Answer

The books housed at NYU Special Collections are treated differently from the regularly circulating library books for several reasons. They may be part of a collection of works documenting a specific subject or idea, and as such we want them to be available in the context of a collection. The editions we have may be special for other reasons: the item may be a first edition of which there are limited quantities; the copy may have belonged to the author (“association copy”), or have been presented by the author to a significant person (“presentation copy”), or may represent a significant edition for other reasons.