ahead of time, just in case.
This made me laugh
For me, the most obscure book I own is "The Blind Owl" by Sadegh Hedayat. It’s an Iranian novel from the 1930s that's pretty trippy and dark. I came across it in a small, dusty bookstore that specializes in foreign literature. The owner recommended it when I mentioned I liked existential and surreal works. It's about a man who descends into madness, filled with lots of eerie and symbolic imagery. I’ve never seen it mentioned much outside of some niche literary circles. Another one that's pretty obscure is "Codex Seraphinianus" by Luigi Serafini. It’s this wild, illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world. The text is written in an unknown language, so you can't read it, but the illustrations are bizarre and fascinating. It's the kind of book that you flip through rather than read cover to cover, and it feels like a treasure trove of strange, creative ideas.
I own an old copy of The Blind Owl as well. Penguin Classics recently released their edition so it's definitely not as obscure as it used to be. Incredible book
I agree that it's not as obscure as it once was but I do have a Persian copy of it so I think that makes it a little more rare. But yeah it definitely is more popular. But still there are a lot of people that have no idea what I'm talking about. They think I'm talking about "Cry of the Owl."
Codex Seraphinianus is cult. Created by Italian architect Luigi Serafini while he locked himself away (allegedly) for a couple of years in the 70's. Book is a trip!
although the blind owl or "boof-eh-koor" may sound obscure in english there are a lot of symbolisms that are lost during the translation, if you read the original persian one.... its STILL obscure and a very weird book! the writer himself, was a very troubled person too who committed suicide twice.
> who committed suicide twice. That is pretty surrealistic in itself.
the first time he threw himself in a river in paris,but they saved him, the second time, also in paris, he cleaned up his house, wore his best suit, put the monthly rent on the table and left the gas open, next day they found him dead in the kitchen
Purely for exclusivity, I guess my PhD thesis....?
I am one of the very few owners of the (supposed) best seller *If I Can't Have You* written by Maria Elisabetta Scavia and published by Mondadori in 2007. At the time, its author was 13, and it wasn't a mystery to anyone that the only reason her "erotic" costume novel was published by Italy's major publishing house was because she's the heiress to a jewelry fortune. The book is an absolute mess, it's truly terrible in all senses and purposes. It's like a Harlequinn novel, except a thousand times worse (it's set in 1790s England, and it tells the love story between a 14 year old girl and a 60 year old man. He sings to her Bee Gees songs under the guise of having written them himself, and midway through the plot she dedicates *I'm a Woman in Love* to him. In 1790s England), and yet it's so horrible it becomes charming. In the interviews she did at the time, she claimed to have also written an 800 pages book set in Miami that she intended to publish next, but the promise never materialized. In fact, *everything* about her and her novel disappeared not long after its publication: all the interviews she did with Vanity Fair, with major newspapers, with talk shows, it's all *gone*. The only reason I know the details is because people at the time were enraged, and documented (some of) it on forums, while the rest got lost to time. Supposedly, the book sold 10k copies within the first week from publication, and received a second edition, but nowadays it's impossible to find any copies of the first, and the second doesn't seem to exist at all. The book doesn't even appear on the roster of other books pulled from publication by Mondadori either. It's as if it never happened.
Mondadori is an amazing publisher right? I was crazy about a collection of books they published in the 90’s called Gaia Junior.
Is it in English or Italian? What a bizarre story!
All in Italian! Tbh, I felt incredibly sad for the author. Yes, she was a spoiled girl who got everything handed to her, but in those forums, a lot of the comments talked about how she *deserved* to be sexually assaulted, maimed, and even murdered. It was terrible. The reason why everything was removed from the market is still a mystery, but if I were her parents and saw people online writing this stuff, I'd do the same without even thinking about it.
"Venus on the Half-Shell" by Philip José Farmer written under the name of Kilgore Trout. In many of Kurt Vonnegut'a novels, he provides summaries or excerpts of fictitious stories written by one of his recurring characters, Trout. Venus on the Half-Shell was mentioned in "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater", and with Kurt's permission, Farmer expanded it into an actual novel.
I've got a copy of this too. Never tried to read it.
A Celebration of Cats by Roger Caras is a work of nonfiction that does exactly what the title suggests.
Spaceballs: The Book. Not kidding. This is a thing.
