Hi Chapps,
Welcome to the forum. I agree with whats been said already, buy the book(s) and do some reading, and ask questions here on the forum. Also have a look at some of the collections that some have on here. Some have links on their posts. Nonmortuus for instance has such a link, as do others.
Ebay is worth a look but there other places, again a few of those on here are dealers or will sell some of their collections when they are upgrading, keep an eye on the for sale section.
Once you have spent some time navigating around the forum you will start to pick up on good places to buy. Have a look at some of the recent posts and you will start to get a feel for things.