August 2nd, 2011 / 9:52 am
Random
Guest Post: Alex Estes
Random
“To all library patrons…”
I was at the Brooklyn Library (central branch) earlier, when walking through the fiction section, I saw Vollmann’s books. I picked up You Bright and Risen Angels, opened it up, and found the following inscription. Unfamiliar with Vollmann’s signature, I looked it up just now using Google images. It’s a match. Pretty sure it’s real. You’d have to be a pretty huge Vollmann fan to know the man’s signature offhand, and then if you were that kind of fan it’s doubtful this would be the inscription used.
Tags: william t. vollmann
I don’t know anything about Vollmann but this makes me more inclined to find out. Swag
I’ve ordered some of Vollmann’s books from Powell’s. They were also signed and included cool, Picasso-esque figures drawn on the title pages. The listings didn’t mention anything about the books being autographed, so I suspect he secretly signs his books a lot.
My copy of WHORES FOR GLORIA is inscribed with a cool picture of a face with long hair. I thought it was a woman when my friend gave it to me, but he said when he had Vollmann sign it, he told Vollmann I had long hair, so it is a picture of me. I also saw a first edition, the British one, of YBARAs a few years back at the library. It had never been checked out and it was with all my moral conscience that I refused the impulse just to take it and never bring it back.
I have several signed Vollmanns — that’s either his signature or an excellent forgery. Now, I don’t know about the inscription above. I suppose that could be by a patron who hated it. It’s funnier if we think it’s by Vollmann. YBARA is a real headtrip of a first novel about the war between insects and the forces of electricity. I love the dedication:
“This book was written by a traitor to his class. It is dedicated to bigots everywhere. Ladies and gentlemen of the black shirts, I call upon you to unite, to strike with claws and kitchen pokers, to burn the grub-worms of equality’s brood with sulfur and oil, to huddle together whispering about the silverfish in your basements, to make decrees in your great solemn rotten assemblies concerning what is proper, for you have nothing to lose but your last feeble principles.”
I met Vollmann several years ago and actually had him sign my copy of You Bright and Risen Angels. He drew a huge picture of a bug and then signed his name next to it. I would say that is definitely his signature.
I hope you stole it.
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Vollmann has repeatedly dismissed YOU BRIGHT AND RISEN ANGELS as “a kid’s book” and it’s not a volume he’s fond of. Factor this in with the very close signature (and if it’s a forgery, whoever did this certainly knew Vollmann), along with Vollmann’s semi-frequent appearances in New York City for various functions, and I’d say that it’s pretty likely Wild Bill himself.
it is his sig