I was contacted by Ryan from Invaluable.com and asked to write a blog post about what books I would buy at an auction, and what books I would have on my dream shelf. I thought that sounded fun, so I agreed to do it.

Honestly, a lot of what I was interested in on their website was not their books – I loved their globes, their posters, and their statuettes – because many of the books that I grew up enjoying really aren’t old enough to warrant being a collectible by most standards, or are unrealistic to have a signed copy of, but one book in particular caught my eye.

It was a signed first edition of one of my favorite stories, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. I fell in love with this story originally from the movie when I was little, but having read the book, I love it just as much as I did the movie. I would love love love a copy of this. However, the starting bid for this book is $1,500, and that’s more than a little out of my price range, and a little outside of reality for something I need..

There were two other things that really caught my eye.

The first was a poster of The Pillar of the Kings by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, which unfortunately sold before this post could go up, but I love this image. It brings me a feeling of peace, and would have been a great poster to have.

The last item that I thought would be really awesome is this 17.5″ wine globe, cause how cool is that? It’s totally not book-related, but I really like it.

I could have a fancy old globe, and store a bottle of wine in it – it’s the perfect combination. Alas, I have no space for it, given my current lack of extra living (and shelf) space.

I realized as I was doing the research for this, that having a first edition doesn’t really mean as much to me as I thought it would. I love getting signed books, but I love them for the experience and still being able to enjoy reading the book. I would be afraid to handle some of the classic books that I would purchase because they are treasures. A book doesn’t live properly unless it is read regularly, in my opinion, and that is why I probably will never buy an antique book.

However, if these seem like things you would like, there are a lot of fun things on Invaluable’s website, and, they might be a fun place to start looking!

If you could have any classic or collectible books, what would you look for?

Updated on 12/14/2015 to include anchor links in text.