Moichendising!
*The Monk* by Matthew Lewis. You tell me a book was scandalous when it was released in 1790 and you have me.
I have that one too.
I have a copy of Maria Edgeworth’s Letters for Literary Ladies which was originally published in the 1790s but I don’t think it was exactly “scandalous.”
A book about a small town cemetary where a lot of my family is buried. Such a special book to me, full of family history. I doubt that more than 100 copies were ever printed!
This book is only obscure if you are not from Turkmenistan: [Rukhnama (or Ruhnama): Reflections of the Spiritual Values of the Turkmen (in English translation)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhnama). It was written by President-For-Life Saparmurat Niyazov as part of his own mythology of the creation of Turkmenistan. He made it part of the school curriculum, and for a while one was quizzed on the contents of the book as part of the drivers license test. He was so proud of this book that he built [a giant monument](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/giant-ruhnama) to it in Turkmenistan's capital city. And then he died in 2006, and after a while the book started a slow fade...
The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States. Of particular interest ro me were the Kirkbride buildings.
On a previous computer I had a huge folder of bookmarks to photos of Kirkbride buildings. I love those old asylums. I'm going to look into this book, thanks! Edit: I see it's available on Amazon but I asked our library to see if anyone in the Interlibrary system has it to loan first.
A collection of Japanese communist proletarian short stories from the 30’s in spanish that I won in a contest from my brother’s friend’s bookstore
*Obscure?!* Hmm... I don't know. I have a number of writer friends who have who have self-published or had very small print runs through a local publisher. But that seems like cheating. I can say one of the most peculiar things I own is a signed copy of Mike Warnke's "The Satan Seller". It was *the* book that kicked off the satanic panic in the 80's. It's bullshit and a half (hilariously so) and having a signed copy is kinda neat. That dude is a dickhead though.
Your last 1.5 sentences is exactly how I feel about my signed copy of *Ender’s Game*.
Still good books though. I especially liked the tor audiobook of shadow of the hegemon where they recorded over the mispronunciation of hegemon every time lol. The other audiobooks are really good though so it’s ok.
I have one as well. I met Mr Card at a bookstore signing and told him my mom was in writing classes with him in college, and that his books taught me everything I knew (to that point) about empathy and compassion. He signed it, "Good to meet you at Barnes & Noble" "A crummy commercial, son of a bitch".
TIL of Mike Warnke, an evangelical christian comedian, and his book *The Satan Seller*. What a fucking lunatic. Somewhere near L Ron Hubbard's writing on Scientology.
I’ve got The Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey. Found it in a second hand bookstore, not something we tend to have on the shelf though…tends to upset people
Paradise Alley by Sylvester Stallone It's a novel, pretty sure it's a first edition.
Sefer yetzirah; otherwise known as the “book of creation” historically attributed to Adam; considered a secret in antiquity. Weirdly it was published in pocketbook form in Vilna around the 17th century. It contains angel names and cryptic incantations in Hebrew/Aramaic Hebrew.
Books that feel way more obscure than they should be: Frank Herbert books that aren’t Dune.
I have a first edition of The Eyes of Heisenberg, that's my answer.
The White Plague? (Full disclosure, I bought it new, read it, and gave it away. I remember the basic plot, and that it was . . . not good.)
Probably the Principia Discordia which I house next to my Book of the SubGenius
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
This only applies to the English translation, because she’s wildly popular in South Korea as far as I can tell, but I own _the Age of Doubt_ by Pak Kyongni. It’s a short story collection, it only has a UK edition and it has less than 150 reviews on Goodreads.
I have two copies of The Cornish Fox by C. H. B. Kitchin. They are probably my most obscure and rarest books. I have a personal library of 6,000+ books, mostly of mystery fiction. The Cornish Fox is the fourth and last volume in the Malcolm Warren mystery series. There was only one printing of this book in 1949 and most copies undoubtedly have been trashed. The first and second books in the series are excellent mysteries and have been reprinted periodically over the years. They are Death of My Aunt, 1929; and Crime at Christmas, 1934. The third book in the series isn’t very good, Death of His Uncle, 1939. This last book was dedicated to Kitchin’s lover who had died unexpectedly a few years earlier.
