Signed first editions are a wonderful way to celebrate your love of literature and the people who create it.
And they might be a good investment too.
Today, they offer something every collector loves:
The chance to be ahead of the game, and to spot tomorrow’s priceless treasure while it’s a relatively commonplace item.
Charles Dickens helped to make publishing a mass-market phenomenon.
And they are.
Books are mass produced. Author signing sessions are an established way of publicizing a new release.
I have several myself. None are worth much more than tens of pounds - for now - and you can easily start your own collection of signed books on online resale sites or even in charity shops.
So, they’re very accessible.
No-one who picked up a signed, first-edition Harry Potter knew what it would be worth. The book had a famously short print-run because even the people who put it out were unsure it would sell.
So, there could be treasure out there in the new books market.
Buying signed first editions
Prediction makes a fool of us all.
But, we do have some information to work with.
There are established markets for some authors or styles of fiction.
JK Rowling for example. Science fiction.
Your signed first edition has to be genuine. And you need to be able to prove that.
It needs to be in good condition, so take the sensible precautions needed to look after paper.
And, limited supply is always better. If there’s some sort of special edition or extra being offered then that is even better for you as a collector.
Once you get beyond new books then you’re in a different market altogether.
And that’s where these titles and authors offer us a guide.
The most valuable signed first editions:
Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird
A first edition copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, but fans of the book were to be frustrated by the lack of further work from Lee.
A copy of this book is online right now with a price of $125,000.
That’s for a first edition, first printing of the book, personally dedicated to family friends and dated to the year of publication.
It’s an extremely well-known and popular work, really iconic, beloved for generations and a staple for school reading programmes.
But, Harper Lee herself was something of an enigma.
She only published one more work, a reworking of her initial submission of what was to become To Kill a Mockingbird that was published in 2015.
She wasn’t a recluse, but she wasn’t one for publicity tours either, and spent much of her life in her home town in Alabama.
Down and Out in Paris and London or 1984 by George Orwell
A poster for the 1984 adaptation of the novel that was Orwell's final and most impactful work.
Orwell is such a towering figure now, it’s easy to forget that he didn’t always have that reputation.
Nineteen Eighty Four (as it was called on publication in 1949) certainly did well on its release and was considered a significant work, but, for example, in the US, by far and away the year’s best selling book was a religious novel called The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas - had you heard of it?
And the tragedy of Orwell’s short life is that not long after releasing his now best-known work he died. He signed very few copies of his masterpiece because he was largely bedbound in hospital with the tuberculosis that would kill him.
Signed first editions are worth at least $10,000, and one has been auctioned for $26,500.
A copy of Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell’s early, influential work of social commentary and journalism realised £86,000 at auction in 2010.
Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
Just 500 hardback copies were released, and 300 of those went to libraries. No-one expected very much of this debut novel.
The key to Harry Potter value is getting onto the bandwagon early.
The first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was a shock. No-one expected an unknown, first-time author to have the biggest children’s book success of all time.
So, only small numbers were printed - just 500 hardbacks in some states.
The book is listed online now for £135,000, and auctions have seen particularly good, rare copies reach as high as $471,000 in 2021 and £220,000 the following year.
Although they’re extremely rare, it is possible that signed Harry Potter first editions may have slipped into wider circulation and it’s a title you might just find in a garage sale, so keep your eyes peeled.
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
F Scott Fitzgerald with his wife Zelda. He never saw Gatsby become a success, and died in 1940 aged just 44.
The perfect storm hits this title, which was not well liked on release but has since become one of the most popular novels of the 20th century.
Last year a copy sold at auction for $450,000, beating a 2014 record for the title of $377,000. An unsigned copy of the first printing in the original dust jacket - a real mark of high prices for Gatsby - made $366,000 in the same 2024 sale.
Fitzgerald had made just $2,000 by his death in 1940 from his 1925 release.
Now, it produces money its mysteriously wealthy central character migh envy, not least through a series of big film adaptations.
James Joyce’s Ulysses
James Joyce in 1922, he is now widely honoured and recognised as a significant literary figure. That wasn't always the case while he was alive.
Joyce is so associated with this single book that it is often written in that unusual possessive way.
It’s a novel that is famous for being difficult to read.
Joyce wasn’t really writing best sellers, and his novel became even harder to shift when it was almost immediately banned in the UK and US as obscene.
The first editions that were made though, were often beautiful, and matched the author’s deep, artistic conviction with beautiful bindings and paper.
Last year, a copy of the 1922 first edition printed in Paris for Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company realised $460,500 in a New York auction.
That was from a limited run of 150 copies.
It exactly matched the 2002 price paid in 2002 for another signed first edition.
A copy dedicated to Harriet Shaw Weaver, who supported Joyce’s work, made £275,000 in 2009.
Signed first editions are commonly listed online for £100,000 and over.
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