The allure of rare books

The main reasons to why I am into collecting old rare books are my love of reading and an interest in history. With old rare books I hit two birds with one stone in this regard. They are historical artefacts that give me close contact with different historical eras from different cultures.

I also find them aesthetically appealing and as they are quite costly I feel rich owning them.

I also know that information on paper have bigger longtime survival chances than information stored digitally. Books are made to last.

Why are you into rare books? Any of my reasons or is it a profession, as an investment, something that you have inheritated, an urge to collect books in a particular area of interest or anything else? Please tell.