School has a who's who in signed book collection

Nikolai DiPippa, director of public programs at the Clinton School of Public Service, spins a basketball signed by Bill Bradley, basketball Hall of Famer and former U.S. senator, D-N.J. Dean Skip Rutherford concentrates on the school’s collection of signed books.
Nikolai DiPippa, director of public programs at the Clinton School of Public Service, spins a basketball signed by Bill Bradley, basketball Hall of Famer and former U.S. senator, D-N.J. Dean Skip Rutherford concentrates on the school’s collection of signed books.

The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock holds a library of signed books by authors from Kennedy biographer Ted Sorensen to Texas joker Kinky Friedman -- hundreds of volumes that nobody set out to collect.

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Skip Rutherford (left), dean of the Clinton School of Public Service, and Nikolai DiPippa, director of public programs, survey the school’s collection of hundreds of signed books.

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Joe Klein makes it anonymously official that he wrote the notorious Primary Colors, one among hundreds of signed books at the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock.

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Chelsea Clinton signed this copy of the former White House girl’s new book, It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!

These 400 books, give or take a tome, add up to an acquisition of "historic significance," dean Skip Rutherford says. "In years to come," he expects, "they will be very valuable."

Most are from authors who have appeared in the Clinton School's speaker series, an 11-year-old lineup of free, public lectures. The school does not pay for these talks, but if the speaker just happens to have a book for sale -- and what author doesn't? -- it buys a book.

Some are donated, as by the school's namesake, former President Bill Clinton. Every so often, he sends another box of books, Rutherford says.

In time, the books spilled from Rutherford's office to that of Nikolai DiPippa, director of public programs, and finally out of the door of the red-brick school building next to the Clinton Presidential Center.

So now, they fill a line of glass-doored cases, specially built for them in the school's classroom and study center in the River Market.

"It's a great reminder, I think, for the students," Rutherford says. They aspire to public service, and practically every book stands for exactly that.

SIGN HERE

Guest speakers give the school's 100 students a chance to "interact with decision makers, educators and political leaders," Rutherford says. The books are a who's-who of big-name visitors to the school and to Little Rock.

The books have not been appraised for autograph value, but he estimates, "you just know, thousands of dollars."

Figure it this way; The collection includes a copy of editor Seweryn Bialer's book, Inside Gorbachev's Russia, from 1988. The hardcover in good condition goes for about $30 on the used book website abe.com. Bill Clinton donated this copy, having written his name in the back. Clinton's autograph, as president, can be worth $500, according to a report on National Public Radio. But this inscription might be even more interesting. Dated two years before he ran for president, the autograph indicates Clinton had his mind on international relations even then, as governor of Arkansas -- if so, an insight hard to calculate in dollars.

Or this: a copy of Primary Colors, signed by Joe Klein. It was hot buzz as published almost 20 years ago. Reviewers generally sniffed out the fiction as a thinly disguised farce about Clinton's first presidential bid, originally credited to "Anonymous." Time magazine columnist Klein denied several times having written it, but he finally owned up -- and set pen to this copy. It's not for sale, but if it went up for auction, the bidding might be anonymous.

Or this: a signed copy of Jesse Ventura's book, American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies the Government Tells Us (2010). More recently, the former Navy SEAL, professional wrestler and governor of Minnesota has said he might run for president. "If we're going to turn our politics into entertainment," he told the Washington Examiner, "then I got a good shot." If he won, the office could do an airplane spin on his current autograph value of $50, the going price for a signed index card on Amazon.com.

Plus, there's the value of meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger's co-star in Predator (1987), the movie that gave Ventura his catchphrase: "I ain't got time to bleed." Priceless.

"He couldn't have been nicer," Rutherford says.

READ ME

The dean's favorite part of the collection? Might it be? -- from basketball Hall of Famer Bill Bradley, who, instead of a book, inked a basketball.

Might it be? -- Arkansas governor-turned author, TV pundit and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's bipartisan inscription to the Clinton School, "a great treasure for Arkansas."

Might it be? -- a signed copy of Mitch Albom's best-seller, Tuesdays With Morrie, with the message added: "Giving is living."

Might it be? -- Texas musician and writer Friedman's inscribed advice to Clinton to do as Winston Churchill said to friends and confidants, but not to the public, and not in the newspaper. Basically, translated from the unprintably irreverent: Hang in there.

Rutherford names Pulitzer Prize-winner Taylor Branch's Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63.

"I read a lot of civil rights history," he says, "and here it is, signed by Taylor Branch."

BEN THERE, DONE THAT

"Either write something worth reading," as Founding Father Ben Franklin said, "or do something worth writing."

Do, write, and have a book on these shelves among authors including Al Gore, John McCain, David Pryor, Madeleine Albright, John Lithgow, Richard Dawkins, even Dr. Phil (McGraw).

Michael Dukakis, former governor of Massachusetts and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, "rode a bus from Memphis to get here," Rutherford remembers.

"The speaker series has got to where we have publishers and authors calling us," DiPippa says. Another talk, another book.

The book collection is on display for students, faculty and campus visitors. To have a look by appointment, call DiPippa at (501) 683-5206. More information about the Clinton School of Public Service is available at clintonschool.uasys.edu.

Style on 12/27/2015

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