The joys of signed books

This weekend, I started to catalog my signed books.

As one of the incentives for higher-level donations on my Stimulating Reading campaign, I've promised a choice of signed first edition books from my collection. When you pitch in $600 or above, you not only get the t-shirt and discount card offered with other donations -- you also get to see the list, and pick your prize from amongst them.

I've discovered I have a lot more signed books than I remembered. For eight years of bookstore work, I've hoarded signed copies for lots of my favorite authors at readings, drop-by signings, and book parties. Many, I've discovered, are personalized to me (which I imagine will be of less interest to others, though they are still on the table as potential prizes). But some are pristine signed first editions.

One of the treasures of my collection is this one: the first U.S. edition of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, signed by Susanna and dated "15th Sept. 2004". In later printings Bloomsbury changed the background color of the cover to black, and the color of the bird and text to white (which really makes no sense once you start to read the story of the Raven King). But that just means that this one is all the more precious. (I've also got a personalized ARC from Susanna, whom I interviewed for Publishers Weekly, but I imagine this one is the more valuable.)

As I moaned over some of the beauties in my collection this weekend, the ALP expressed surprise that I would offer to give away these books that are clearly important to me. But for folks willing to give their entire stimulus check to help my bookstore off the ground, I'm willing to give the best of what I've got to offer. I'm still cataloguing -- who knows what other treasures are hiding on the shelves?