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On author's deaths and the effect on their book prices ...

I know this is a rather morbid topic, but I don't think any booksellers can deny that there seems to be an association between the death of an author and the subsequent demand for their books. 

 

I think it might be helpful if we, as booksellers, inform each other of the deaths of any authors that may have flown under the radar.

 

You would think, given the rampant and ubiquitous social media transmitting all sorts of information, that any author's death, no matter how obscure, would not be overlooked, but I was recently shocked to discover that Theodore Hesburgh, longtime president of Notre Dame University and author of several books, passed away on February 26 at the the age of 97.  

 

Knowing his advanced age, I had been holding onto a book signed by him.  Yet, although I consider myself a fairly avid news consumer, I didn't learn of his passing until less than a week ago and that was only when I happened to flip through a month-old Catholic newspaper and saw a story about it.

 

I promptly listed the book, albeit about a month later than the ideal time, and fortunately got a bid on it.

 

However, I think it might be helpful to use this thread to inform each other of the passing of any authors.  Not everyone garners the level of attention of Tom Clancy.    

 

 

 

 

 

Message 1 of 101
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Re: On author's deaths and the effect on their book prices ...

In celebration of people who have made life more interesting for many years:
http://www.ihopeidiebeforeigetold.com/oldest-living-rock-stars.php
Message 31 of 101
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Re: On author's deaths and the effect on their book prices ...

Illustrator Quentin Blake, still going strong, most well known for his scratchy illustrations of books by Roald Dahl.
Message 32 of 101
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Re: On author's deaths and the effect on their book prices ...

Oldest Living Adult Writers (mostly from genarians.com):

1912 E.R. Braithwaite (Guyanese author: "To Sir With Love"), M.H. Abrams (American literary critic), Daniel Aaron (literary historian)
1913 Boris Pahor (Slovene-Italian poet/novelist), Joe Medicine Crow (tribal historian/anthropologist)
1914 Georges-Emmanuel Clancier (French poet/novelist), Nicanor Parra (5-time Nobel Prize-nominated Chilean poet & physicist)

1915 Jean Anglade, Herman Wouk, Grace Lee Boggs, María Rostworowski

1916 Owen Chadwick, Bernard Lewis, Neagu Djuvara, Eric Bentley

1917 Lise Nørgaard, Robert Conquest, Adolf Burger, Ib Melchior, Samuel W. Allen, William H. McNeill, Diana Athill

1918 William Jay Smith, Wilbur Lucius Cross III, Henri Vernes, René de Obaldia

1919 Daniil Granin, Peter H Abrahams, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alexander Eliot, Walter Berns, Huston Smith, Michel Déon

1920 Marcos Ana, Benoîte Groult, Richard O. Moore, Edmonde Charles-Roux, Roger Angell

1921 Jules Schelvis, Richard P. Wilbur, Wilson Harris, Marie Ponsot, Carol Emshwiller, Gabriel Okara, Robert Ferrell, Daniel Berrigan, Ray Lawler, Edgar Morin, Julia Hartwig, Ilse Aichinger, Sergeanne Golon

1922 Gertrude Himmelfarb, Bernard Weisberger, Bernard Bailyn, Paul Kuttner, William Leuchtenburg, Raffaele la Capria, Agustina Bessa-Luis, Angel Wagenstein

1923 John Knoepfle, Edward Lueders, Geoffrey Ashe, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Fina Garcia Marruz, Carlos Bousoño, Peter Gay, Yves Bonnefoy, Nicholas Mosley, Richard Pipes, James Gunn, Morris Halle, Ann Livesay Sutton, Uri Avnery, J.S. Borthwick, Yasar Kemal, Elizabeth Eisenstein, Ida Vitale, Józef Hen, René Girard

1924 Donald Gordon Payne (aka Ian Cameron & James Vance Marshall), Ramón Xirau, Richard Rohmer, Armand Gatti, John Lukacs, Jin Yong (aka Louis Cha), Lisel Mueller, Herbert Gold, Mary Warnock, Margit Sandemo, Marjorie Boulton, Gerda Klein, Claribel Alegría, Edward Field, William Gass, Rosamunde Pilcher, Frederic Morton, Guadalupe Rivera Marin, Michel Tournier, Friedericke Mayröcker, Mark Ferro, Francisco Nieva

 

Children's writers, mostly from the "Something About the Author" encyclopedias:

1915 Jean Fritz (historical biographer: "The Double Life of Pocahontas," 1987, & 1986 Hans Christian Andersen Medal nominee)

1916 Beverly Cleary ("Ramona the Pest," 1968, & 1984 HCA nominee)

1917 Pascuala Corona (aka Teresa Castello Yturbide, Mexican folklorist & 1996 HCA Medal nominee)
Barbee Carleton ("Mystery of the Witches' Bridge," 1967)
Frank Modell ("New Yorker" and "Sesame Street" cartoonist)
Dahlov Ipcar (painter/writer: "The Biggest Fish in the Sea," 1972)
Rhoda Blumberg (1986 Newbery Honor: "Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun")

