Comics, Pulps, and Paperbacks: Why such a discrepancy in values? 25 25

[Surfing Alien]

13 minutes ago, jimjum12 said:

If your market expands, it won't be as mercurial as comics, because of the childhood nostalgia involved. Not many folks at the age of 12 were reading the risque' paperbacks. I do admit they're very cool from my vicarious perch... I could see increased demand... especially for those pretty examples. GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

...who are you on eBay ? … perchance I choose to peruse ...

Definitely more of a teen age and up memory, even though I love and collect classics (Dickens, Hawthorne, Twain etc.) and sci-fi (Heinlein, Norton etc.) that I read before I was a teen.

I'm buddha63 on ebay.

[jimjum12]

I started Burroughs and Howard at 13, in the peak of the Frazetta heyday, so I definitely get it. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Westy Steve]

This is been a fascinating exchange. Something I wanna share is that a few years back I was invited to this event called elite con. It was a gathering of a couple dozen mover and shaker comic book collectors in the southeast by private invitation and was held at David Alexander’s house. I got invited as a friend of a friend and I felt like a small fish in a big pond but I’ a consistent buyer in this area and did spend big (for me) with no regrets. I got to tour Davids stock which at the time he wanted to sell for well over $1 million. (Maybe more like $2 million).  He had a ton of pulps and other people paper collectibles like Sleeze but not much actual paper back books that I recall. At the time I was only interested in comics.  My understanding was the non-comic paper items were things he had picked up in his store that were just too high grade or good to pass up even though he wasn’t actively selling them. If he is buying paper backs that may mean that he’s been selling through his stock or sold it, (I have no idea)but it’s fascinating to me because he kind of wanted to get rid of that inventory at the time.  Must’ve seen things in the market and had a change of heart.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Westy Steve

[Westy Steve]

 By the way it’s worth bringing up that there are very few things that today’s teenagers can get hooked on other than video games. They might get involved in comics or Magic the gathering but you almost need to go to a specialty shop to buy them these days. However my working theory is that there are a lot of people that do get hooked on Books. There are people who are quite emotional about Harry Potter books and there are A lot of other series that are dystopian like the hunger games etc. My point is that paper back books are one of the few things out there that can still be collected off the shelf most anywhere in the United States that you can get an emotional connection to.

[Randall Dowling]

41 minutes ago, Surfing Alien said:

I'm buddha63 on ebay.

I knew it was you, Fredo!  

Just to add my  to this conversation about collecting paperbacks v. comics, I started collecting comics (in the most amateur of ways) when I was 5 or 6 years old (1977).  By 1990, I was buying and selling comics at conventions, setting up tables and really getting into the full breadth of comics searching for increasingly rare and never seen books that people didn't often discuss.  Examples of this included the early part of Prize Comics or the ACG TrueVision comics with their shockingly black pages or Atlas Horror and SciFi (loved many articles written by one of the experts, @Pat Calhoun).

Fast forward to today.  I'm priced out of most of the comic market.  The advent of CGC caused price escalation that really has taken the fun and joy out of collecting comics for me.  Books that I know are incredibly common go for hundreds and thousands of dollars (think Amazing Spider-man 300, 361, etc.).  I'm not complaining, just stating the facts of how things have changed.  When the focus is so much about only the money, much of the fun is lost for me. 

Anyway, I've always been interested in the obscure.  The things that others don't notice or appreciate.  And I grew up reading a lot.  As in a book a week when I was in my teens and 20s.  And I spent a lot of time in used bookstores looking for comics.  Couldn't help but look at the stacks of paperbacks with Frazetta covers or the vintage Lovecraft titles (I paid $20 for a nice copy of a 1940s Avon-The Lurking Fear in the early 90s).  As my collecting interest in comics and their price escalation has titrated down, my appreciation of paperbacks has ramped up.  The thrill of discovery is back!  New stories, new cover art, things I've never seen before.  So, I'm in no rush for paperbacks to be graded and slabbed so they become just objects, not containers of amazing writing that has been forgotten by most but not all.  And sharing these finds with friends and posting in this thread is a blast ("When did I ever refuse an accommodation?").

This thread has been a great touchstone for discussion, made all the better by the presence of several boardies that have amazing knowledge and started on this same journey long before me (I'm looking at you, Pat!).  So thanks to all that share their knowledge and collection!  It's making for a fun second act in collecting!  "And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies then they would become my enemies..."

For anyone that reads this and feels the same way, I say come on in, the water's warm.  Just leave all that tinkering with books with your crayons, knives, and ironing machines.  Or in other words- "Leave the gun, take the cannolis".  

[Surfing Alien]

Dayum son! Testify!

I declare right now, this here thread is the home for the broken, the beaten and the damned!

