You should have seen the look on Niven’s face when I asked him to sign it. Must have been back in, oh, 1983 or thereabouts. He held it, looked at me, said “Do you know what you have here?” I affirmed with a big grin, and he chuckled and gave me a nice autograph and let me buy him a drink. That paperback is one of the only books I have that I keep in a protective bag.
I have to give Niven credit. It’s because of his willingness to tell tales on himself that I realized what the odd cover of Ringworld might mean. I wouldn’t have known to look for the errors without his author’s note in one of his books that mentioned it.
He has to tell tales on himself. It’s self-defense. If he doesn’t, Jerry or Steven or Marilyn will tell them on him to anyone who will listen. 
My parents have tons, and I’ve got a few decent ones, but the coolest (I think) is my Grandparents signed Following The Equator by Mark Twain. As I understand things, a whole bunch of them are signed as he was trying to work his way out of debt or some such thing (I just read his books, I’m not a huge expert on his life).
I have no idea if it has any monetary value at all, but I couldn’t care less, I think it’s pretty neat as I’m a huge Mark Twain fan.
I have true firsts of the first 4 volumes of the series, along with ARCs of the first 3. All 3 ARCs are personalized to me by GRRM, and the 3rd and 4th volumes are signed. I also have a true first of Tuf Voyaging and the spanish edition of Los Viajes de Tuf, both with personalized signings by GRRM.
I also have a British first of Forever War, and true firsts of 1968, Forever Free, Forever Peace, and War Year, and the US first of 1968, by Joe Haldeman, all signed.
And I have a large number of 1sts in SF and Fantasy from the last 20 years, all signed. Not that hard if you buy SF/Fantasy books and do conventions.
Andrew and I worked together in the late 1980s, early 1990s. We met Wigner at the same time, and he built the relationship with him and was asked to write Wigner’s memoirs. He did a great job. PM or e-mail me if you’d like to talk more about him.
I looked and sure enough I do have the first paperback edition of Ringworld, bought new at the then exorbitant price of $.95. And it’s even signed by Niven.
So what’s the oddness to the cover?
I have a lot of Alaskan history first editions, some dating to the 1800s. If anyone is interested in buying them, let me know.
In the last couple of years, I’ve been actively seeking first editions of both Michael Chabon and Cormac McCarthy’s works. When Chabon came through Denver to promote The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, he signed a copy of that, as well as a bunch of others (including The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay). I’m missing only a couple of Chabon’s books in first editions.
I’ve got firsts of McCarthy’s The Road, No Country for Old Men, and the last two in his Border Trilogy (All the Pretty Horses is a little too pricey at this point, as is Blood Meridian).
I’ve also got firsts of Kent Haruf’s novels, *Plainsong * and Eventide.
Odd is perhaps the wrong word. More accurate is simply, not the same cover picture I’d been used to seeing on other editions. The picture I remember as having been ‘normal’ was (more or less, here) a stripe of green with stars on either side - a somewhat abstract depiction of a segment of the Ring from the inside. The first edition cover was very different, a credible depiction of the GP hull ship that Louis Wu and the rest had been using, against the underside of the Ring.
It was odd only in that it was a cover I’d never seen before for a copy of Ringworld. So, I took a closer look at it…
I bought Ansel Adams’ Photographs of the Southwest when it first came out. Adams was signing at the late Paperback Booksmith in Harvard Sq. (although I bought a hardcover). Baumann’s has had it in the past for about $600. This was my first book signing, and the couple ahead of me was having him sign “To Dave and Betty on their 30th wedding anniversary” (or some such thing). It seemed a bit sad to me; it was obvious that they weren’t friends, but anyone who opened the book on their coffee table might be fooled. So I just asked for an autograph with the date, and that’s what I’ve done ever since.
Several years ago I bought signed first editions of More Than Human and The Dreaming Jewels, both by Theodore Sturgeon. TDJ is going for a little more than I bought it for, but I was stunned to just see that MTH is going for over $800.
Tom Robbins signed a FE of “Still Life with Woodpecker” for me when it came out, and that looks to be a bit of money. Likewise Vonnegut and a FE of “Sun Moon Star”.
I’ve a FE of Aida, signed by Leontyne Price (but not the illustrators). Not terribly pricey now, but I was glad of the chance to meet her.