How about another Autograph Hound Saturday? It’s been awhile, and on the side the topic came up of authors who have rare signatures — if you’ve got enough loot laying around, you can shell it out but the autos that are really rare, that takes some luck to find them.
A few tough ones are James Tiptree Jr, Henry Kuttner, Thomas Pynchon — and C. M. Kornbluth. The general toughest categories are writers who died young, and the writers who didn’t show up for the usual signings at conventions and bookstore promotions. Recluses can be quite elusive.
Our resident Autograph Hound Brian Leno of course has something to talk about in the form of a signed cheque to Kornbluth. Brian says, “Here’s my Kornbluth with the magazine appearance he got paid for, under a pseudonym.”
Take it away, Brian:
I bought this one a few years back and am very happy I did, undoubtedly it’s worth much more than I shelled out then.
The pulp is Super Science Stories, November 1940, and the story appeared under the Kornbluth pseudonym S.D. Gottesman.
Kornbluth is ultra rare, died at 34 after hurriedly shoveling his sidewalk and then running to catch his train. That’ll bring on a heart attack if anything will.
Plus his Wikipedia entry states that for some unknown reason he didn’t brush his teeth nor make appointments with dentists and as a result his teeth were green and he tried to hide this blemish by talking with his hands covering his mouth.
I think it would have been easier to just brush. This hygienic issue probably didn’t help his health any.
A signature that is as rare as hen’s teeth (sorry), very desirable.
Zenna Henderson is another rare one, I’m lucky enough to own a signed copy of The Anything Box. As a side note most people perhaps don’t know (or remember) but there was a Made-for-TV movie called The People from 1972 based on her series. The flick featured William Shatner and Kim Darby. Two words can sum it up. Crap. Crap.
More rare ones, not just science fiction, would include Good Old Mac Everett McNeil, Lovecraft’s buddy. Henry S. Whitehead is a tough, almost impossible one to find and a signed book by Weird Tales editor Edwin Baird is another daunting task.
Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith are easy, Robert E. Howard a bit more difficult. Once again it’s just a matter of finances. (Even Hemingway is easy if you’re rolling in the dough.)
But while anybody can own a good autograph collection if you’ve got the money, I would think most collectors would agree that it’s the rare ones that get the juices flowing.
