What Is a Novelty Book?

A novelty book is a publication whose unusual premise, format, subject or presentation is a major part of its appeal. It may be funny, surprising, collectible, giftable or intentionally strange.

Why people buy novelty books

As funny or unexpected gifts
Because the premise is memorable
As conversation pieces
For collectors of unusual books
Because the physical object is part of the joke

Novelty and literature can overlap

A novelty premise does not automatically prevent a work from being literary. Some novelty books deliberately use literary form, repetition or conceptual constraints to question what a book can be.

An Archive example

EW is designed as both a novelty/gag object and a conceptual literary experiment.