Doodling in a rare first edition

April 30, 2015 8:34 AM

I have purchased for someone I care about very much a somewhat rare first edition of a book by their favourite author. I am considering defacing it by writing an inscription and a profane doodle inside the cover.

Without going into the specifics of how much the book cost, it was more than a day's wages for me, but less than a week's. So it's a pricey book, but not an heirloom object. The person I am giving it to is a great lover of books, but is by no means a collector.

I really feel like writing and drawing in the book will make the gift more personal, and I am certain this person would get a kick out of the transgressive nature of it. At the same time, it just kind of feels wrong.

Before you suggest that I give the person the book and then offer to inscribe it if they want, that ruins the fun.

Can you help me decide which gut feeling is right?

posted by anonymous to Writing & Language (38 answers total)

Put the inscription on a removable bookplate.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:38 AM on April 30, 2015 [19 favorites]

Maybe design it as a bookplate and stick it in there with some none-damaging adhesive?
posted by Think_Long at 8:39 AM on April 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

If it's rare and a first edition, you should follow your "it just kind of feels wrong" instinct. What about including the inscription and doodle on a separate sheet of paper, tucked inside the book?
posted by moviehawk at 8:39 AM on April 30, 2015 [23 favorites]

Make them a custom "bookplate" (EX LIBRIS FIRST EDISHINLOVR) that you cut from a nice piece of paper. Doodle all over that. Write your transgressive little note on that. Then, if your friend doesn't want to glue it down like a bookplate, he or she will have a nice bookmark.

edit: jinx
posted by resurrexit at 8:39 AM on April 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

This is just such a hard question because it really truly depends on the person. I am a great lover of books and would be delighted to receive a rare first edition by my favorite author. My friends would also guess that I would normally also love the transgressive nature of profane inscriptions in books...but not when it comes to rare first editions by my favorite author.

So you either know FOR SURE that your friend would love this, or you don't and risk guessing wrong.
posted by cooker girl at 8:40 AM on April 30, 2015 [10 favorites]

somewhat rare first edition

Yeah, boy, you know, I wouldn't.

Worst case scenario if you don't: you and your friend miss a little bit of transgressive fun

Worst case scenario if you do: friend is disappointed you janked up the book; resale value compromised

On preview: yes to the unglued bookplate suggestion
posted by prize bull octorok at 8:41 AM on April 30, 2015 [8 favorites]

Sense of reverence for rare old books (which I share, btw) aside, a practical consideration: What if the friend wants to sell it someday? I don't think you should do it.
posted by honey wheat at 8:42 AM on April 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Just a datapoint in support of the "insert an unglued drawing on a separate page" idea: I buy a lot of used books and I really enjoy the notes, airline tickets, booksmarks from defunct bookstores, receipts and other bits of loose ephemera I find in books I buy. Your loose transgressive note/drawing will be just as valued if it's not affixed to the book.
posted by jayder at 8:44 AM on April 30, 2015 [12 favorites]

I say do it.

It's "somewhat rare," you say, and not an "heirloom" — so presumably it's not unique, insanely hard to get, or something that rare book collectors and libraries would lust after, because chances are they already have it. So you are not defacing a major artifact of Western civilization. And if your friend is not a collector, any damage you're going to do to the market value of the book is not going to be a big deal. In fact, your doodle might even enhance its value in the long run, especially if you become famous. But that's not the point. The point is that if you personalize it, it becomes a better gift.
posted by beagle at 8:44 AM on April 30, 2015

I wouldn't do it - a friend once gifted me with a 150 year old (but basically worthless) book into which he had glued an inscribed note, and for me it was simultaneously touching and maddening. I always wonder why he couldn't have just tucked a folded piece of paper in it instead of permanently and irreversibly altering it. Nthing the "removable bookplate" idea. (If you use acid/lignin free archival paper and ink, your friend could leave it tucked into the book without worrying about discoloration.)
posted by usonian at 8:46 AM on April 30, 2015 [9 favorites]

Is your friend a person who loves books because BOOKS? As in, someone who gets upset when books get recycled because no one wants them anymore (e.g. withdrawn library books--out of date, twentieth copy of James Patterson's bestseller five years ago, ancient cookbook that hasn't been read in fifteen years)? If so, use the above advice to put in a loose note.

