(Note Stephen King’s inscription in the above photograph).
ONLY if the author is giving the book as a gift should they write the words ‘To George’. ( This is inclusive of book signings, or under any other circumstance.) Say the person is ‘George’, then the author should write the words ‘For George’. That we authors like to keep a connection with our history and heritage.Īnother tradition for book signing is when someone asks you to sign or personalise their copy. I do like the thought, even nowadays, these hundreds of years later, there is some conservative part of us writers who continue this practise as a nod to our literary forebears. My own view is, the tradition of crossing out one’s name arises from a combination of both, developing over the years as the printing revolution gained credence. The second accepted reason goes back to the earliest days of printing when it was the practice for authors to sign each copy of the printed material by hand as proof of their authorship, a kind of early copyrights protection if you will. The first, is a book only needs a single validation attributing its author, the authors own handwritten signature makes the printed attribution unnecessary, hence it is crossed out. There are, by historical anecdote, two views of why this practice is undertaken.
Longer inscriptions should be written on the half-title page, the page preceding the title page, or on the front endpaper, sometimes referred to as the flyleaf, if of a serious length.Īn old tradition has the author put a line through their own printed name when they sign their name on the title page. If the author wishes to add an inscription, a message along with their signature, it should also go on the title page if it is very short, about a word or four in length. But first, here are a few bits of book lore authors may not know.īy tradition and convention, authors should always sign their books on the title page, the page which has the author’s name printed on it, generally under the printed title of the book or nearer the foot of the same page.
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