jlee

I love the Falcon series. Seems scarcer than most of the other digests and the covers are amazing.

Wish I had a nicer copy, but who wouldn't love this cover!

The bookcase I showed earlier has sat static for decades except for the 9 mushroom jungle (post-WWII UK PB scene with a plethora of small publishers providing lurid product) books I’ve put in there recently. The other 29 are on another shelf, as I have bought 36 in the last 6-8 months (started with 2). It’s been a wild wonderful ride, and as I was lamenting the lack of early-‘50s US SF PBs has truly fed me where I’m hungriest.

Those are some really great covers Pat. Thanks for sharing and always providing wonderful information to help reinvigorate our collecting spirits!

This is one of my all-time favorites.

Another classic. I have been lucky to find multiple copies of this over the years:

Previously posted in another thread:

Hi,

 

Careful about the sales of 6th street books, as that is mainly with Spicy's. The other thing to watch is the fact that the one Spicy that sold for $5600 was re-listed by six street books and just sold for around $800.

 

Spicy's have always been great sellers, but believe it or not, their market has been higher and hotter in the past decade, and other than in this single owner collection which has gathered hype, the Spicy sales are not where they once were.

 

The reason that these Spicy's have sold so well is that it was a single owner collection and nearly a complete Spicy collection. One guy re-listed a couple of sixth street books on his own after purchasing some, and realized only half the value that he originally paid. Nevertheless, the collection is great, and the books are very nice, and the dealer selling them is very forthright and honest.

 

I have been following pulps the pulp market very carefully, and have been buying and selling high end pulps and collections over carefully over the past 15 years. Right now the market is in a slump, and other than the Ultra rare issues, high grade early hero titles (first or second year if the title), Spicys, and some Weird tales, pulp prices are much lower than they were six to ten years ago. I have an ultra high grade Shadow run, and I can tell you that the prices on hero pulps are down at least 50% from what they were from 2000-2008.

 

 

The pulps certainly have room to grow, but a number of factors inhibit this.

 

1). Availability, especially in grade

 

2). An aging collector base that grew up on the pulps and the pulp Hero's.

 

3). In order to create a frenzy, there has to be a fervour created, and to do that you need continuous sales, especially of the rare issues and high grade issues and there just is not enough supply to create this.

 

4) no slabbing (thank goodness) to create the investor market. You could slab the 1940's pulps, but not the 20's and 30's pulps with the large overhangs, without damaging the overhangs themselves.

 

5). The heavy hitters in the market, especially the silver age, have not grown up on the pulps, and maybe other than the Shadow, this generation and especially the previous generation have no affiation with the characters or pulps themselves.

 

6). Pulp collectors tend to collect for authors, and stories etc., and in general are not as demanding for the grade, therefore less competition.

 

7). A number of comic dealers jumped on board and then quickly got off the pulp bandwagon around 2000-2005, and a number of the heavy hitters that once collected the pulps (especially hero) are no longer collecting. I bought out 7 hard core Shadow collectors that would pay high prices, and now there are less collectors, and less demand.

 

8). Only a handful of all pulp collectors will spend some serious cash. Frank Robinson's lifetime collection of high grade pulps sold primarily to two people, with one person buying nearly 75% of the entire collection.

 

9). There have not been a string if successful movies created from pulp characters, just a couple of flops.

 

Dwight

 

Really interesting about the Sixth Street Pulps being resold at a loss. You make some great points and I only collect random pulps so I have minimal knowledge of the market.

I do think that the Sixth Street Collection has brought greater overall awareness to the Pulp and Paperback markets and I would strongly suspect that some comic book collectors crossed over and bid on some of the Spicys with the lurid covers.

2) Lower Collecting Interest - since paperbacks and pulps are not published today, they lack the collectability of still published comics and there is no movie, TV, or other media x-over appeal. It is hard to collect random paperbacks as opposed to saying I want to collect the first 100 issues of X-men.

 

3) Readability - People like to read comics, plain and simple. Reading paperbacks and pulps takes a lot more time and effort. And without familiar storylines and characters, it can be a lot less interesting.

 

In general your comments apply to pulps, but not paperbacks. Paperbacks are still being published (just check out your local Barnes & Noble). In fact, there are far far more potential paperbacks to be collected out there then there will ever be of comic books.

 

Paperbacks have plenty of familiar characters... first, every famous hardback has also had a paperback edition, and many characters were created for paperbacks originally.