1918 Ann Tompert ("The Little Fox Who Went to the End of the World," 1976)
Lyn Cook (aka Evelyn Waddell, Canadian YA novelist)
Joe Krush (Mary Norton's "The Borrowers" illustrator)
Margaret J. Baker (1963 Carnegie nominee, "Castaway Christmas")
James Aldridge (Australian YA writer)
Marcia Brown (reteller/illustrator of "Stone Soup," 3-time Caldecott Medalist, & 1976 HCA nominee)
Elisabeth P. Myers (biographer: "Pearl S. Buck: Literary Girl")
Alice Provensen (illustrator: Margaret Wise Brown's "The Color Kittens")
Sara Corrin (British editor: "Stories for Seven-Year-Olds and Other Young Readers")
Hap Gilliland ("Legends of Chief Bald Eagle" 2005)
Molly L. Cone ("Mishmash" humorous dog series, 1962-1982)
Alton Raible (illustrator for Zilpha Keatley Snyder)
Fern Brown (horse novelist)
Daihachi Ohta (Japanese illustrator & HCA nominee, 1970, 2002, 2004, 2006)

1919 Paule Cloutier Daveluy (Canadian YA author, "L'Ete enchante," 1958)
Lennart Hellsing (Swedish poet and HCA nominee, 1994, 2010, 2012)
Lynne Gessner (1977 Newbery nominee: "Navajo Slave")
Joe Lasker (painter/writer: "Merry Ever After: The Story of Two Medieval Weddings," 1976)
Siny van Iterson (Dutch-Colombian mystery writer and 1972 HCA nominee)
Lee Kingman (aka Lee Kingman Natti: Horn Book editor and author of "The Peter Pan Bag," 1970)
Felice Holman ("Slake's Limbo," 1974)
Peggy Fortnum (British illustrator of "Paddington Bear")

1920 Hazel Krantz ("100 Pounds of Popcorn," 1961)
Edna Anita Miller (writer/illustrator, "Mousekin" series, 1964-1992)
Richard Adams (1972 Carnegie Medalist: "Watership Down")
Jean Kenward (British writer: "Ragdolly Anna" series)
Arnold Bare (illustrator: 1944 Caldecott Honor: Lee Kingman's "Pierre Pidgeon")
Milton Dank (biographer: "Albert Einstein" 1983)
Barthe DeClements ("Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade," 1981)
Margaret Paice (Australian writer/illustrator)
Margaret Bloy Graham (Canadian illustrator: Gene Zion's "Harry the Dirty Dog," 1956)

1921 Jan Slepian ("The Alfred Summer," 1980)
Olga Cossi ("The Magic Box," 1990)
Patricia Robins (aka Claire Lorrimer, British writer: "Sea Magic," 1946)
Al Jaffee (MAD cartoonist)
Dorothy M. Martin (Protestant "Peggy" mystery series, 1957-1976)
Arabelle Wheatley (nature illustrator)
Alice T. Gilbreath (1970s crafts/nature writer)
Ruth McCrea (illustrator: "Japanese Fairy Tales" 1958)
Lois Lamplugh (British novelist: "Sean's Leap," 1979)
Jean Darby (nature writer)
Helen Challand (science writer)
Alicia Morel (Chilean poet & 2000 HCA nominee)
Belinda Hurmence ("A Girl Called Boy," 1982)
Lee Roddy (writer of Protestant mystery/adventure)
Martha Tolles ("Who's Reading Darci's Diary?" 1984)
Stella Pevsner (YA novelist: "And You Give Me a Pain, Elaine" 1978)
Roy McKié (illustrator of Dr. Seuss' Ten Apples Up On Top!, 1961)
Joyce Cooper Arkhurst (reteller of "The Adventures of Spider: West African Folk Tales" with Jerry Pinkney, 1964)
Leonard Kessler (writer/illustrator of "Mr. Pine" series, 1965-2001)
Brent Ashabranner (Peace Corps, histories, biographies, sociology)

1922 Jean Bethell ("The Monkey in the Rocket," 1962)
Joan Heilbroner ("Robert, the Rose Horse," 1962)
Art Shay (non-fiction photographer: "What Happens" series)
Mimi Korach (illustrator: Donald Hall's "String Too Short to be Saved," 1960)
Clare Romano Ross (painter/illustrator: "Longfellow's Poems")
Mildred Pitts Walter (1987 Coretta Scott King Medalist: "Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World")
Roy Doty (cartoonist: Judy Blume's "Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing")
Sonia Gidal (German writer: 1956-1974 "My Village" series)
Hans Peterson (Swedish author of "Magnus" series; 1976 HCA nominee)
Francisco Marins (Brazilian writer & HCA nominee: 1976 & 1978)
Judith Spearing ("Ghosts Who Went to School," 1966)
Barbara Brooks Wallace ("Peppermints in the Parlor," 1980)
Stan Lee ("Spider-Man")
Jane Langton (author of "The Diamond in the Window," 1962, & murder mysteries)

