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FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about Lyra's Books, our Imprints, the Rights system and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about Lyra’s Books, our two imprints, the rights system and how our sales work.
We’ll add to this page as new questions come up. If you have a question that isn’t answered here, please get in touch through our Contact page.
Imprints
About the two Lyra's Imprints
Lyra’s Classics and Lyra’s Press are two separate imprints under Lyra’s Books.
Lyra’s Classics focuses on fine press editions of classic, public-domain works. We work with contemporary artists to create new illustrated editions of these books.
Lyra’s Press focuses on more contemporary titles, including works which are not in the public domain. These editions may feature author signatures and can take a more varied approach to their design and binding.
Both imprints produce limited editions of hand-bound, letterpress-printed books, but the design, materials and number of copies may vary from title to title.
The two imprints allow us to publish very different kinds of books without asking collectors to follow a single series.
They also have separate rights systems. This means that having rights to a Lyra’s Classics book does not give you rights to a Lyra’s Press book, and vice versa.
Lyra’s Classics publishes Numbered and Lettered editions. There is no Standard edition.
The Numbered edition will generally contain around 200–300 copies, depending on the title, with 26 Lettered copies.
Lyra’s Press also publishes Numbered and Lettered editions, although the number of copies may vary from title to title. There will always be 26 Lettered copies, with the Numbered edition generally starting from 200 copies.
Very rarely, Press titles may also have a Standard edition, depending on the project.
There is no fixed publishing schedule. We work on a small number of projects at a time, and each book can take several years to complete.
We would like to publish new titles regularly, but the time required to commission artwork, print, bind and finish each edition means that there may sometimes be substantial gaps between releases.
Rights
What Rights Mean, and Which Books Have Them
Some Numbered and all Lettered copies come with rights to the next book in the same imprint.
If you own a copy with rights, you will be given the opportunity to purchase the corresponding copy of the next book before it is offered through the public sale/Purchase Registration.
For example, if you own Numbered copy 42 with rights, you will be offered Numbered copy 42 of the next book in that imprint.
Lettered rights work in the same way: if you own Letter A, you will be offered Letter A of the next book.
Yes.
Lyra’s Classics and Lyra’s Press have completely separate rights tracks. Having rights to a book in one imprint does not give you rights to a book in the other.
The number of rights copies is different for each imprint.
For Lyra’s Classics, Numbered copies 1–150 have rights. Copies numbered 151 onwards do not have rights.
For Lyra’s Press, Numbered copies 1–200 have rights. Copies numbered 201 onwards do not have rights.
All Lettered copies have rights.
This means that there are always copies available to customers who are new to Lyra’s Books or who do not hold rights.
We want to make sure that our books remain available to new and occasional customers as well as long-term collectors.
By limiting the number of Numbered copies with rights, we can give existing collectors the opportunity to maintain matching sets while still keeping copies available for public sale.
No. Standard editions do not have rights.
Standard editions are only produced for a very small number of Lyra’s Press titles, and they are not part of the rights system.
No. Rights cannot be transferred to another person.
Rights are attached to the original purchaser and cannot be bought or sold separately.
If you sell a book which has rights attached to it, the rights do not pass to the new owner.
If you decide not to purchase the book offered to you through your rights, that copy will become available for the public sale.
Once you choose not to exercise your rights for the next book, you will no longer hold rights to that corresponding copy.
This gives other customers an opportunity to purchase copies which have not been taken up by existing rights holders.
Classics
Lyra’s Classics Rights
All Lettered copies have rights.
For the Numbered edition, copies 1–150 have rights.
Rights holders will be contacted before the public sale of each new Classics title and offered the opportunity to purchase their matching copy.
Rights are attached to specific copies rather than being something you apply for separately.
If a rights holder chooses not to purchase their copy of the next Classics title, that copy becomes available through Purchase Registration.
Customers who do not already hold rights can therefore register for any copies made available through the public sale.
Numbered copies 151 onwards do not have rights, but are available through the public sale.
Lettered copies which become available because an existing rights holder has not exercised their rights can also be offered through Purchase Registration.
