In two prior installments I noted the mild distemper suffered by professional booksellers when encountering the term “flatsigned” as against merely a “signed” book. The owner of “FlatSigned Books”™ and “FlatSigned Press”™, too, the since-deceased Tim Miller, aroused considerable ire. He was many times, justifiably and even publicly, accused of converting mere unsigned modern first editions into, first, “signed” ones (having forged the signatures of collectible authors) and then into “FlatSigned” modern first edition exemplars by building a business model around his malfeasance, enriching himself at the expense of unsuspecting book-buyers. His March 25, 2004 web-based article was titled “Buying and Selling Autographed Books—Past, Present & Future.” After spieling lengthily about the meaning of “the autograph” and its importance for Western history and culture, Mr. Miller disparaged the relative value of “signed” books, introduced a capital F in “Flatsigned,” and then a second, capitalized “S,” turning that into “FlatSigned”™, and then concluded the enduring and increased monetary value of the latter over even signed and inscribed books from collectible authors. “Many booksellers, who have been selling signed books far longer than I have been,” he noted, “have stated inscribed is better. I do not believe this to be the case.”
Well, no, Mr. Miller, but you built your “current multi-million dollar business of selling books, art and Americana, mostly FlatSigned ™”, around your practice of signature-forging. Hallway talk among booksellers has it that, when confronted with clear, abundant evidence of his malfeasance at a San Francisco-based book fair in the 2000 aughts, he “quickly headed for the exit”; he wasn’t seen again at any reputable book-fairs.
In the concluding paragraph of his screed Mr. Miller claimed that “The term FLATSIGNED was originally coined by the world’s most popular author, Stephen King. This word has now become a worldwide, recognized symbol of the best quality of rare and collectible books” (https://www.ioba.org/post/buying-and-selling-autographied-books-past-present-future).
Stephen King’s signature is among the most frequently forged in the world; entire Facebook groups have been constituted so as to help people winnow the wheat (of an authentically signed book) from the chaff (of a forged signature). A much-beloved mystery writer, John Dunning, turned his long experience as a Denver, Colorado-based homicide detective into a memorable rare book-selling protagonist, Cliff Janeway. In The Sign of the Book, we encounter bottom-feeding booksellers who spend $5.00 on a modern first edition so as to forge the signature so as to sell it for $75.00 on eBay. I can’t help but think that lots of them are FlatSigned™.
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