I went ahead and put myself on the list 'cause I never thought I'd get it. Guess who was the first person on that waiting list to be contacted? And guess who bought an embarassingly expensive book that he couldn't afford?

no you are certainly not an idiot. More power to ya! We only live once and we can't take the money with us. ;-)

Appropos of this, I remember the story a stamp collector told...he bought one of the "inverted Jennys" (if you know stamps, you know what that is), and owned it for about twenty-five years...for the first few years, he hardly ever saw it, and for about a fifteen-year period until he sold it, he didn't see it at all.

Other signed first editions I've gathered include early portfolio editions by Clark Ashton Smith such as The Double Shadow and Others (including some hand corrections by Smith of print errors!). I'm also a collector of Ray Bradbury, Fritz Leiber, H.P. Lovecraft and his fellow Weird Tale authors. I've an Asimov signed edition or two, a number of signed Brian Lumley, Stephen King, a whole set of Michael Moorcock, Andre Norton, Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee, Neil Gaimen, Harlan Ellison, Phillip Jose Farmer, L. Sprague De Camp, Roger Zelazny, and (of course) Orson Scott Card, etc.

In recent years, my acquisition rate has declined severely--a combination of running out of room as well as items to collect that interest me. While I'll read new authors, they don't have the same wonder and awe, no holy patina, that the authors above did for me in my youth.

A sad thing is I realiize I will likely not live long enough to read them all again. Worse, my attention span is growing shorter--but I believe this is a societal problem and not something to blame on my aging. I planned to read more as I started giving up my Administrative duties for my Group, my hospital clients, and the state and national medical societies that have occupied me the last three decades.

I selected stacks of books and placed them on the marble end table by my leather chair, the one a few feet from the living room hearth. Putting on my slippers, I poured myself a glass of port and settled myself comfortably. But instead of picking up Tales of Three Hemispheres, I placed my netbook on my lap, lifted the screen, and began to type.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence -- first public edition. (There was a previous private edition.) Paid $3 for it.

A complete works of Byron from about 1845 (including his collected correspondence; the man's pen never stopped moving!) -- in leather binding and microscopic print. It bears an owner's mark dated "Boston 1847". Paid $5 for it. When I googled the owner's name I found he was a well-known person in his day and there were still descendants around; might be fun someday to get in touch. "Hey, I've got your great-great granddad's book!"

Oh, and I almost forgot <g> ... an advance reading copy of Lost Boys, apparently signed by OSC (if his signature is kinda round-looking). Picked that one up off a freebie table!!

That reminds me, I've got a fair number of Card's first editions, but mostly more recent (2000s) books. My big prize, though, is my autographed Israeli edition of EG.