Ion Idriess was a prolific signer of his books. Someone said in jest that the trick was to find a book he hadn't signed! But it wasn't always that way. Beverley Eley in her biography, Ion Idriess , notes a couple of occasions when Idriess was reticent to autograph his work: in 1933 in Perth (p.175) and in 1934 in Melbourne (p.271). But if he was a little reluctant early on, he soon got into the swing of things. Beverley Eley says, "In the files [at A & R] there are fourteen pages of the various inscriptions he used as messages from the author (p.369)." Fourteen pages is a lot! It reminds me of when I was a teacher and I had some stock standard phrases to put on pupil's reports: "works well," "could try harder," "room for improvement!" If you have been a collector of Idriess for a while, no doubt you have acquired some signed works, and you will be familiar with some of his inscriptions: Cheerio; With a Cheerio; Cheerio, Good Luck; A cheerio and good luck; Good fortune; Jolly good fortune; Jolly good times; Merry day; Happy year; Happy days; Cheery year; Prosperity; Yours sincerely; etc. The earliest signed book of Idriess that I have is a 1934 (first edition) The Yellow Joss. As you can see, it has the rather boring inscription, Yours Sincerely , like the end of a letter, though it is not actually addressed to anyone. Right to the end of the Second World War - and beyond - Idriess' signature remained pretty uniform. But sometime after the war he dropped the "L" - for Llewellyn (and never seemed to have used his other name - Windeyer - his mother's maiden name; Eley, p.19) and starting signing as simply Ion Idriess - at least as early as 1950, but I note that he sometimes lapsed back into using the L even after that. This is from a later edition of Madman's Island, signed in 1950 without the L of LLewellyn: He did at times date his inscriptions, as here with the year in full. Sometimes he abbreviated the year with an apostrophe and sometimes he added the month as well. Mostly he signed on the title page, but not always. This is Isles of Despair, with his inscription on the page before the Title page - probably because there was more room. Often, as in the Madman's Island example above, Idriess would address someone by name. If he knew the person concerned, he might share more than his stock inscription. Very occasionally he would have a co-signer. I have seen a copy online of Flynn of the Inland signed by both Idriess and John Flynn, perhaps not signed at the same time. I believe Idriess and Joris may have both signed Stone of Destiny or version two, The Diamond (I have a copy of the latter signed by Albert Joris only). But the only book I have with dual signatures is the joint work, The Silent Service , signed by both Idriess and Torpedo-man Jones: A question for collectors is: How much more value does a signature add? I like to think it certainly adds some, just as a dust jacket does. Signatures alone of famous people can be worth rather a lot and a book signed by the author adds to its value. But perhaps not double, as someone else has also said, in the case of Idriess. But I do have a book by G Bernard Shaw, which, though a first edition, is not worth that much: but because it is signed by Shaw and his signature is collectible and prized, my book is worth a lot more than unsigned - a lot more than double! Some collector's prefer pristineness: I like provenance as well (see my article on those themes in this forum). But other factors come into play besides the signature: Dates give extra provenance. And the person Idriess may have addressed in the inscription is also important: the more important the person, the more valuable the book may be. So I value more highly a couple of books signed by Idriess and addressed to Paul Wenz - the noted French-Australian author, and to Walter Burns, the one time controversial A&R head (see, e.g., Eley, pp.347-352). I also have some books by other authors (Charles Barrett, Douglas Lockyer, Frank Clune, etc) addressed to Idriess which I value more than if they didn't have those inscriptions. Idriess too is an important person!

I don't wish to be a Sydney Rare Book Auctions apologist, but SRBA are handling the estate of Ion Idriess and items from that estate have featured in a number of auctions including the last two. For collectors of Idriess, this is a one off opportunity (albeit spread over a number of auctions: how many more I do not know). These last two auctions included photos and letters from the Idriess estate and some unpublished Idriess manuscripts. Most were sold - some for over the estimate and some were passed in. A photo of Idriess in front of a gate with the sign "Shut the Bloody Gate" sold for $475. There were also various editions of Idriess presented at these auctions, not necessarily from his estate, including first editions, some with dust jackets and some facsimile editions. A 1999 Guerilla Series set of 6 went for $225 and a first American ed. (I think there was only one) Dog of the Desert for $140. A first ed. Cyaniding was passed in, I think for $2000. There was also a very good first ed. of Prospecting with DJ in the March auction which I was tempted by, but which eventually sold for $750. Some 1st editions of the Guerilla series also sold: Tactics for $250, Trapping the Jap for $475 and Sniping for $300, as well as a nice copy for Yellow Joss with DJ for $350. But of course as an on line bidder I would have to add 25% to the sale price + P and P. But I did pick up a 1st ed Nemarluk with DJ (with a 2nd ed Great Trek in the Lot) for $200 (+25% = $250) and a Cyaniding facsimile for $120 (+25% = $150) in the Feb Auction. In the March Auction I acquired another Cyaniding facsimile (in a little better condition) for $110 (+25% = $137.50) and a Madman's Island facsimile (of the 1927 ed) for $100 (+25% = $125). These were all probably reasonable buys. The Cyaniding facsimiles (Idriess Enterprises, 2000, Uralla) were a limited edition of 500. The Madman's Island is the Idriess Enterprises 2002 limited edition of 250 copies. The Bibliography in this site estimates the Cyaniding facs. at $350 - $450! - but doesn't have an estimate for the (rarer) Madman's. So I'll see what future auctions have re Idriess. There may yet be more items from the Idriess estate - or just more Idriess items. Whether I can afford them is another matter.

Hello there. My stepfather collected approx 30 Ion Idriess books and he has since died. Just wondering what to do with them. We would like them to go to a good home. List attached. Cheers in advance. Steven