READER'S DIGEST RECOMMENDED READ: Chasing Autographs

Adam Andrusier pens an eclectic memoir of his time as an autograph dealer

- Adam Andrusier

AT THIS STAGE, Andrusier’s entire universe was the north London suburb of Pinner, where he grew up with his Jewish parents: a larger-than-life father and a mother it seems fair to call “long-suffering”. In fact, quite a lot of the book is a beautifully bittersweet memoir about Andrusier’s conflicted relationship with his father, from whom he learned the appeal of collecting—although his dad’s taste ran more towards postcards of Eastern European synagogues that were destroyed by the Nazis.

Meanwhile, following his Big Daddy triumph, young Adam expanded into writing off for autographs. But he also continued as an “in-person collector”, waiting outside London hotels to accost the likes of Elizabeth Taylor (who said no) and Nelson and Winnie Mandela (who said yes, but seemed to Andrusier to be unhappily married).

He also introduces us to the strange world of autograph conventions, where a winningly random assortment of celebs—from astronomer Patrick Moore to the bloke who played Jaws in James Bond—sign for money. On a darker note, he sees a particularly long queue for the pilots who dropped the first atomic bomb cheerfully signing photos of the Hiroshima ruins.

These days, Andrusier makes his living as an autograph dealer. But here he is as a boy, a couple of years after a family holiday in California, about to make his nascent collection more international:

One day, Dad had a thought. He disappeared into his study, and after a lot of groaning and throwing paper around he emerged clutching a brightly illustrated brochure. It was a ‘Beverly Hills Star Map’.

‘I’d forgotten all about this,’ he gleamed. ‘Might be useful.’