A first edition could be a gift to bank on

published 14 January 2008

First edition books are an ideal present for anyone who loves reading and collecting, and is an asset class of its own. While prices for wine and art have gone through the roof in recent years, first editions remain good value.

What is a first edition? Among the blurb on the reverse of a book's title page, the words First Edition, or a line of numbers containing the digit 1, may be present. This means it is the first printing (print run) of the book. If a change needs to be made to its content, or the first run sells out, a second print run can follow.

Collectors like firsts' as they are usually printed in smaller quantities and become rarer and more valuable. Who would have guessed that a book about a boy wizard would end up being worth tens of thousands of pounds? That is what happened to J K Rowling's first book in 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which had a first printing of only 500 or so. Copies now sell for upwards of £10,000, and if signed by Rowling that price could double.