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

[PopKulture]

Well, I would've said Homicide Hotel, but since that's already been taken, I'd say Girl of the Slums. Bedroom Eyes couldn't have been cheap either - booksellers love Driben! 

[PopKulture]

2 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

 

Excellent haul. I especially love the title "Puta." I recognized the cover art for When The Lusting Began:

[Surfing Alien]

7 hours ago, PopKulture said:

Excellent haul. I especially love the title "Puta." I recognized the cover art for When The Lusting Began:

So many of these publishers re-used artwork, it's a collecting sub-set all its own.

[Pat Calhoun]

Randall inspired me; not quite enough to 'man up' the big$ for 'Homicide Hotel', but Joe Barry is a name you see on a number of early fifties hardboiled PBs, and when I realized I had none of them I looked around and settled on this Ace dub. Seller had imaged the Barry-/-Marchetti (art) half so that part's my coming copy, but as I'm a Harry Barton fan I borrowed a scruffy image of "On the Hook' from the Ace site to go with it till real arrives...

[moonpool]

Filled in a Popular Library hole, courtesy of Dreamhaven books

[HRCostigan]

One of the best parts of Dreamhaven is the smell of old books 

[Westy Steve]

4 hours ago, moonpool said:

Filled in a Popular Library hole, courtesy of Dreamhaven books

I love that cover. Showed it to my wife and joked about it

 

Edited July 11, 2020 by Westy Steve

[frozentundraguy]

On 7/9/2020 at 5:38 PM, Randall Dowling said:

Pleasantries and polite parlance to my paperback peeps!  

Today was a very special day for me.  Here in Minneapolis, there has always been a store that stood outside of all the rest in regard to diverse stock of novels, comics, paperbacks, gaming accessories, and assorted other ephemera.  It's called Dreamhaven Books, Comics and Art.  I've visited the store off and on over the last 30 years and had great conversations with the staff and the owner (Greg Ketter).  The last time I talked to Greg was a couple years ago at the local FallCon, and I told Greg the new direction some of my interests were taking.  He encouraged me to stop by and check out his stock as he had a lot of what I was after... Fast forward to several months ago, my friend @Stevemmg was in town for business and being the thorough box diver that he is, called me and said I really needed to get down to Dreamhaven and check it out.  

Well, busy with work led to the advent of the pandemic and then the George Floyd protests happened... Dreamhaven is located literally down the street from where the George Floyd memorial and is also blocks away from where the police precinct that was burned down stood.  Unfortunately, a group of kids used the protests as cover to break into the store and smash glass cases, vandalize, steal, etc.  This combined with the burning down of another decades old bookstore in the area, Uncle Hugo's, was very painful to see.  These shops are gems that have managed to survive the onset of Border's books, Barnes & Noble and Amazon to maintain the zen like joy of perusing shelves that went to the ceiling, filled with books of all kinds- Mystery, Sci-Fi, True Crime, Romance, Fantasy, Teen Love.  From all eras and virtually all genres.

At any rate, Greg decided to put it all back together and managed to reopen a couple weeks back and today I made a point of driving over to give him my business and do my part to help them get back on their feet.  It was so exciting and truly refreshing to see the store back up and running.  I haven't had that much fun hunting for material in many years!   If you're interested, there's a gofundme set up to help them offset the damages-

https://www.gofundme.com/f/dreamhaven-restoration

Later tonight, I'll post the bountiful harvest of amazing books that I picked up today (and maybe set up a little game).  Their grading is very solid and their inventory is... enormous!  If you live near here or are ever in town, I highly recommend you check these guys out.  

I have only been to Dreamhaven once, and that was a few months ago. I made quite a few jaunts to Uncle Hugos over the last 5 years working on my Ace sci-fi double collection. I didnt realize that Dreamhaven was damaged by the looters. Sadly Uncle Hugos was torched. I kicked in a few bucks to the gofundme page setup for Hugos. I too will have to venture over to Dream Haven again, they had a mind blowing collection of vintage PB's and a short box full of Weird Tales. I did obtain my copy of The Werewolf of Paris and Campus Town at Dreamhaven. The Werewolf book was highly rated by them and I would venture to say it lived up to its billing.

Link to Hugos gofundme  page https://www.gofundme.com/f/let-us-help-save-uncle-hugo039s?fbclid=IwAR0nqH9Dkw-LuG7dFdsn2P9MQ-LTh0YxdcmFh5tsWnhc7zZLzYvqpSrLn8s

A few days ago I received a new small batch of books from an Abe books seller with Popular Library's Impudent Rifle being my only GGA PB.