If not, and they like books because, hey, this is a thing I'll reread and use? Go for it.
posted by carrioncomfort at 8:50 AM on April 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

I vote on not doing anything you can't undo, especially when it comes to rare items and double especially when you are not the intended end owner or recipient of the book. Go with your gut here. A removable plate or card inside will be just as funny.
posted by mochapickle at 8:51 AM on April 30, 2015 [5 favorites]

Yeah, I think it's not worth the risk of tainting an otherwise very thoughtful present by doing something permanent. If you don't want to go with the card tucked inside of the book, another idea that might be a nice personal touch would be to make your inscription into a bookmark. You could use card stock, write your inscription/doodle, and then go get it laminated at kinko's or staples.
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:57 AM on April 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

Nthing the "inscribe it on a card you stick inside that they can either use as a bookplate or a bookmark". It was exactly what the folks in Marks & Co. did for Helene Hanff once in 84, Charing Cross Road, and I say that's as near to Official Edict From High Atop The Thing as you can get for this question.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:05 AM on April 30, 2015 [4 favorites]

The "bookplate" idea is a possibility, but maybe think of it as a personalized bookmark instead? It would stay with the book, but would be there on every page when he opened it to re-read it.
posted by amtho at 9:06 AM on April 30, 2015

I really feel like writing and drawing in the book will make the gift more personal, and I am certain this person would get a kick out of the transgressive nature of it. At the same time, it just kind of feels wrong.

Of course it does, that's how transgression works.

To split the difference, do your personalized inscription on a homemade bookplate. Go to an art supply store and get some archival-quality paper and paste. If this copy of this book becomes an even more rare, valuable heirloom 50 years from now and the offending doodle is not considered interesting ephemera, at least you'll have caused minimal damage to the book, making life a bit easier for the book-restorer charged with removing your handiwork.
posted by desuetude at 9:09 AM on April 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

I really love books. I usually love the notes, inscriptions, bookmarks, etc., found in books. But I don't, ever, write in any books but textbooks. Because, Books. You are giving a gift with actual cash value. Any inscription other than from the author reduces that value; drawing especially so. I would 'tip in' a plate using plain white glue and acid-free paper. It might slightly reduce the value, but in a reasonable way, or, even better, just put it in the book.
posted by theora55 at 9:29 AM on April 30, 2015 [5 favorites]

In addition to whether the recipient would approve, for me it would be important to consider whether the author would approve. I might proceed if I thought they'd get a kick out of it, and also if I considered them a sort of lovable but pompous crank who would be offended but deserved to be ribbed a little, but maybe not if I felt there was an element of sacredness to their work that shouldn't be "polluted."

Physical books are just objects, and becoming less important all the time as actual repositories of knowledge. I think you should do what you want with it (as long as you're absolutely certain your friend would appreciate it and resale value isn't important.) Inscriptions and marginalia are one of the cool things about real books. Personally, I always get a little thrill when I encounter an unexpected inscription or note in a used book.
posted by contraption at 9:48 AM on April 30, 2015

Unless I had specific knowledge that a friend felt like books are sacred objects (which some people do!), I would totally do this, and I would love it if someone did it for me.

This is what gifting is about: personalizing it! It may make the book less "valuable" from a third party or market perspective, but it would make it more valuable TO ME.
posted by spindrifter at 10:18 AM on April 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

As someone that owned a secondhand bookshop, for the love of glod no, this is why bookplates were invented. Go to etsy buy a box of lovely bookplates on acid free paper, write what you want to write on the first one and tuck it in the book, give the book along with the rest of the bookplates.

I will say though, if you do decide to write in the book, buy a nice acid free scrapbooking pen so you don't add acid damage to the book as well, and write lightly so you don't mark more than the one page. At least you aren't talking about cutting cutting out the coloured plates and framing them just thinking about that makes me need to go lay down and hyperventilate for a while.
posted by wwax at 10:26 AM on April 30, 2015 [9 favorites]

I own a moderately rare first edition from the library of Nelson Algren, who drew cats on the flyleaf of the books in his collection. After de Beauvoir spurned him, he drew the cats with their backs turned. The book is worth more because of his doodle (to be clear, this is a book he owned that he did not write). Are you Nelson Algren or a reasonable facsimile thereof? If yes, write in the book. If no, write on an insert.
posted by janey47 at 10:27 AM on April 30, 2015 [9 favorites]

In book conservation there is a saying that is taken from the medical field: "First, do no harm." When we repair books everything we do is designed to be totally reversible.