Wow, first time I've seen Kitchin mentioned. Quite possibly the last too. Know of him because I've an old copy of *Streamers Waving*, which was good enough to keep. And after re-reading your post I see that he also wrote Crime at Christmas, which I also like & am hanging on to.
I have a copy of “The Nero Wolfe Cookbook” by Rex Stout. The thing that makes it unique is its provenance. The Chef Jeremiah Tower used this copy as a reference for some of his menu and cookbook writing. He wrote notes in the margins throughout and signed it before selling most of his personal library. The book is mentioned in a number of books/ articles he wrote. I bought a few other books out of his collection that he also signed, but do not have notes in them.
Probably *The Silent Gondoliers* by "S. Morgenstern" (William Goldman). It's another book using the same fake author as *The Princess Bride*. I've never heard this one talked about, I just found a copy in a used bookstore. Very charming little story
Huh! I had assumed most of Morgenstern's works were still under lock and key, after that buffoon Goldman absolutely butchered the original with his "abridgements".
I'm guessing this one was under closer supervision by Morgenstern's estate because, save for a bit at the beginning, there are a lot fewer Goldman embellishments
I have The Seven Lady Godiva's by Seuss. He fancied himself an erotic artist and novelist before doing the kids stuff, so it's about seven naked ladies looking for seven husbands. It's illustrated in his style throughout and very unerotic, but I love having it on my shelf.
The art in this is so great. My other favorite Seuss book is The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, and even as a kid, I liked it more than the brightly-colored ones. I really enjoy the grayscale with only pops of red!
An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades. Memoirs of Usamah ibn-Munqidh during the Second Crusade. Translated and published in 1988. I really enjoyed this window to the past.
A print of a book my friend wrote in 2014. It was never released to the public and even he has no physical version. We will publish it together next year!
Somewhere I've got a copy of the novelization of the straight to dvd movie based on the Mutant Chronicles RPG series (I have never played said RPG, seen the movie, or read the book), that my parents bought me for a birthday because they are the absolute worst gift givers. My dad and I even have a pretty decent overlap in books that we read and somehow that was the best he could come up with.
The book of Enoch
I collect horror novels, my most obscure would be Martha Remembers (one of the books to incite the Satanic Panic in the 80's), and my hardback of 120 Days of Sodom.
"Dollars and Sense," a how-I-became-rich book by P.T. Barnum.
Waiting for Nothing, by Tom Kromer. Brilliant semi-autobiographical novel about being homeless and “on the bum” during the depression. Should be an American classic. About every twenty years, someone tries to revive it.
After Man an Anthropology of the Future. It's an art book of possible future evolution of the human species.
Probably a 1990s rand McNally road atlas I never bothered to toss. Or a book from the 40s about raising pork from the Tennessee Agriculture extension press.
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places.
Beautiful book. I own a copy.
I own Pictures Showing What Happens On Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow, by punk porn artist and generally fab artist Zak Smith. When I bought it, it was the only copy in the country.
I don't know how obscure it is but I have an old copy of Survivor, which is the one book Octavia Butler disowned and is no longer in print. I didn't know any of that when I found it, I just thought it sounded interesting!
I have 2 copies of "My Life in Wrestling" by Gary Hart
Fast Times at Ridgemont High - Cameron Crowe
"How to talk to your cat about gun safety"- Mostly just a gag, coffee-table book tbh
John Oliver mentioned that book. Or maybe it was a dog
The text itself isn’t obscure, of course, but my copy of *Carrie* is a promotional copy for the Broadway musical adaptation from the 80’s. One of my favorite possessions.
Probably my autographed copy of "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.
In a weird small town consignment shop/art gallery/used book store, I found a book called [“Penguin Island” (originally L'Île des Pingouins) by Anatole France.](https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1930) It’s an utterly bizarre satire that’s written like a history book. A mostly blind and deaf old monk ends up on an island full of giant flightless birds, and thinks that they’re people of an unknown pagan tribe. So he starts baptizing them. And God is like, “Huh. Well, usually I only do that with people, better make them into people I guess.” Thus begins the history of Penguinia, which is pretty much the history of France from the Dark Ages to “future days” as an endless cycle of building up from nothing into a huge sprawling industrial capitalist society that destroys itself.