[Westy Steve]

23 hours ago, damonwad said:

I haven't been collecting pb's long enough to have any idea which of these is more valuable, but I do appreciate the awesomeness of these great covers in that condition. Great haul.

OMG!  I’m not the new guy anymore?

[moonpool]

8 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

OMG!  I’m not the new guy anymore?

Correct.  You are now Initiate Rank 2.  Your fez is in the mail.

[Westy Steve]

8 hours ago, moonpool said:

Correct.  You are now Initiate Rank 2.  Your fez is in the mail.

Lol.

 

Damonwad, Since I’m still fresh from the factory if there’s any advice that I can give I’d be happy to provide it.  My one piece of unsolicited advice is “be picky”. Try to find books that have more than just a sexy  cover on it, look for important authors or higher grade or scarcity too. 

Edited July 11, 2020 by Westy Steve

[Surfing Alien]

2 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

Lol.

 

Damonwad, Since I’m still fresh from the factory if there’s any advice that I can give I’d be happy to provide it.  My one piece of unsolicited advice is “be picky”. Try to find books that have more than just a sexy  cover on it, look for important authors or higher grade or scarcity too. 

If you look at the little shelfie he posted a while back I think you'd agree he's on the right trail 

[Surfing Alien]

19 hours ago, frozentundraguy said:

I did obtain my copy of The Werewolf of Paris and Campus Town at Dreamhaven

Those are exceptional copies you posted. Dreamhaven isn't cheap but they do stock some high quality books for sure.

[moonpool]

Apologies for the u-turn back to dust jackets, but here is my copy of Go Down To Glory.

Edited July 12, 2020 by moonpool
speeling

[Randall Dowling]

Well Guys, I'm impressed but not surprised.  @Surfing Alien nailed it and several of you accurately showed the collective wisdom of the posters in this thread.  The top dog of that group is indeed Homicide Hotel (at $100) with Girl of the Slums coming in at a not so distant second (the condition of that copy is exceptional, even among that group).  Bedroom Eyes, Puta, and Chinese Lover were in the middle tier.

To validate what @damonwad said, I'm still figuring out approximate values as I find Surf to be quite correct.  The market is not entirely stable or predictable.  I've found some titles to be routinely and universally recognized in their values and for others titles... "prices vary widely".  For a while now, I do my best research and just do my best to buy what I like for the best price I can find and let go of any need for certainty that a given book is worth what I paid.  In some ways, it reminds me a bit of how buying and selling comics used to be back in the day.  And strangely, that's something I like about collecting paperbacks.  I know there are guides but as we all know, they're just that- guides.  And realities on the ground can differ greatly.

When I saw Homicide Hotel, I was immediately smitten and then looked at the price and thought "Oh, I don't know..."  But I do have some confidence in Greg and his knowledge of pricing so I took a chance.  The fact that everyone recognized the coolness of that book was a fine validation of my choice and for that, I thank all of you guys!  

The thrill of the hunt is based in no small part on the uncertainty of what you may find and the exploration of the unknown.  I'm really glad to have the various board members that have been swimming in these waters for a very long time and their collective knowledge in this thread (you know who you are and so do I ).  And for the rest of us that are relatively new, the thrill of discovery continues.

Thanks for your kind replies.

[frozentundraguy]

A few more PB's from my recent purchase. Princess of the Atom by Cummings was originally in Argosy All Weekly in 1929, and this 1950 version was the first of the Avon fantasy novels. Also of note is The Big Eye by Max Erlich, with an iconic cover by Earl Bergey.

[Randall Dowling]

@frozentundraguy That's an awesome trio!  Two of which are still on my want list!  

[frozentundraguy]

Just now, Randall Dowling said:

@frozentundraguy That's an awesome trio!  Two of which are still on my want list!  

Thanks, I would venture to guess they are the Princess of the Atom and The Big Eye

[moonpool]

 I greatly prefer that most paperbacks have no ultra complex grade/rarity 4th dimension algorithm.    It's truly a poor man's collectible, and I hope it stays that way.

Early Dells

[moonpool]

31 minutes ago, frozentundraguy said:

A few more PB's from my recent purchase. Princess of the Atom by Cummings was originally in Argosy All Weekly in 1929, and this 1950 version was the first of the Avon fantasy novels. Also of note is The Big Eye by Max Erlich, with an iconic cover by Earl Bergey.

Nice group!