All the lost poets who remember strolling past stacks of creamy white Spidey 300's for $5 a pop at their neighborhood monthly con in 1988 and said "eff that" i'm outee! Those who wandered the back streets, stumbling into basement paperback exchanges, digging through the detritus of a thousand Harold Robbins pulse-pounders and coming up for air with a 1940's Avon that held an air of mystery, perhaps a smell of fungi and the rotting premonition of the things that should not be!

[Westy Steve]

Ok, I'm really excited to pull the trigger on this one (seller's photos).  I've wanted one of these since I first saw it in a coffee table book, but I could only find one for sale and it was at the top of my self-imposed $100 cap on spending.  But for some reason, right now there are a few on Ebay at about half of what I've seen as the "ask" price.  So maybe these are more common than I thought they were...but from my research and LIMITED experience, they are indeed hard to come by with the dust jacket and the current glut of them on ebay is a fluke.

Interestingly, on ebay there is also a version by Permabooks with a 1957 copyright that looks like the dust jacket on the pocket book version, but it's not a pocket book and there is no dust jacket on it.

Bask in the glow of its scruffiness.  I'm inclined to try out my fancy, high-dollar, paper-cleaning putty that I bought to help clean up the cover a little bit.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Westy Steve

[moonpool]

47 minutes ago, Westy Steve said:

Ok, I'm really excited to pull the trigger on this one (seller's photos).  I've wanted one of these since I first saw it in a coffee table book, but I could only find one for sale and it was at the top of my self-imposed $100 cap on spending.  But for some reason, right now there are a few on Ebay at about half of what I've seen as the "ask" price.  So maybe these are more common than I thought they were...but from my research and LIMITED experience, they are indeed hard to come by with the dust jacket and the current glut of them on ebay is a fluke.

Interestingly, on ebay there is also a version by Permabooks with a 1957 copyright that looks like the dust jacket on the pocket book version, but it's not a pocket book and there is no dust jacket on it.

Bask in the glow of its scruffiness.  I'm inclined to try out my fancy, high-dollar, paper-cleaning putty that I bought to help clean up the cover a little bit.

 

 

 

 

A top of the line want when I bought my Warren price guide way back when.  Dust-jacketed paperbacks have always been of interest.  I found a Pan for a dollar in a book store in dust jacket, which I didn't know the series had them. 

[Westy Steve]

5 minutes ago, moonpool said:

A top of the line want when I bought my Warren price guide way back when.  Dust-jacketed paperbacks have always been of interest.  I found a Pan for a dollar in a book store in dust jacket, which I didn't know the series had them. 

I’m sure others exist, but this is the only jacketed paperback I know of.  If  you can think of a few more good ones, please share. 

[moonpool]

17 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

I knew it was you, Fredo!  

Just to add my  to this conversation about collecting paperbacks v. comics, I started collecting comics (in the most amateur of ways) when I was 5 or 6 years old (1977).  By 1990, I was buying and selling comics at conventions, setting up tables and really getting into the full breadth of comics searching for increasingly rare and never seen books that people didn't often discuss.  Examples of this included the early part of Prize Comics or the ACG TrueVision comics with their shockingly black pages or Atlas Horror and SciFi (loved many articles written by one of the experts, @Pat Calhoun).

Fast forward to today.  I'm priced out of most of the comic market.  The advent of CGC caused price escalation that really has taken the fun and joy out of collecting comics for me.  Books that I know are incredibly common go for hundreds and thousands of dollars (think Amazing Spider-man 300, 361, etc.).  I'm not complaining, just stating the facts of how things have changed.  When the focus is so much about only the money, much of the fun is lost for me. 

Anyway, I've always been interested in the obscure.  The things that others don't notice or appreciate.  And I grew up reading a lot.  As in a book a week when I was in my teens and 20s.  And I spent a lot of time in used bookstores looking for comics.  Couldn't help but look at the stacks of paperbacks with Frazetta covers or the vintage Lovecraft titles (I paid $20 for a nice copy of a 1940s Avon-The Lurking Fear in the early 90s).  As my collecting interest in comics and their price escalation has titrated down, my appreciation of paperbacks has ramped up.  The thrill of discovery is back!  New stories, new cover art, things I've never seen before.  So, I'm in no rush for paperbacks to be graded and slabbed so they become just objects, not containers of amazing writing that has been forgotten by most but not all.  And sharing these finds with friends and posting in this thread is a blast ("When did I ever refuse an accommodation?").

This thread has been a great touchstone for discussion, made all the better by the presence of several boardies that have amazing knowledge and started on this same journey long before me (I'm looking at you, Pat!).  So thanks to all that share their knowledge and collection!  It's making for a fun second act in collecting!  "And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies then they would become my enemies..."

