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Permalink Reply by Josh Board on November 4, 2020 at 9:10pm

I have a lot of signed books, but other than John Irving (World According to Garp), it's usually autobiographies of famous athletes or musicians. I also don't like books because...I'm running out of damn sapce to put them all.

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Permalink Reply by Isidro Y. on November 5, 2020 at 9:51am

I agree that space can be a problem not to mention portability. I live in California with its recent spate of wild fires and almost got evacuated which led me to thinking, "There goes my book collecting if our house catches fire". 

 I also have some autographs of movie celebrities. But I'm really being careful with my purchases due to the amount of fraud in the hobby and being a novice collector. 

 On the plus side of signed book collecting, less chance of fraud particularly with modern authors. One just have to watch out for the 'autopen'.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Shepherd on November 5, 2020 at 9:30am

I have a small collection of autographed books.  I particularly enjoy collecting Easton Press Signed Editions.

Unhidden Treasures Blog

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Permalink Reply by Isidro Y. on November 5, 2020 at 9:41am

What a coincidence. I also have a small collection of Easton Press Signed Edition. 

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on November 5, 2020 at 10:20am

I collect books signed by Hiroshima survivor Kiyoshi Kikkawa (1913-1987) that he sold in his "Souvenir Shop" right at the Genbakue Dome from 1951 to 1956. I have perhaps 7 or 8. Below is his autobiography with a photo of him signing one and his signature/slogans:

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on November 5, 2020 at 10:49am

And some more, 1951 and 1955:

And another candid of Kiyoshi in the Red Cross Hospital, May 1949

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Permalink Reply by beardog1 on November 5, 2020 at 11:25am

Although I do not consider myself a signed book collector, some of my most cherished signed items are books I have had signed through the mail and in-person by US astronauts.  I grew up during the 1960s and the early years of manned spaceflight is fascinating to me.  The books are almost always a great read and the astronauts are generally very generous in signing (and often personalizing) their books.

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Permalink Reply by M. on November 5, 2020 at 12:43pm

I love signed books, but I tend to collect books signed by individuals known for things other than writing (ie. astronauts/entertainers/athletes). I like that they tend to be much more affordable than something like a signed photo, and are often more readily available too.

My biggest gripe with signed books is that it's difficult to display the autographed page. I just picked up some more Portman signed books, and I can't think of a good way to show them off (short of just cutting out the signed page which I don't want to do).

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Permalink Reply by Isidro Y. on November 7, 2020 at 5:43pm

 I also have a few signed books by celebrities. I have Vincent Price' signed autobiography, his book on American Art and his cookbook co-authored with his wife Mary (yes, I'm a Vincent Price fan). And two books written by actress Lillian Gish.

 Interesting that I found some autograph 'cuts' of Vincent Price for sale on Ebay which I suspect the sellers cut from his signed books.

 

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Permalink Reply by crazyrabbits23 on November 23, 2020 at 2:02pm

I've found that's become more frequent as of late.

A fellow collector alerted me to a number of cases he found of books that specifically had their ffep's/title pages neatly trimmed out, either at a store or before they were donated. It's possible that they were removed because they had identifying information for previous owners, but I've found a marked uptick in cut signatures being sold on auction sites that bear part/all of a title page as part of the cut, ostensibly to "prove" authenticity (and backed with a bulls*** COA).

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Permalink Reply by crazyrabbits23 on November 5, 2020 at 2:13pm

Yes, quite a few, but I've always found the market/understanding for such things is very limited on this site. Not a bad thing by any means, but it's a bit difficult to talk to people about certain authors, rare signatures and the like.

I have about 200 signed books - but my collection is very Canada-centric. Found lots of goodies in the wild.

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