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Association copies can be difficult to define, but they can add considerable value to your growing book and ephemera collection. Put simply, association copies are books owned by people of significance. Some collectors will argue that books owned by celebrities or other famous figures count as association copies, while other collectors believe association copies are books owned by people significant to the author or particular work. For instance, this special copy of The Town and the City by Jack Kerouac is inscribed by the author to the mother of one of Kerouac's dear friends and fellow Beatniks.
What makes associations copies so precious is the unique relationship between author and recipient. Instead of a book being signed at a typical signature event, association copies provide a deeper glimpse into the hearts and minds of the authors. However, association copies can also include books signed or unsigned that belonged to other famous or influential people in history. Although signed copies are almost always more valuable than unsigned, association copies of any kind are quite collectible and highly sought-after books.
SENDAK, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. [NY]: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1963. Oblong 8vo, 48pp. Gray quarter-cloth with full-color pictorial boards. Full-color pictorial endpapers; full-color illustrations throughout. Slight rubbing to board edges, mi…
From Books of Wonder
New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, (1952). First Edition. Hardcover. Minor rubbing to the spine tips of the book. Near Fine in a Near Fine slipcase. Outstanding association. Quarto (8" x 11") bound in full blue synthetic leather with gilt lettering on th…
From Charles Agvent
London: Edward Moxon, 1840. Two volumes. Polished tan calf, spines gilt, with gilt labels (small repairs), t.e.g. by Sotheran. Gift inscription (to Emily Vine from her mother dated 1857 on title of each volume); extremities, raised bands and edges rubbed…
London & Boston: Elkin Mathews & Copeland & Day, 1895. Original polished brown buckram, spine stamped in gilt, title printed in black and red. Corners a bit bumped, crown of spine frayed, cloth a bit rubbed, otherwise a very good copy. First edition of t…
Paris: E. Dentu and Alphonse Lemerre , 1879. "Les Femmes D'Artistes" , Alphonse Lemerre, Paris, 1874 and "Les Rois En Exil. Roman Parisien", E Dentu, Paris, 1879, both books SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR at 3rd front end page and…
From Dale Steffey Books
London: Henry Frowde, 1908. Original elaborately gilt decorated cloth, t.e.g., ribbon marker. Usual foxing to endsheets, otherwise a fine copy in lightly frayed and smudged (but very scarce) dust jacket. Slipcase. From the collection of Frederick B. Adam…
Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Company, 1851. "Collected and prepared under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, per Act of Congress of March 3d, 1847." Presentation Copies of Parts I, III, and IV only, each part a First Editi…
From Dale Steffey Books
London: Chatto & Windus, 1887. Small octavo. Original polished brick-red buckram, t.e.g., others untrimmed. From the collection of Arthur H. Houghton, with his book label on front pastedown. Cloth evidently treated at an early date with some sort of shel…
New York: H. C. Kinsey & Company, 1938. First Edition. Hardcover. Joints and gutters of book darkened but a superior copy in both condition and association. Near Fine in a close to Fine dustwrapper. A small, slim clothbound volume of 47 pages. Roosevelt…
From Charles Agvent
Madrid : Renacimiento, 1917. RARE. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR at title page to Fernando Orrego (Puelma) and dated by author in year of publication (1917). Miguel de Unamuno's most famous novel, his re-telling of the story of Cain and Abel set in…
From Dale Steffey Books
London: Edward Moxon, 1830. vii,[1],150,[1]pp. Small octavo. Full olive green straight-grain morocco, gilt extra, a.e.g., by Tuckett, "Binder to the Queen." Pictorial vignette on title. Some occasional modest foxing, joints and extremities rubbed, with s…
Berlin: im Deutschen Verlag,, 1937. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR at half-title page - " Arthur Kiekebusch su wiedersehen 1937 herrlich (?) Leni Riefenstahl". Arthur Kiekebusch was a German production manager and director, best known for the 19…
From Dale Steffey Books
New York: Random House, 1967. INSCRIBED TO LEONARD BERNSTEIN First edition, first printing. Presentation copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Lennie with best wishes and memories of Lower Sixth Avenue. Bill Styron. New York, Decem…
From Peter Harrington
Los Angeles: Zeitlin & Ver Brugge Booksellers,, 1974. #105 of 120 copies printed by Saul & Lillian Marks at The Plantin Press, Los Angeles, completed April 1974. "The entire edition subscribed for by Jacob Israel Zeitlin & Josephine ver B…
From Dale Steffey Books
1946-1998: Various Publishers An important collection of 14 separately titled items, 7 books and 7 offprints, spanning the years 1946-1998, all SIGNED AND INSCRIBED by Robert K. Merton (RKM) to his former student, friend, colleague and noted sociologist …
From Dale Steffey Books
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