Don't do this.

And yes, at least you're not talking about cutting. People who cut pages out of books are the worst kind of people.
posted by sockermom at 10:32 AM on April 30, 2015 [5 favorites]

I am considering defacing it by writing an inscription and a profane doodle inside the cover

Instead of a bookplate, if it is a hardback, I suggest you create a new cover. You can then make it look like anything you want and still write your thing and your doodle on the inside of the removable paper cover that you have added.

If you are famous enough and your friend is famous enough for this to add to the value, then they can keep the added cover. If y'all are a bunch of nobodies, it can be removed in order to sell the book or settle the estate or whatever.

If the giftee is anything like my ex husband, who loved books far more than he loved me, defacing the book may ruin your friendship permanently. My ex was incredibly particular about how books were to be treated. I am somewhat particular about such things and I am horrified when people eat while reading and LEAVE CRUMBS in the book -- these are bad people who should be spanked -- and I have nothing on how vehemently my ex would react if you defaced a book he valued.
posted by Michele in California at 10:57 AM on April 30, 2015 [4 favorites]

I say removable card or page unless you think that your work will somehow be interesting to future owners (beyond your friend).

This is one of my favorite excerpts from Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris:

Unlike the card that accompanies, say, a sweater, from which it is soon likely to part company, a book and its inscription are permanently wedded. This can be either a boon or a blot. As Seumas Stewart, the proprietor of an antiquarian bookshop in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, has observed, "Imagine how delightful it would be to own an edition of Thomson's The Seasons with this authenticated inscription: To my dear friend John Keats in admiration and gratitude, from P. B. Shelley, Florence, 1820. Imagine, too, how depressing to have an otherwise fine first of Milton's Paradise Lost with this ball-point inscription scrawled on the title page: To Ada from Jess, with lots of love and candy floss, in memory of a happy holiday at Blackpool, 1968."
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 12:53 PM on April 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh my god, please don't do this. I am horrified.
posted by Justinian at 1:58 PM on April 30, 2015 [8 favorites]

> Unless I had specific knowledge that a friend felt like books are sacred objects (which some people do!), I would totally do this, and I would love it if someone did it for me.

Unless I had specific knowledge that a friend would love this specific thing, I would never do this, and I would hate it if someone did it for me. As you may have guessed, I vote no, unless you're a lot more sure of your friend's feelings than you seem to be.
posted by languagehat at 2:22 PM on April 30, 2015 [5 favorites]

Being a contrarian, I say DO IT! The value in this gift is not in its resale value, or its value for the future. The value is not in the book itself but in the giving of the gift. Your inscription adds a value to the book as a gift which cannot be monetized, a personal message that will remain with the book.

This may lessen the future value of the book, but makes the value of the gift the greater. Does one generally give gifts based on the ability of the gift be resold at some point in the future?
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 2:48 PM on April 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

An antiquarian bookseller friend used to say, "Do you sign a shirt you give as a gift??!!!??"

I would love to know your final decision. Also, thanks for asking the question --I hadn't realized how many book collectors we have here.
posted by janey47 at 3:01 PM on April 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

I know someone who broke up with a fairly serious boyfriend over this very thing: he found a rare edition of a book he knew she would love, and then he WROTE in it. It is a terrible idea.
posted by xeney at 3:01 PM on April 30, 2015 [6 favorites]

Yeah, I didn't want to say anything but if someone gave me a rare first edition and then defaced it with a crude doodle I am not sure we could remain friends.

It's like if you bought someone a Rothko and then drew a peen on it with purple marker.
posted by Justinian at 3:05 PM on April 30, 2015 [4 favorites]

If someone did this to me I would be sad and feel like they didn't know me and didn't like books and like the inscription was more important to them than the gift -- like they didn't care if I got the book as a present or not, but just wanted to show off their wit.

I love an inscription in a more disposable sort of book, but this made me cringe hard. Please, no.
posted by kmennie at 4:27 PM on April 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

It's like if you bought someone a Rothko and then drew a peen on it with purple marker.

Wouldn't it be a little more like buying somebody a collectible but mass-produced print of a Rothko and drawing a peen on the back? An inscription lowers resale value of the object, but doesn't cause structural damage and doesn't interfere with anybody's ability to read and appreciate the book.
posted by contraption at 5:04 PM on April 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

I suppose that depends on whether you view certain books as art objects in and of themselves or only as a practical means of conveying information. I would say, for example, that defacing a Gutenberg bible would be a terrible thing to do even though we have a bazillion bibles.

