New York: Random House, 2001.
If you spend too much time wandering around bookstores, you may come across a plain looking version of a book labeled uncorrected proof or advanced reader copy. Despite their generic appearance, the original intent of these editions is to help generate buzz around a book before the book even goes on sale. Advanced copies may be sent to news media, book reviewers, book sellers, and librarians. For these professionals, advance copies may pile up in the desks rather quickly and unthinkingly. If a book becomes a great success, however, an uncorrected proof or advance copy can become highly sought after by collectors. One reason is that such a limited number of advanced copies were printed and another reason is that the proof may differ slightly from the final publication.
Someone who collects uncorrected proofs reveals a particular connection to an author, his or her story, or that time in publication history. Here are some examples of proofs that have become collectible over the years: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1965), Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez (1988), and Lancelot by Walker Percy (1977). It takes a keener eye to look out for more contemporary proofs like the debut of A Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2003) or A Painted House by John Grisham. Released in 2001, a proof of Grisham’s Painted House is significant in that it was his first work outside the legal thriller genre, a coming-of-age story set in rural Arkansas likely influenced by the writing style of Willie Morris. Finding the proofs signed or getting them signed renders them rare indeed.
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