Bibliotheca

Most books are hand-copied. This is an exacting and painstaking process. For books with any pictures, a talented artist must be employed to reproduce them. This labour cost is what drives most of the price of books. The considerations of vellum versus paper or whether to illuminate are lesser factors of concern. Some manuscripts are made more quickly and cheaply with woodblock prints, but this produces lower quality pages, and has a much more involved setup. Moveable type presses are still quite new, expensive, and limited.

Agriculture. . . . . 18₲


 * ————Usually a copy of one of the books from Caerwyn

Almanac. . . . . 9₲

Art book, black & white. . . . . 33₲

Art book, full colour. . . . . 72₲

Atlas. . . . . 66₲

Biography. . . . . 21₲

Blueprint. . . . . 60₲


 * ————This is a specialised form of spell scroll for technomancers. Even though it's mostly a picture of the finished product, few people would be able to even recognise the object, much less decipher the rest of the blueprint.

Children's book. . . . . 6₲

Classic literature, concise. . . . . 9₲

Classic literature, Tolstoyish. . . . . 42₲

Comedy. . . . . 12₲

Cookbook. . . . . 15₲

Craft & industry. . . . . 12₲

Economics & management. . . . . 36₲


 * ————Found in the library beyond fiction

Encyclopaedia, set. . . . . 180₲

Encyclopaedia, single. . . . . 66₲

Fine arts. . . . . 42₲

Formulary. . . . . 96₲


 * ————Alchemists are rather more likely to trade spells (in the form of alchemical formulae) than are most mages.

Graphic novel. . . . . 24₲

Health & medicine. . . . . 54₲

History, dramatic. . . . . 15₲


 * ————In our world we seem to prefer history books that are rather dry, filled with dates and statistics. Midianites like their histories with a little more spice. A popular form--if not always 100% accurate--is to tell the story with a little dramatic flair and dialogue, in the style of dramatic fiction.

History, military. . . . . 16₲10

History, specific region or time. . . . . 24₲

Index. . . . . 12₲


 * ————Books about books are surprisingly popular. Just about any sort of list about lists will do well.

Instruction book. . . . . 52₲10


 * ————This manual walks you through a task, step by step. They are written in simple, easy to understand language, typically with helpful illustrations. They are also rather uncommon. A well-written one even rarer.

Journal, blank. . . . . 6₲


 * ————Other than perhaps a 'this book belongs to' space, this book's pages are empty.

Journal, juicy. . . . . 21₲


 * ————Sometimes it's not who wrote the diary, but what they wrote. This is a someone's personal diary--not intended for your prying eyes--containing lots of exciting &/or prurient details of their lives.

Journal, noteworthy. . . . . 16₲10


 * ————Many people of interest or historic import kept journals. These can be personal, professional, or both. This book is a copy of one of these journals belonging to an important person.

Journalism. . . . . 24₲


 * ————This is a collection of news-type articles compiled and edited for posterity.

Law. . . . . 72₲


 * ————In Formour a single volume can cover pretty much everything. In Byzant you'd need a shelf full of these just to cover the legalities of practicing law as a profession.

Metaphysics & occult. . . . . 27₲

Novel, barbarian fantasy. . . . . 5₲8

Novel, drama. . . . . 5₲14

Novel, fantastic. . . . . 10₲4


 * ————Not as a synonym for 'great' but rather as a cognate of 'fantastical' or 'fantasy'. These are books where wild craziness are frequent occurances, the sort of thing one might expect in a children's book, but these are serious books for grownups (though not always).

Novel, historic. . . . . 13₲4

Novel, horror. . . . . 11₲8

Novel, mystery. . . . . 9₲18

Novel, popular. . . . . 19₲10

Novel, romance. . . . . 9₲12

Novel, speculative fiction. . . . . 10₲16


 * ————Includes what we divide between sci-fi and fantasy

Novel, spy. . . . . 11₲2


 * ————A rapidly growing genre, in Midian these are are almost always light comedies with a murder mystery embedded within.

