Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Under the Influence

The earliest-known Elvis signature was found in this unexpected place

Only as recently as 2012 was the first-known autograph of The King discovered, and it was long overdue.
CBC Radio ·
(Getty Images)
27:26Long Overdue: The Creative Boom of Library Marketing

If you're an avid book reader, it's likely you have - or harbour a secret wish to - stumble over a valuable book or two in your travels. A few American bookworms have been so lucky.

Singer Elvis Presley poses for a studio portrait. (Photo by Liaison) ( Liaison/Getty Images)

Back in 2012, a library in Memphis was discarding old books and found one titled Courageous Heart: A Life of Andrew Jackson for Young Readers.

The card in the back of the book had been signed out by many students, including a 13-year-old Elvis Presley in 1948. It's the earliest known signature of the King. That library card sold at auction for just under US$12,000.

Another due date slip from a library book titled Death Took a Publisher by Norman Forrest had another interesting signature on it. Signed out from a New Hampshire library in 1959, one of the 17 signatures on it was reclusive author J.D. Salinger - writer of Catcher in the Rye. It also sold at auction for a pretty penny.

And a librarian in Georgia discovered a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird signed by Harper Lee that had somehow been in circulation at the library since the 1970s.

That would be worth somewhere in the neighbourhood of US$35,000 today. Minimum.

For more stories from Under the Influence, click or tap the play button above to hear the full episode. You can also find us on the CBC Listen app or subscribe to our podcast.

now