Autograph Hound Saturday again, and Kevin Cook is back at the wheel, giving Brian Leno a breather from digging through binder after binder of autos.
In our discussions of signed books, Kevin asked me if I had noticed that James Crumley laid out a full “James Crumley” when he was just signing his name in a book, but that when he was inscribing an item for someone specific he often used “Jim Crumley.”
I hadn’t noticed, but took the handful of CrumDog books I have off the shelf and found examples of both signatures — and yes, when he was inscribing a novel to me he used “Jim.”
So, I guess if you’re shooting for a “complete” Autograph Hound spread on Crumley, you need to find samples of James and Jim.
And it raises the spectre of full name vs. more personal first-name-only.
In the copy of Dancing Bear, Random House 1983, Kevin selected today to exemplify the idea, he also noticed a single holograph correction, on the dedication page, for which he suspects Crumley was responsible. Personally, I like signed books, but I really like items that sport a few handwritten editorial emendations. Doesn’t everyone?
