I'm not sure when I first heard of these cards which were given out at Booksmith, an independent bookstore in San Francisco starting in the early 90's and apparently ending in the 2000's. I thought I had read an article about them in a late 90's issue of NSU but could not find it. It's possible that a card was noted in the old Finders Keepers column (a feature I miss but is pretty much replaced by Card Talk).

The cards were given out at the bookstore with each one noting the location of the signing. The front has either a black-and-white photo of the author or the book promoted or some other illustration related to the author or book; the card back provides brief biographical information and the title of the book the author was promoting at the time. It appears most of the cards do not provide the year but the event was most likely within months of the publication date of the book being promoted.

The most remarkable thing about these cards is the size of the set. I've seen cards from 2008 that have surpassed #1000. One might assume that the cards are skip-numbered but it appears there are at least that many especially when you take into account some unnumbered cards I've also seen. I haven't seen a high percentage of the cards but have found an old Booksmith ad that gives an author event schedule for September of 2005: 9 events across 20 days. At that pace there would have been over 1000 cards just by 2004.

The cards would be of great interest to many collectors because the authors who have done readings/signings at Booksmith constitute a diverse lot from autobiographers to sci-fi writers and from first-time novelists to longtime celebrities. I'm not literate enough to recognize a lot of the people but many would be familiar (singer Judy Collins, actor George Takei, photographer Richard Avedon, writers Anne Rice and Harlan Ellison, to name a few).

Regarding values, you might pay just $1-2 for cards of lesser-known authors but asking prices can be all over the place for the more famous. Some of those have sold for about $10 each but you might have to pay more for George Takei. Watch for lots, though. I once bought a lot of 15 for $25. I missed out on a lot of about 75 cards asking about $200. Many of those cards were signed. It would have been interesting to look through those.

The bookstore changed hands in 2007 and it appears the card promotion ended soon after though the author events continued.

Here's the front and back of card #564:

