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| Messages 1 - 9 of total 9 in this topic |
the Fet
climber
Earth
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 30, 2006 - 11:10am PT
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I was just on Chessler's site and noticed he is charging big bucks for a lot of autographed books. One famous climber told me that he was a (I won't even repeat it here, but it was a funny, shocking despcription).
So are all these autographs real? If so, quite a coup to get some of them.
e.g. YOSEMITE CLIMBER SIGNED by George Meyers (editor), Royal Robbins (publisher), John Long (author), Jim Bridwell, Jeff Lowe, Mark Wellman, John Bachar, Glen Denny, Doug Robinson, Tom Frost and Lynn Hill.
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Jun 30, 2006 - 12:44pm PT
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I can't speak for every single autograph but, Michael Chessler has been in the position to have many, many famous climbers sign his books. Sometimes he gives a donation to a worthy charity for the effort.
A few years back, I got to spend some time with Reinhold Messner and he very graciously signed every one of my copies (I think there were about 20 books) of his books.
Bruce
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Jun 30, 2006 - 01:00pm PT
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Chessler regularly attends events where many famous mountaineers speak, etc. He brings lots of books for these people to sign. And, as was stated, he will make often large donations to organizations which the climbers in question support in exchange.
People like George Meyers, RR, Bachar, etc are pretty available and willingly sign books for Mike.
But, does he have Chongo's signature in the Yosemite Climber?
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the Fet
climber
Earth
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 30, 2006 - 01:10pm PT
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That's really cool he gives money to charity. I was thinking it might be something like that, just seemed strange so many people would sign if it was only for his benefit.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Jun 30, 2006 - 02:43pm PT
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I purchased a copy of K2 from the new Adventure Library series recently and took it to the 98th annual AAC meeting and got signatures from Charles Houston, George Bell, Bob Bates, Pete Schoening (who included some nice comments regarding our canoe trip), and Dee Molenaar.
Dee wrote; "$0.25 please"
I promptly paid him his two bits!
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Clarke Brogger
Mountain climber
Laguna Beach, Ca
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Jun 30, 2006 - 04:07pm PT
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Please tell me those signatures are legit. i paid way over doiublw for Yosemite Climber becuase it has them. Well worht it in my mind, but only if they is real.
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Ain't no flatlander
climber
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Jun 30, 2006 - 05:30pm PT
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Definitely real. I've been to numerous signings where Michael shows up with hundreds of books and several ice axes. He usually tries to set up a time in a private location so he doesn't interfere with a public signing. He can't compete with Amazon on book prices so the value-added is his niche, along with rare out-of-prints, and he works hard at it. Some don't like his style or prices but he's an honest businessman IMHO.
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Misha
Trad climber
Woodside, CA
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Jun 30, 2006 - 05:57pm PT
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Honest businessman? Maybe. Sh*ty customer service and rudness? Definitely! I had my own very bad experience with his shop and I know many others who were in a similar boat. Feel free to read this thread on SP about my saga. Never again... I use AbeBooks nowadays.
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Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
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Jun 30, 2006 - 06:30pm PT
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I have known Micheal for many years and have bought, sold, and traded books with him over the years. His products are legit.
That said how he has sold some of them bothers me greatly. Less than three days after the death of Galen Rowell he was selling signed copies of some of Galen's books on ebay and noting Galen's passing as the reason to get buy the book. I found this behavior quite disgusting. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated case as he did something similar after the death of Heinrich Harrer.
Micheal does travel to many gatherings and to the homes of climbers to get sigs and he has in the past donated to charities in turn for their signing books for him (So I have been told). But he has also not always been so generous. He once meet up over lunch with two rather well known Yosemte climbers to get them to sign books for him. In the end he gave each of them a new copy of a paperback book for a signing the books but did not bother picking up the tab for lunch. They were not inclined to sign for him again given then number of books they signed for him. There are climbers out that will not sign books for Chessler (or other dealers for that matter).
He sells high and buys low. I typcailly use his prices for insurance purposes because they are often the highest prices out there. If selling books I would try selling them privately or through another dealer as the last time I had a bunch of books he gave me an offer that was insultingly low.
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