Observational. . . . . 36₲


 * ————This is the sort of 'how I see the world and you should too' crap that floods bookstores. The more famous the author (especially fame other than as a writer) the more likely they are to write a book like this.

Philosophy. . . . . 19₲10


 * ————There are a few of these that have not yet been hollowed out for bong-hiding purposes.

Poetry, epic saga. . . . . 15₲

Poetry, good. . . . . 12₲

Poetry, typical. . . . . 6₲

Reference, dictionary or thesaurus. . . . . 24₲


 * ————The thesaurus is your friend, ally, amigo, buddy, chum, cohort, companion, comrade, crony…

Reference, other. . . . . 27₲

Reference, tables. . . . . 30₲

Reference, translation dictionary. . . . . 36₲


 * ————Indispensable for learning phrases for situations that will never ever occur. "I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines." Or, "My hovercraft is full of eels."

Reference, travel guide. . . . . 21₲

Religious text, Book of the Cannon. . . . . 30₲


 * ————This is the bible of the Temple of Light church. It is also the most common book in all of Midian.

Religious text, primary. . . . . 39₲


 * ————This is the bible for another church.

Religious text, secondary. . . . . 30₲


 * ————Secondary religious works are holy books apart from the main text, such as apocrypha.

Religious text, supplemental. . . . . 24₲


 * ————Any supportive volume for the faithful, such as a concordance or prayer guide

Religious text, theology. . . . . 27₲


 * ————This is a more scholarly text than religious, and may include information on multiple faiths.

Roleplaying game, main text. . . . . 24₲


 * ————Even in a roleplaying game, people can play roleplaying games. But the people in those games don't: that would be silly.

Roleplaying game, splatbook. . . . . 15₲


 * ————We at Lost Souls Publishing are holding our costs down far below this benchmark… for you.

Science. . . . . 60₲

Social science. . . . . 51₲

Song book, artist's. . . . . 30₲


 * ————These are the collected works of a single musician, composer, or band.

Song book, hymnal. . . . . 24₲

Song book, popular. . . . . 36₲


 * ————Contemporary popular songs by a number of artists

Song book, standards. . . . . 27₲

Spellbook, descriptive. . . . . 75₲


 * ————A descriptive spellbook does not contain instructions in magic. They are reference works (some for practitioners of the art and some for lay folk) that describe spell effects, noteworthy ritual components, pictures of runes, et cetera. These books exist both for general magic lore and for specific magic types.

Spellbook, grimoire. . . . . 150₲


 * ————Think of this as the end result of an apprentice's workbook. A mage's grimoire are her personal notes for her own spellcraft. Though some magical insight or spell fragments can be gleaned, this is not a ready-to-cast book of magic (other than for its original author).

Spellbook, textbook. . . . . 360₲


 * ————This is that rarest of book: an instructional guide to cast a spell. Few mages produce these, in no small part because they act as an anchor for the caster: curses can be cast on them at any distance. Some of these are actual how-to guides, others were meant as teaching aids. Some include deliberate and dangerous errors as a trap for the unwary.

Spellbook, workbook. . . . . 30₲


 * ————An apprentice mage--or any spellcaster who continues their study of the mystic arts--keeps their rough notes and experimental data in a workbook until it is sufficiently well-known for proper inclusion in one's grimoire. The price is the same for a new blank one, or someone else's used one.

Sports & recreation. . . . . 15₲


 * ————This category includes books on jousting knights: the footballers of the medieval world.

Text book. . . . . 60₲


 * ————This is the standard sort of text book found in schools. It's big, about five and a half pounds, and around 400,000 words. Its use assumes a qualified teacher is at hand. A good rule of thumb is the base price is the hours to learn. Needless to say, this is subject specific.

Workbook. . . . . 4₲10


 * ————Like a blank journal, but manlier. Workbooks are of lower quality materials, and are expected to take a beating. They are not meant to be kept long-term.