Q: The Revereries of a Bachelor, not first edition but in excellent shape and signed by author Donald G. Mitchell. It’s published by Altemus out of Philadelphia. What can you tell me?

A: This question is a recurring one. Here is my answer from several years ago:

Reveries of a Bachelor-Author inscription
The Reveries of a Bachelor written by Donald Mitchell (pseudonym is IK Marvel) was reprinted by Altemus in numerous series and in hundreds of formats. This book is very common and can be found for sale frequently on the book search services and Ebay. From time to time an optimistic seller notes that the book is inscribed by the author.

Today on ABE there are 45 copies of this title published by Altemus. They range in price from $4.22 to $125. Of these, two of the more expensive books ($80 and $125 ) say signed and inscribed by the author. There are seven “Reveries” on sale on Ebay today

Well bad news for all those hopeful sellers. The author’s inscription is a facsimile. Every Altemus “Reveries” that I have seen has the same exact inscription. It is shown above. The rarer book would be the one without the facsimile inscription.

For information on Donald Mitchell – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Grant_Mitchell