Signed Books

[hard-boiled pat]

Hi, anyone have signed books of your favorite authors? i do... i've bought signed firsts of books i love. i've also mailed books to authors for their signature.

i have signed limited editions from:

-stephen king
-michael connelly
-donald westlake
-joe r lansdale
-robert harris

also some signed firsts from:
-lee child
-ian rankin
-clive barker
-john connolly


and some more.

for me, when i read a book that i really like i want to own the hard copy... signed if i can afford it. i take it and put it in my bookcase and if anyone wants to read it then they can have it no problem, just please don't break the spine or take off the dust cover.

but...


i have a hard time loaning out my old kobo reader!


weird i know, but for me my e-readers are a personal as my cell phone... you can use it if you have to but only when i'm standing besides you.

anyone else feel this way?

[pidgeon92]

Honestly, no. I am not a collector. I read a book, and most of the time, that's it, I don't give it a lot of thought afterwards.

However, I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who love what you are doing. I think it is terrific that that you are getting author signatures on the books you love.

[AnemicOak]

I've got signed HC copies of the first 4 John Rain books by Barry Eisler, but honestly it's no big deal to me.

[Neil Clarke]

I have a lot of signed books by science fiction and fantasy authors. I owned a genre bookstore for about 7-8 years and either arranged signings or bought them signed (like nice Subterranean Press editions). Also had a lot of things signed at conventions too. The back of my Kindle 2 is also covered with signatures.

[holymadness]

Do not care. Object fetishism is different from love of literature.

What's more, I often find I couldn't care less about the lives and opinions of my favourite authors, who are often boring or unpleasant people.

[graycyn]

I've owned signed books, but it has never been that big of a deal to me, and in fact, having replaced the titles with ebooks, I recently sold most of them on eBay. I have one left, it will get sold as well.

I think the thing is, all of them were acquired from booksellers during a brief "book collecting" phase and just didn't have real personal meaning for me.

Books that DO have personal meaning tend to be titles I was given as a child, or bought myself as a child or particularly liked the cover art for them as an adult.

I went to some pains to re-acquire a few paperback versions of stories I'd loved as a child simply because I also loved the cover art for those particular editions.

[morriss003]

The only signed thing I ever considered buying was a copy of Fantastic Four #1 signed by Jack Kirby. This was in 1970. Couldn't bring myself to pay the $40. D'oh!!

[xg4bx]

Any autographs I have are from signings and appearances. No real heavy hitters but I don't care that much. If it's somebody I like and they're within reasonable distance, I'll go get something signed.

[teh603]

I have enough signed paintings in my room that I don't really worry about whether something's signed or not. Maybe if I was at a sci-fi convention I'd bring a book or DVD for an author or actor to sign, but I wouldn't sweat it too much. I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to buy a signed object just for the signature.

[speakingtohe]

Hmmmm... Nah. I had some autographed hockey pucks once but I gave them away.

Helen

[Xanthe]

I've got some author-signed books around here, but I couldn't list them all to save my life. Some I got via early author sales, some I happened to be where the author was, some were leftovers in bookstores from signings, some were used books. I've never made a hobby of it.

[Phogg]

I have a signed issue of Fantasy Quarterly #1 (first appearance of Elfquest) but thats it. I read things until they fall apart usually.

[cromag]

I've got a few signed editions, but when they're signed I stop treating them as books and more like collectibles.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by cromag

I've got a few signed editions, but when they're signed I stop treating them as books and more like collectibles.

I agree, I had a tendency to do that as well, sometimes even borrowing the same title from the library for a re-read, rather than reading the signed copy and exposing it to wear. In the end, collectible books are just not my style, I just want to read.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by graycyn

I agree, I had a tendency to do that as well, sometimes even borrowing the same title from the library for a re-read, rather than reading the signed copy and exposing it to wear. In the end, collectible books are just not my style, I just want to read.

Yep, I only have a few from Science Fiction authors that I especially like, mostly from conventions (back when I was going) and bookstore signings.