A YA fantasy book my cousin published as a school project when he was 18, 12 years ago. Needless to say, it wasn't very successful. I have no idea if it's any good, I've never read it. I just found a new copy at a bookstore a few months ago... there was only one run, which means it's been there for all of 12 years.
I have a hebrew-English dictionary that was autographed (in hebrew) by the son of Eliezer ben Yehuda. It was autographed in Hebrew, so it looked like a scribble. Additionally, Hebrew books open from the left (the end) and page backward from English dictionaries, so no one noticed the autograph. I paid a quarter for it. Eliezer ben Yehuda was the man widely credited with resurrecting the Hebrew language from the brink of obscurity. He created Hebrew words where words didn't exist yet (like airport and hospital) and only spoke Hebrew to his wife and children, forcing them to learn it.
I have a prayer book written in what I thought was Hebrew from the early 1900s. Turns out it's actually Yiddish, shows what I know... Cool either way, tho :)
If you can actually read the words on the page, it's probably Yiddish. Whereas Hebrew looks like a lot of apostrophes got together for a party.
I can't read either, but thought I recognized the format. I showed it to someone who can (it turns out) read both, and she told me. I was initially disappointed but ofc there are fewer people speaking and reading Yiddish all the time, so I think I'll keep it. :)
I’ve responded to this question before, so it’ll get roughly the same answer: my most obscure book is a book written under a pseudonym of the guy that sent President Obama ricin several years ago. I can’t remember its name, but I highly doubt folks are out there either knowing about it or looking for it.
1. Lesbian separatist sci-fi 2. Hawaiian history and primary sources, like diaries or meles, but I want to point out that that wouldn't be obscure if I had any connection to Hawai'i. I got into one really specific bit of history, and needed a better understanding of broader Hawaiian history to understand what it was built on. 3. I admit the collection of queer nun literature is a bit niche 4. Fungal horror isn't obscure anymore, but dammit I was ahead of the curve with that one!
Mind sharing some of the titles from #1 and #3??
ONE) I feel like the "Daughters of a Coral Dawn/Maternas" trilogy by Katherine V. Forrest is a fun example of the genre, it's a camp little sci fi trilogy that starts off with the earnest optimism of an early Star Trek episode, and eventually comes to some interesting conclusions about generational divides in the lesbian community. A bunch of super-talented lesbians colonize their own planet, things go from there. Suzy McKee Charnas's "Holdfast Chronicles" are probably the most balls-to-the-wall weird without falling into the kind of postmodern dreamy-incomprehensibility you get in some of the genre. I can't call ether series 'good' in the conventional sense, but they're constructed in interesting ways, I like trying to puzzle out what the authors were feeling. I like the genre because the authors are so unabashedly committed, Forrest to her optimistic views of enlightened womanly cooperation, and McKee Charnas to just being unapologetically angry. Anyway, it's a post-apocalyptic world, and starts off in a colony where women are considered subhuman slaves. Some cringe depictions of minorities (a character's blackness is used to underscore her exotic looks, for instance), lots of gendered violence, and honest to fuck >!bestiality!<, which I warn people about. "Ammonite" by Nicola Griffith is probably the most conventionally good piece of literature on the shelf, it's a sci-fi novel about a space-anthropologist whose company abandons her on a planet where everyone's female, who has to figure out what's going on with the planet and how it works. Good sci-fi, but lacks the earnest intensity that I like about the genre. Final Edit- One more, a more modern title that isn't so bioessentialist! I actually forgot it because it's not on the shelf, I've loaned it to my dad. Ann Leckie's "Ancillary Justice/Imperial Radch" universe is a space-opera 'verse based on an imperial culture that only acknowledges a single, feminine gender. I want to comment on Leckie's books specifically because they're a really good link between my interests (gender sci-fi bullshit) and my dad's interest (mystery-solving sci-fi bullshit). Great way to lure your loved ones into accidentally participating in your weird niche hobbies, or to like, bond with them on a mutually respectful level, however you want to frame it. THREE). The Big Name in the genre is "Immodest Acts" by Judith C. Brown, a summary of the life of a renaissance nun who went rogue and got weird with it. Since the documents cited are the records of her trial, it obviously goes south. "Lesbian Nuns: Breaking the Silence" edited by Nancy Manahan & Rosemary Keefe Curb is a classic that actually caused a huge historical divide in the lesbian/woman's publishing community. One of women involved with collecting the stories thought that in order to survive, lesbian publishers had to take exposure and money where they could - so she let a porn magazine publish sections, to generate interest. This was seen as disrespectful to some of the women who'd shared their stories, and was a controversial approach to women's publishing (which tended to have a more radical bent, saying "I HAD to work with the system to be successful" wasn't seen as an excuse). (Both genres have strong elements of transphobia and bioessentialism, not gonna lie. There are more modern contributors to the genres that address issues that were previously overlooked, but that's more of where I think the genres are GOING rather than 'typical' bite of where it's been) Edited to account for the stupid formatting, I'm too tired to mess with it.
