I concur with everyone else. Return it.

Thank you very much everyone for the help.

Faking Alan Lee seems to be fashionable at the moment...

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THE CHILDREN OF HURIN - J.R.R. TOLKIEN - 1ST EDITION 2007 SIGNED HARDBACK *RARE*

154070528391

Seller: man_of_spiders

(3670)

Ended Sep 4, 2020

This item ended more than 90 days ago

Not sure that it is a fake, when you have signed tens of thousands of books like Alan has, very difficult to keep your signature the same, what do others think?

Trotter wrote:

Not sure that it is a fake, when you have signed tens of thousands of books like Alan has, very difficult to keep your signature the same, what do others think?

Here's the ebay signature:


The bottom of the "L" in Alan (stroke pulling right), and the top of the "L" in Lee (no loop, weird hooked line to left) both do not match any of his signatures I have ever seen. I suppose it could be just a really rushed signature from him, but there are *so many* examples of his signature online that all look remarkably the same, that I think he would always have the same signature.

Another one for the same seller.

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MERLIN DREAMS -PETER DICKINSON ~ALAN LEE -1ST ED 1988 SIGNED -HOBBIT- LOTR *RARE

154052670993

Seller: man_of_spiders

(3666)

Ended Aug 23, 2020

This item ended more than 90 days ago

This has been sold.

That second one looks much more like other Alan Lee signatures I have seen.

Looking through the eBay seller's listings, I get the impression of an autograph hound who is selling books from a personal collection. Of the few other authors whose signatures I recognize, they seem perfectly in the realm of being legitimate, and I don't see any evidence of repeated sales (in other words, the seller isn't cranking out Alan Lee after Alan Lee 'signed' books).

I still don't like that first Alan Lee signature he has up for sale (personally), but as I said at first, it could be from Alan having a long exhausting day signing books for thousands of people and he was very tired/rushed. Quite possible this eBay seller got the book second hand from another seller (who may or may not have been unscrupulous).

Regardless, this is not a hard signature to find, and I would recommend other sources than this particular eBay listing.

Thank you Urulókë for your insight. :)
I have bought that signed Merlin Dreams, and I suddenly realized it was the same seller as the CoH posted just before.
Seeing this more unusual signature from a more older book (as Merlin Dreams is), I believed Alan's signature could have evolved since the late 80's.
Older books signed by Alan (as MD, The Dragon dreams's Mabinogion, Castles, etc...) seems to be much rarer...
But maybe I'm wrong.

I saw people bringing all sorts of older Lee books to his signing table at Tolkien2019, including Merlin Dreams and Castles for example. Not sure what a bookstore policy is for Alan Lee signings (over here in the USA, usually the bookstore will let one or two other books be brought in, as long as a new book is also purchased for autographing) but clearly he doesn't mind signing all of his works when presented to him.

The older Lee signed books are definitely more scarce than the new Tolkien ones - but that might not be saying too much given how prolific he is at signing. I don't see older Lee books signed on the market very often, that's for certain.

Intersting to know that you saw people bringing old books at Tolkien2019.
As a french living in Paris, I went to the signing session that Alan gave during the BNF exhibition, and he signed my deluxe editions of Beren and Luthien and Tales from the perilous realm.
I saw a lot of people bringing 1991 one volume Lord of the rings edition (french edition) and some LotR sketch books.
I never went to a signing session outside of France but I believe you, people (and fans of his work) might look for autographs on much older and rarer books.
Personnally, I love his older books (Ships before Troy, and Mabinogion are stunning).