What is the difference between Inscribed, Warmly Inscribed, and Flatsigned?
Warmly inscribed and inscribed are used interchangeably meaning that the signer has addressed his autograph to a particular person, ie ‘To Billy Bob.” FlatSigned means the autograph is directly on the book, not on a bookplate or sticker, then stuck onto the page of a book and is not personalized such as “To Billy Bob.” A FlatSigned book is generally considered more valuable than an inscribed book and is more desirable to many who collect rare books. There are exceptions. If you have a full page of writing from Ernest Hemingway or John Steinbeck as examples, those full page dedications would be considered more valuable than an autograph alone. The other exception is if the author has personalized the book to a person of note or relative. Books signed on bookplates are almost never more valuable than those which are FlatSigned.
