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Comics, Pulps, and Paperbacks: Why such a discrepancy in values?
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6,536 posts in this topic

7 hours ago, Surfing Alien said:

We know you have some beautiful printed matter PopKulture!  I found that the photo-hosting sites almost always ended up letting me down long term so I just rely on my phone lately. 

Thanks for the kind words.  :shy:

You're right about the photo-hosting sites letting you down: flickr got me once, ipernity has me on the ropes now, and photobucket has wreaked havoc enough here on the Boards. So, yes, it seems it's just a matter of time...

Many of my books are regrettably inaccessible at a moment's whim, but luckily I have scans of a few hundred random offerings. I love pouring over the Bookscans database and checking out pictures of books I don't have, but there's something fulfilling about knowing it's your own copy (at least to a greedy little hoarder like myself).

If anyone cares to have a look, here's a link. There are a lot of digests mixed in and a few oddballs that fly mostly under-the-radar. 

http://www.ipernity.com/doc/305029/album/431155

Happy collecting!! 

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6 hours ago, PopKulture said:

There are a lot of digests mixed in and a few oddballs that fly mostly under-the-radar.

Really, really nice site. I like the layout a lot. And your blurbs are funny & informative!

"under-the-radar" like Death From Nowhere! Totally jealous! Now "The Pocket Detective" is under-the-radar. I've never seen it. It looks like a miniature late period Private Detective pulp with those Joseph Sokoli covers.

The totally random nature of the layout with all different titles and sizes really shows how varied the field was back then. I saw at least a dozen uncredited Ray Johnson covers I could  indentify for you if you want hm

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12 hours ago, PopKulture said:

Many of my books are regrettably inaccessible at a moment's whim, but luckily I have scans of a few hundred random offerings. I love pouring over the Bookscans database and checking out pictures of books I don't have, but there's something fulfilling about knowing it's your own copy (at least to a greedy little hoarder like myself).

If anyone cares to have a look, here's a link. There are a lot of digests mixed in and a few oddballs that fly mostly under-the-radar. 

http://www.ipernity.com/doc/305029/album/431155

Happy collecting!! 

Thanks for sharing this, PK!  I really like your focus on a period that I've begun to think of as the golden age of paperbacks.  And very much appreciate the credits and other data you put together for each.  Super cool!!  (thumbsu

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2 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

the golden age of paperbacks.

So what do you think would define this? My thoughts are 1939 - sometime in the early - mid 1960's when the cover designs started to change significantly away from full painted covers to what I call "Typesetters Gone Wild!" using very large or stylistic fonts and modern-artish background designs and minimalist/modern figures or maybe no painting at all. Some houses were exceptions but it seems all forms of art went "modern" in the 60's and the realistic, full cover painting that descended to the paperbacks from the now-gone pulps fell out of favor.  It never disappeared totally and fell back into favor in the 1970's and beyond to some extent but I think that's another age. Just my 1st thought on that.

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1 hour ago, Surfing Alien said:

So what do you think would define this? My thoughts are 1939 - sometime in the early - mid 1960's when the cover designs started to change significantly away from full painted covers to what I call "Typesetters Gone Wild!" using very large or stylistic fonts and modern-artish background designs and minimalist/modern figures or maybe no painting at all. Some houses were exceptions but it seems all forms of art went "modern" in the 60's and the realistic, full cover painting that descended to the paperbacks from the now-gone pulps fell out of favor.  It never disappeared totally and fell back into favor in the 1970's and beyond to some extent but I think that's another age. Just my 1st thought on that.

I think your correct about a lot of the features.  I might move the end date up to the late 50s or even 1960 (for many of the changes that you describe), and move up the start date to 1945 when paperbacks really became a widely published item (Avons, Dells, etc.).  The books before 1945 are almost more experimental and remind me more of the platinum age of comics.  So I guess I would suggest the following:

  • 1939-1945:  Platinum Age- the early period with experiments in size, format, and content.
  • 1945-1960:  Golden Age- the boom and explosion of paperbacks printed by multiple large publishers (Avon, Dell, Ace, Popular Library, Bantam, Berkley, Pocket, etc.)
  • 1960-1970:  Silver Age- widespread acceptance of paperbacks as reading material for the masses (as opposed to the previously held position of hard covers as first printings).  New graphic styles, very high quality art, many famous hardcovers are printed as paperbacks for the first time (ERB, REH).  And many novels are printed as paperbacks as either first prints or shortly after hardcovers are printed.

But that's really just my opinion based upon my impressions (which could be completely off).  I'd be interested in other people's thoughts and reasoning.

Edited by Randall Dowling
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2 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

I think your correct about a lot of the features.  I might move the end date up to the late 50s or even 1960 (for many of the changes that you describe), and move up the start date to 1945 when paperbacks really became a widely published item (Avons, Dells, etc.).  The books before 1945 are almost more experimental and remind me more of the platinum age of comics.  So I guess I would suggest the following:

  • 1939-1945:  Platinum Age- the early period with experiments in size, format, and content.
  • 1945-1960:  Golden Age- the boom and explosion of paperbacks printed by multiple large publishers (Avon, Dell, Ace, Popular Library, Bantam, Berkley, Pocket, etc.)
  • 1960-1970:  Silver Age- widespread acceptance of paperbacks as reading material for the masses (as opposed to the previously held position of hard covers as first printings).  New graphic styles, very high quality art, many famous hardcovers are printed as paperbacks for the first time (ERB, REH).  And many novels are printed as paperbacks as either first prints or shortly after hardcovers are printed.