We'd need more information about what exactly is meant by "rare, valuable" to decide what kind of case this is. I can say that I'd look unkindly on virtually any defaced book as a gift were it given to me, though. Rare, valuable book that is. If you want to deface a mass market paperback by all means. Because thats what they're for; a trash book you can read in the tub or crack the spine or whatever.
posted by Justinian at 5:23 PM on April 30, 2015

Here's the thing.

If you were planning on writing a heartfelt message, something sincere and genuine? Then I would say go for it. I love books, and I think that having a piece of tangible proof of someone's love is never a bad thing.

What you're proposing, though? HELL no.
posted by Tamanna at 5:25 PM on April 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Resale value is a red herring.

The main issue here is the rarity. If your friend is someone who thinks writing is on books in general is A-OK, it might be hilarious to find profoundly filthy things scribbled across a mass market piece like a new Penguin edition or a 2015 Roget's Thesaurus or Thrive, by Arianna Huffington. (If it's the latter, please go for it, with my compliments.)

But if it's a book that's hard to find or replace, that's what makes it potentially an awful thing. I have a lovely hundred year old phrasebook, for example, and I'd be heartbroken if someone had defaced it.
posted by mochapickle at 5:47 PM on April 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

> I suppose that depends on whether you view certain books as art objects in and of themselves or only as a practical means of conveying information. I would say, for example, that defacing a Gutenberg bible would be a terrible thing to do even though we have a bazillion bibles.

Of course defacing a Gutenberg Bible would be a heinous thing to do; it's an extremely old and rare handmade object that is unquestionably a work of art in itself because of the way it was bound and constructed. But something like a Gutenberg Bible or even a nice leatherbound first edition of something from the 19th century would probably not be described as "not an heirloom object" that can be purchased with a couple days' wages. Based on the OP's description I'm picturing something more like a clothbound Breakfast of Champions from the 70s that was printed in an industrial factory and has no especially noteworthy or beautiful features beyond having come from the first production run.

OP: if this book is a Gutenberg Bible or a volume of similar rarity and value I would definitely not recommend marking it up. (Also, can I ask what you're doing for a living?)
posted by contraption at 7:54 PM on April 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have a friend who has a bindery in his house and restoring old books, like for money, is a thing he does. He sees extended inscriptions inside the front cover ALL THE TIME (if his Facebook feed is to be believed) and he's very careful to preserve them as if they're as much a part of the book as the colophon.

As for the profane doodle...I'm weird here because the first question I have is "How would the author feel about this?" Allen Ginsberg? Go for it. C. S. Lewis? Not so much.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 8:20 PM on April 30, 2015

My thoughts.

I understand the value of first editions. In society they lose value if defaced with inscriptions.
That said, those damned dirty drunken Irish monks doodled in the margins of the antiquities they transcribed.
How dare they 20th century Irish nuns would exclaim.
But if Picasso had doodled an erotic line in the margin of a first edition given to a lover..... What would it's value be?
What would it's value have been to Picasso and his lover?
Ask yourself, are you like Picasso?
Do you care, about market value? About the person(s) who will turn away from your devalued book in disgust?
This is your dilemma.

Do not deface antiquities. Do not deface books of art (to a point). Are you and/or your friend an artist? Is your inscription an art doodle ? - choose wisely. Know your friend.
Onward. Do not deface rare first editions of science or politics or sport or history. Unless... save the science. Do not deface rare editions of science. And that goes double for the Gutenberg. Oops covered under antiquities. Do not ever ever ever deface books that are art.

I abhor graffiti. Do it in private and I will simply disdain it. It's trash on public space.
Your purchased book is private. Know your audience. Your audience is your friend. Some gifts are for the season. Some to be cherished for life.
That is your dilemma.
What is cherished? Convention? Market value? Unconventional living?
A tattoo is for ever. Or the forever of life. It fades.
An in-scripted book is forever. It fades. But often survives beyond a life.
What does your inscription provoke - for your friend?? Screw the constraints of market and society.
What does your inscription endure - for your friend??
What does your inscription provoke - beyond the owners life?? Do you (plural) care?
This is your dilemma.
When you answer this you will know - do what thou wilt.
posted by Jim_Jam at 9:45 PM on April 30, 2015