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

UPDATED JAN 23, 2021

□ n.n. "Barry Gifford" (1993)
□ n.n. "Bud E. Luv" (1993)
□ n.n. "David Schneider" (1993)
□ n.n. "Paul Krassner" (1993)
□ n.n. "Richard Avedon" (1993)
□ n.n. "Susie Bright" (1993)
□ n.n. "Tama Janowitz" (1993)
□ n.n. "The Original Whole Earth
Catalog"; front marked "Special
Edition" (1993)
□ n.n. "The Upcoming Whole Earth
Catalog"; says "Fall 1994" (1993)
□ n.n. "Ursula Heigi" (1993)
□ n.n. "W.S. Di Piero" (1993)
□ 1 "Shann Nix" (1993)
□ 2 "Jon Carroll" (1993)
□ 3 "Terrance McKenna"
□ 4 "William Wegman" (1993)
□ 5 "Raymond Bonner" (1993)
□ 6 "Linda Grant" (1993)
□ 7 "Susan Dunlap" (1993)
□ 8 "Mary Bowen Hall" (1993)
□ 9 "Elizabeth Berg" (1993)
□ 10 "Julie Smith" (1993)
□ 11 "Jim Lewis" (1993)
□ 12 "The Mad Monks" (1993)
□ 13 "Mark Childress" (1993)
□ 14 "Cecile Pineda" (1993)
□ 15 "Cydney Chadwick" (1993)
□ 16 "Kathy Acker" (1993)
□ 17 "Mickey Dolenz" (1993)
□ 18 "Sophy Burnham" (1993)
□ 19 "William T. Voldmann" (1993)
□ 20 "Michael Murphy" (1993)
□ 21 "Susan Gordon Lydon" (1993)
□ 22 "Anne Rice" (1993)
□ 23 "Roger Kahn" (1993)
□ 24 "Howard Reingold" (1993)
□ 25 "Paul Krassner"
□ 26 "Bud E. Luv"
□ 27 "Susie Bright"
□ 28 "David Schneider"
□ 29 "Barry Gifford"
□ 30 "Richard Avedon"
□ 31 "Mark Salzman"
□ 32 "Robert Olen Butler"
□ 33 "Carolyn Chute"
□ 34 "John Nichols"
□ 35 "Nathan McCall"
□ 36 "William T. Volmann"
□ 37 "Jane Hirshfield"
□ 38 "Marck Coovelis"
□ 39 "Greil Marcus"
□ 40 "Thom Gunn"
□ 41 "Ben Fong-Torres"
□ 42 "Douglas Rushkoff"
□ 43 "Jules Tygiel"
□ 44 "Anka Radakovich"
□ 45 "Harlan Ellison"
□ 46 "Lynn Crosby"
□ 47 "Mary Gaitskill"
□ 48 "Trish Thomas"
□ 49 "Chellis Glendinning"
□ 50 "Susanna Kaysen"
□ 51 "Mikal Gilmore"
□ 52 "Stewart Brand"
□ 53 "Lisa Palac"
□ 54 "Syephen Beachy"
□ 55 "Lisa Mason"
□ 56 "Jean Shinoda Bolen"
□ 57 "Constance Warloe"
□ 58 "Joel Selvin"
□ 59 "Lowell Cohn"
□ 60 "Peggy Ornstein"
□ 61 "Tom Tomorrow" (1994)
□ 62 "Steve Silberman" (1994)
□ 63 "Bret Easton Ellis" (1994)
□ 64 "Marianne Faithfull" (1994)
□ 65 "Elizabeth Wurtzel" (1994)
□ 66 "Bharati Mukherjee" (1994)
□ 67 "Timothy Leary" (1994)
□ 68 "Ray Bradbury" (1994)
□ 69 "Bruce Sterling"
□ 70 "Huston Smith"
□ 71 "Francesca Lia Block"
□ 72 "Howard Zinn"
□ 73 "Scoop Nisker"
□ 74 "Howard Rheingold"
□ 75 "Thaisa Frank"
□ 76 "Fran Lebowitz"
□ 77 "Susie Bright"
□ 78 "Art Spiegelman"
□ 79 "Lily Pond & Richard Russo"
□ 80 "Jeff Noon"
□ 81 "Patricia Bosworth"
□ 82 "Mark Leyner"
□ 83 "Helen Palmer"
□ 84 "Lisa Vice"
□ 85 (not known)
□ 86 "Mark Bryan"
□ 87 "Gary Soto"
□ 88 "Pate Hamill"
□ 89 "August Kleinzahler"
□ 90 "George Takei"
□ 91 "Po Bronson"
□ 92 "Adair Lara"
□ 93 "Malidoma Some"
□ 94 "Martin Amis"
□ 95 "Margaret Singer"
□ 96 "Paolo Coehlo"
□ 97 "Geoffrey Canada" (1995)
□ 98 "Thom Jones" (1995)
□ 99 "Calvin Trillin" (1995)
□ 100 "William Wharton" (1995)
□ 101 "J. Otto Seibold and Vivian
Walsh" (1995)
□ 102 "Cynthia Heimel" (1995)
□ 103 "Z Budapest" (1995)
□ 104 "Pagen Kennedy" (1995)
□ 105 "Susan Griffin" (1995)
□ 106 "Richard Meltzer" (1995)
□ 107 "Jeff Greenfield" (1995)
□ 108 "Ray Davies" (1995)
□ 109 "Ann Rule" (1995)
□ 110 "Lawrence Thornton" (1995)
□ 111 "Maira Kalman" (1995)
□ 112 "R.U. Sirius, St. Jude, and
Bart Nagel" (1995)
□ 113 "Ray Davies" (1995)
□ 114 "Christopher Moore" (1995)
□ 115 "Joe Kane" (1995)
□ 116 "Charles Reich" (1995)
□ 117 "Greil Marcus" (1995)
□ 118 "Merrill Markoe" (1995)
□ 119 "Larry McCaffery" (1995)
□ 120 "Howard Junker" (1995)
□ 121 "Ken Miller" (1995)
□ 122 "Dan Piaro" (1995)
