It's for a signed copy of John Scalzi's The Last Colony, a book that won't be published until May 2007. The copy on auction was printed by the author through Lulu.com, and there are only four of its kind in existence, three of which will remain in the hands of John Scalzi and his family. It's a rare thing, I gather--a bound copy of the uncorrected manuscript for a novel, made available seven months before the novel's release.
All the money from the auction is to go to the John M Ford Book Endowment, a fund set up by the Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library to acquire books for public enjoyment, named in honour of the author John M Ford, who passed away last week.
I collect books only in so far as I like to own them to read whenever I want. Rarity, condition, all that are pretty unimportant. 
A book that is not meant to be read and re-read is worthless as far as I'm concerned.
