There was an extremely entertaining article by Geoff Dyer in the online edition of the New York Times Sunday Book Review last weekend  exploring the satisfactions, quandaries and anxieties involved in seeking an author’s autograph.

A must read for collectors of books signed by the author!

The Etiquette of Autographs

By David Thoreau

In recent years there has been a growing audience for books authored and signed by American Presidents. This article explores some of the most common books authored and signed by modern American presidents.

One of the earliest American presidents to author a book was Thomas Jefferson and his only full-length book known as Notes on the State of Virginia. Originally written in 1782 and published anonymously in Paris, Notes on the State of Virginia contains Jefferson’s political philosophy interspersed with geographic descriptions of the State of Virginia. Signed copies bearing Thomas Jefferson’s autograph are known to exist but are exquisitely rare.

More recently, Calvin Coolidge gained notoriety as a syndicated newspaper columnist after his career in politics. His autobiography was published in 1928 and copies bearing the inscription “Cordially Calvin Coolidge” in blue ink occasionally appear on the autograph marketplace.

Continue reading Books Authored and Signed by American Presidents →

Whilst Julia Child (1912-2006) may have turned American cuisine on its head through what was, in the 1960s, the revolutionary idea of introducing the ideals of the French cooking school to middle America, she was until very recently, far less of a household name in the UK and Europe. Her award-winning cookbooks couple with numerous series of television shows in a career which spread over four decades, became the model to which all future “TV Chefs” the world over would aspire – in essence she invented the idea of taking sophisticated cuisine and making it accessible to a wide audience. In a country that Europeans often wrongly see as a burger-guzzling nation, Julia Child was a woman who instilled passion into the food culture of the United States and beyond, often through the sheer force of her personality.

Without doubt one of her most famous cookbooks and one that is considered something of a seminal publication is Mastering the Art of French Cooking. First published in 1961 by Knopf it was followed by a second volume in 1970. Praised for many of the things we now take for granted in a cookery book, such as clear illustrations and easy to follow instructions, the book is still in print to this day. Child’s second book, The French Chef Cookbook, was a collection of the recipes she had demonstrated on a television show of the same name. When the series went into colour television this was reflected in her fourth book, From Julia Child’s Kitchen, which was illustrated with her husband’s photographs. Julia Child’s last book , an autobiography My Life in France, was published in 2006 although sadly, she didn’t live to see it in print.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWmvfUKwBrg

And so we come to 2009, and Mastering the Art of French Cooking is top of the bookseller charts again thanks to the movie Julie & Julia, directed by Nora Ephron and starring none other than Meryl Streep as Julia Child. Based on the eponymous book by the blogger Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams in the movie) who set herself the staggering task of cooking all 524 recipes from the book and kept a daily blog of her culinary adventures.

Needless to say vintage copies of any cookery books signed by Julia Child are suddenly highly collectible!

signed Julia Child, 5, 267, “”

Children With Aids Charity has listed a UK first edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows signed by the author, J.K. Rowling on Celeb2nds.com. The charity was organized in 1992 to help infants and children affected by HIV/AIDS maintain a good quality of life.

On the bidding page, there are images of the signed page in the book and the letter which authenticates Ms. Rowling’s signature. Bids will be accepted until July 3, 2009. Click here to make a bid.

Thanks to CWAC for letting us know.

If you’re a passionate collector of books signed by the author you may be interested in this piece in the Independent, UK which takes a sympathetic look at the “book signing chore” that modern publishing demands of popular authors.

Excessive success, however, can also be a burden. There’s a shocking story about Stephen King signing books in a Seattle shop. He signed for hours until his shoulder ached and a publicist had to apply an ice-pack. Then his fingers dried up; they cracked and began to bleed, and he asked for a bandage. Hearing this, a fan in the queue demanded to have some authentic Stephen King blood on his book. Others joined in and he signed in his own blood for hours.

Signing off: the weird world of book signings
By John Walsh
Independent, Thursday, 21 August 2008

There’s a wonderfully funny confessional article by Emily Grosvenor in the Publishers Weekly today. If the following snippet sounds familiar…then check out the full article!

I am a compulsive author-reading attendee, an obsessive reader and fan. People like me are the reason publishers send authors on book tours. Writers are my celebrities. I track news of them like other people follow Angelina Jolie. I sign up for e-mail alerts to keep abreast of their book tours. And when the writers I read go on tour, I am there.

Continue reading Are you a booksigning junkie? →

There’s a fascinating article in the New York Times on line edition this morning about a revolutionary device which may turn the collection of signed books on its head! It talks about a device called LongPen which Margaret Atwood, the Canadian novelist, devised in 2004 so that she could sign books with a touchpad in her home, which in turn conveyed her handwriting to an autopen in a distant bookstore. You can read the full story by following the link below…

A Book Signing With the Author a World Away
By JOANNE KAUFMAN
Published: December 17, 2007
With his recent conviction and sentencing, the media baron and author Conrad M. Black has turned to a device called the LongPen to help him hold book signings from afar.

Continue reading Signed by author…long distance! →