There have been complaints recently about the rising prices of books, exclaiming that reading books has become "luxurious." And as a matter of fact, without exaggeration some books are truly luxury goods, unaffordable for ordinary readers.

Recently, the limited and numbered copies of a new book by Dong Qiao, a writer in Hong Kong and publisher of Apple Daily, was auctioned for the high price of 5,500 yuan ($888) on a second-hand book website. It reminded people that some books are becoming, or being purposely designed as luxury goods.

"As the readership gets hierarchical gradually, the emergence of such [luxurious] books means a change toward diversification to meet different demands," Yu Xiaoqun, a senior publisher and director of Dolphin Books, told the Global Times.

Sky-high price

Published by Oxford University Press recently, Cremona's Moonlight is a collection of Dong Qiao's essays. Besides ordinary copies, 100 limited editions were published with serial numbers, bound in leather by Germany's Wintan Safia and bearing the writer's autograph and seal.

As reported, the 100 leather-covered hardbacks started to get auctioned on kongfz.com, a website platform for the transaction of books, since March 28. About 10 books were sold per day and by April 9 all 100 copies were sold out.

Among them, the No.1 copy was auctioned for 5,500 yuan and the auction price for the 100th reached 3,500 yuan, making the auction price for the total 100 books total 200,000 yuan. It is reported that the hammer price was no less than 2,000 yuan on average.

Han Yuesi, who is in charge of marketing at kongfz.com, told The Beijing News that the website invited Oxford Press to make the 100 limited versions after learning that a new book would be published.

In 2012, Dong Qiao at 70 was published by Dolphin Books and included limited editions with cowhide covers and a special design. The 100 numbered copies were auctioned at kongfz.com with 500 yuan as the trigger price. The No.1 edition was auctioned at 5,220 yuan and all the others fell between 1,000 and 4,000 yuan.

Han said that kongfz.com is still in the trial stages of auctioning new books, regarding it a new thing in the middle of development. But she is optimistic about its prospects, believing that beautiful bindings will endow paper books more value beyond content and meet book-lovers' demands.

Yu agreed. "Such books were priced high because they are costly in design, production and materials. They are not for ordinary readers, but for collectors of hardbacks and the fans of Dong," he said, "Just like paintings, there is a market for contemporary writers now."

For many years, there has been no shortage of expensive books but most of them are old and rare classics or books by deceased writers. It was not until recent years that the price of works by contemporary writers began to soar to unbelievable heights.

Select few

In 2010, young writer Guo Jingming put forward limited editions of his new novel Ages below Critical: Mark of the Cavalier alongside the paperbacks, each priced at 268 yuan, and the 40,000 copies were reportedly sold out soon after publication.

Before long, another famed writer Han Han released his new novel 1988: I Want to Talk with the World, with 100 limited copies made of carbon fiber, each priced at 988 yuan, with 10 grams of gold attached as a present. It is reported that the auction at his bookstore online once pushed the price to 7,000 yuan.

Jia Pingwa, a heavyweight in Chinese literature, also joined by publishing 8,888 limited editions of his collection in 2010, which includes all the novels, essays, prefaces and postscripts written by Jia up to 2009. Consisting of 21 volumes, the collection was priced at 2,980 yuan.

While such examples have been increasing in recent years, Yu said only a few are suitable for this market due to strict conditions.

"Books of limited versions are usually highly individualized. They are important works by very famous writers and are delicately made," Yu told the Global Times. "It depends on various subtle factors, the author's personality, popularity, the content of the book, and so on," adding that writers like Jia and Han have fixed readership and fans.

But Yu pointed out that it is a trend that some contemporary writers' books will grow into luxuries, rising from the mass market. "It is something worth encouraging in today's depressed publishing market," he said.

Reader's choice

Such luxurious books, though highly valued by some publishers and buyers, used to arouse much controversy. Some said high prices are just publicity stunts while others criticized the prices are making literature too aristocratic and far away from ordinary people.

But as many insiders pointed out, such practice will not affect the market for ordinary readers as long as there are paperback copies as well. "It is noted that most limited versions of books go along with paperbacks, so there is no conflict between them," said Yu. "People can choose what they want based on different needs."

It is a tradition in China to collect books. That's where the market for limited high-priced versions of books lies. A university scholar named Shi Baohui told the Global Times that his biggest hobby is to collect various versions of hardbacks of limited editions.

He has collected all the hardbacks of Jia's works, including the limited edition of Old Furnace, hardbacks of the complete works of Mo Yan, Louis Cha's hardbacks, and so on.

"The refined ones are for collecting. I hesitate to read them and usually buy cheap versions for reading," he said.

According to Yu, the appearance of so-called luxury books just provides more choices for the readers. "It is a natural result of the development of the book market," he said, "why can't books become luxuries as well?"

Besides luxurious masterworks, fine books with a personal touch that are suitable for collecting and provide a unique reading experience are also regarded by publishers as one way to deal with the pressure from e-books.

As a publisher, Yu revealed that he has been trying to explore the value of books beyond content. "We are making hardbacks and picture books that cannot be replaced by e-books," he said, adding that he even has considered customizing books to various readers' demands.

"The high-priced books will not affect the publishing pattern. More hard-covers will appear to be an important category of paper books," Yu said, "It is a good thing to get diversified to meet different demands."