Miscellaneous

An Empty Library

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What do you do when you are given a Library that has no books?

And suppose this library was surrounded by miles and miles of nothing but rice paddies? And nobody but your immediate compatriots could speak English, or if they did, it was pidgeon with very few words.

Well that was what faced me when I was transferred to a Radar Base in Hong Kong.

1950 Hong KongNot the Hong Kong of shiny buildings and jazzy night clubs, but the Hong Kong of the New Territories, nose to nose with the Chinese Communist Army. Thirty miles of hairpin mountain roads, so narrow that sometimes vehicles had to stop at a wide part so people could drive past you. At least an hours trip on a nasty dirty un-airconditioed bus with Chinese, chickens and small pigs..The only source of recreation was the NAAFI, the group that took care of the off duty servicemens. They managed the canteens, sold cigarette and beer and what ever other things you might need like pens and paper, shoe polish et al. At this Unit it was bare, just one Quonset hut as a canteen come pub, no tables or chairs, not even a dart board. One little hatch in the wall where everything was purchased.

It was Summer with the temperature as high as 110 degrees so the working hours were from 5 am to noon, at which time we were supposed to take a siesta. Our sleeping and living quarters were also Quonset huts, no radios, air conditioning, TV or any other amenities. The CO had seen my RAF History and noticed my past as Librarian in a couple of bases and so he was delighted to foist the title in to me. What he didn’t mention that the Library was a divided off part of the canteen. All it consisted of were a couple of chairs, a table, and bookshelves. Empty!

“Where are the books,” I inquired.
“Don’t know old boy, suppose you’ll have to drum up that part yourself.”
And that was that.

My first try was at an Army Base quite close, but all I got there was that Army Materials could not be transferred to the RAF without permission and they weren’t about to put themselves out about that – too much paperwork. Apparently the RAF was not liked by our boys in Khaki.

I tried Headquarters at Kai Tak and their answer was that we were a Transit Unit and not entitled to Books. Transit meant a base where you would be shuttled to and wait for your next assigment, but this place was definitely not that.

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Time Wasters and Tyre Kickers

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I sold my first book on my website (A Novel Book) a few weeks ago. Yeah me!!! But I it took 5 very long days before the deal was finally done. It was a strange week. The first email came through saying she was having problems going through the checkout process. I sent an email … Read more

Signed books: is this real?

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Wow, this book has been signed by the author!  It must be worth a lot!

Not so fast, is that a real signature?  A real signature can vastly increase the price on a book while a forgery can ruin a good copy.

Hemingway signatureOne of the most common errors people make is mistaking a printed signature for an actual signature.  These are pretty common, especially with super popular authors.  It’s purely decorative.  The easiest way to tell if it’s a printed signature is to turn the page and run your fingers over it.

There’s often a little bleed through onto the back of the page, so look though the page at a light source.  If it’s uniformly dark, it’s probably printed.  If it’s irregular, odds go up that its  a real signature.  If there’s actual bleed through of the ink in irregular spots, its almost certainly a signature.

The other trick is to run your fingers over the signature, front and back.  First run your fingers flat, then make claws with your hands to run your nails over it lightly.  Run your fingers over a printed section, then over the signature.  A printed signature will feel uniform.  A signature will have some indentations if if was done with a pointed pen.  A felt tip pen signature will be smooth but will have bleed spots you can see from front and back.

If the ink used in the signature is a different color than the rest of the text, this also makes it likely it’s a signature.

Great, you have a signature!  But is it the author’s signature?

One of the quickest things to check is print date vs author’s death date.  If it was printed afterward, it’s definitely not real!

Wikipedia often has a sample signature for well known authors on the page about the author.  For example, the page on J.D. Salinger shows off what Salinger’s signature is supposed to look at.  Not every author has a representative signature, but it’s often a good first stop for well known authors.  A little searching on the internet should turn up lesser known authors signatures as well.  Looking through multiple signed copies on book selling sites can also give you a good idea of what it’s supposed to look like.

If it looks NOTHING like the author’s signature, it’s obviously a poor forgery. However, it probably won’t look quite like the sample one either. Authors often sign big stacks of books at a time or sign them at an awkward height or on unsteady surfaces.  If it doesn’t exactly match, it may still be the author.  You’re looking for something that looks similar, but isn’t an exact clone.

One that looks EXACTLY like the representative samples you’re seeing online should  raise a red flag.  Print out the signature and lay it over your suspected signature.  Put a flashlight behind the two pages.  If it lines up EXACTLY, you may have a forgery.  Printing out a copy and using carbon paper to trace on the signature isn’t exactly hard.  Trace over the signature, then go over it with a pen and you appear to have a real signature.

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Book Experience – from the inside out

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My first professional experience with books was learning the hard slog of making them. I was what they called a “Printer’s Devil”, a job that meant a lot of tasks way below the normal printers capabilities. Sweeping floors, cleaning up etc. This job was more or less a chance to see if I could become … Read more

The secret to education: reading for pleasure

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Time recently published an article on incentive programs to help raise test scores in the US.  The entire idea was the controversial.  PAY kids for learning?  SACRILEGE. Various programs were tested.  Did paying for grades work best? Good behavior? Test scores themselves? The most obviously effective program was the simplest.  Pay second grade kids $2 … Read more