Abridged great book, for example (7)
I believe the answer is:
epitome
'example' is the definition.
(epitome is a kind of example)
'abridged great book' is the wordplay.
'abridged' means to remove the last letter.
'great' becomes 'epic'.
'book' becomes 'tome' (tome is a kind of book).
'epic' with its final letter removed is 'epi'.
'epi'+'tome'='EPITOME'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for epitome that I've seen before include "Typical example, prototype" , "Summary of a written work" , "Archetype, typical example" , "Model" , "Ideal example" .)