If reality catches up with rumor, Steve Jobs will give one of the great demos of his life next Wednesday at Apple’s (AAPL) invitation-only “latest creation” event in San Francisco.

But you don’t have to wait until Jan. 27 to get a taste of what he might be showing.

For months, Apple has been secretly meeting with developers, advertisers and publishers about its forthcoming tablet computer. And although it’s likely that nobody outside of Cupertino has actually seen the thing, there are concept videos all over the Web.

We’ve collected three of the best below the fold:

• A tablet magazine from Time Inc.’s (TWX) Sports Illustrated
• A tablet textbook from CourseSmart —  a joint venture of several publishers, including McGraw Hill (MHP), Wiley (JWA) and Pearson (PSO)
• A tablet catalog, apparently from Ikea (privately held)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSjXO7Odh9E]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIGd4aBzhTU]

Bonus video: A demo of Microsoft’s (MSFT) Courier, the two-paneled concept tablet that created such a stir in tech press last September but was strangely absent from Steve Ballmer’s keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show two weeks ago.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXiYtMnjAmc]

See also:

• Video: Microsoft upstages Apple’s tablet
• Tablet: Big iPhone or thin MacBook?
• 5 reasons iSlate will succeed/fail
• On the trail of Apple’s iSlate
• Apple tablet: $340 in parts?
• Jobs “extremely happy” with tablet

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]