Salman Rushdie, the autograph-hunter

Salman Rushdie, whose novel Midnight’s Children won the 'Best of the Booker' award last week, is not averse to a bit of male turkey-cocking. Yesterday, he claimed to have broken wine writer Malcolm Gluck’s record for book signings after adding his full name to 1,000 books on a tour to promote his latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence. In a letter to the Guardian, he boasted that Gluck’s "record is toast".

The contretemps between the two (grown) men started last week when Gluck questioned whether Rushdie could possibly have signed as many books as he had claimed (he’d let drop that he’d put his name to 1,000 copies in a books warehouse in Nashville in 57 minutes), or whether he had just scribbled his initials.

Gluck's claimed record is 1,001 copies in 59 minutes, set at a wine warehouse in London in 1998. Gluck achieved this with the help of a team of three men, one fetching the copies, one opening them at the blank page, and another whisking the signed copies away. (Continued below)

Now Rushdie says: "Let me be clear: I did not initial the books, but signed my full name. I did have the support of experienced staff at Ingrams book distributors in Nashville... who will confirm that among the fastest present-day signers of books are President Jimmy Carter, the novelist Amy Tan, and myself."

Gluck seems to have accepted defeat. "Well, if that's true, I'm humbled,” he says. “I'm delighted to learn of Salman's achievement. I think it's very funny actually, it's like men boasting about the size of their sexual equipment, it's got nothing to do with any other aspect of their personality. I doubt there will be any women going for this record, this is just such a male thing."