Signed Books and Signatures
February 5th, 2007 by Alan Chudnow
It is generally accepted that a book signed by someone significant to the work, usually the author, increases its value. Frequently that value is considered to be simply the price the book can fetch on the open market but often there is another value that may be even more important – that of personal value.
The personal significance of a book may include many of the traditional factors important to many collectors; that of edition, condition, rarity, subject matter, etc. Other factors are more personal and are very subjective. Perhaps the book was a gift from a close friend or relative. Perhaps the book is a cherished artifact from childhood or one that’s story holds some significant importance to you. These things elevate the personal value of the book.
The recent trend in collecting is for “flat signed books”, that is, for a simple signature without any other inscription such as “To Alan, Best Regards….” This is a fairly recent phenomenon. The traditional convention is that “more is better” and the addition of an inscription by the signer is preferred over a simple signature. The reasons for this are varied but boil down to essentially two factors.
One, the more a signer writes in the book, the more interesting it becomes. Long dedications or pithy quips lend an insight into the author and make the inscriptions more personalized. Two, a longer inscription is harder to forge than a simple signature. The unscrupulous practice of forging signatures to drive up the price of a book is an unfortunate reality in collecting and the more lenghtly an inscription the greater the difficulty of fabrication.
Comparing the signature and writing in question to an verified sample is a common practice when attempting to determine authenticity. Fortunately, there are options available for doing so. Using a signature from your own collection that you personally had the author sign is an unimpeachable source. Publishers will sometimes print facsimiles of author’s signatures in a book. It may appear at the end of 
an introduction or preface, for example, or underneath the author’s portrait. There are also a number of signature archives online for you to use in your attempt to validate a suspect signature. I’ve listed a few of them below and am planning on compiling a more extensive list which I’ll post on the Collecting SF Books web site.
Be aware that simply because a signature appears in an online gallery does not guarantee that it’s authentic. Some sites will state categorically which signatures have been verified. That assurance is only as valuable as the amount of credibility you give the site’s owner. Caveat lector!
P. Scott Brown – Latino & Latin American Authors
Other readings:
BookThink has an excellent article written in 2003 on the value of signed books
Ken Lopez – Bookseller wrote a very cogent argument for preferring an inscription over a simple signature.
