Until recently, I never really thought to search for rare books on Etsy, but if you can buy vintage clothing there, why not vintage books? Let’s do a little bit of fantasy book shopping, shall we? Some of them have free shipping if you’ve come into your inheritance or something and are ready to take the plunge.
Before we start our shopping spree, allow me to remind you that the difference between a first edition and a first printing is that a first edition contains each subsequent printing of a book until the book is changed and a new version of the book is typeset (so a book can be a first edition but from the second printing of that book—generally the rarest books are both first editions and first printings). I think this is one of those facts that I will have to look up every couple of months for the rest of my life.
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1950s. Illustrations by Shirley Hughes. $51,629.81.
The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter. 1902 private printing. Signed edition. I believe this one also comes with little mice as part of the display. $48,432.67. There is also a signed first edition of The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle for $43,051.26.
Mark Twain First Edition Set. One of these books is even signed. This whole collection could be yours for $40,000. That’s so much Twain!
The Heart of the Antarctic: Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907–1909 by Ernest Shackleton. Signed edition. $25,561.68.
Edition of Diderot’s Encyclopedia. I just think it’s really cool that this still exists. $24,000.
The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, signed first edition. 1922. $18,000.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, signed first edition, 1962. If I could afford it, this would be mine. $16,000.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, first British edition, 1937. Insert ‘my precioussss’ joke here. $15,000.
Howl by Allen Ginsberg, first edition, first printing, signed. 1956. $13,500.
Winnie the Pooh Set, four first edition, first printings. Return to the Hundred Acre Wood with these originals. $11,428.76.
