The Opus on Man U has just changed hands for £1 million, making it the most expensive sports publication on record. Another Opus, a diamond-encrusted pictorial account of the Prince concerts at The O2 arena last year, is expected to break the record sale price for a printed work when it comes up for auction this year.

A third, on the 100 greatest boxing matches, will cost $100,000 (£70,000), is limited to 100 copies, measures 1.5m (5ft) square and, at 160kg (350lb), must be the weightiest tome ever published, requiring special machinery to install. The forthcoming volume on the Burj Dubai hotel, to be kept there, will, at 5m (16ft), be the world’s tallest book.

From a whopping $37,000 for a first edition of Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone to a paltry sum of only $3,000 for a set of all seven American first editions, they’re all here. Not available anywhere else – even Flourish and Blotts!

1. Signed Photo of Pablo Picasso. I love Picasso. I love his art, and having seen/read much about him, he seemed like a vibrant, loving, creative, hot-tempered, exciting man to be around. A film about the life of Picasso inspired my first (quite successful) attempt at Dada poetry when I was in University for Creative Writing. Sadly for you folks, I can’t remember the poem off the top of my head (disappointed groans all ’round). $18,000.00

2. Truman Capote’s Birth Certificate. I love Truman Capote. I love his witty, neurotic, New York reputation. I love Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Holly Golightly wildly. I love that he was Harper Lee’s best friend. I love that I’ve not yet read In Cold Blood, but am dying to. And I love that Philip Seymour Hoffman played him, because I love Philip Seymour Hoffman. And we have Truman Capote’s birth certificate! How cool. Crossing fingers for lottery winnings.$35,000.00

3. Virginia Woolf’s Day Planners for Eight Years. Okay, I admit these would probably be fairly mundane and straightforward. “Lunch with Brent”, “Call dentist – have lost crown”, “send Roger for flea-dip” and the like. But I can’t help the hope of glimpses into her life, like she’d have absently scrawled on one Thursday “note to self: Write ‘A Room of One’s Own’. Also, buy pork chops.” $112,480.25

4. Two Life Size Green Eggs – Original Artwork by Dr. Seuss Who wouldn’t want this?! Dr. Seuss was such an integral part of my upbringing. The first taste of environmentalism I recall came in the form of the Lorax. The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, and of course Green Eggs and Ham were all staples in my househould. I still have a stuffed Cat in the Hat doll somewhere, and we still watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas every year.$5,624.01

5. Land Sale Transaction Receipt from 1349 – the Year of the Black Death. Ok. I can be a little morbid. Speaking of the Black Death, have you read The Doomsday Book? If not, and you like science fiction, time travel, or just really good fiction, I recommend it. It’s a book I loved. Anyway, back to the document – imagine completing tedious paperwork while people have ghastly buboes and fevers and are falling down dead all around you. What a conversation piece! $1500.00

6. Charles Bukowski button with art by R. Crumb R. Crumb and Charles Bukowski. What a couple of dirty, lecherous, skirtchasing old boozehounds. God Bless ‘Em. $95.00

7. Edward Gorey’s Dracula Jigsaw Puzzle. A 15×21 inch 500 piece jigsaw puzzle in black, white and red depicting the poster for the Edward Gorey production of DRACULA in New York City. Edward Gorey is fantastic. If you’re not familiar with him, check him out – he tells twisted tales of ennui and torture and oddities and eerieness, accompanied by dark, ghoulish and demented illustrations. He was very prolific and is now very collectible – there’s a lot there to love. $475.00

8. Einstein’s Notes on Unified Field Theory. A page of a bunch of calculations, notes, theories, all part of Einstein’s second serious attempt to unify gravity and electromagnetism within a single field. Really though, so what? Everybody doodles. Look, I drew a kitty, just now. Didn’t trace it or anything. Nope. That’s allllll freehand. $38,500.00

9. Funny Letter By Mark Twain to a Friend in which he amusedly recounts that reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated; apparently a Mark twain impersonator had been traipsing about enjoying Twain’s fame, when he died, and was buried, as Mark Twain. $15,000.00

10. Original Screenplay for the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. What’s not to love?! It’s cheery, it’s got Dick Van Dyke, it was written by Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame), it has an incredibly nefarious and fearsome villain called the Child Catcher, and now, a new reason to love it – the screenplay was written by Roald Dahl! No wonder it’s so wonderful. $500.00

10. “Look at how much money I saved! These were all forty to fifty percent off!”

