first editions

Kristen Ogden offers a glimpse into the process of and the passion behind book collecting. “…book collecting is pretty easy,” she says. “It had never occurred to me to collect books other than the “classics,” but collecting books by subject is a great way to spend your book allowance–and it doesn’t have to be expensive.”

A rare first edition of Tolkien's The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, has sold at auction for £60,000 [$120,000 Cdn]. The copy, inscribed by the author with a message of thanks to his friend Elaine Griffiths, who helped the author see the work into print, went to an anonymous telephone bidder.

It’s things like this that make me wish I had scads of money.

A first edition copy of The Hobbit signed by author J.R.R. Tolkien is being put up for auction. The book features several black and white images and was signed by Tolkien and dedicated to his friend Elaine Griffiths. It is expected to fetch about £30,000 ($58,166 Cdn).

This piece has me wondering about the value of several books on my own shelf. Apparently there’s been an upsurge of interest in rare books since a first edition of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights sold for £114,000, so if you’re considering getting in on the action, here’s what to look for. It’s not necessarily an expensive endeavour, either.

Cosmic principles culled from rare books and first editions are the basis of successful investing according to Brad Stewart, owner of The Sacred Science Institute, a small publishing firm. This guy’s serious. His firm has published around 500 books for “people who see geometrical connections between the architecture of Hindu temples and fluctuations in the Dow Jones industrial average.”

Well this isnt news, but today even newer first editions are making money.

A first edition Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is expected to sell for $10,000 to $20,000 at an upcoming auction. Unbelieveable. Between 500 and 1000 copies of this little nest egg are extant in someone’s library.