Re: A Good Day
- From: "Francis A. Miniter" <faminiter@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:22:48 -0400
Annie C wrote:
"K Barrett" <mormodes@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:SOadnUG-9ahEVg3VnZ2dnUVZ_q7inZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe world has indeed changed. Sometime, not more than 20 years ago, I think, book signings became de rigeur for an author as part of the marketing scheme along with book tours and radio and tv interviews. So now the number of signed books as a proportion of all books has substantially increased.
| "Francis A. Miniter" <faminiter@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
| news:rbGdndivIcMkEw3VnZ2dnUVZ_rbinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
| > Willow wrote:
| >> I try to have my books signed by the writers. As I live way up here,
| >> sending the books would be far too expensive so another method had to
| >> be developed. Bookplates - initially bought and now printed up on the
| >> computer - seem to do the job. Perhpas not "as good as" to some but
| >> good enough. Over 1000 books in our library are so signed - complete
| >> runs of all of Ken Follett, Jeffrey Archer, Colleen McCullough, P.D.
| >> James (incomplete, alas) , Chris Bohjalian, John Sandford (Camp), Nick
| >> Tosches and many more. After reading John Dunning, the bookplates are
| >> not affixed but "laid in" with envelopes and such retained. Every
| >> effort is made to avoid "flatsigning". Giles Blunt was great - each
| >> bookplate contains a small joke on the title.
| >>
| >
| > The term "flatsigned" is a relatively recent one promulgated by one
| > person, Tim Miller, of Flatsigned.com, who occasionally participates in
| > rec.collecting.books. Mr. Miller alleges that Stephen King once used the
| > term to described a book signed without inscription. No one seems to be
| > able to verify that history. In any case, it seems to mean nothing more
| > than "signed". Given that it adds nothing to the basic term and that it
| > its only real purpose seems to be to push a particular business, I find
| > the term annoying.
| >
| > I know you put it in quotes, Willow, so I figure you know what I am
| > talking about. I just wanted to share the background with the others.
| >
| >
| > Francis A. Miniter
|
| Thanks, Francis, 'cause it sounded a bit perjoritive to me. To me there
| wasn't anything wrong with a signed book. In some circles it was preferred
| over an inscribed one.
|
| K Barrett
|
Many 'expert' book collectors will advise to just get a book signed, possibly including a date. It has more value, esp. a first edition, they say. Silly me, I used to believe that..
But for the last ten years or so, most every book I aquire -- like, if I get the chance at Bouchercon, et al -- is personally inscribed. I've hundreds now, anthology stories too. And my absolute favorites are the ones with little personal notes, or cartoons or drawings that just happened because of where we were at that moment, etc.. I've no intention of ever trading or selling any of these because to me they are priceless treasures ;-)
Annie
One author took this to an extreme, but that may be normal for him. James Ellroy individually signed the entire first printing of _My Dark Places_ before it was distributed! I think it may have been about 20,000 to 25,000 books. So the notable exception would be an unsigned copy from the first printing. By the way, I highly recommend this disturbing book, the first page of which shows the murdered body of Ellroy's own mother, who was killed when he was age 10, in 1958, just about 10 years after the Black Dahlia murder, of which Ellory later wrote, and which in a way was not wholly unlike that of the Dahlia murder.
Still, however, there are authors who keep their privacy. Thomas Pynchon's signature is so rare that the few books he did sign carry huge price premiums. The same holds for J. D. Salinger. In the end, however, it will be for history to record whether Pynchon or Ellroy's works hold center stage. For signed books by rejected authors (think of all the minister's who wrote spiritual guides in the 19th century) will have no value whether signed or not, while signed books by history's heroes will always be valuable.
Francis A. Miniter
.
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