Author of books signatures

[Beans]

For the lack of any thing better to do yesterday I started browsing the book section at the local TS. I picked up two books that had signatures in them. One was Oliver North and the other on book plate was Vicente Fox (Mexico President). Neither is worth anything but thought that as a side line hobby I would collect signatures. Since they are in books, trying to decided if I want to keep the books or remove the page with the signature.

 

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[pjdentry]

Oliver North is the only "notable" that I've found that way, but I have gotten several other signed books out of TS.

 

[JimDon]

Got this George HW Bush book today! Don Lochman was a City Councilman in my city so the provenance on this is lock tight.

 

[@ThriftStoreInsider]

Yikes! Don't remove them! The signatures won't lose value by being in the books, but if you remove them, the books will never have any value. It's quite possible the signatures will have value at some point, and there will be added value with the signatures. Once I sold a signed book to a relative of the author. It had no real current market value, but there were no more copies in print. You never know!

 

[OtakuDude]

Don't remove those pages! Provenance is everything when it comes to signatures and you can kill the value by up to 90% by removing them.

Look up clipped signatures sometime. Back in the mid 19th century and up until the 1920's, autograph collecting was all the rage among those who had the means to do so. However, what most people tended to do was clip the signature from a handwritten document and throw out the rest. This applied to Royalty like England's Kings as well famous Americans such as George Washington, John Hancock and Abraham Lincoln! A clipped Thomas Jefferson signature can go for $2000 but a signed document can bring $20,000 and up.

Unfortunately this cultural vandalism is still practiced today but generally on people of lesser fame. Governors, movie stars and the like.

I find signed books fairly regularly at my local GW, both of famous people and standard authors. I've listed some on ebay (eventually all will go up) and I have to say, having a signed copy generally can make the book much easier to sell and those will, of course, bring a rather nice premium over a unsigned copy.

Some of the more notable signatures I've found include Hillary Clinton, Alan Alda, Codoleezza Rice and John Glenn (that one I'm keeping. lol)

 

[BagLady]

I'm an avid reader too. If I find a signed copy, I keep it. I don't have anything of value... yet.

 

[captain flintlock]

I'm an avid collector of Edward Rowe Snow. He was a big time story teller and author of many books about New England folklore, ocean tragedies, etc. I have several of his books and some are signed. They're not worth a ton but are priceless to me. I would definitely keep your signed books intact! Some people never bother to check them for signatures. Their loss, our gain! ☠

 

[AlienLifeForm]

Some of the more notable signatures I've found include Hillary Clinton

Id have to buy that one just to throw it away.

 

[deserdog]

I have found a few signed books
One week I found 2 different cookbooks: Eat This, and Eat This Too. Both written and signed, along with cartoon, by Dom Deloise. At 2 different thrift stores.

 

[deserdog]

Here is a triple signed book I just put on: Fighter General

 

[deserdog]

Here is another signed book: The Thrill of the Chase, by Forrest Fenn

 

[deserdog]

I sold The Thrill of the Chase for $61.00

 

[boogeyman]

Oliver North is the only "notable" that I've found that way, but I have gotten several other signed books out of TS.

Anyone know if Ollys signatures are worth anything? Literally walked into him at a book signing inside a store. He got me cuts in line and I figured what the heck I'll buy it if he'll sign it. When I was done shopping they'd gone through the whole stack behind the table, I figure around 100 + copies that store alone. It's on the ain't gonna read it why am I keeping this shelf. Thanks for reminding me!!!

 

[diggummup]

I've found several signed books over the years. My favorite is probably the one that Bob Hope signed to WASP pilot Teresa James. The book and signature itself isn't worth much, but the story is priceless.

In 1943 she flew/delivered a Fairchild PT-19 from Maryland to Hollywood to be used in a movie. After delivering the plane on Feb. 22, she became somewhat of a celebrity — she had dinner with Bob Hope and met quite a few movie stars. I imagine that is when he signed the book (and left his phone number too on a separate sheet). He refers to her as "Jesse James" probably because of the era and her being a female pilot which was a story in itself in those days.

 

[pjdentry]

I looked online and the signed book was worth about $5.

 

[wassermj]

I'm always amazed at how many signed books and cd's end up at Goodwill.

My best find was a book of Titanic photography signed by Robert Ballard, but I've also picked up signed books by Cal Ripken and Richard Matheson. These were all special signed editions so no worries of authentication. I've left plenty more of apparently in person signed books on the shelf just because the money wasn't there. Whenever I see a presidential memoir or an author whose sig would actually add value to the book (there are surprisingly very few), I always give the title page a quick check for a signature.

 

[JimDon]

I'm always amazed at how many signed books and cd's end up at Goodwill.

My best find was a book of Titanic photography signed by Robert Ballard, but I've also picked up signed books by Cal Ripken and Richard Matheson. These were all special signed editions so no worries of authentication. I've left plenty more of apparently in person signed books on the shelf just because the money wasn't there. Whenever I see a presidential memoir or an author whose sig would actually add value to the book (there are surprisingly very few), I always give the title page a quick check for a signature.

Agreed I passed on quite a few signed books by authors. There are only a few that add value.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Signatures in books are always suspect, so be sure
to vet that signature well before marketing the book as
"signed".

To the OP...you never want to remove a page from a book, especially
one that has an authors signature or dedication.