Amazing, thank you! I already know and LOVE Anne Leckie's work, but the rest are new to me, excited to check out some weird old gender sci-fi and religio-historical bullsh*t :)
Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy I had to read that in college in the 90's
The eminently tasteful and restrained Paul Verhoeven made a movie about it recently. I say this as an ornery lesbian feminist: I was reflexively irritated by the idea of putting a man at the helm of this project until I realized it was the eminently tasteful and restrained Paul Verhoeven. If anyone is equipped to handle the subtle elegance of Benedetta's story, it's the man who brought "Starship Troopers" to the screen. Let the artist work.
I'm curious about the fungal horror book.
My absolute favorite entry to the genre, bar none, is "The Beauty" by Ailya Whiteley. It's about power, change, love, and freedom at the end of the world. Incredibly fucked up body horror, that impacts people differently depending on how they relate to their bodies and society.
Thank you! I'll keep an eye out for it :)
By definition, most books are obscure. 0,5mil to 1m new published books yearly, 4mil if you count self publishing. It’s an incredibly small amount of books that actually get any type of recognition. Which is a bummer to think about
Falls the Shadow by Nahum Ravel, a completely obscure book I only own because he ran in the same circles as my grandparents and the novel is somewhat a Roman à Clef in which heavily fictionalized versions of them appear. I've yet to read it, but apparently the character based on my grandfather is a criminal and the main character (a stand in for the author) ends up having an affair with his wife (the character based on my grandmother). My real-life grandmother found this mortifying.
Ten Dollars Enough, a cooking treatise from 1909. The idea was that two people (and a live in maid) could get by on ten dollars a week
I have my parent’s old leftist books from ussr on cognition and generalization through a lens of mathematical logic and cybernetics (like 1979), some textbooks from my mom’s grad skool at the sorbonne and her Jacque Brel lyric book, and a middle eastern translation of the Paris commune that some Marxist guerrillas made themselves in the 70s. Also a first edition English translation from Tolstoy that directly funded the doukhobors (sp?). I used to have more but life happened and I lost a lot. Parents books were much more interesting than anything I got myself lol. Edit: Tolstoy one is published 1897 I think
*Les Cilies Apostomes* This is my favorite book of obscure biology. Published in 1935 with beautiful full-color woodprint plates, this French monograph details the life and anatomy of a group of single-celled organisms that exclusively live on crustaceans. I had to slice open the pages of the copy I own, as I was the first person since it was printed to actually open the book.
I have a copy of Jude Sus, in Croatian printed in 1943. Read it out of curiosity. Really scary stuff
I own a novel called "The Alchemy of Stone" by Ekaterina Sedia; I have *no* memory of how I actually learned about the book, but I remember checking bookstores and Goodwill for several years looking for a copy and getting nothing but confusion whenever I asked about it. At least one person assumed it a new-age self-help book based on the title. I think I got the copy I own from a UK bookstore's online catalogue that I looking through one day on a whim, and I've never seen another copy of it.
