Sarah's Books - Used & Rare

There are two schools of thought about signed books. Probably more, actually, knowing the vagaries and opinions of used book dealers. But for our purposes today, let's say two: first, the author's signature, plain, with perhaps a handwritten date from the year of the book's publication, nice, clean, tidy; second, a rambling inscription to someone we don't know from Adam, more of the author's handwriting, a quirky signature and date, messy somehow. In this case, and in most cases, give me the messy signature - I'd always rather have a caring author add a little extra to a good book, to give that copy of the book a collectible and loveable uniqueness. Certain authors signed a lot of books; certain authors cared about their readers and also had a lot of friends they liberally inscribed their books to. Certain authors were much-loved during their own lifetimes. You see where I'm heading here - Christopher Morley was one such. So here are two rambling messy interesting inscriptions from my Morley collection. One, in a rather homely Grosset & Dunlap 1930s reprint of Thunder on the Left (I bought it, as you can see, for $7.50):

What was the difficult question? What is the tentative answer the book provides?? Morley signed this in Honolulu, of all places. And wrote Ex Libris to boot. I'd so much rather have this copy than a copy that was merely signed on the endpaper or title page.

The other Morley inscription, in a first edition of Seacoast of Bohemia (Doubleday 1929):

The subject of this book is Morley's account of managing the Rialto Theatre in Hoboken, New Jersey, with a few friends of literary bent. This inscription was obviously written quickly with an open hand, and we can assume from the phrasing that he was signing copies at the Rialto during the run of the play After Dark. Again, wouldn't we rather have this copy than one that was merely signed? (This question is rhetorical, but I welcome comments on this issue nonetheless.)

By the by, I was interviewed recently by writer Marty Weil about another of my collecting obsessions - booksellers' tickets, this time - over at his Ephemera blog. The interview went up on his blog this morning. Thanks, Marty - I enjoyed revisiting the whys and wherefores of collecting tickets while I ruminated over your questions.