We read because we love ideas. We love sharing people's thoughts and dreams. We love to be inspired. Printed words can give us all of this - even when they aren't bound in books. Magazines have helped shape cultural beliefs and trends for over a century. Admittedly, there's no shortage of celebrity drivel on the newsstands these days, but there have always been publications providing rich, thought-provoking content. Not to mention fabulous covers. It's not surprising that many such issues have become very collectible.

We thought it would be fun to dedicate an issue of the Avid Reader to valuable magazines listed on AbeBooks - many of which hearken back to seemingly more refined times. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Striding blithely past the boundaries of a traditional magazine, Visionaire is a self-described 'multi-format album.' Published since 1991, the limited edition issues are gorgeous, stunningly creative and instantly collectible. Each is based on a specific theme and presents work from top names in fashion and art: Tracey Moffatt, Mario Testino, Nan Goldin, Wolfgang Tillmans, Stella McCartney, Cindy Sherman, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfield, Pedro Almodovar... Issue #4, Heaven, pictured above, can be purchased for $1,950.00. Browse collectible issues of Visionaire

From The New Yorker

From The Paris Review

Vogue really has evolved since its debut at the turn of the last century. Once a small New York society journal, it's now an international institution with editions published in almost 20 countries. This change is in some ways a shame - instead of glossy models, we'd love to see some wonderful art deco designs tucked into our local magazine racks. The lovely 1929 example shown here is a mere $140.00. Browse collectible issues of Vogue

At its launch, with the aim of putting literature before criticism, The Paris Review stated: "...[it] should welcome these people into its pages: the good writers and good poets, the non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders. So long as they're good." AbeBooks is privileged to feature Paris Review interviews with some exceptional writers - Ernest Hemingway, William Burroughs and P.G. Wodehouse. David Eggers, PD James and Italo Calvino all contributed to the 2002 edition featured above, now worth $345.00. Browse collectible issues of The Paris Review

Who's a naughty bunny?

Speaking of more innocent times... these stylishly playful Playboy covers from 1954 hardly look like top-shelf material. They are practically charming and have a reasonably accommodating value of $275.00 to $500.00. Browse collectible issues of Playboy

This month I'd like to talk about AbeBooks itself. As you know, we are all about books. However, we also allow our booksellers to offer paper-based ephemera for sale. The word is derived from Greek - it means transitory written and printed matter that is not intended to be retained or preserved. The original Greek meaning concerns things that lasted no more than a day.

On AbeBooks, ephemera means maps, letters, journals, comics and magazines - lots of magazines - but also birthday and Christmas cards. Some of these items - the letters and cards for instance - were truly meant to last a single day. Magazines are meant to last a short time because the next issue is always around the corner and they aren't built to endure - unlike a hardcover book.

When the card was sent by the Prince and Princess of Wales, or the letter was written by Ernest Hemingway, then ephemera takes on a different perspective and a new value.

I began to understand the market for ephemera around three years ago after bumping into some people from The Paris Review at a book fair in New York. A few searches later, it was clear to me that certain copies of The Paris Review are highly collectible indeed. Under the stewardship of literary legend George Plimpton - who wrote Paper Lion, one of my favorite sports books - The Paris Review gave countless budding writers national exposure. The literary journal is also famed for its amazing in-depth author interviews where authors seemed to be far more expressive than the writers we see today on the book tour circuits. Basically, each issue of The Paris Review is a unique piece of literary history - a time capsule of who was up-and-coming and the big-hitters of the day.

Even though early copies of literary journals like The Paris Review and Granta are in demand, the bestselling magazine on AbeBooks is actually National Geographic. Clearly collectors are filling holes in their collections thanks to booksellers who are listing old issues of this enduring magazine.

I'm far more of a newspaper person than a magazine person. I find The New Yorker long-winded but like reading The Smithsonian magazine. Before moving to Canada to work for AbeBooks, I gave away my collection of Wisden Cricket Monthly magazines from the early 1980s to a charity shop. Big mistake. Judging by the listings on AbeBooks, I gave away several hundred dollars worth of magazines.

So let's talk about Playboy. Not my cup of tea but if you have the very first issue then you have a true collectible treasure. Published in December 1953, the first issue is undated because Hugh Hefner did not know whether there would be a second. The centerfold was Marilyn Monroe and the rest is history. The cover price was 50 cents - that issue is worth well over $5,000. Who says a magazine's lifespan is just a few days?

If you've got a special collection of ephemera, or tossed out something that would be valuable now, or own the first edition of Playboy then we'd love to hear from you...

More words about books have been scattered on Reading Copy, the AbeBooks Blog.

The Most Collectible Authors

Who is most wanted in the book world? We analyzed sales data from 2007 and compiled an 'author collectibility index' based on sales of books priced more than $500. From the usual suspects to self-published authors, this list is a comprehensive survey of literary talent.

See the most wanted authors

100 Years of the Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows is much more than a story from a bygone age. It is, frankly, one of the finest children's books ever written. One hundred years after it was first published, Kenneth Grahame's masterpiece can be picked up and read to any young child, and it will have a mesmerizing effect.

Motor on. (Poop-poop!)

Rare Book Room: Travel Guides

Corsica, Switzerland, Elba... New Brunswick... whether touring The Continent or The New World, early intrepid travellers relied on travel guides, just as today's backpackers do their battered Lonely Planets.

Visit the Rare Book Room

Most Expensive books sold in March

1. The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid
   Euclid - $11,750
2. Poems (1909-1925)
   T.S. Eliot - $8,500
3. Out of the Silent Planet
   C.S. Lewis - $7,950
   
4. An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Suspension Bridge...
   Thomas Telford - $7,614
5. Merely Connect
   Tom Philips and Salman Rushdie - $7,325

See the whole list

Bestsellers for March

1. A New Earth
   Eckhart Tolle
2. Flat Belly Diet
   Liz Vaccariello
3. The Pillars of the Earth
   Ken Follett
4. The Purpose-Driven Life
   Rick Warren
5. Dreams from My Father
   Barack Obama

See the whole list on our homepage

Current AbeBooks Contests

Win a Bundle of Books.

Our Bundle of Books Contest continues and as an Avid Reader subscriber, you are already entered. Inspired by all these wonderful magazines, our bundle this month consists of publications from top literary journals.

See April's Bundle of Books!

Talk to Us

Thoughts? Comments? Witty anecdotes? We'd love to hear them.

Let us know what's on your mind.

Current Promotions

Best Buys on Books

This month's featured best buy is the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Brand new copies of the hardcover are available for $12.50 - a 50% savings off the list price! Visit our Best Buys page.

AbeBooks Wiki - Book Fairs

The AbeBooks Wiki could be the next best thing in the book world - with your help. The Book Fair section is already a fantastic resource. We invite you to make use of and add to it, and the rest of the wiki, as often as possible.

Visit and edit the Wiki.