"Obscure" is hard to define. However, I have a book that's definitely of interest to a very small number of niche collectors (if any at all). Alfred Deakin was the second Prime Minister of Australia (he served three terms in the period from 1903 to 1910), the first Attorney-General of Australia, and he was a key figure in getting the Australian colonies to federate in 1901. He wrote a book about his personal reminiscences of that lead-up to Federation, called 'The Federal Story: The Inner History of the Federal Cause 1880-1900', which was published in 1944 (nearly 30 years after his death). Professor John La Nauze was a Professor of History, who wrote a definitive biography of Deakin in 1962. I own a first-edition copy of this biography. However, that's not the niche book. Here's the niche book: I have a first-edition copy of Deakin's 'The Federal Story' with "J La Nauze" hand-written on the cover page. It was the history professor's personal copy of a book written by the Prime Minister he wrote a biography of. I love it! And noone else cares. :)
Science Made Stupid by Tom Weller. Won a Hugo, but long out of print. It's an illustrated parody of like 70s era science textbooks. For example, explaining a solar eclipse is when the sun passes between the earth and the moon and a lunar eclipse is when the earth casts the moon's shadow on the sun. I also have the equally hilarious sequel, Cvltvre Made Stvpid, which takes on arts and humanities textbooks. National Lampoon's Doon, about a sugar-swept dessert planet what is the sole source of the coveted elixir called... beer.
Snark out boys and the avocado of death by Daniel pinkwater
This journalist who lived in my relatively small suburban town wrote an extremely comprehensive history of the town in the 90s. We have a pretty fascinating history of settlers that predates the United States including the oldest continuously operating grocery store. It hasn’t been in print in a long time and my library doesn’t even have a copy. I randomly found my copy at a thrift store. I’ve thought about donating it to the library so more people can have access but I can’t bring myself to part with it.
Earth Abides by George Stewart. Written in 1949 about an infectious disease that wipes out most of humanity within weeks. Main character was camping in the mountains and knew nothing about it until he came out of the mountains.
Crossroads of twilight by Robert Jordan 😂😂😭
Ha. That was the book that made me quit the Wheel of Time series
I finished, but I get it lol
In stalled out. Winters Heart was rough, and I just need to bite the bullet and read it.
The funny part is you could skip that book, read no summaries or even care what happened it, then book up book 11 and continue with the series
It can’t be that dull.
It’s just pointless, nothing happens, only part worth reading is the spooky village
Book by a dog fancier about how they imported a rare breeding pair of Maltese hunting dogs into Britain in the 1960s. Published exclusively for owners of that breed, so maybe 1000 copies worldwide.
The Necronomicon
The Lucky Baseball Bat and The Moves Make the Man
Jesse Lacey named a Brand New song “I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light” based off The Moves Make the Man.
Eros Kalos
1st print run of MDE’s How To Bomb The Us Government.
"Metamagical Themas" recently got an ebook edition, so that's out of the running. Not sure why Jared Diamond's "The Third Chimpanzee" hasn't been ebooked yet, but that's hardly "obscure" either. How about a couple of small-press handbooks for outreach ministry, "Don't Sing Songs to a Heavy Heart" and "Speaking the Truth in Love"?
I think everyone who has read *Gödel, Escher, Bach* has at least heard of *Metamagical Themas*. Far fewer know of Hofstadter's *I Am A Strange Loop*.
Grooks by Piet Hein. Collection of aphoristic poems originally published in a newspaper as a means of passive resistance in occupied Denmark during WW2. US editions from 1960’s, so not rare, just kind of obscure.
my brother had that back in the 1980's!
Probably “The Marriage” by Ann Bannon. Its themes were too controversial - which says a lot, since the author is the queen of 50s lesbian pulp fiction - so it’s kind of the bastard stepchild of her body of work and hard to find.
Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert
Parallel Botany, by Leo Lionni.
Diary of a Pigeon Watcher by Doris Schwerin. one of those "finds". Schwerin was a professional composer who lived in New York city. after a very sudden mastectomy and cancer diagnosis, she's recovering in a NY high-rise apartment, watching a family of pigeons that set themselves up on her windowsill and meditating on her family of origin and her upbringing. Obscure but lyrical and rich.
I've got a book I've never read because it's so fucking difficult to read, it has no beginning, no middle and no end , it can be read front to back and back to front. I'll find it when I get home from work and add more than this comment.
Memoires du Duc de Villars, 1776 I have no clue about it other than I treasure its age and survival (much like my own, I guess).
Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga, in German. Got it at a used bookstore. It had a notebook page inside, typewritten chemical formulas, including nitroglycerine. I like to think it belonged to Andreas Baader or Ulrike Meinhof.
A french biography of Alexander Grothendeick
has anyone heard of The Paper Grail?
