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123...5
23 Sep, 2008
2008-9-23 7:25:56 PM UTC
I do not know about the signature but I think as has been pointed out before,

"happy to sell cheap cos no provenance"

Provenance is becoming vital with Tolkien signatures
23 Sep, 2008
2008-9-23 7:37:00 PM UTC
i did not bid on the book because of that... without provenance a book that confuses me so much is not worth a lot. Especially if you ever wish to re-sell it and hold up your credibility as a seller.
23 Sep, 2008
2008-9-23 9:13:26 PM UTC
thanks for the input, Beren, and I agree with you about not wanting to bid on this particular book.

Just because this thread will long outlast the eBay auction, I am including the image of the signature here for posterity.

1_48d95bf36781f.jpg 300X400 px
24 Sep, 2008
2008-9-24 2:06:48 AM UTC
This doesn't seem either suspect or mysterious to me. The signature looks authentic (and I've seen a few); and if someone were going to forge a signature, why do it on a book like this, instead of something written by Tolkien?

It looks to me like the owner of this book encountered Tolkien at the college, had this book in hand, and asked him for his autograph.

--
Carl F. Hostetter
24 Sep, 2008
2008-9-24 6:48:14 AM UTC
This is probably what happened...
24 Sep, 2008
2008-9-24 8:11:04 AM UTC
Two more examples of tolkien's signature have just appeared on ABE books. A very good comparison to this book in my opinion.

First ABEBooks item

Secod ABEBooks item

Dior
24 Sep, 2008
2008-9-24 11:31:18 AM UTC
Well spotted, Dior - and thanks for all your thoughts, everyone.

wellinghall
25 Sep, 2008
2008-9-25 9:26:33 PM UTC
Just wanted to say welcome to the boards, and thanks for the thoughts on the signed book.
26 Sep, 2008
2008-9-26 6:00:40 AM UTC
Aw man,

you guys start talking about eBay signatures, so someone goes and whips out a forgery to sell a piece of junk:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220285848222

1_48dc7a8307619.jpg 400X300 px
1 Oct, 2008
2008-10-1 2:16:48 AM UTC
Joining this thread a little belatedly:

In regard to the book sold on eBay, if the signature is genuine, Carl's explanation as to how it got into the book seems plausible. But Beren's question about why volume 4 remains, and I'm not without doubts about that signature. The dots are indeed uncharacteristic, and it seems to me that the signer had some hesitation in writing some of the letters. Not enough to discount it entirely, just to raise some warning flags. By the way, Tolkien seems not to have frequented Queen's College, Oxford: Christina and I record in our Chronology only one reference to it, a dinner there with J.A.W. Bennett in 1946. (Tolkien also dined at Queen's College, Cambridge, but that's another animal altogether.)

I have much more trouble with the two typed items noticed by Dior. The first problem is a typewritten letter from around 1943, when Tolkien was invariably, as far as Christina and I have seen, writing his letters in manuscript. The second problem is that the typewriting doesn't look like Tolkien's -- wrong font, wrong fit of letters, atypical typos, use of spaces, and margins. And then there are the signatures, with dots askew and some letters (such as T and k) which I find questionable. Also, I have to wonder why Tolkien would type out the "Eala Earendil" quotation by itself and then sign it: this wouldn't be typical of him, so adds to my suspicions.


Wayne
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