I have two books by Guy Gavriel Kay (Lord of Emperors and Beyond This Dark House) inscribed to me, and will probably bring along all my beat-up paperbacks of earlier works when he’s promoting his new book this spring.
In the left-over-after-in-store-appearance category, I’ve got signed copies of Lasher by Anne Rice and Uther by Jack Whyte.
The Truth Machine by James Halperin. I read the book on his web site and filled out a questionnaire to get to the next chapter, he came across my web site and apparently liked it, and he sent me an autographed copy of the book.
Real Ponies Don’t Go Oink by Patrick McManus. It’s a shame he isn’t known better, he is one of America’s great humorists.
Asimov, Robots and Empire, 1st. ed., inscribed (gift from my brother).
The Bradbury Chronicles collection of illustrated Bradbury stories - signed by Ray and by the artists.
1 Milo Manara (Italian artist) illustration collection.
I love Patrick McManus! But I don’t have anything autographed by him.
I have:
Startide Rising by David Brin, inscribed “To a lady with lovely eyes.” 
Knitting from the British Isles autographed by Alice Starmore
and
Knitting in the Old Way autographed by Patricia Gibson-Roberts.
If you’ve heard of Walter Farley, who wrote the black stallion books? I have a signed first edition of another one of his books, the Island Stallion Races, I think. It’s only worth a few hundred dollars, but it’s neat, as my mom found it at goodwill for 50 cents.
I have two Spider Robinson paperbacks signed to me. I told him at a small booksigning that one of his stories “True Minds” was my favorite sci-fi story. He inscribed it “For ******, this is the first time anyone’s ever told me they liked this story. Thanks! Spider Robinson” That was in a copy of Melancholy Elephants. In a ratty copy of Time Travelers Strictly Cash he mentioned that it was a first edition. Not worth anything, and the book is in poor shape, but a cut above “To *******, from *********.”
I have a copy of “The Curse of Chalion” signed by Lois McMaster Bujold. It’s not a personal inscription or anything, though–I just bought it at Powell’s shortly after they had a signing with her and they had some left over copies, I guess.
I also have a copy of “A Tale of Time City” by Diana Wynne Jones that is signed–just her name. I bought it at a tiny used book store in Oregon. I have no idea how it got here, since DWJ is neither American nor a particularly popular author, but I managed to find DWJ’s signature on the web, and it’s definitely hers.
Norman Spinrad autographed my copy of The Iron Dream.
Regards,
Shodan
[QUOTE=HDS]
This isn’t a real autograph, but I’ll mention it anyway…
One night I dreamed that I met Ray Bradbury. He signed a book of mine and when I looked at it I could actually read it (I can never read words in dreams.) It said:
Handcrafted with Pride
To HDS
See you Around from Time to Time
[QUOTE]
I’ll answer this question later, but I wanted to say that is the coolest inscription I’ve ever seen. I have got to use that.
If I ever get a book published, that is.
OK, now that I’ve finished reading all the entries, here’s my list:
I also have letters from John Mortimer and George Macdonald Fraser. Mortimer reassured me that he’s still writing the Rumpole stories, and is working at last on the Penge Bungalow murder case. Fraser appreciated my kind comments about “The Pyrates” and even gave me a bit of pirate talk in return, bless him.
I’ve got a signed Anne Rice book around here somewhere.
Sparky Anderson signed his memoirs for me at a ballgame.
Gene Kranz inscribed Failure Is Not An Option for me (and one for each to my kids for when they grow up).
I have given signed books as gifts as well (some Robert Jordans for my hubby, a Clive Cussler for my dad).
Oh, and a copy of a book about my family’s history (mostly about founding a town in Texas), signed by the granddaughter of the founder, who was my great-great-great-grandfather IIRC.
pesch I just looked in that book and realized I forgot a line smacks self. The entire inscription is:
Handcrafted With Pride
To HDS
From your Old Friend
See you Around from Time to Time
I’m glad you like it. I woke up feeling like I actually met him. To me it was as close to magic as I’m going to get.
I have a signed copy of Andrew Matthews’ Being Happy, which I got while living abroad in Singapore. He had come to my elementary school to give a motivational talk, tagging along with another author whose children’s book he had illustrated.
My copy of University Physics by Ron Reese was signed by the author when he came to my college to give a talk. I was one of two undergraduates who attended; the rest of the audience was faculty.
