The Works of Thomas Harris - Signed

BLACK SUNDAY.  New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1975.   Near fine in a better than very good dust jacket. There is a prior owner's name written in ink on the paste down endpaper. The dust jacket is price clipped.

RED DRAGON.   New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.   Fine in a fine dust jacket.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.   New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988.   Fine in a fine dust jacket.

HANNIBAL.   New York: Delacorte Press, 1999.   Fine in a fine dust jacket.

HANNIBAL RISING.   New York: Delacorte Press, 2006.   Fine in a fine dust jacket.

All of these books are first editions. They are all signed on the title page by Thomas Harris. The seller visited Harris in his home in the Miami area in late 2009 and the author graciously signed each book with his distinctive blue fountain pen.    $2800.00

Thomas Harris was an immediate success with his first book, Black Sunday.   It was a best seller, going into five printings before it went to paperback. The plot has a Palestinian terrorist group hijacking the Goodyear blimp with a plan to cause a disaster at the Superbowl at Tulane in New Orleans.   Then it was a major film released in March 1977; produced by Paramount and directed by John Frankenheimer.   They changed the setting to the Orange Bowl in Miami. Parts of the movie were actually shot at the 1976 Superbowl X held in the Orange Bowl (Steelers vs. Cowboys) with the cooperation of Dolphins owner Joe Robbie.   The book was better than the movie.   They left out the part about the cat being put in the garbage disposal.   Also, the book was a book-of-the-month club selection; that meant an immediate payment of $100,000 to the author. You can see that Thomas Harris made a bunch of money with this first book and consequently never had to go to those awful book signings.

That is why genuine signed copies are uncommon.   And it's not that he doesn't like to sign books; it's just that if you run into him at the Publix it is unlikely you'll have your first edition Silence of the Lambs with you.   Also, don't accept a copy that's not in good condition. These books had large first edition print runs; nice copies are not that hard to find.   The second picture on the left shows the five books, the complete set of the works of Thomas Harris, all very neatly signed on the title pages.

We also have individual copies for sale:

    Black Sunday    $1300.00

    Red Dragon        $500.00

    Silence of the Lambs    $600.00

    Hannibal          $300.00

    Hannibal Rising    $300.00   

On the right is a photograph of the author (on the left) and the bookseller taken at the author's home in the Miami area.