For anyone that reads this and feels the same way, I say come on in, the water's warm.  Just leave all that tinkering with books with your crayons, knives, and ironing machines.  Or in other words- "Leave the gun, take the cannolis".  

I read Uncle Scrooge until about 3rd grade, then superhero comics a few years in college to connect with my younger brothers, then joined cgc in 04 because there weren't any vintage paperback boards, and this was kind of close.  My nostalgia, if any, is going to B. Daltons and buying a book if the cover art caught my eye.  I definitely prefer the low prices, estimated grades, and the art, although I have purchased some comics/comic art more recently (newer pieces).

[moonpool]

1 hour ago, Westy Steve said:

I’m sure others exist, but this is the only jacketed paperback I know of.  If  you can think of a few more good ones, please share. 

Let's see.  Bantam probably has around 20, first being Great Gatsby #8 and the last (I think) High Pressure #716.  About 5 in the 140-150's are the same dust jacket, which is odd.  Cannery Row #75 is my favorite.   Also Penguin has about 6, Pocket 4.  The big one Dell D-114 Go Down to Glory. probably some others, but those are what I thought of.

[Surfing Alien]

3 hours ago, moonpool said:

Let's see.  Bantam probably has around 20, first being Great Gatsby #8 and the last (I think) High Pressure #716.  About 5 in the 140-150's are the same dust jacket, which is odd.  Cannery Row #75 is my favorite.   Also Penguin has about 6, Pocket 4.  The big one Dell D-114 Go Down to Glory. probably some others, but those are what I thought of.

Sounds about right. I used to have quite a few, including The Maltese Falcon. I still have this one, it's pretty cool, covering a quite mundane Superior reprint. The She-wolf definitely looks more interesting!

[Sarg]

6 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

Ok, I'm really excited to pull the trigger on this one (seller's photos).  I've wanted one of these since I first saw it in a coffee table book, but I could only find one for sale and it was at the top of my self-imposed $100 cap on spending.  But for some reason, right now there are a few on Ebay at about half of what I've seen as the "ask" price.  So maybe these are more common than I thought they were...but from my research and LIMITED experience, they are indeed hard to come by with the dust jacket and the current glut of them on ebay is a fluke.

Interestingly, on ebay there is also a version by Permabooks with a 1957 copyright that looks like the dust jacket on the pocket book version, but it's not a pocket book and there is no dust jacket on it.

Bask in the glow of its scruffiness.  I'm inclined to try out my fancy, high-dollar, paper-cleaning putty that I bought to help clean up the cover a little bit.

 

 

 

These publishers were such pathetic low-lifes. Imagine reading "The Maltese Falcon" looking solely for the extremely minor part of the book -- which has nothing to do with the plot -- where a woman might undress. "WE FOUND OUR COVER, BOYS!," screams the exultant editor. Just publish porn already. 

[Westy Steve]

2 hours ago, Sarg said:

 

These publishers were such pathetic low-lifes. Imagine reading "The Maltese Falcon" looking solely for the extremely minor part of the book -- which has nothing to do with the plot -- where a woman might undress. "WE FOUND OUR COVER, BOYS!," screams the exultant editor. Just publish porn already. 

That’s part of its charm. Like the salacious cover to 1984 which is one of the most unsexy books I remember reading.  Showing my wife covers like these validates/excuses my collection to my wife. :-)

[Sarg]

10 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

That’s part of its charm. Like the salacious cover to 1984 which is one of the most unsexy books I remember reading.  Showing my wife covers like these validates/excuses my collection to my wife. :-)

I used to think so, too, but now I just regard them as sleazy rip-offs of otherwise good literature. I certainly have no objection to sleazy covers to outright trash like Reform School Girl. 

[Pat Calhoun]

Here's a couple of other cover modes for vintage Pocket Hammett. Plus, one of my faves, 'The Fifth Grave', which is something of a slightly racier sendup of 'Red Harvest' - adding a blonde bombshell cult leader for the detective to investigate. Nothin' like smut but good fun and a solid novel.

[Randall Dowling]

4 minutes ago, Pat Calhoun said:

Here's a couple of other cover modes for vintage Pocket Hammett. Plus, one of my faves, 'The Fifth Grave', which is something of a slightly racier sendup of 'Red Harvest' - adding a blonde bombshell cult leader for the detective to investigate. Nothin' like smut but good fun and a solid novel.

For me, Red Harvest is one of Dash's finest.  Classic crime fiction at it's best with all the archetypes and an excellent twist.  

Edited June 19, 2020 by Randall Dowling

[moonpool]

More dust jackets!

[Hap Hazard]

Only two Dust covers that I own.

[Bookery]

11 hours ago, moonpool said:

More dust jackets!

Bantam DJ on an Infantry Journal title.