This article first appeared in Personal Wealth, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 1, 2018 - January 7, 2018

When I was 25 or so, I bought a set of leather-bound Charles Dickens first editions from Skoob Books, which was then in Bangsar, for all of RM600 because the owner of the bookstore convinced me that it would be a good investment. I gave it to my sister Jackie for her birthday and she, being all of 15 then, sat down and seriously considered writing her will, now that she had something of substance to leave behind.

That was the only time I have ever bought a first edition of anything (barring Harry Potters 4, 5, 6 and 7). It is not generally known that a true first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has Joanne K Rowling rather than J K Rowling on the cover. At the time, nobody knew if the Harry Potter books would do well, and they did not want to jinx its chances with boy readers by identifying the author as female. So most of the first lot was shipped off unceremoniously to Australia and in the next “first” edition, the author’s name was shortened to its present form.

I learnt as much chatting with Steve, who runs the Fred Holdsworth Bookshop at Ambleside in the Lake District in the UK. He, in turn, learned as much from chatting with the representative from the famous Harry Potter publishing house, Bloomsbury.

“They only published 500 initially because nobody knew if the book would take off. So if you have a true first edition with Joanne K Rowling, they are probably worth a small fortune. And if you can get one that is signed, you could probably go buy a small house or something,” he quips.

Steve bought some Ansell Adams books 10 to 15 years ago for £5 each and they were moving along at a snail’s pace at £14.99 each. Recently, he decided to sell one on eBay and when he went to look up the price, he found that the cheapest in fair, good condition was £150 while the most expensive was £1,500. Books in the same condition as his were going for £250.

“You go into the Amazon Marketplace and it is crazy. There is no rhyme or reason to it now,” he says.

It seems to be the luck of the draw where books are concerned. But if you are looking to invest in proper first editions, without the wild vagaries of the open marketplace, the best place to go is Abebooks, where, as Steve says, there are proper dealers with bricks and mortar stores.

I decided that I would invest in a first edition of J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit. It is more in demand that a first edition of The Lord of the Rings (also by Tolkien) because he amended the original story to fit in with his later conception of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien fanatics (who are legion) are willing to pay a good deal to read the original version with its original binding and its original maps.

I looked it up on Abebooks and found them at prices ranging from US$1,725 for a 1938 Houghton Mifflin Co first American edition to US$66,139.65 for a first edition, first impression George Allen and Unwin, London 1937 with the original light green cloth with dark blue decorations.

Something in between would fit the bill: a George Allen & Unwin, UK, 1946 hardcover in fine condition with a very good dust jacket with no foxing or browning that would cost me US$3,789.65, roughly RM16,295.50.

Naturally, as the book became rarer, while Tolkien fans continued to multiply (especially after the last two movie franchises), the books would continue to appreciate in value and there would always be collectors willing to pay for them. By then, it would be simply a matter of finding a reputable dealer to move my books (probably contacting them through Abebooks) and agreeing on a price. And that, in my book, is a good investment any day.

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