□ 123 "Lle Leverich" (1995)
□ 124 "Scott Adams" (1995)
□ 125 "Rock Scully" (1995)
□ 126 "Jules Feiffer" (1995)
□ 127 "April Sinclair" (1995)
□ 128 "David Gans" (1995)
□ 129 "Ron Hansen"
□ 130 "Monique Jellerette DeJongh
& Cassandra Marshall Cato-Lewis"
□ 131 "Jeff Noon"
□ 132 "John Fox"
□ 133 "Nicholson Baker"
□ 134 "Tom Bodett"
□ 135 "William Voldmann"
□ 136 "Mark Matousek"
□ 137 "Walter the Giant Storyteller"
□ 138 "Joel Selvin"
□ 139 "Judy Chicago"
□ 140 "Michell Cassou"
□ 141 "Jaia Sun-Chiders"
□ 142 "Elizabeth Berg"
□ 143 "Mark Epstein"
□ 144 "Jay McInerney"
□ 145 "Thom Jones"
□ 146 "Maxine Chernoff"
□ 147 "David Thomson"
□ 148 "Joan Ryan"
□ 149 "Jacob Needleman"
□ 150 "Legs McNeil & Gillian
McCain"
□ 151 "Clive Barker"
□ 152 "Ana Castillo"
□ 153 "Ursula Hegi"
□ 154 "Nick Hornby"
□ 155 "Tama Janowitz"
□ 156 "W.S. DiPiero"
□ 157 "Rachel Robinson"
□ 158 "Akosua Busia"
□ 159 "Josh Kornbluth"
□ 160 "Michael Ventura"
□ 161 "Carl Djerassi"
□ 162 "Jonathan Lethem"
□ 163 "Pamela Des Barres"
□ 164 "Mona Simpson"
□ 165 "Elissa Waid"
□ 166 "J. Otto Seibold & Vivian
Walsh"
□ 167 "Mark Vaz"
□ 168 "Ray Bradbury"
□ 169 "Allen Ginsburg" (1996)
□ 183 "Thomas Pynchon"
□ 195 "Daniel Duane"
□ 199 "Hunter S. Thompson"
□ 208 "Harlan Ellison"
□ 228 "Douglas Coupland"
□ 242 "Nick Hornby" (1998)
□ 250 "Robert Anton Wilson"
□ 284 "Czeslaw Milosz"
□ 326 "Wes Craven"
□ 338 "Hilary Knight"
□ 362 "George Saunders"
□ 393 "Daniel Handler"
□ 395 "Kazuo Ishiguro"
□ 398 "Neal Pollack"
□ 400 "Don Bachardy" (2000)
□ 401 "Philip Pullman"
□ 406 "Art Spiegelman"
□ 428 "Lemony Snicket"
□ 430 "Dave Eggers" (2001)
□ 439 "Paul Collins" (2001)
□ 441 "W.S. DiPiero" (2001)
□ 445 "Chuck Palahniuk (2001)
□ 459 "Nick Hornby" (2001)
□ 483 "Ray Manzarek (2001)
□ 500 "Laurell K. Hamilton"
□ 502 "McSweeny's 7"
□ 515 "Xaviera Hollander"
□ 523 "Diana Serra Cary" (2002)
□ 542 "Glen David Gold & Alice
Sebold" (2002)
□ 545 "Michael Ondaatje" (2002)
□ 546 "Dave Eggers" (2002)
□ 547 "Dave Eggers" (2002)
□ 550 "Clive Barker" (2002)
□ 553 "Daniel Clowes" (2002)
□ 554 "Andrew Sean Greer &
Michael Chabon" (2002)
□ 560 "Harlan Ellison" (2002)
□ 564 "Daniel Ellsburg" (2002)
□ 590 "Wes 'Scoop' Nisker" (2003)
□ 629 "Ryan Harty and Julie
Orringer" (2003)
□ 632 "Judy Collins" (2003)
□ 677 "Paul Krassner"
□ 697 "Dave Eggers & Co."
□ 705 "Art Spiegelman"
□ 710 "Neal Pollack"
□ 715 "Jim Steinmeyer" (2004)
□ 716 "William T. Voldmann" (2004)
□ 719 "Anne Waldmann" (2004)
□ 726 "Neil Young"; reportedly the
rarest at only 50 copies
□ 733 "Harvey Pekar"
□ 750 "Wesley Stace"
□ 773 "Emily the Strange" (2005)
□ 783 "Tom Robbins"
□ 789 "Charles Perry" (2005)
□ 802 "David Dodd" (2005)
□ 804 "Lemony Snicket" (2005)
□ 807 "Patti Smith" (2005)
□ 814 "April Higashi" (2005)
□ 847 "Ivan Doig" (2006)
□ 857 "The Pope and Sarah Pinkie
Bennett" (2006)
□ 862 "Andrew Vachss" (2006)
□ 881 "Annie Leibovitz"
□ 908 "William T. Voldmann"
□ 918 "Jonathan Lethem"
□ 935 "Chuck Panozzo" (2007)
□ 953 "Lawrence Ferlinghetti"
□ 984 "Lisa Brown"
□ 985 "Lemony Snicket"
□ 986 "William T. Vollmann" (2008)
□ 1000 "Mary Roach" (2008)
□ 1012 "Chuck Palahniuk" (2008)
□ 1040 "Neil Stephenson" (2008)
□ 1063 "Bill Morgan" (2008)
**There are a number of which I've seen the front of, but not the back so the number is not identified.
□ "Anthony Rapp"
□ "Charles Gatewood"
□ "John Mulligan"
□ "Kim Stanley Robinson"
□ "Mark Z. Danielewski"
□ "Nick Mason"
□ "Nina Hartley"
□ "Paul Collins & Friends"
□ "Susanna Clarke"
□ "Terry Goodkind"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pcetodd,

