JvR11

Looks stunning! Great copy

Also another great Diary Secrets cover.

Wow Diary Secrets 17 is quite high in price. This used to be the price for a very high grade Cinderella 25. Here is my Diary Secrets 17 I kind of wish I would have kept a list of sources for what I have. I forgot where I got it from.

That is a great copy. I have a low grade slabbed copy that was even expensive when I bought it. Hope you found it in a hidden bin for $2 BTW, I was also curious how is the original art going in the Baker world. Has there been much up for sale?

I'm sure you have quite the collection now. Do you have all except some of the rare giants?

And your collection came to mind as well. Joanna, Ron, Rick, John, and that new kid Tony have had a presence in this thread from the beginning - big time Baker fans with great books. A lot of collectors dabble and have outstanding mini-runs, which given the scarcity and comparative cost has been a great way to approach St John romance. There aren't that many committed completionists, though. That's a long long term collecting goal. Also a shout out to my friend Bumble Kitty who rarely posts but believe me has put together a fantastic collection as well. Thanks Andy. It was the Baker Romance thread that brought me here. I was friends with Joanna on ebay as she was bidding against me so often. Back then you could communicate with other bidders. Then Steve (eccomic) sent me a link to the BR thread. I mentioned this to Joanna who went " Ron, I'm Jvr11. That's my thread." I then joined the boards. I've gotten some nice books as a result of coming here. And made some great friends. It's too bad Joanna rarely stops by this thread any more. I'm not even sure she still collects Baker. I still remember (I should because it was that long ago! ) buying my first Baker -- Crippen copy of TAT 1 from Dr. Love. And thus the addiction began! I miss Joanna as well..... she sold me my Venus 19...... GOD BLESS.... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) Thank you Jimbo this is so nice of you to remember me and this sale

And your collection came to mind as well. Joanna, Ron, Rick, John, and that new kid Tony have had a presence in this thread from the beginning - big time Baker fans with great books. A lot of collectors dabble and have outstanding mini-runs, which given the scarcity and comparative cost has been a great way to approach St John romance. There aren't that many committed completionists, though. That's a long long term collecting goal. Also a shout out to my friend Bumble Kitty who rarely posts but believe me has put together a fantastic collection as well. Thanks Andy. It was the Baker Romance thread that brought me here. I was friends with Joanna on ebay as she was bidding against me so often. Back then you could communicate with other bidders. Then Steve (eccomic) sent me a link to the BR thread. I mentioned this to Joanna who went " Ron, I'm Jvr11. That's my thread." I then joined the boards. I've gotten some nice books as a result of coming here. And made some great friends. It's too bad Joanna rarely stops by this thread any more. I'm not even sure she still collects Baker. I still remember (I should because it wasn't that long ago! ) buying my first Baker -- Crippen copy of TAT 1 from Dr. Love. And thus the addiction began! Hi everyone:) I really enjoy coming back to this thread and see how things have progressed on the Baker front. I'm sure happy I got my runs when I did. I just saw how much a mid-range CL25 is going for! I haven't purchased a new Baker book in years. The best thing about Matt Baker is that his work is timeless and his art always remarkable. There are a few missing pieces to my collection that I think will always be missing but this is okay by me as they are just about impossible to get even more so now. The time period of these romance comics will always capture my attention. BTW awesome group shot:)

WOW! That's a find I'll never forget, too. I like to think that there are more boxes like that out there somewhere. Thanks for keeping me inspired for the hunt! If I remember correctly, I ended up with that Cinderella Love 29... ...and still have it: It's a beauty! Best copy I've seen by a country mile. It's always when I look at this cover that I'm most conscious of his tendency to depict older men and - arguably - women. I wonder if this was a conscious choice and if so his motivation? I cant being myself to believe that a draftsman so skilled would not be able to depict teenagers if he so chose. So were these aimed at an older demographic? Or were they pitched at younger folk who might aspire to the romanticized lifestyle in maturity? Apologies if this has been done to death! Maybe it also might have been that these comics were generally sold to younger teens and they, of course, want the freedoms of older teens so it helped to sell these comics and make the characters look more mature. Or, maybe it helped to widen the audience? Controversy on the covers did help to sell them.

WOW! That's a find I'll never forget, too. I like to think that there are more boxes like that out there somewhere. Thanks for keeping me inspired for the hunt! If I remember correctly, I ended up with that Cinderella Love 29... ...and still have it: It's a beauty!

That is really cool, were there any St. John's in the mix?

Love this cover...

I believe this is the first copy I've ever seen. I've got this one..

I may have shared this before but I thought it was an interesting piece of history. Matt Baker was said to have referred to Andrew Loomis for inspiration. This is an image from an Andrew Loomis book and very much looks like the running lady on True Love Pictorial 10.

It's so nice this thread continues on I was looking through old photographs and came across this one. This had to be my ultimate "Baker" find. It came from an auction where they were all in one box. Can you imagine? This was quite a few years ago but a find I'll never forget.

The family has some wondrous original art work mainly from the men's magazine illustrations, which are amazing in themselves. From what I understand, they've shown basically most of the artwork they have. I'm betting a lot of the artwork was destroyed in some kind of flood or housing accident in St. John's son's house. I read this many years ago so I could be mistaken. But, I'm thinking he might be a good source of information.

That's really neat. I know he had extensive "swipe files" -- as I guess most artists do. Did you discover the Jane Russell connection or is this widely known? This is only my opinion but I think Victor Fox told Matt Baker to draw this cover in the image of Jane Russell. I have a quote from an old magazine about Victor Fox wanting to use Hollywood starlets as source material for some of the characters. So, this would fit in line with this.

That's really neat. I know he had extensive "swipe files" -- as I guess most artists do. Did you discover the Jane Russell connection or is this widely known? I'm not sure if other's have made this connection with the PL17 cover. I do know there was discussions about Linda Darnell being a Baker muse and I believe this. I would have loved to see his swipe file he carried around.

A possible source for TLP10 cover is from Andrew Loomis, who Baker is known to have referenced. You can also google and PDF versions of this book online. Pg 119 Figure Drawing For All It's Worth.

Love this cover. Going to see if I can find mine. I have a couple of connections of what Baker used as source material. Would you like to see the source for PL17? Unless you've already guessed it.

And,what a deal that was!

This is low grade but you rarely see it up for auction. Anyone have a high grade copy of TR44?

Diary Secrets 29

Cinderella Love 27

Romance and Confession Stories