This may come as a surprise, but I have a predilection for Charles Addams books. If a bookseller from all the way in the U.K. comes along and offers me a copy of Addams's 1957 collection Nightcrawlers adding that it's "signed by the Author and dedicated," who am I to say, "Sorry, not interested?" But the price, $52.03, seems a little too good to be true. Why? As for the shipping cost from the U.K. of $6.02, ditto. And there are a number of unanswered questions that I just won't ask, not wishing to tip off the seller to the potential giveaway at hand.
As the listing's single photograph shows—well, it doesn't reveal all that much. There is the question of condition. How could a signed Addams collection, surely the pride of any library, lose its dust cover? Well, it does happen; we've seen it. Then there's the question of authenticity: why wouldn't an internet-savvy bookseller show a photo of the prized Addams inscription? And finally, there is always some intrigue about the recipient. Is it one of the artist's high society friends? A lover? A celebrity? My approach to these conundrums is to plan to put the book in a Sight Unseen post and then to go ahead and order it. When it arrives, I report to the readership on the outcome.
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| Charles Addams AbeBooks listing accessed November 23, 2023 |
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| Charles Addams AbeBooks item description |
The book has arrived, allowing me to photograph the front free endpaper complete with purported Addams signature and inscription:
For those who may not be clear on the key point here, this is neither Addams's handwriting nor his signature. There has been an unfortunate confluence in 2023: three books that I ordered Sight Unseen, two of them by Edward Gorey and this one, lacked the authentic artist signatures I had been led to expect. The two major reasons for this are some combination of bookseller carelessness and buyer avarice. To the credit of World of Rare Books, my money was refunded in full and I was not even asked to return the book.
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