Harvard Book Store Welcomes Edwards

Former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards will appear at Harvard Book Store at noon today to sign copies of his book, Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives, but he won’t be speaking at the event.

Due to Edwards’ packed schedule and the bookstore’s request, Edwards will only be signing copies of the book, according to store manager Mark Lamphier.

He won’t sign other books of his or memorabilia either, and will not be posing for photographs during the event.

After his appearance, which is scheduled to take between one and two hours, Edwards will leave for Manchester, N.H. for another promotion, said Kim Rubey, a spokeswoman for Edwards’ One America Committee.

The politician will not be speaking at the request of the bookstore, according to Rubey.

“They were concerned that since it was lunchtime, they wanted to have as many people get signed copies as possible,” she said.

The event will not be ticketed.

Such an occurrence is uncommon at Harvard Book Store, with only about 10 to 15 percent of visiting authors not speaking, according to Lamphier.

“It depends on the prominence of the figure. If you have a 24-year-old novelist, then they’re obviously going to be doing a reading,” he said.

One of the most prominent authors to make a similar appearance was another Democrat with vice-presidential connections. When former vice-president Al Gore ’69 visited in July this year to promote his book, An Inconvenient Truth, he only signed copies of his book and did not speak.