I have been surveilling (current usage)
eBay for Nabokoviana for many years. During the last year or two I've
seen an increase in postings of signed items. Every two months or so,
someone offers a signed edition, the bidding moves in jerks and starts
into the low three figures, and it is knocked down (electronically
speaking). This is for an item that any reputable dealer would offer
for no less than $2000.
Here we have a new offer. I think that
Marianne Cotugno is right. And our editor too, to smell its fishiness.
In fact, after looking at the photo provided here, I don't think that
the signature is even close to legitimate. The inclined "l", the tepid
wave from the terminal "v", the base line of the signature rolling up
and then down, the placement on the title page: It all looks bogus to
me.
So, I emailed the seller:
What is the
provenance of this signed copy?
Thanks.
"Angela" got right back to me:
My husband, a retired
bookstore owner, bought this book at the NYC Fall Book Fair in the
early 90's.
Sincerely,
Angela
I replied:
Angela -
That's interesting. What bookstore did your husband run and who did he
buy the book from? That's the important information because it is part
of the line of the book's provenance.
Thanks for the information,
Michael
Angela wrote right back:
My husband ran a
small bookstore on Long Island, which is now closed.
He bought the book from the Good Times Bookstore.
I called up Michael Mart at the Good Times
Bookshop in Port Jefferson, NY, on Long Island's North Shore. A very
pleasant, knowledgeable dealer. I asked him about the book. He
essentially said that you don't forget a signed Nabokov book and its
sale. And that he didn't remember ever selling a signed King Queen
Knave. He said that he did recently sell out of his shop a slightly
battered, second Putnam printing of Lolita that someone had gotten VN
to sign on board a ship many years ago. I remember that book. It had
been on the market for several years. But no, Mart had never owned, let
alone sold, a signed KQKn.
BTW, when he was inclined to sign
something, I don't think Nabokov cared what edition it was, book club
or otherwise. I've seen an Penguin paperback with his inscription. Nor
is his signature as rare as you would think; I count nine signed
editions offered on ABE (Advanced Book Exchange). Or else some of those
dealers have been taken in. I wouldn't doubt it.
Michael Juliar