bookbooks

Bookbooks is a term that appears in contemporary publishing and literary discussions with more than one possible meaning, and it is not widely standardized. In practice, its interpretation varies by context, so readers may encounter different uses of the word in catalog notes, reviews, or discussions of form.

In a narrow publishing sense, bookbooks can refer to an omnibus or dual-volume edition released as a single product. This usage aligns with established concepts like omnibus editions or box sets, but bookbooks is typically used in informal or marketing language rather than as a formal bibliographic category. It may be applied to bundles that group related titles or that present a connected sequence together for convenient purchase or display.

In a broader literary sense, bookbooks may describe a metafictional or bibliophilic concept in which a work foregrounds its relationship to other books. Such a text might incorporate quotations, allusions, or paratextual material about literature itself, effectively turning the book into a commentary on books. This usage is more discursive and is often discussed in analyses of metafiction, collage novels, or works about reading and publishing.

The term remains comparatively rare in formal metadata or library catalogs, where standard terms like omnibus, two-volume set, or anthology are more common. As a colloquial label, bookbooks tends to signal a playful or experimental approach to book form rather than a fixed publishing category.

See also: omnibus edition, two-volume set, metafiction, collage novel, paratext.