Why collect first edition books?

There are two main reasons why people collect first edition/signed books which are not mutually exclusive:

1. For the love of books as a material object. The look, smell and feel of a book plus the knowledge that you are one of only a limited number of people who possess a particular title is very important to the collector.

2. As an investment. A first edition/first print run of a book is obviously limited in number. Over time many will be 'lost', discarded due to lack of knowledge, damaged which considerably reduces collactability or stored in private libraries. All of this drives up the price of the remaining copies. Therefore, in most cases the value of a first edition will rise, sometimes very quickly and dramatically.

A good example is the collectors edition of Beedle the Bard by J K Rowling:

This collectable edition could be bought in 2008 for just £50 but was limited in number and sold out very quickly. We currently have it available for a price of £299.99 and it has been one of our best selling books.  We would fully expect the book price to increase again in the next 2 - 3 years making it a great investment and should dwarf any amount of interest earned in a bank account or via stocks and shares over the same period. 

We try to only stock first editions that will gain in value over time so  this means offering books which are in great condition and we also have a wide range of books signed by the author which can be even more desirable.

Happy collecting!