1923 Rosemary Harris (1968 Carnegie Medalist: "The Moon in the Cloud")
Helen R. Caswell (Episcopal writer/illustrator: "God Must Like to Laugh," 1987)
Paul Sagsoorian (illustrator of Jay Williams' "Danny Dunn" sci-fi series)
Gloria Kamen (writer/illustrator: "Edward Lear, King of Nonsense," 1990)
Paula Fox (1974 Newbery Medalist: "The Slave Dancer" & 1978 HCA Medalist)
Pieter van Raven (aka James Edward Duffy, 1990 Scott O'Dell Award winner for "A Time of Troubles")
Louise Meriwether ("Daddy Was a Numbers Runner," 1970)
Chester Aaron (YA novelist: "Gideon," 1982)
Judith Kerr (German-British novelist: "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit," 1971)
Joseph Schindelman (illustrator: "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory")
John K. Tully (British author of "Starpol" series)
Josep Vallverdú (Catalan poet/novelist/playwright & 1988 HCA nominee)
Ashley Bryan (2-time Coretta Scott King Medalist & 2006 HCA nominee)
Mari Evans (poet: "Singing Black!" 1974)
William Wise ("Christopher Mouse: The Tale of a Small Traveler," 2004)
Rosamond V.P. Kaufman (adapter: "UNICEF Book of Children's Legends," 1970)
Leone C. Anderson (novelist: "Sean's War," 1998)
Ruth Gannett (1949 Newbery Honor: "My Father's Dragon")
Emma Smith (1973 Carnegie nominee: "No Way of Telling")
Mort Walker (cartoonist: "Beetle Bailey")
Michael Grater (British artist: "Cut and Fold an English Village")
Rosemary Anne Sisson (British screenwriter: "The Wind in the Willows," 1983)
Iona Opie (British folklorist & editor, "I Saw Esau," 1992)
Nicholas Fisk (British sci-fi writer, "Starstormer Saga")
Aaron Judah (British author: "God and Mr. Sourpuss," 1960)
Gloria Whelan (National Book Award: "Homeless Bird," 2000)
Lyuben Zidarov (Bulgarian illustrator & HCA nominee: 1974 & 1978)

1924 Sally Watson (historical novelist: "The Wayward Princess," 2006)
Marian Parr (illustrator: Frederick Winsor's "The Space Child's Mother Goose," 1956)
Toshiko Kanzawa (aka Toshi Furukawa, Japanese author and HCA nominee: 2000 & 2006)
Doris Faber (author of biographies & history)
Robert Shore (painter/illustrator: "The Jungle Books," ed. 1964)
Virginia Mueller (author of "Monster" preschool series, 1986-1997)
Byrd Baylor (poet & author of "Amigo," 1963, with Garth Williams, & 4-time Caldecott Honor winner)
Roy A. Gallant (science writer)
Andrei Keleinikov (Russian nature illustrator)
Clive King (British writer: "Stig of the Dump," 1963)
Lili Cassell Wronker (German artist: "The Rainbow Mother Goose" by May Lamberton Becker, 1947)
Brad Anderson (cartoonist: "Marmaduke")
Prudence Andrew (British author of 1960s "Ginger" series)
Gene Liberty ("The How and Why Wonder Book of Time")
Leonard Everett Fisher (Pulitzer-winning painter & historical writer & illustrator)
Warren J. Halliburton ("Africa Today" series, 1990s)
Anatoly Aleksin (Russian poet/playwright: "My Brother Plays the Clarinet")
Bernadine Cook ("The Little Fish That Got Away" with Crockett Johnson, 1956)
Fritz Wegner (Austrian artist: Allan Ahlberg's "My Brother's Ghost," 2001)
Jolly Roger Bradfield ("Pickle-Chiffon Pie," 1967)
Constance C. Greene ("A Girl Called Al," 1969)
Eva Deutsch Costabel (Croatian painter/writer: "The Jews of New Amsterdam," 1988)
Louise Moeri (YA novelist: "Save Queen of Sheba," 1981)
Marthe Seguin-Fontes (French writer/illustrator: "I Went Into My Garden" series, 1979)
Jack Davis (MAD cartoonist)
Miriam Chaikin ("A Nightmare in History: The Holocaust, 1933-1945" 1987)
James Berry (Jamaican poet & O.B.E.)
Kirsi Kunnas (Finnish poet & 2014 HCA nominee)

Message 33 of 101
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Re: On author's deaths and the effect on their book prices ...

