Beautiful (and available/affordable) oversized books

I posted this a few weeks ago as an OT post on the Folio Society group before discovering this one. I think the question probably fits better here than anywhere else.

"I've had a handful of oversized books precariously balanced on shelves and thought it was time they received a shelf of their own. The only problem is that the shelf is 60% bare, so I need to find some friends for these volumes.

Currently on the shelf are:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (folio society edition - not particularly huge, but too big for other shelves)
Audobon's Birds of America - Baby Elephant Folio
Magic 1400s-1950s
The Circus Book: 1870-1950
The Secret Teachings of All Ages
Codex Seraphinianus"

There were several great suggestions from that thread, which can be found here

Do you folks have any other suggestions? I have about a foot and a half of shelf space left!

Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics can be had pretty cheaply and is nice. I'll try to think of more.

Well, you obviously know about Taschen. My gem from them is Atlas Maior of 1665. Whether it's affordable or not can of course be discussed, but it's not prohibitively expensive.

Then there are many old delicious sets of encyclopediae to be had second-hand for a pittance.

Well, the Largest book in my library is The Times Atlas which I got as a re-signup deal from The Folio Society. I also think it is quite attractive.

My second largest is a beautiful book on Dinosaurs I got in a sale. I'll edit this post when I find it.

ETA. Dinosaurs

Of course you might find these books relatively cheaply,
BUT the postage will probably be hell. I looked at #2's suggestion, which looks interesting to me, but I shudder what the postage to Australia would be.

And Book Depository (since it was taken over by Amazon)
'strangely' doesn't seem to carry oversize books anymore.

The Joseph Campbell series on mythology are 14" tall, interesting and affordable. Hula Kahiko by Kim Taylor Reece, also 14" and under $50. So jshorr, if you gave us a little more info such as maximum and minimum acceptable height and your conception of affordable we would probably trip over each other with suggestions.

As for height, the shelf currently is set to 17". I *may* be able to adjust it to 18" with some rearrangement, but I'm not sure.

As for price, in general I'd love to be under $50. That said, I am gladly paying 70$+ for the Chester River Iliad & Odyssey and gladly paid $150 for Codex Seriphinious. In other words, $50 and under 17" in general, but I would bend those rules for particularly amazing specimens.

Which Campbell edition? I have a couple of his (Power of Myth and Hero with a Thousand Faces), but both are standards sized books...

Jeremy

Trouble for Trumpets by Peter Dallas Smith. Be on the lookout for it at thrift stores and used bookstores, although online it can go for as high as $90.

interesting discussion here- I find that the nicest oversized books are often art books and then books on cartography. I have listed all my map books in my cartography section though size is not a specific criterion. Also if you are looking for gorgeous books ( and often at a very fair price) start a collection on books of reproductions of illuminated manuscripts - again see my collection in my catalogue. I find that sometimes the book dealers regard these as too esoteric and do not price exorbitantly.

This is a rather delightful problem. May I suggest having a long conversation with the folks at the Strand in New York? They are extremely helpful and would probably love to stroll over to the "sale" table and tell you what's under 17" and $50.

http://www.strandbooks.com

There is David Wilson's The Bayeux Tapestry; I don't know how much the original edition goes for these days, but there is a Thames & Hudson reprint that's available on Amazon.

A few of my favorite Taschens:
The Book of Plants
Maria Sibylla Merian: Insects of Surinam
Garden of Eden (there are both larger and smaller editions of this book)
Karl Blossfeldt: The Complete Published Work

For other botanical illustrations:
Orchids Mark Griffiths (there are several editions of this)
Tulipa Christopher Baker
The Illustrated Herbal Wilfred Blunt (there are apparently different editions of this, too; mine measures 12-1/4 inches high)

I just found this thread recently. Big books? Go for Atlases. They are detailed, many have lots of color and they come in all ages from real old - well 1863 isn't real old - to the current time. I built special shelves in my library just for them. As usual I didn't build enough but what else is new. . .

anyone interested in the Bayeux Tapestry .. Had a lucky find of a National Geographic book called The Age of Chivalry Published in 1969 and this has a lovely fold out section reproduction of the Bayeux Tapestry. Not particularly an Oversized book. Going in the other direction , King Penguin did a book on the Bayeux Tapestry and I am sure there are a good many other reproduction. the National Geographic is particularly nice because of its binding and other good illustrations . it was aimed at a mass market but doubt that they would produce such a book today . I see that it goes for as little as 52 cents on Amazon but not sure about the condition of those. Hence is an inexpensive work to add to collections, whether you pay 52 cents or $5!

If you ever make it to Bayeux, get La Tapisserie De Bayeux - Complete Reproduction 1/7 they sell there.