Last week, Dear Reader, I introduced you to the telling difference between a book that is “flatsigned” at the title- or half-title page in pen, Sharpie ™ or paint by an author and a book that is “inscribed” also by an author’s short, warm, meaningful note, being sometimes also dated.
But them’s fightin’ words—or can be, first about the dubiousness of “flatsigned” versus mere “signed” and second about their putative worth as opposed to inscribed books and third about the difference between flatsigned and FlatSigned books. Tim Miller wrote on a BookThink blog-spot in 2005 that Stephen King coined the term “flatsigned,” but he himself founded FlatSigned Books and FlatSigned Press in the 2000 aughts and became a major purveyor of signed books, including those by Ken Kesey and Stephen King: “FlatSigned is the best!” Miller asserted that flatsigned books, with few exceptions (for example, an inscription by a Woolf or a Steinbeck to her or his mother), were just more valuable than inscribed books per se: “I promise you that when it comes time to sell your signed book, it may will be more difficult to sell because it is inscribed and many people simply do not like the idea of owning something that has someone else's name written on it - especially a collectible book” (bookthink dot com/0053/53mil.htm)!
Most booksellers feel that book inscriptions help in fraud detection and help to establish provenance and add association value (who is the previous owner, how did they come by the book, how do owner and author relate, etc.). But Miller didn’t even allow the added benefits of inscribed dates; “Also, the easiest thing in the world to forge would be numbers!” (ditto). “Do what makes you feel good about yourself and your collection,” counseled Miller; just know that “FlatSigned books are usually more popular - which translates into more worth!” (ditto).
Tim Miller had his detractors. Tim Doyle (at bookthink dot com/0053/53doy.htm) reasoned that anyone desiring “a signed Hemingway or Steinbeck would be delighted with any kind of additional inscription from the author, associational or no.” He went further. He examined on-line prices for sets of copies of collectible authors’ books (signed copies, association copies, inscribed copies and those flatsigned); Miller’s FlatSigned exemplars came in last. Flatsigned books are also easier to forge than inscriptions. One bookseller suspected that an unsigned book of hers ordered by Mr. Miller soon had become flatsigned, I mean, FlatSigned. Others inserted almost indetectable codes into their books to protect themselves from later FlatSigning.
Some authors are ripe for FlatSigning. Take Stephen King . . . please.
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