E.L. Doctorow, Author of Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, died at 84 years of age.

Message 34 of 101
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Re: On author's deaths and the effect on their book prices ...

True-crime writer Ann Rule dies at 84


From USA Today:


Best-selling true-crime writer Ann Rule died Sunday in Seattle at age 84. She died of heart failure, according to her publisher, Simon & Schuster.


"Rule was best known for her 1980 book The Stranger Beside Me, her true account of working alongside a charming, handsome psychology student at a crisis-counseling center. The young man was Ted Bundy, the notorious serial killer. The book, a best seller, became a TV movie.


Rule wrote 35 books, 28 of which were USA TODAY best sellers. (USA TODAY’s list began in 1993.)


According to Simon & Schuster, 50 million copies of her books are in print. Rule's titles include Practice to Deceive; In the Still of the Night; Too Late to Say Goodbye; Green River, Running Red; and Every Breath You Take.


As a female crime writer, Rule focused on the victim, who was often female.


“By deciding to focus her books on the victim, Ann Rule reinvented the true-crime genre, and earned the trust of millions of readers who wanted a new and empathetic perspective on the tragic stories at the heart of her works,” said Carolyn Reidy, president and chief executive officer of Simon & Schuster.

 

“She will be remembered not only for her many books, but also for her ongoing and tireless work on behalf of victims’ rights. We are proud to have been her publisher for many years, and we will miss her.”


Source: http://tinyurl.com/ornpxwu

Message 35 of 101
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Neurologist, author Oliver Sacks dies at age 82

 

Oliver Sacks, the neurologist who studied the intricacies of the brain and wrote eloquently about them in books such as "Awakenings" and "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," died on Sunday at the age of 82, his personal assistant said.

 

Source and rest of article:

 

http://tinyurl.com/qf34bz4

Message 36 of 101
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Wayne Dyer, best-selling self-help author, dead at 75

Message 37 of 101
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Re: On author's deaths and the effect on their book prices ...

From my backround as a baseball collector, it is well known that election to the hall of fame has no effect on the value of a card of a player who everybody knows will make the hall of fame. Others can be a surprise and election causes price rises.
For those of you who are serious collectors, it is predicted that the new commisioner will remove Shoeless Joe Jackson from the ineligible list as soon as this week. Longtime collectors have long known that he should not have been suspenddd, but will this bring attrntion to a whole new generation of collectors? I am interested
How is this related to the death of an author? Well a 95 year old author everybody knows is on borrowed time and is unlikely to write another book. He is like the sure thing hall of famer.
But a 48 year old author killed in his prime in a car accident changes the market for his existing books and especially his autograph. All of a sudden there will be no more.
Message 38 of 101
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Jackie Collins, Novelist Who Wrote of Hollywood’s Glamorous Side, Dies at 77


Jackie Collins, the best-selling British-born author known for her vibrant novels about the extravagance and glamour of life in Hollywood, died on Saturday in Los Angeles. She was 77.


Long before the emergence of the “Fifty Shades of Grey” franchise, Ms. Collins dominated the publishing industry’s more lascivious corners.

She wrote more than 30 books, many of them filled with explicit, unrestrained sexuality, and sold more than 500 million copies worldwide. Her first novel, “The World Is Full of Married Men,” was published in 1968. Australia and South Africa banned it because of its frank depiction of extramarital sex. Other earlier works included “The Stud,” in 1969, and “Rock Star,” in 1988.


Ms. Collins, the younger sister of the actress Joan Collins, wrote her books in longhand on either white printer paper or yellow legal pads, regularly churning out prodigious numbers of pages.


Source and rest of article


http://tinyurl.com/ooelg6x

Message 39 of 101
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Received a tip from a source that's often correct. Word is a pretty notable celebrity is near death. I snagged a few signed copies of books penned by this person already, so I'm out of the market, but it would be bad form, I think, to post the name here, pre-mortem. Email or message me if you'd like to know who it is. 

Message 40 of 101
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@bookthink wrote:

Received a tip from a source that's often correct. Word is a pretty notable celebrity is near death. I snagged a few signed copies of books penned by this person already, so I'm out of the market, but it would be bad form, I think, to post the name here, pre-mortem. Email or message me if you'd like to know who it is. 


 

Oh no! Please tell me its not so!!

 

Message 41 of 101
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Those pecan crusted glazed doughnuts were going to get to him sooner or later.

Message 42 of 101
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Re: On author's deaths and the effect on their book prices ...

I keep meaning to bump the price of my Jimmy Carter signed Presidential Easton (the first one, not the second title) since he's knockin' on heaven's door

and promptly forgetting again

Message 43 of 101
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I suspect he'll be with us for some time.

Message 44 of 101
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