Colganology: Sign Post Part 2

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Sign Post Part 2

Back here in July I shared with you some of my favourites from my rather huge collection of signed books. Here are a few more that are particularly special to me.

To kick off, some wonderful doodles by comic artist Frank Quitely. Now, if you're not into comics, his name probably won't mean much to you. But, trust me, he's one of the best. That's why he's trusted with drawing titles as iconic as Batman, The Avengers and Judge Dredd. He's also a genuinely lovely guy and when I was attempting to kickstart (in the days before Kickstarter) a new British comics imprint in the late 1990s, he was hugely supportive and even donated front cover art for our first issue. I'm so pleased he's gone on to great things. Here's a bunch of doodles he did on the inside cover of my copy of DC's Batman: The Scottish Connection (Bigger Betty was the name of the publishing company) along with another Bats-related pencil sketch.

Two other artists who were massively influential on me were Willy Rushton and Gary Larson. I was lucky enough to meet Willy before he died. His pen technique and acid wit made him one of my favourite cartoonists of all time. I've never met Gary and probably never will but I do have the next best thing (well, if you don't count owning an original!). An American police colleague knew I was a fan and asked him to sign a copy of his first volume of Far Side cartoons for me. I was ecstatic to receive it.

I have quite a lot of books signed by comedians - I'm lucky that my work means that I meet a lot of comedians -many of them, sadly no longer with us. I have been privileged to meet people like Ronnie Barker, Sir Norman Wisdom, Eric Sykes and so many more. Here are three of my prized treasures: a signed copy of Kenneth Williams' Acid Drops, a signed copy of my favourite book ever, Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine and the inside back cover of my copy of Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic by the incredible Terry Jones. Thankfully, Terry is still very much with us and this has to be the best author glossy ever.

I'll post some more soon :)

2 comments:

Sean18 November 2013 at 15:48
Thanks for posting some of your signed books and sketches, I enjoyed seeing them. I love collecting signed books and sketches too and I'm an amateur illustrator myself. I saw (and heard) you talk at QED 2013 and I'm hoping to see you this Thursday in Liverpool.
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Stevyn Colgan18 November 2013 at 15:50
Great! See you then hopefully! :)
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Praise for Joined-Up Thinking

'I found myself fascinated and somewhat dizzy. Most impressive' - Stephen Fry

'Dizzily intriguing' - The Bookseller

'The book that nails that odd, slightly unnerving feeling that everything really is connected' - John Mitchinson (Co-author of QI: The Book of General Ignorance)

'This is not a stocking filler - this is a real book. Buy several copies and keep one' - Daily Telegraph

'Quite simply the best way to spend time when not shopping, sleeping or preparing food' - Tony Hawks (author of Around Ireland with a Fridge)

'Can I recommend a book? It’s Joined-Up Thinking by Stevyn Colgan. The book’s packed with great info, from the derivation of the phrase ‘letting the cat out of the bag’ to the name for the thin bits of a cricket bail. Spigots, since you ask' - Mark Mason (author of The Importance of being Trivial)

'If you've ever looked at the Eiffel Tower and wondered how it's related to Dracula, then Stevyn Colgan is your man. Yes, it's trivia porn' - London Lite

'He connects each piece of his trivia puzzle in a concise, chatty, easy to follow, even logical, manner. This free-flowing style does not, thankfully, lend itself to pause and evaluation, but does allow for a great deal of chuckling and chin-stroking. He is the master of the trivial, the collector and cataloguer of the forgotten and inane - but no matter how worthless and unnecessary the information, Colgan has the knack of making it all sound intensely fascinating' - New Zealand Herald

'Stevyn Colgan has a theory; everything in the world can be connected through 'six degrees of information'. Trying to prove it takes us up some strange alleys but his engaging style means we don't get stuck down the road of intellectual whimsy' - Maxim

'It's a very smart style to a trivia book, and will I am sure be one of the hits of the forthcoming season' - The Bookbag

‘Stevyn Colgan's book, 'Joined-Up Thinking', could well be turned into a pub quiz or even a TV show. The latter could be even more of a possibility as Colgan has connections to the 'QI' BBC TV show. You're going to walk away from this book knowing a lot more than when you started.’ - SF Crows Nest

'How Colgan manages to find all these connections, unravel them and create something coherent and entertaining out of them is beyond me. But I'm glad he took the time, as the result is vastly fascinating and had my mind whirring round after itself for hours - immense fun!' - Falmouth People

Praise for Henhwedhlow

‘All power to Stevyn Colgan and his project to preserve Cornish myth, legend and song. Who knows; as a result some Penzance Wagner may write the Cornish Ring Cycle and won’t the world be pleased? There’s more to Cornwall than Padstow, pasties and ‘Piss off you grockles’ and Colgan is doing the ancient kingdom a great service.’ - Stephen Fry

‘Jumping from the 19th to the 21st century, Stevyn is taking an essential element of our Cornish culture and bringing it bang up-to-date. With the aid of the very clever artwork he aims to do this in a way that even kids sitting their exams will be tempted to bring the book to school so as to take an occasional peek under the desk for a spot of well-deserved humour.’ - Howard Curnow (Cornish bard and storyteller)

'The best book I've ever seen for helping you to learn the Cornish language or practice reading it. Brilliant fun too' - Cornish Voice