The Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction includes signed Canadian, British, American and Australian first editions. I went to great lengths to acquire advance editions (i.e. manuscripts, uncorrected galley proofs, advance reading copies, advance review copies). Along with my research at special collections across the country these advance editions were instrumental in piecing together the history of the publishing of the book. The reason behind acquiring multiple copies was to identify binding variants, textual differences, and dust jacket variants. There are many rare presentation and association copies in the collection.