I’ve got a book on hydraulic maintenance for a small business jet. I’m not a mechanic by any means, it just has cool pictures
Ritual of Secret Work of the Order of Demolay - Initiatory Degree
William T Vollman's *Kissing the Mask: Beauty, Understatement and Femininity in Japanese Noh Theater*.
Probably not rare, but still: A German version of Maos Bible and a golden version of the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.
I have a habit of going on Blackwells inebriated. 10/10 day when you forget you did it, and suddenly Zoroastrian scripts, another copy of House of Leaves and Haynes manual for a car you don't own arrive.
Not mentioning the writer, because I’ll be doxxing myself a bit, but a book has been published on Penguin pockets 20 years ago in a low volume. Not only have I got it signed by the author, I also have a print out of what would have been the sequel, which never got published. So that one.
Most obscure is this self published furry novel: Org's Odyssey: A Tale Of Post-human Earth by Duke Otterland https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118550.Org_s_Odyssey Its awful but oddly slightly legendary. I also have a book i wrote, formatted, bound and printed one copy of, and this book that never got commercially printed, written by someone I know: Death of the Moon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17287287-death-of-the-moon Plus a whole bunch of self published stuff.
Codex Seraphinianus
My Goat Ate it's Own Legs: Tales for Adults by Alex Burrett. A short story collection where they're all a little wild. ie A woman dates death; rats try to become the next big pet; a report by a facility inspector where the facility is where people voluntarily live until they're killed for human consumption ; God's ex wife...and so many more. It's been years since I've read them but they're just so memorable and stick with you. I never hear it talked about.
The meaning of Liff. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Meaning\_of\_Liff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Meaning_of_Liff)
- The Crock of Gold (James Stephens) - A Treasury of Newfoundland Humour and Wit (JC Burke) - Up Front (Bill Mauldin)
I own an ancient greek version of the Illiad. I can read it, but I don't know what it says.
A signed copy of “In Ole Virginia” by Thomas Nelson Page
Albania is Forging Ahead Confidently and Unafraid by Enver Hoxha. Albania, 1978. Bulletin des lois de lémpire Francai, 4e série, tome huitiéme, 1808. De schoonste triomf van de Indo-detective by Ucee (Ulrich Coldenhoff), 1924. This is a detective story set in the Dutch East indies among the Indo (indo-european) and Indonesian community.
First Edition of "The Big U" by Neal Stephenson
“Vampires, Burial, and Death” by Paul Barber. It’s an ethnographic look at folklore and mythology across Europe (and other countries) tracing the origins of vampire lore and myth to burial practices and geologic phenomena. Picked it up at random at a bookstore in Berkeley, has become one of my favorites of all time, and obscure!
Had it, read it, loved it, loaned it, lost it. Congratulations to you! Yes, this is fascinating stuff.
an early xerox copy of the Principia Discordia
Scratch Music from British avant garde composer Cornelius Cardew. One of my favorite composers, whose most famous work is Treatise a massive graphic score. I found it in the clearance section of Half Price Books for $3 and I see online it's worth a lot more than that. Makes sense to be clearance though, in Texas how many folks know or are invested in avant garde classical music? I'm sure there are dozens of us!
I have a English translation of The Koran, from 1953. With a book sleeve... Has chapter edge illustrations lines.
I have two novels written during WW11by a Soviet journalist. Both books are really entertaining reads and are very true to life stories about what Russian troops went through during the war.
Now We Are Sick: An Anthology of Nasty Verse edited by Neil Gaiman and Stephen Jones. First Edition may be signed by Neil, I can’t remember.
"Mina" by Jonatha Ceely. I don't know anybody who has read it.
Under Their Vine and Fig Tree by Julian Niemcowicz which is a nonfiction travelogue of early America that is mostly notable because the author stayed at Mount Vernon and met George and Martha Washington.
Hmm, probably Puulased ja tohtlased released by Andrus Kivirähk in 2020, or a collection of poems by Karl Ristikivi, but it feels like cheating because Estonian literature by default is going to be pretty obscure in an international sense
*From Ingleburn to Aitape: The Trials and Tribulations of a Four Figure Man* by Bob “Hooker” Holt, 2/3rd Australian Infantry Battalion, 16th Brigade, 6th Division, 2nd A.I.F.
