Melville House Books

The former head of one of Canada’s premier writing festivals, the International Festival of Authors, is coming under questioning for his plan to sell a book collection that includes over 25,000 autographed first editions, collected during his tenure running the festival. As a CBC News wire story reports, Greg Gatenby says he has already received an offer of $2 million for the collection, which includes books signed by “nearly 60 Pulitzer Prize winners, 24 Booker Prize winners, 14 Nobel laureates and 150 winners of the Governor General’s Award.” However, the CBC report says, “Questions arose Wednesday about the ownership of the books, a quarter of which he said he received free from publishers during his time at the IFAO.” As the report notes, “Review copies given to the media and others are not intended for re-sale.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.