August 5th, 2009 / 12:00 am
Random

My Favorite Author Signature

schutt

Aside from the signatures that a few of my writer-friends have written to me in their own books, my favorite author signature is the above greeting from Christine Schutt in her collection Nightwork.

I had admired Schutt’s writing for a while, and then had the neat opportunity to take a workshop from her at Sewanee. Her way of talking about language (about which Justin has already posted) and how she applied her careful sensibilities to a few of my own stories really helped me become aware of my own sentences in new ways. Simply to be able to speak and work with her after having read and reread Nightwork and A Day, A Night, Another Day, Summer was incredible.

As a result, hers is the signature that means the most to me.

What about you? Feel free to email a pic if you have one, so I can add it to the post. Or share in the comments. Also, Jacket Copy has a similar post on author signatures and a gallery of photos. Send them pics too? You can also click over to this page of scanned author signatures if you’d like to get some ideas.

Here’s another signature, this one sent in by Blake: Gordon Lish.

lish

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24 Comments

  1. Justin Taylor

      That’s great, Ryan. I’m way jealous that you got to work with Christine. I think I have a signed copy of Nightwork too. Every time I go to one of her readings I try and stick a different book in her face to sign for me. :) I’m long overdue for some serious re-reading her. Soon as I’m back on the same continent as my books…

  2. Justin Taylor

      That’s great, Ryan. I’m way jealous that you got to work with Christine. I think I have a signed copy of Nightwork too. Every time I go to one of her readings I try and stick a different book in her face to sign for me. :) I’m long overdue for some serious re-reading her. Soon as I’m back on the same continent as my books…

  3. Ryan Call

      ill see if i can find my notes anywhere and send them to you

  4. Ryan Call

      ill see if i can find my notes anywhere and send them to you

  5. darby

      i have a signed copy of Psycho by robert bloch i got while I was in high school. i wasnt a ‘reader’ at the time. our english teacher said he’d give us extra credit if we attended a book signing somewhere. bloch died a year later. this was ’94.

  6. darby

      i have a signed copy of Psycho by robert bloch i got while I was in high school. i wasnt a ‘reader’ at the time. our english teacher said he’d give us extra credit if we attended a book signing somewhere. bloch died a year later. this was ’94.

  7. Blake Butler

      my most dear is a copy of Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace signed for me, but I don’t feel I should scan it for some reason.

      I do have a good Barry Hannah one with one of the my favorite inscriptions. I’ll get a photo.

  8. Blake Butler

      my most dear is a copy of Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace signed for me, but I don’t feel I should scan it for some reason.

      I do have a good Barry Hannah one with one of the my favorite inscriptions. I’ll get a photo.

  9. gene

      ah, fuck, really? there are like 3-5 signatures that i really, really fucking want that i’ll probably never have the cash or opportunity to get: b. hannah and dfw along with joyce, beckett, and barthelme. although there’s a specialty store in boston that has some old signed becketts that were all in the range of like 5-8,000 and a signed portion of A WORK IN PROGRESS that was like 15 gs. some day motherfuckers, some day.

      honestly though i wasn’t ever into really collecting sigs until i moved to boston and had the opportunity to work at a bookstore where i ran into some motherfuckers whose signatures i actually wanted. and if i was really fucking geeked on ’em i was allowed to introduce them at the events: brian evenson and jayne anne phillips, especially. evenson signed like 3 books and was the nicest guy ever. jayne anne signed an old edition of black tickets for me. other than that, i also got two signatures from charles d’ambrosio and ben percy, two fucking great guys who were both extremely helpful to me as a young motherfucker on the come-up.

  10. gene

      ah, fuck, really? there are like 3-5 signatures that i really, really fucking want that i’ll probably never have the cash or opportunity to get: b. hannah and dfw along with joyce, beckett, and barthelme. although there’s a specialty store in boston that has some old signed becketts that were all in the range of like 5-8,000 and a signed portion of A WORK IN PROGRESS that was like 15 gs. some day motherfuckers, some day.

      honestly though i wasn’t ever into really collecting sigs until i moved to boston and had the opportunity to work at a bookstore where i ran into some motherfuckers whose signatures i actually wanted. and if i was really fucking geeked on ’em i was allowed to introduce them at the events: brian evenson and jayne anne phillips, especially. evenson signed like 3 books and was the nicest guy ever. jayne anne signed an old edition of black tickets for me. other than that, i also got two signatures from charles d’ambrosio and ben percy, two fucking great guys who were both extremely helpful to me as a young motherfucker on the come-up.

  11. Peter Markus

      dang, i’m jealous you’ve got that hannah sig. scan it and i’ll eat it.

  12. Peter Markus

      dang, i’m jealous you’ve got that hannah sig. scan it and i’ll eat it.

  13. KevinS

      Great idea here.

  14. KevinS

      Great idea here.

  15. Adam Robinson

      I got a signed copy of Paul Tillich’s “The Courage to Be” at a used bookstore for $.25.

  16. Adam Robinson

      I got a signed copy of Paul Tillich’s “The Courage to Be” at a used bookstore for $.25.

  17. Blake Butler

      [Picture of a signed copy of Lish’s ‘My Romace’ has been added to the post: I found this in a random copy of the book that I ordered used off of amazon. I think the inscription reads ‘hungry mind’]

  18. Blake Butler

      [Picture of a signed copy of Lish’s ‘My Romace’ has been added to the post: I found this in a random copy of the book that I ordered used off of amazon. I think the inscription reads ‘hungry mind’]

  19. Schulyer Prinz

      I have a signed Harry Mathews (Cigarettes) which I found at a used book store. I also have a copy of the Oulipo compendium signed by six of the members. Dopeness.

  20. Schulyer Prinz

      I have a signed Harry Mathews (Cigarettes) which I found at a used book store. I also have a copy of the Oulipo compendium signed by six of the members. Dopeness.

  21. Ryan Call

      well i really stole it from jacket copy.

  22. Ryan Call

      if you people can take pictures of these things and send them to us, i can post them for others to look at

  23. Ryan Call

      well i really stole it from jacket copy.

  24. Ryan Call

      if you people can take pictures of these things and send them to us, i can post them for others to look at