From Harry Potter to The Catcher in The Rye - I will read absolutely anything. This blog will detail my impressions on new releases, old classics, and everything in between! As Dr. Seuss said in 'I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! 'The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.'


Book Collecting - The Hyper-Modern Book

A couple years ago I was trolling the internet looking for new and interesting authors when I came across several articles on a new area of book collecting - the Hyper-Modern book. 

So what exactly is Hyper-Modern book collecting? Put simply, it involves collecting books that were published in the last twenty years. A prime example: consider the Harry Potter books - did you know a first edition first printing can sell for thousands of dollars? Get that book autographed and you're talking thousands and thousands of dollars. Now obviously we're talking about a unique situation because there aren't a lot of J.K Rowlings out there. But here's an example of something that happened to me. 

As I was researching this new phenomenon, I came across a website that recommended specific hyper-modern books that were predicted to increase in value. One of these recommendations was Sweeping Up Glass, by Carolyn Wall.


Because the first edition first printing only had 1000 copies, and the initial reviews on the book were solid, they were predicting the future value would increase. Think about it - of those 1000 copies how many do you think are signed? And of those that are signed, how many are still in pristine condition? Probably not a lot. In addition, the rights to publishing this book were picked up by another publisher and another, much higher volume, printing was set for release. When I went to Abe Books to check on the price of an original first edition first printing copy and discovered i could purchase a copy for the low low prices of $45 I thought, 'meh, why not?' 


That was a year and a half ago...So what does this mean? Well considering a pristine copy of the original is now selling on Abe for a minimum of $100, I'd say it means = not a bad return on investment. Okay, sure, you probably won't get rich this way. And really, any serious book collector will tell you that you should never be motivated by money. But since I can't afford the $30, 000 for a first edition copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, this type of book collecting is very appealing. 

For more information, including pros and cons, predictions, etc, check out: Book Collecting Tips