Hammer - by Dave “The Hammer” Schultz
On A Cold Road by Dave Bidini
Seamus Heaney’s The Spirit Level, dedicated & autographed
Seamus Heaney’s Collected Works" (or something like that) autographed
Tomaz Salamun’s The Selected Works of Tomaz Salamun dedicated & autographed
That might be it…
I’ve never been particularly starstruck by celebrities, even though I’ve met quite a few. I have no interest in autographs for their own sake, but since I love books, having an autographed book is something special for me. So I’ve collected quite a few. And I worked at the National Air and Space Museum for 12 years, which gave me many opportunties to add to my collection.
All are hardbound, unless noted. Most are firsts.
I think my most impressive book is First on the Moon by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. I got all three to sign it on the 20th anniversary of the moon landing. Neil and Buzz were a little reluctant, but did it. Michael was pleased and enthusiastic about signing. Nice guy.
Aviation/space related:
Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger (both signed): Apollo 13 (paperback)
Alan Shepard (signer) and Deke Slayton: Moon Shot
Chuck Yeager: Yeager, an Autobiography
Jeana Yeager (no relation) and Dick Rutan: Voyager
Also aviation/space, but less perhaps a little less impressive because they’re by NASM colleagues:
Tom Crouch: The Bishop’s Boys (paperback)
Gregg Herken: Cardinal Choices
Don Lopez: Fighter Pilot’s Heaven
Robert Smith: The Space Telescope (paperback)
Non-fiction:
Ansel Adams: Ansel Adams*
Mario Andretti: Andretti (paperback)
Isaac Asimov: Of Matters Great and Small
Milbourne Christopher: Houdini (my first autographed book, when I was 13. The author, a famous magician himself, added a little drawing of a man hanging upside down in a straight jacket, saying “Help,” which is also upside down.)
Buckminster Fuller: Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth* (paperback)
Milton Glaser: Graphic Design
Samuel Goudsmidt: Alsos*
Gen. Leslie Groves: Now It Can Be Told*
Thor Heyerdahl: Kon-Tiki Man (paperback)
Richard Lederer: Crazy English*
Philip and Phylis Morrison: The Ring of Truth
John Allen Paulos: Beyond Numeracy
Penn and Teller: How to Play with Your Food (paperback)
Richard Rhodes: The Making of the Atomic Bomb
Carl Sagan: The Dragons of Eden
John Stoessinger: Henry Kissinger: The Anguish of Power
Clifford Stoll: The Cuckoo’s Egg
Andrew Szanton: The Recollections of Eugene Wigner (I met Wigner, a noted physicist, at the same time my friend Andrew did. After that meeting, Andrew asked Wigner if he would write the book with him. The book is signed by Andrew, not Wigner.)
Edward Tufte: Visual Explanations
Fiction:
Garrison Keillor: The Book of Guys
Kurt Vonnegut: Galapagos
John C. Wright: The Golden Age (he’s a college friend, but it’s a great SF trilogy)
I think I’ve probably forgotten a couple.
While we’re on the subject of autographs, Terry Gilliamsigned a copy of Wired that had an article about him. Except for the items below, this is my only non-book autograph.
I own a signed print of Philippe Halsman’s famous portrait of Albert Einstein, and the original art of a daily Pogo comic strip, signed by Walt Kelly.
My greatest regret (in this area–I have lots of others) is that I didn’t get to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, in time to get an autographed copy of a Calvin and Hobbes book. Bill Watterson used to provide a few signed copies to the small bookstore in his home town, but apparently stopped after finding out that people were selling them for huge sums on eBay.
I have a copy of “Fay” by William Wegman that he signed to me and the late Iiko Puppy-Dog Boy. He was doing a signing at the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia, and he had two of his Weimeraners with him.
All mine are geeky political stuff, because I’m a geeky political person.
Rigoberta Menchu’s autobiography, Spanish-language version, Me llamo Rigoberta Menchu y asi me nacio la conciencia. (Apologies for lack of accent marks.) She spoke at my university right after we’d read her book in class. This was years before she won the Nobel Peace Prize, nd even longer before it was discovered that much of her “autobiography” was entirely fictional.
Anne Nivat’s Chienne de Guerre: A Woman Reporter Behind the Lines of the War in Chechnya. I wish I’d gotten to talk to her more, but she had a plane to catch.
Fareed Zakaria’s latest: The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. Another one I wish I’d gotten to talk to longer.
Does it count that I have a super-geeky reprint of one of my ex-boyfriend’s journal articles on the history of Stalin’s physics policy? (I helped him edit the English for publication; it’s inscribed "To the real author. How geeky is that?)
I think there are a couple of others banging around here, but can’t remember them right now.