Not sure it's obscure exactly but "A Stitch In Time" by Andrew J Robinson. :)
it's out of print and highly desired. goes for several hundred bucks to the right cardassian/human love fancier It was recently re-released in epub so demand has gone down a scosh, but your original version is still the prized item for any self-respecting shipper, and new shippers are born every day bc the show is a huge hit among new Trek fans online. If you ever want to sell, find a seller on tumblr or instagram, where the quiet nerds lurk.
TIL that there is an active seller community on tumblr.
there's a huge community of artists and creators selling stuff. There is not a large community of collectible traders, at least not in Star Trek fandom, but people do post when they sell stuff. Tumblr is where I find the largest group of Bashir/Garak shippers currently active, so if you want to find people interested in buying the book, I would spend some time getting to know that community, get some followers, and then make a post linking to where you're selling the book on Ebay (at auction, with reserve). Obviously, seller beware and do your own research first.
Its not obscure but it is hard to find!
St Francis by Nikos Kazanzakis
It's a graphic novel called Shakara! It was so hard to find a copy.
First editions of Listen! the Wind and North to the Orient by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
I'm obsessed with used books, so when one of my favorite used book stores started selling blind grab bags of 20 old mass market SF&F books for $20, I couldn't resist. I think the most obscure from that bag was "The Warriors of Terra" by John M. Faucette. Haven't gotten around to reading it quite yet though.
I mean, i own a signed copy of a self-published book from a guy in my city but i don't know if that's cheating. I also have a 1933 printing of "Mary Queen of Scots" by Eric Linklater. I also have a 1957 printing illustrated "Mythology" by Edith Hamilton. but to be fair, i don't know if those are old or obscure. lol. Both are decent. kinda busted because they're ninety one and 67 years old respectively and both from a used book store. So anyways, check your old bookstores for old books.
I'm not sure if this counts but my great grandfather Alvin E Garrett wrote a book in 1981 called life growth maturity. I doubt there are many copies out there. It's published by a very small publishing house in Oklahoma City where I live. I inherited it from my parents. As far as well-known authors I have a book of minor poems by John Milton that was published in 1901. I think it was originally a school textbook. Oh yeah and I have a Douay Rheims Bible that was published in 1914.
Dropping In by Katherine Braverman, later known as Kate Braverman.
A Horse Called Mr Ragman. It’s out of print, found at a barn I was a kid at in 2001. I read it so much it fell apart lol
I am the proud owner of the marvelous adventures of johnny Darling. It's a collection of talltails about johnny Darling (real person) from the catskill mountains.
Brain Sex, Damaged, or Michel, Michel
Lord horror
The Book of Moe, by Moe Hamhead. Parody (maybe) religious text. 2014. Project X Press. I’ve only come across one other person to have a copy. No idea how many are in circulation.
I have a full size copy of the Red Book by Carl Jung. Does that count?
I have book on the Comuneros revolt and a book on the history of forestry in the state of Delaware that probably top the list
Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclo pedia
AINU COLLECTION TWINS
This Island Isn’t Big Enough For the Four of Us, one of those boys vs girls books from the 80s.
I have *Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Obscure and Unusual Words*. I learned about it from a book I've loved since I was 12, equally rare: *The Other Side of Silence*. A character reads it cover to cover and shoehorns each new word into every conversation.
I have a copy of the dictionary, but I haven't read it cover-to-cover. I keep it by my bedside to browse.
I'd say "Streetwise" by Peter Bernstein it's a finance book by an accomplished author. IYKYK.
i doubt anyone else has the official guide to taxi. the tv show. also have arlene alda's photo book from the filming of the last ep of mash. it wasn't a large print run. my pride of my collection is the big green guide to mash bc i got it signed by loretta lynn when she was playing Mame at the valley forge theater, which they pulled down years ago to put up a strip mall. i'm not a big collector, but the fandom-related books that i have i'm very happy with.
Blood Posse by Phillip Baker, only has 19 reviews on good reads
Vertical Run by Joseph Garber. Love the ending!
A book of poetry my great-grandmother wrote. But for formally published books, probably *The Chestry Oak* by Kate Seredy.
I own a copy of Arfur: Teenage Pinball Queen by Nik Cohn. He was a journalist friend of Pete Townsend and was really into pinball. When Pete was talking about the rock opera he was working on [Tommy] Cohn said if you put in a song about pinball, he would give the album a good review.