What DHW says, +1, would be primary consideration. Having said that, for starting out, go with some basic major chords:
- C
- D
- E
- G
- A
As these are the easiest "open", or first position chords and don't require learning to barre, which is placing the fore finger over all 6 strings. Then, add some minor chords to help round out the family:
- Am
- Dm
- Em
Any of these can be "barred" to give you the whole spectrum. One of the most important, and hardest to learn (was for me) is the "F", which is the "E" with the first fret barred. This is, of course, and again, using all 6 strings. I would recommend using the shorter version of "F" on just the 1st 4 strings.
For a more illustrated version, you can Google "guitar chord diagrams" and get tons of links, but one of the first I think that gives you a good picture of fingerings, etc, is found here:
http://www.8notes.com/guitar_chord_chart/.
Good luck, and btw, welcome to the forum!