A book signed by President Trump in 1987 as “future president” has sold at auction for more than those of former Presidents Harry Truman, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.
The autographed copy of Trump: The Art Of The Deal sold this week for $1,500, surprising Bill Panagopulos, Alexander Historical Auctions president, who expected a top price of $1,200.
He just told us:
“Books signed by presidents are widely desired by presidential autograph collectors. With our sale yesterday of a book signed by Donald Trump for $1,500, his books now far exceed those signed by his predecessors, including Harry Truman, Franklin Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, and especially Jimmy Carter, who has signed so many books, they are hard to sell for over $50.”
The book was signed “Donald Trump,” and the words “Future President” were added at the suggestion of the original owner, who attended a book signing at a Trump casino right after it was initially published.
The online auction house, based in Chesapeake City, Maryland, has a long history of specializing in historical, and especially presidential, autographs and regularly previews its sales to Secrets.
The auctioneer described the book this way in its sales preview:
Donald Trump
(b. 1946) Controversial American financier, deal maker, and gambling mogul, once near bankruptcy, he recovered his wealth and successfully ran for president in 2016. Signed and inscribed book, Trump: The Art of the Deal, by Donald Trump with Tony Schwartz (New York: Random House), 1987, First Edition, 246pp. 8vo., his memoir and compendium of business advice. Trump signs on the front flyleaf in blue ink, adding a prescient inscription: “Future President”. In very good to fine condition. The book is accompanied by a typed letter of provenance from the original recipient, in which he describes purchasing the book at a signing event at the Trump’s Castle casino shortly after its release in November of 1987, and his request to Trump that he sign it as “Future President.”
