Another 'signed' book on Ebay

A "tad" expensive? The signature looks authentic (but would think the seller would have provided a much better photo of it given the item and price!) and the provenance seems believable. As this is a UK auction, "crayon" may have a different meaning in the Queen's English than it does in the US.

And if this goes for the asking price, I'm going to put my signed and inscribed calendar up for half that price!

Away from The Green Hill Country,

Parmastahir

wow

Seems way overpriced to me. You could buy multiple signed books and/or letters for the price the seller is asking. I'd rather buy something off of Beren's website; he's selling better stuff and you know that they are real.

Even though I think this letter is overpriced as well, I'd buy this before I bought that signed copy of LOTR: http://cgi.ebay.com/JRR-Tolkien-Signe ... 65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

Not that I could afford any of this stuff right now. :)

The listing is pretty amateur-ish for book that is priced up (rather hopefuly I feel) at £20K; this is eBay mind you! As Parmastahir says, a better picture of the signature would perhaps be worth the effort baring in mind the price if realised. More interesting is the provenance, and the fact that the guy worked for GA&U, and actually met Tolkien.

(Parmastahir) What does crayon mean in the US?

BH

Incidently, check out the postage! Having never purchased a book at £20K, I have to ask -is this how much it would cost to deliver? (or is this a slip? £3.50 perhaps? )

BH

Hi Khamul -

In the US, a crayon is a stick of colored wax (and the best known maker is Crayola.) These are mostly used by children in coloring books where they color in the trees green and the sky blue, etc. In French, crayon is a pencil. So I was wondering if crayon is not in this instance a colored pencil. In any case, £20K is MORE than a bit steep for such a book with or without this provenance. I have an inscribed and signed JRRT calendar that you can view on my website. As it is probably one of the last articles that the master ever signed, I think it invaluable and would not ever sell it.

Away from The Green Hill Country,

Parmastahir

Well, I took crayon to mean coloured wax, as you do. So the US and UK meaning appear to be the same. In UK a coloured pencil is... well, a coloured pencil. Although you'd call it a colored pencil!

The photo is poor, so you can't tell either way. Although with the seller being from the UK I'd guess he didn't mean pencil, and did indeed intend to mean crayon as you understand it. What was Tolkien playing at?; inconsiderate so-and-so...

BH

by Khamul on 2008/11/11 12:37:05

Incidently, check out the postage! Having never purchased a book at £20K, I have to ask -is this how much it would cost to deliver? (or is this a slip? £3.50 perhaps? )

What I gather from the listing is that it includes insurance - presumably for the asking price. Does look somewhat plausible to me.