There are 3 on ebay now. An Anne Rice # 22 and two others with books. The latter two have asking prices of several hundred dollars as they come with signed first editions, apparently

I have the Takei card and was suspicious that others existed! Darn, this is going to be harder than the Biospheres...

what number is the Takei card? must be unnumbered if you questioned it being the lone card.

Hi Todd,

Lynne Stewart lists it on her site and I asked her about it. She told me it was card #90. Her site also notes that only 200 were printed with 20 signed cards retained by the store (and presumably long since sold) with the other 180 distributed to customers.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by pcetodd:
what number is the Takei card? must be unnumbered if you questioned it being the lone card.

There is an ebay auction now with a Chuck Palahniuk card which says it is # 445, so you may want to add that to your list. Looks like it may have come out in 2001, and may be different from the # 1012 above.

Also on ebay is a Jonathan Lethem card which says it is # 918.

Add to the list:


Ray Bradbury #168
Harlan Ellison #208
Ray Manzarek #483
Diana Serra Cary #523
Harvey Pekar #733
April Higashi #814
Neil Stephenson #1040
#'s unknown:
Clive Barker
Susanna Clarke
Mark Z. Danielewski
Pamela Des Barres
David Dodd
Terry Goodkind
Nick Mason
John Mulligan
Charles Perry
Anthony Rapp
Kim Stanley Robinson
Hunter S. Thompson

Note that the Diana Serra Cary card was from 2002. She was a child actress in the silent film era (died earlier this year), and had cards in the late 1920s. So she had cards issued over a span of 75 years of her life. I don't think anyone else comes close (with the possible exception of Queen Elizabeth -- I think she may appear on some British cards as a child; I don't know what the most recent card she appeared on is).

Todd,

I have no idea how many unnumbered cards there are. Just from the ones I've seen, I can say some authors have at least two cards in the set (Paul Krassner, William T. Vollmann, Chuck Palahniuk, Elizabeth Berg). I recall seeing a Ray Bradbury card on "the bay" a couple of years ago but the asking price was around $100. I don't know if it sold.

I did just learn that the bookstore had stacks of the cards at the register and that appears to be the main way they were given away.

Jess

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

I want the Harlan Ellison card

Thanks for the updates! I don't feel the need to list the year each one came out.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pcetodd,

Yeah, that one sold before I saw it. That seems really cheap for that.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by cardaddict:
I want the Harlan Ellison card

Yeah, I just copied my list. When I started the list, I was trying to get an idea of the chronology and figured out the approximate date for each one since it appears most cards don't have the year. The unnumbered cards might go back into 1992 but none of the ones I've seen go back that far. You might consider putting the date next to the name of some of them to give someone date indicators as the card numbers get higher.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by pcetodd:
Thanks for the updates! I don't feel the need to list the year each one came out.

I guess it wouldn't hurt. I suppose I can group them by year as best I can.

Booksmith issues author trading cards
High, John.Publishers Weekly; New York Vol. 247, Iss. 44, (Oct 30, 2000): 32.


Entering its 24th year of business in San Francisco, The Booksmith continues to up the ante for its author reading series. This month the store issued its 4ooth author trading card, featuring acclaimed artist Don Bachardy. Trading cards? That's right, author trading cards, just like in baseball. Customers get a picture of the author with all the vital stats... plus a signature if they come to the reading.

"It's a significant milestone in the history of The Booksmith," the store's publicist and events coordinator Thomas Gladysz told PW. "We're really jazzed. These trading cards are promotional devices, much like cards in any sport. A lot of people who love them are actually collectors.."

Book tours have long been a primary way for publishers- and authors - to sell books and spread the word for new titles. In the past decade the competition between the independents and chains has heated up the action. The book tour now contributes to a store's status as well-which store is the neighborhood's top dog?

