Elvis Presley Signed The Herald 1953 Yearbook (Humes High School, Memphis)....
Description
Elvis Presley Signed The Herald 1953 Yearbook (Humes High School, Memphis). The 1953 edition of The Herald was inscribed and signed by Elvis next to his senior photo on page 20. It's also been signed on page 8 by George Klein, the Senior Class President, Elvis' lifelong friend who would go on to become a well-known TV and radio personality.Elvis pops up a few times throughout the book. On page 30 he's mentioned in the Senior Class's "Last Will and Testament," as Elvis and two other students "leave hoping there will be someone to take their places as 'teachers' pets"; on page 56 he's pictured in the back row seat in his 12th grade English class picture; and he's also visible on page 60, in the back row (again) in his Biology class picture.
The '53 yearbook is in Very Good condition, with the contents having almost completely separated from the covers, but is otherwise complete, and the signatures are in great condition, clear and with just a little fading.
Included is a handy key to where you can find Elvis and his friends George Klein, Red West, and Buzzy Forbes in the yearbook. LOA from James Spence Authentication. COA from Rich Consola.
More Information:
The signature, as well as the wording of the inscription is consistent with what we have seen in numerous copies of the 1953 Senior Herald yearbook. This particular book was bought in 2003 from Seth Poppel's Yearbook Library. Poppel is the world's most renowned collector, buyer, and seller of high school yearbooks. Most of the thousands of books in his Yearbook Library were sold to him by students who were the original owners. In this case, that student was Dorothy June Forshee, who, like Elvis, was part of the June 1953 graduating class at Humes High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Dorothy is pictured in this book, just a few pages after the page with Elvis' photo.
According to Poppel, "Dorothy represented to me that her book was signed by Elvis on their yearbook pass-around day. I have purchased over 20 different Elvis Presley high school yearbooks, and examined, page-by-page at least 10 to 15 others. Many of them are signed because the students were given time, after getting their yearbooks, to pass them around in an assembly line fashion, up one row and down another, in homerooms and in other classrooms. It is not uncommon to find that books that got passed around for signatures wind up being signed by 80% of the class or more." Seth Poppel, Yearbook Library, Seattle, Washington.
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