Peter C. and Tina Vey's Copy of Childproof by Roz Chast

Recently Jeff Hirsch Books of Wadsworth offered up a copy of Roz Chast's Childproof: Cartoons About Parents and Children (1997). According to the listing, the book has been personalized to fellow New Yorker cartoonist P. C. Vey and his wife Tina with an inscription and a small drawing. The bookseller's item description identifies this sketch as a self-portrait; I'm not so sure. The book was listed on eBay for $115 with a promise that best offers would be entertained. Fair enough.

Roz Chast
eBay listing accessed August 24, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126637086612?_nkw=Roz+Chast+signed&itmmeta=01J61B8WZ44A4HCQTH15DQ4JG4&hash=item1d7c289794:g:ZwAAAOSwUEhmxiPa&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKmIVL%2FlmuIclEHtbikk0qw4hRiyw%2B9vQ%2FGiwnSpgmFUieyTKcYK8Ic5cGzFH0dKE2xi67mqrCA6Y4u7CESBGh8j1aFnnIo3

zRhTZpuHafBJtQBc6aVNGkG4cfrE3je0TfcLHnDV9tZ18JqfmuRH%2Bsb8VSnwnKMEeHVCOM6tu7waW9neTR6CW8%2BDXCnbzLcr3Hqy4djNEhm5name36tPxMpZuBzyX%2Bb5CVIUjkNRXjPs6GJ0mnjJcooRTSqmEDIlhkPAPK7NOraGKucb%2FneT1XoiRuRV7Rvu2Jn5Zl6L4AxZUA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9DPo6uwZA

But the volume was also listed on AbeBooks with an offering price of $100. No need to negotiate best offers here.

Roz Chast
AbeBooks listing accessed August 24, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31724049119&searchurl=attrs%3Dsgnd%26ds%3D30%26kn%3DRoz%2BChast%26rollup%3Don%26sgnd%3Don%26sortby%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp0-_-image6

It never hurts to check the bookseller's own website either even if the price proves to be no lower. Still, there's not much one can do once you order the book, as I did, and the booksellers are then unable to find it, as they were. Perhaps I didn't need to shop all those different websites after all.

Roz Chast
Jeff Hirsch Books listing accessed August 24, 2024

https://www.jhbooks.com/pages/books/196221/roz-chast/childproof-signed-first-edition

Note:  If you've got some original art by Roz Chast to share, this blog could be just the place. I'd take images of art by P. C. Vey as well. I'll try not to misplace them.

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Sight Unseen: The Haunted Tea-Cosy Signed by Edward Gorey

A signed copy of an Edward Gorey book selling for $20 is just the sort of thing that gets my attention. It brings back memories of the days when signed Gorey books were available plentifully from the Gotham Book Mart for the cover price and I pretty much ignored them. This time I went ahead and purchased a copy of The Haunted Tea-Cosy sight unseen from Jeff Hirsch Books of Wadsworth, Illinois on the basis of the AbeBooks listing with the intention of reporting the outcome to the readership here. The sole image is a stock image, so there's nothing meaningful to go by other than the description.

Edward Gorey
AbeBooks listing accessed May 12, 2023

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Haunted-Tea-Cosy-Dispirited-Distasteful-Diversion-Christmas/31504172975/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

So, how did it go?

On the day of this purchase, the seller reported to me that the listing contained an error and the book is not, after all, signed. We mutually agreed to cancel the transaction. The book's listing was corrected and not removed, confirming the bookseller's integrity. No harm, no foul. But just a little disappointment.

The book remains available.

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