In the used book market today, individuals that collect autographed books have become increasingly interested in this growing area, which has such a strong appeal to so many collectors around the world. Autographed books normally are dedicated to the previous owner of the book by author of the, which is also accompanied by their autograph as well.



Of course, collectors are going to be more interested in autographed used books that have been dedicated to individuals who were famous or notable or were in a direct association with the author themselves. Your area local used book store will be a good source for locating autographed used books as well as several web sites. Your area local used book store will often times give you a call if they receive one of these books in stock, especially if you are regular customer. However, several individuals need to know and want to know if these signatures within the covers of these books are authentic and if they have any type of value.

The major problem with this is that almost eighty percent of the autographed books that contain a printed signature are actually fakes. Although these books may be older and even long out of print, they still have very little value, especially compared with those that contain more authentic signatures. The best way for to know if a signature is authentic is to realize that authors normally sign their autographs on either the flyleaves or on the endpapers, which are the empty pages at the beginning and the end of any bound edition book. Another strong indication in determining if the signature is authentic or a forgery is by checking the date of publication of the books, because if the date of publication is after the date of the signature or the date the author died, then the signature is definitely a forgery.

There are several times throughout history when authors, celebrities, and athletes will authorize a personal assistance to sign their signature for them. For instance, during World War II, the United States Army Chief Of Staff, George C. Marshall, was actually signing every single condolence letter that was being sent home to the families of each soldier that had been slain in combat. However, the death rate became so overwhelming that he became forced to assign his personal assistant the authority to be able to actually forge his signature to these letters in order to get them out to their respectable families. The two signatures were actually very hard to distinguish from one another, due to his personal assistance becoming so good at copying his signature.

There have been several celebrities, authors, and athletes in the past that have used rubber hand stamps to sign documents in the past such as our American President, Andrew Johnson, when his right hand was injured during a train accident. Other notable American Presidents' who are known to use rubber hand stamps during their presidency were Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and also Franklin Delano Roosevelt.