Realized I was buying banned books from the wrong seller for 2 years

I've been collecting challenged titles since I moved to Cleveland in 2022, and I thought I was being clever by ordering them off a big online marketplace. Turns out, half the books I thought were 'banned editions' with cool covers were just regular reprints from a third-party seller who didn't care about censorship at all. The tipping point was when I ordered a copy of 'The Handmaid's Tale' and it came with a book club discussion guide pasted inside, which no actually banned copy would have. A friend who works at a used bookshop pointed out that the real banned versions usually have library markings or publisher stickers from countries like Malaysia or India. Now I only buy from a small importer in Toronto that specializes in international editions, and the $15 difference per book is worth it for the authenticity. Has anyone else accidentally bought fake 'banned' versions before realizing what to look for?

2 comments

2 Comments

briancampbell1mo agoMost Upvoted

Youre overthinking this. Banned books are just books with a sticker from some school district in Texas. Paying extra for a Malaysian edition is cosplay. Read the damn thing and move on.

margaretw4129d ago

Wait, is that like when I thought I was buying vintage vinyl pressings online but they turned out to be reissues from 2019 with a coffee stain on the cover to make them look old? That Toronto importer thing sounds way more legit than my record guy who just charges extra for dirt.