"Author readings are an essential element of making it as an independent," said Booksmith owner Gary Frank. "No doubt about it. Everyone knows the chains do it, but not as well we do. So it's not a luxury. We know our authors and our customers. It's a way we support the community and the community supports us."

Gladysz is constantly brainstorming and trying new ideas. Three years ago, the store was a part of a virtual Web-ring author tours. Last year, the store started doing offsite events. This month, the Booksmith had Kazuo Ishiguro read from his new book, When We Were Orphans (Knopf) at the Park Branch Library and in November, Jeanette Winterson will be reading from The Powerbook (Knopf).

The trading cards are produced by The Booksmith, one for each author event. The series started five years ago with little fanfare, but has since become a who's who of the famous and sometimes rich: Richard Avedon, Ray Bradbury, Anne Rice, Nobel-winning poet Czeslaw Milosz, rock star Marianne Faithful and Monty Python's Michael Palin are just a few of the featured authors.

The store hosted Bachardy on October 16 for his new book, Stars in My Eyes (Univ. of Wisconsin), a collection of celebrity portraits, rendered in ink drawings and prose. Bachardy sketched the Hollywood elite he knew and lived among with his partner of 33 years, writer Christopher Isherwood.

"We're honored that he's card 400," said Gladysz. "It was a special event. It's a very gossipy book, and it's selling well. Internet sales are tremendous."

At this point, the cards are taking on a life and story of their own, according to Gladysz. The Wall Street Journal recently called to get copies. Customers order books and specifically request the trading cards. The time and place of the event is on every card, and trading cards are prominently promoted at the store's front counter.

"Two of the authors from the set-Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg-have since died," Gladysz noted. "There's a history here."

A handful of authors, such as Robert Owen Butler, have even asked to read at the store in order to be part of the author card's series. "Butler is a staunch nonsports card collector," Gladysz said. "That's why he wanted to read here."

William Vollmann, who has read three times at The Booksmith, is well represented. Trading cards for Mickey Dolenz, formerly of The Monkees, have, unfortunately, sold out.

"We even did a no-host author reading in which we had a Thomas Pynchon lookalike test," Gladysz said. "Staff and customers read from Mason 6 Dixon. Of course, no one knows what he really looks like. We found a collage photo online and doctored it for the card. It was a lot of fun and our customers loved it."

With Jim Harrison, David Sedaris, children's author Philip Pullman and fantasy writer Robert. Jordan scheduled for upcoming readings, more cards will be hot off the press soon.

Frank said that his staff of 15 is always looking to find new ways to keep the independent bookstore thriving. "We're considering selling sets of the signed cards and giving the money to a charity," he said. "Me independents have a strong life in San Francisco. We're feeling more secure now, and we're still growing. The future bodes well for us."

-JOHN HIGH (BOOKSMITH CARD #334)

Thanks for that, Bill. The article mentions other authors I didn't know had a card.

I did notice that it mentions that the Mickey Dolenz card "sold out." I have heard more than once that these cards were given away. Some people say something "sold out" when they just mean that they have run out so I assume that was the case there as well.

Jess

PCETodd's post shows card #554 as being double-sized. It is normal sized, 2-1/2 x 3-1/2.

Jess has card #68, Ray Bradbury, as 1997. He may have made a second appearance there in 1997, but the cards were numbered in sequence and chronologically, so card #68 would have been 1994.

Store owner Gary Frank sold Booksmith in 2007. I suspect that this is why the series ended in 2008.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bill Mullins,

If anyone EVER sees the Harlan Ellison Booksmith Card anywhere, PLEASE give me an electronic shout.

I would really appreciate it, even it's just to see what it looks like, front and/or back.

I used the publication date of the book mentioned on the back as an indicator of the year. However, sometimes the book discussed is just the most recently-released or is the paperback edition (or just my typo) so the date I put ended up being off by a couple of years.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
PCETodd's post shows card #554 as being double-sized. It is normal sized, 2-1/2 x 3-1/2.

Jess has card #68, Ray Bradbury, as 1997. He may have made a second appearance there in 1997, but the cards were numbered in sequence and chronologically, so card #68 would have been 1994.

Store owner Gary Frank sold Booksmith in 2007. I suspect that this is why the series ended in 2008.

I wish I had thought to copy the image(s) then. I missed the auction by a couple of weeks.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by cardaddict:
If anyone EVER sees the Harlan Ellison Booksmith Card anywhere, PLEASE give me an electronic shout.

I would really appreciate it, even it's just to see what it looks like, front and/or back.