Press
Lyra’s Press Books and Rights
All Lettered copies have rights.
For the Numbered edition, copies 1–200 have rights.
Rights holders will be contacted before the public sale of each new Press title and offered the opportunity to purchase their matching copy.
There are no rights for Standard editions.
Rights are attached to specific copies rather than being something you apply for separately.
If a rights holder chooses not to purchase their copy of the next Press title, that copy becomes available through Purchase Registration.
Customers who do not already hold rights can register for copies made available through the public sale.
Numbered copies outside the rights range do not have rights, but are available through the public sale.
Lettered copies which become available because an existing rights holder has not exercised their rights can also be offered through Purchase Registration.
No.
Standard editions are not part of the rights system. They are produced for Press titles very rarely and are sold separately from the Numbered and Lettered editions.
Orders and Purchase Registration
Other Questions Related to Orders
Purchase Registration is the way we allocate copies when demand is likely to exceed the number of books available.
During a stated registration period, customers can register if they genuinely intend to purchase a copy.
If the number of registrations does not exceed the number of copies available, everyone who registers will be offered a copy.
If there are more registrations than copies available, the available copies will be allocated at random.
Purchase Registration means that everyone has an equal opportunity to purchase a copy, regardless of their location, time zone, internet connection or how quickly they can complete a checkout.
• There is one registration per household for each Purchase Registration.
• If the Numbered and Lettered editions are available for Purchase Registration at the same time, you may register for one copy of each edition.
• Multiple registrations for the same edition will be removed, and anyone found to have made multiple registrations may be banned from that Purchase Registration.
• Repeated attempts to make multiple registrations may result in being banned from future Purchase Registrations.
• Please only register if you genuinely intend and are able to purchase the book.
• You cannot register for an edition if you are already a rights holder for that edition and imprint.
Yes.
If both editions are available through Purchase Registration, you may register once for the Numbered edition and once for the Lettered edition.
However, you cannot make more than one registration for either edition.
You cannot register for another copy of an edition for which you already hold rights.
For example, if you already hold rights to a Numbered copy, you cannot register for another Numbered copy of that title. You may, however, register for a Lettered copy if one is available and you do not already hold rights to a Lettered copy.
We want Purchase Registration to give everyone an equal opportunity to purchase a copy.
To help ensure this, there is one registration per household, duplicate registrations are removed, and existing rights holders cannot register for another copy of an edition they already have rights to.
Where there are more registrations than copies available, copies are allocated at random.
If your registration is selected, we will contact you by email, usually within 48 hours of the registration closing. The email will let you know whether you have been offered a rights or non-rights copy and ask whether you would like to proceed with your purchase.
You will have 48 hours to respond. If we do not hear from you within that time, your copy will be offered to another customer.
If you confirm that you would like to proceed, we will send you an invoice.
Our editions are produced in very small numbers, and demand can sometimes be much greater than the number of copies available. We believe Purchase Registration is the fairest way to give everyone an equal opportunity to purchase a copy.
It means that your chance of being offered a copy does not depend on where you live, your time zone, how quickly you can respond, or whether our website happens to cope with a large number of people trying to buy at the same time.
If the number of registrations does not exceed the number of copies available, everyone who registers will be offered a copy. If there are more registrations than copies available, copies will be allocated at random.
Any copies remaining after the Purchase Registration has closed may later be offered through the website shop pages.
We will always do our best to match numbers where possible and if requested, but we cannot guarantee this for copies without rights.
For example, if you purchase Numbered copy 225, that copy does not have rights. If you later purchase a rights copy of the next book, numbered 1–200, we cannot match your previous number because the rights copies are from a different number range.
Purchasing More Than One Copy
How the Lottery system works, and why
Customers may purchase one Numbered copy and one Lettered copy of a title, subject to availability and the rules of the relevant Purchase Registration or Rights Holder sale.
If copies remain after the initial sale, we may remove these limits.
Customers may purchase one Numbered copy and one Lettered copy of a title, subject to availability and the rules of the relevant Purchase Registration or Rights Holder sale.
If copies remain after the initial sale, we may remove these limits.