Sigh.
The reason that recent signed books are not very valuable is because in America, there are more people trying to make a profit on signatures than there are people who appreciate them.
Someday, if you keep it in perfect condition, your newly signed book will be worth... the jacket price.
I have something even less valuable: a copy of the 4 vol. The World of Mathematics, which is a fabulous work of its time, with the fly leaf inscribed by semi-famous Con-law prof. Lawrence Tribe. I'm guessing the set might have been a Bar Mitzvah gift.
It's cool to me, and of no bibliophile value.
Feb 4, 2026 21:55I am actually an absolute sucker for interesting-association books. Once I had a first American of Gray's Anatomy that had belonged to a rather famous doctor, and another time I had a first of The Innocents Abroad that had belonged to a person who would have been a household name in the 1890s!
