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On eBay there is almost always at least one seller offering a
"signed" copy of The Shepherd of The Hills, published by
Grosset and Dunlap. Sometimes there are two or three or even more. And
frequently sellers who are fooled by this rubber
stamp also call it a "signed first edition with dust
jacket." If you have gotten this far in this web site
you know by now that no Grosset and Dunlap is a first edition. If
you entered at this page, Click Here to see
the first edition, which was published by the Book Supply Company. The
editions that cause all the confusion were published by Grosset and
Dunlap from sometime in the 1930's or 1940's into the 1980's. These are the editions that The Shepherd of the Hills
Farm purchased, stamped, and sold in their gift shop. Rather than
trying to "prove" that this really is a stamp and not an
original signature, I will show below a collection of the stamps so you
can decide for yourself. The Shepherd of the Hills Farm gift shop had
many stamps over the years so there is a little variety in detail. For example, #2 (my copy) has
no period (.) after Ariz but has a dot above the "i" in
"sincerely." In addition, the rubber stamp left a
different print when it had just been re-inked than when it was running
dry. Stamp #4, below, appears to have been touched up with a pen,
and #1 may have been also. The page in the book that includes the
stamp of Wright's signature usually includes other stamps, such as the Shepherd of the Hills Farm
stamp. There is much variety in those other stamps. Kelly
Trimble, whose grandparents and parents owned the Shepherd of the Hills Farm for many
years, and who personally stamped hundreds, maybe thousands, of these books
himself, sent
me a message explaining the stamped signatures. Click here to
read
his comments. |