But that's really just my opinion based upon my impressions (which could be completely off).  I'd be interested in other people's thoughts and reasoning.

I would just start with a "golden age"; with the Pocket NN Good Earth being the starting point.  I don't think there's really enough of a switch around 1945 to need a separate term; although I see what you're saying about the experimentation back then.

It's much harder to define strict ages with paperback than with comics; given than the content of the books can very by centuries even as we track differences in the formats and cover designs.

I do agree that, around 1960, there's a definite shift in how the books look and feel.

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3 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

I picked up this digest because of the excellent story by William Irish (Cornell Woolrich) that was made into one of  my all time favorite films.  It's not the first printing of the story but I think it's the second.  Feel free to correct me.

IMG_5808.thumb.JPG.34480e4716457e5282a5cca59ddc38b1.JPG

 

 

What story & what movie?

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3 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

I think your correct about a lot of the features.  I might move the end date up to the late 50s or even 1960 (for many of the changes that you describe), and move up the start date to 1945 when paperbacks really became a widely published item (Avons, Dells, etc.).  The books before 1945 are almost more experimental and remind me more of the platinum age of comics.  So I guess I would suggest the following:

  • 1939-1945:  Platinum Age- the early period with experiments in size, format, and content.
  • 1945-1960:  Golden Age- the boom and explosion of paperbacks printed by multiple large publishers (Avon, Dell, Ace, Popular Library, Bantam, Berkley, Pocket, etc.)
  • 1960-1970:  Silver Age- widespread acceptance of paperbacks as reading material for the masses (as opposed to the previously held position of hard covers as first printings).  New graphic styles, very high quality art, many famous hardcovers are printed as paperbacks for the first time (ERB, REH).  And many novels are printed as paperbacks as either first prints or shortly after hardcovers are printed.

But that's really just my opinion based upon my impressions (which could be completely off).  I'd be interested in other people's thoughts and reasoning.

Pretty spot on content wise - although OtherEric has a point about whether a Platinum Age is required - but the early books do have a look of their own. It's probably mostly due to the stylized art and design they were doing. Although Pocket and Avon did some attempts at realistic art early on, the boom in full 3d-ish realistic covers by Belarski, Bergey, Avati, Saunders, Johnson, DeSoto and the whole wave of Pulp-style artists after them began in the very late 1940's and really hit stride in 1949, which coincides with the decline of the pulps.

Belarski at Popular Library and Avati at Signet both had their 1st PB covers in 1949 and Johnson may have had a couple earlier but he exploded at Avon in 1949 as well. These 3 set the "look" at those 3 imprints for a decade to follow with Saunders following at Ace in '51. So many other greats - Barton, Popp, Cherry, Paul, Nappi, Maguire, Binger, Zuckerberg- could go on and on - they all could paint anything and did. Dell, Bantam and Pocket went "full cover" painting around this time as well.

It really was a Golden Age.

Edited by Surfing Alien
grammar
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16 hours ago, Surfing Alien said:

Really, really nice site. I like the layout a lot. And your blurbs are funny & informative!

"under-the-radar" like Death From Nowhere! Totally jealous! Now "The Pocket Detective" is under-the-radar. I've never seen it. It looks like a miniature late period Private Detective pulp with those Joseph Sokoli covers.

The totally random nature of the layout with all different titles and sizes really shows how varied the field was back then. I saw at least a dozen uncredited Ray Johnson covers I could  indentify for you if you want hm

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the hodgepodge. 

I've had that "Death From Nowhere" for probably forty years, along with the Phantom Mystery "Rocket To The Morgue." Both of those were tough books back in the day when the first Hancer guide debuted. I got my "Rocket" from a guy that used to sell lots of miscellaneous stuff at the local VFW comic shows. He found two copies within a month or two, the only ones he'd seen in many years of junking. The first one went to a good dealer/collector friend of mine, George, and I got the second one not long after. My "Dying Earth" I found in a suitcase under a bed at an estate sale while on my lunch break back when I was painting houses I think the summer after my senior year. Fun memories with so many of those books. 

One regret from those VFW shows was the time I didn't buy a large box of mapbacks from George. There were over two hundred by his count and he wanted somewhere around a hundred bucks, which was a sizable outlay of grass-cutting money, so I passed. There were so many oddball ones in there that I still don't have. You know how it is: some books you see over and over, and some just don't seem to show up that often. Of course, my perceptions were shaped in the pre-internet days, so the actual scarcity may vary! 

And please do let me know which covers are by Ray Johnson. I will definitely note them. :foryou:

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11 hours ago, Arkadin said:

Definitely a nice site.

I have to hand it to you if you've read all these - some of them look great, but some look a bit sluggish. Covers are all nice, though!

 

Thanks!! I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but I've read scant few of those titles. For me, it's more about the graphic design and their place as cultural artifacts. The ones I have read were almost always later printings or under-copies, and I hate to admit it, I still haven't read anything by William Burroughs. There are also a few hardboiled authors I need to delve into. Hopefully there'll be time enough someday... :wishluck:

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15 hours ago, moonpool said:

I think you can place platinum before the Pocket book series starts, which would be the start of the golden age.

True, there were all kinds of paper covered books like Dime Novels, Nick Carters up to and through the Boni Books, but none of them were mass marketed with different, bestselling authors and/or classics of the time in a uniform, painted cover format like what Pocket started.

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