I am currently reading Frank Herbert's Dune.

However, the book I am reading is not just any old copy. It belongs to my mother; I recently borrowed it from her.

It is the first edition, first printing (printed in 1965), in excellent condition with the dust cover still perfectly intact and holy crap I just casually looked it up online and it's worth over $6,000 to collectors, so now I am no longer reading it. It's definitely the same book and dust cover, no mistake.

I knew it would be somewhat valuable, but... God damn. Time to order a newer edition from Amazon and put this sucker in a protective case or something.

I have one of those! I'll have to check out if it's worth as much.

My eyeballs bugged out so far they were actually resting on the computer screen when I saw that figure.

My mother also has several of the sequels, also first printing, also in excellent condition. I was going to ask her if I could have them all, and I'm still going to (she'll most likely agree), but now instead of reading them I will treasure them as a piece of science fiction history, heirlooms, et cetera. I would never sell them.

I suppose it's twisted that I only came to this conclusion when I saw the collector value, but I guess it just made me realize the true gravity of what the book represents.

Two words: fireproof cases.

Yeah looks like you've got something significant on your hands there. I'd go so far as to say fireproof safe and make sure you take pictures of the books just in case for insurance purposes.

I'm not a vintage bookseller, but if your mother wants to part with them (not that I'm sure its a good idea at this date) I'd start looking up auction houses just to check.

Congrats!

This has suddenly reminded me that my father has what I suspect is a first edition printing of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the book that inspired the movie Blade Runner, by Philip K. Dick), which is apparently worth anywhere from $5-$10,000 to collectors, depending on the condition it's in.

I think it's time to do a round-up of my parents' huge, mid-20th-century science fiction book collection, because they literally don't give a damn about science fiction anymore, and wouldn't want to "pawn" the books off to collectors for profit, either. I guess they both were into sci-fi in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

I'm a huge sci-fi fan, though. I read a lot of these books as a kid at home, which is why I've never thought of them as "valuable" until approximately 45 minutes ago.

The book collector in me flipped out. A Philip K dick first edition? Yeah. Start making a catalogue and get quotes from several dealers. Not all of them can be trusted as I'm sure you already know.

Even if you don't cash in on this, at least you have several piece of history in your hands.

And yes, protecting it (them?), getting them appraised, and having them insured will be a priority, I suppose. I'm not a very materialistic person, but it would be irresponsible of me not to do those things.

Check and see if you have anything by Asimov as well. Even a partial set of the first edition Foundation series would be worth something

I was just thinking the exact same thing. My father has a ton of Isaac Asimov stuff, most likely including the Foundation series. I've read all of that series myself, but they weren't my father's, so I don't know what edition his are.

I just don't want to get too carried away here, naming science fiction luminaries and speculating about what the folks might have.