9. “You should have seen the temptations! This is the small price of my restraint.”

8. “Remember, I’m writing a book, and the royalties will more than cover the price of these books. It’s just a temporary investment that we’ll recoup.” (Oh sure. Like your monograph on Athanasius Against the Arians is going to cover the cost of even one of those Brill titles in your bag!)

7. “Look! I’ve taken care of a lot of our Christmas shopping!” (When he/she tells you that no one on the Christmas list wants those books, you act disappointed and rejected, and absorb them into your library.)

6. “Oh, so you’re going to complain about your husband/wife squandering money on books! Do I blow money on alcohol? tobacco? gambling? drugs? sex? stadium box seats? No! Just books on justice and peace, Jesus and Paul, trinitarian theology and the evils of, uh . . . consumerism!”

5. “Don’t worry. It just looks like a lot. Amortized over my lifetime, I’m not spending very much on books at all. Certainly nothing like You Know Who.”

4. “These are all tax deductible.” (This only works if he/she is under the illusion that you somehow subtract the book bill from the tax due.)

3. “These are all tools. Just the cost of doing business in my trade.”

2. Dull the impact by itemizing. “Some of these are for Christmas. Some of these are for the new class I’m teaching. Some of them are for my research. Some of them I might adopt as texts. And one of them is for you!”

1. “Folks who had lost their homes in the fires were selling these books on the streets of San Diego. I couldn’t resist helping them out. If you had looked into their eyes . . .”

I always find it fascinating when we sell large collections of ephemera such as magazines, there were a few magazines I collected as a child out of pure interest in the subject matter but the concept that a it could become valuable never entered my brain. I suppose that is how most of these collections started as well. The other thing I sometimes forget about is when sets of books or magazines are sold online they can be quite large. I can imagine the anticipation the buyer is having waiting for their new prize to be delivered, I get excited when a single book arives at my door, imagine 125 kilos of Islamic art….

1. Gedenkweerdige Brasiliaense Zee-en Lant-Reise by Johan Nieuhoff - $6,849
Voyages and Travels into Brazil, and the East Indies by this 17th century Dutch explorer.
2. Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham – $6,000
First edition and first printing of Graham’s legendary book on speculative investing – published in 1934
3. Le Capital by Karl Marx – $5,795
First French edition of Das Kapital, published in 1872 and revised by Marx himself. The English edition, edited by Engels, was based on the French.
4. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - $5,750
True first edition, first printing from 1957 – signed by Ayn Rand
5. Cezanne by Duret, Mirbeau et al – $5,600
First edition 1914, limited to 600 copies, one of 400 printed on Papier a Grain.
6. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - $4,870
First London edition, published 1883. Includes publisher’s adverts dated October 1883.
7. Hali Magazine (147 issues) – $4,805
A complete run, issues 1 to 147 from 1978 to 1995, of Hali – a London-based magazine devoted to oriental rugs and carpets.
8. On the Anatomy of the Breast by Astley Paston Cooper - $4,729
First edition, published in 1840. Two volumes with 27 lithographed plates. The last book written by the famous English surgeon. *Note first editions available at time of writing
9. The Quran Al-Qur’an of Sultan Mulay Zaidan $4,364
A 1996 Spanish facsimile edition of the 1599 publication from Marrakech, Morocco. Limited pressing of 980 copies.
10. The True Prophecies or Prognostications of Michael Nostradamus by Nostradamus - $4,300
The first English translation of the works of Nostradamus, printed in 1672. Rebound in leather. *Note link leads to archival reprint