Books Authored and Signed by American Presidents

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.

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Farewell to Frank McCourt 1930 – 2009


FrankMcCourt 226, originally uploaded by gema fova.

Sadly, 2009 sees the passing of another Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Frank McCourt, the Irish-American teacher who shot to world-wide fame as the author of Angela’s Ashes, a biographical account of the extreme poverty and brutal living conditions of his childhood in Limerick, Ireland during the Depression, died on 19 July aged 78.

The memoir was adapted for the big screen in a feature film Angela’s Ashes in 1999, directed by Alan Parker and starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle.

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Kindle…signed by author!

There’s an interesting story in the New York Times today…apparently the advent of reading devices such as Kindle doesn’t mean fans can’t have their favourite book signed by the author. Apparently people are now queuing at book signings with electronic versions of their favourite titles and authors have taken to signing their Kindle! 20090615 202725 …

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JG Ballard 1930-2009

J G (James Graham) Ballard, the British novelist, short story writer and major exponent of the New Wave in science fiction writing, died yesterday aged 78.


JG Ballard, originally uploaded by matthetube.

He was born in the International Settlement in Shanghai, China and later became a Japanese concentration camp internee during the war, an experience he explored in his world famous autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun (which Stephen Spielberg brought to the screen in 1987 with a very young Christian Bale playing the author as a boy).

David Cronenberg transformed his most controversial novel – Crash – into a likewise highly controversial movie in 1996.

His final book – an autobiography entitle Miracles of Life – was published in 2008.

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Antarctica signed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Mikhail Gorbachev in Charity Auction

Hollywood actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio continues to support environmental causes by contributing items to a charity auction with all proceeds going to Global Green USA.

The book Antarctica: The Global Warning by Sebastian Copeland, has been signed by both Mikhail Gorbachev (who wrote the forward), and Leonardo DiCaprio (who contributed the book’s introduction).

This amazing hardcover coffee table book is filled with pictures showing the vast changes in climate as noted by researchers for over the past 50 years.

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Tom Hanks book signing in his local store

Tom Hanks made a recent appearance at an independent book store – Village Books in Pacific Palisades, California – in order to help raise the profile of his local book store which is struggling to stay afloat (fans will remember his role as a book chain owner hell bent on squashing Meg Ryan’s small book store in You’ve Got Mail)…

The Academy Award-winning movie star signed sets of DVDs and books related to his many successful movies.

Tom Hanks Signing

Originally uploaded by Brian Bubonic

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