LORD JOHN SIGNATURES

Northridge, California: Lord John Press, 1991. No. 135 OF 150 DELUXE COPIES (and 400 numbered copies, and 26 lettered copies). 195 x 265 mm. (7 3/4 x 10 3/4"). xi, [1] pp., [1] leaf (blank), 1-16, 15a, 16a, 17-38 pp., [3] leaves, 41-75, [1] pp., [2] leaves.
Publisher's navy quarter morocco over gray buckram, cover titled in blue, spine lettered in gilt. In a (slightly worn) navy buckram slipcase. With 40 photographs of the authors whose signatures appear, plus an additional 55 photos of signatures from other authors and public figures. SIGNED BY 41 AUTHORS. Essentially as new.

An autograph collector's delight, this unusual fine press production is perhaps of importance mainly as the vehicle for the first printing of an essay by Stephen King on autograph collecting (signed by King, of course). In addition, the book features the signatures of 41 important figures, including (alphabetically) John Barth, Ray Bradbury, Harry Crews, Gerald R. Ford, Jim Harrison, Tony Hillerman, Ursula LeGuin, Elmore Leonard, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, Reynolds Price, Anne Tyler, John Updike, and Eudora Welty. The Lord John Press was founded in 1978 by Herbert Yellin (1935-2014) with the purpose of publishing modern authors in signed, limited editions. Yellin had long been a collector of books and autographs before he became a publisher, and he kept his collector's sensibility as a publisher, always concerned with excellent printing, and, of course, with signatures..