Signed First Edition - WWYD

[foxtrottango]

I am a mad Terry Pratchett fan, I run a blog about 'Discernalia', collect everything to do with him, big old nerd :)

I went to a bookshop today and asked if they had any unusual Pratchetts. They had a signed first edition copy of Mort. Mort was an early book so first editions are not all that easy to come by. As for the signature, Terry signs an awful lot of stuff. The book was a lot of money and I was contemplating buying it (I recently passed a very difficult exam so it would be a treat!).

I asked to look at the book and when I opened it the book was signed to someone. It is dated 1987 and it is a full signature. As the years went by Terrys signature became shorter and shorter but this is a full signature. It is a nice inscription but my heart sank when I realised it was signed to someone. For some reason I just feel that I could never fall in love with it properly as it would never be 'mine' IYSWIM.

My question is this, since I left the shop I have been unable to stop thinking about it. It is dated from 25 years ago and is a full signature. Would anyone else be bothered about it being signed to someone else or am I just being precious? None of my friends are into books and would probably thing I was daft so I just wanted to get some opinions from booklovers.

Personally I wouldn't care and I would buy it.

A lot of my books are second hand and a fair number have other people's names and inscriptions in them (though none by the actual author) but I just think it adds to the character of the book.

Hiya, thanks for that. I have asked about at work and although most people think I'm mad for considering spending this much money on a book, they agree that if it were them the inscription would not put them off. It is a nice inscription and a nice full dated signature and the more I think about it, the less it bothers me! I suppose another trip to the book shop is in order :)

It's a bit of a giveaway that you can't stop thinking about the book since you left the bookshop :). I'd say if buying it makes you feel happy then you should definitely buy it - I would.

:). I know Nora, that's exactly what I was thinking. Surely if it bothered me that much I would have walked away and forgotten about it. It would be nice to have one as only 4000 first edition 'Morts' were produced (as opposed to more than 100,000 a few books later!)

I'd buy it
I have several signed books, including a couple I bought at a charity shop and didn't even realise were signed until I got them home. It wouldn't bother me that it was dedicated to someone else, it's the whole "OMG touched this with their own hands" thing that gets me
I actually cried when my one and only signed Heinlein arrived. I took it to bed with me wrapped in plastic and slept with it under my pillow for a week

Its what it means to you, it doesnt really matter whether other people would be ok with the inscription or not, you are the one who has to be happy if you buy it.

Could you change your name. To the one in the inscription?

I dislike this too, and not sure I would buy it.

I have some signed books, and they're all either dedicated to me (or the children) or the author's signature alone.

Buy it, you know you want to!

I love finding dedications and personal inscriptions inside books, and wondering who the person was, what they were like.

I have a very old book of Robert Burns poetry with the following written inside:

"To Miss Willoughby, wishing you many happy returns of your birthday. H Bolton. Oct 18th 1881"

It's not from the author (obviously!) but it always makes me smile. The book you want makes you smile, so go for it, enjoy it

Check the price compared to this. If more expensive and you are not sure then maybe think again.
If significantly cheaper, then you may not get a better chance

Go on, how much was it ?!

Would add that it would also depend on how rare the signature was.

And I do like the old dedications Singing mentioned.