 

Like Dark Shadows? There are a couple of dozen paperback originals out there. Star Trek? -- hundreds of paperbacks. Same with Star Wars. Or James Bond. Or Doc Savage. Or Tarzan. Travis McGee started in the paperbacks. Louis L'Amour's 1st books were paperback originals. Mickey Spillane. All of Philip K. 's early works were paperback originals. As were many from Marion Zimmer Bradley, Jim Thompson, Harry Whittington, Dean Koontz, Harlan Ellison, Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson, Jack Vance, and on and on.

 

Nearly every major movie ever based on a book (which is most of them) has a paperback edition out there somewhere.

 

The public is well aware of paperbacks... they just aren't aware of them as something collectible. Part of that is just the way things are marketed. Marvel makes sure that when you watch "Iron Man" you know it is a Marvel product. When they make (and re-make) "The Killer Inside Me", there's no financial motive to play up it's based on a 1950s Lion paperback.

 

Newspapers and magazines make Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Frank Miller, and John Romita familiar names.

 

We don't hear much about the giants in paperback art -- Rudolph Belarski, Robert Bonfils, James Avati, Robert Stanley, Rafael DeSoto, George Gross, Robert Maguire, Lou Marchetti, Robert McGinnis, Barye Phillips, etc., etc. (The exceptions that have moved into mainstream recognition are Frank Frazetta and Jeff Jones).

 

Still... who knows? For all of the fuss about comic books, they are still very much a niche market... sold to about 1% of the population and available only in comic shops or on line. Paperbacks are still in every K-Mart, pharmacy, grocery store and Wal-Mart (for now... though the format is probably going to give way to the larger trade softbound).

 

AIt will all depend on a breakout auction sale or two. If a paperback sells for $100,000, or the news makes a big deal out of someone discovering a collector horde hidden in their walls, than the floodgates may open. Otherwise... probably not.

So I let my own personal preferences and biases color my comments. Of course when looking at the overall paperback market, all comments above are correct. I was thinking about the fairly narrow range of collectible paperbacks and digests from the 1950s with their lurid good girl, drug-related, and wild covers. The Archers with the amazing Heade covers or the unbelievable Falcons, Venus, Avon, Beacon, etc... like Junkie, Girls Out of Hell, Helen of Troy, etc...

Sorry for not being clearer. On a separate note, I will try posting some of my favorite digests and paperback covers from my collection in the coming days.

I've recently been looking more into vintage paperback books. Some of the cover art and text blurbs are incredibly risque, and it fascinates me to consider what it must've been like to peruse the stands of the local newsstand considering the covers that adorned the comics, pulps, and paperbacks of the time.

 

From what little I know about the era, there was a glut of product from each of these types of publications. However, based on the values I've seen in my limited research, it seems that paperbacks have never attained the same level of collectibility of comics and pulps. Heck, it seems that pulps aren't nearly as sought after as the comics, either.

 

Can anyone enlighten me as to why that might be? I know there are exceptions to the rule, but in general, why is it that, in terms of value and apparent interest, it's: comics > pulps > paperbacks? I can understand why super hero comics, which are still in the public eye, have maintained their dominance, but are there any clear reasons why pulps and paperbacks aren't as sought after?

I have been actively collecting Comics, Paperbacks, Crime and Girly Magazines for the past 20 years and agree that the prices and demand for Paperbacks and Pulps compared to Comics seems quite low.

That being said, I believe there are several key drivers:

1) Lack of Information and Visibility - Before the Internet and Gerber's Photo-Journal Guides, you could pick up incredible pre-code horror and good girl art books at great prices. Paperbacks frankly lack enough visibility. There is confusion about first prints, reprints, different titles and publishers, and of course, value. A price guide by itself is not enough to move the needle.

2) Lower Collecting Interest - since paperbacks and pulps are not published today, they lack the collectability of still published comics and there is no movie, TV, or other media x-over appeal. It is hard to collect random paperbacks as opposed to saying I want to collect the first 100 issues of X-men.

3) Readability - People like to read comics, plain and simple. Reading paperbacks and pulps takes a lot more time and effort. And without familiar storylines and characters, it can be a lot less interesting.

4) "Sponsorship" - we need the Heritage Auction houses and the Nick Cages of the world to bring more attention and demand to raise the bar on paperbacks (less so for pulps). Action 1 would not be a $2M book without this so called sponsorship.

On a final note, I have seen Pulps begin to close the gap. Some of the sales prices on 6th Street Pulps have been very high.

From the Sixth Street collection

 

True Love Pictorial #10

 

 

Great pick-up! Thanks for sharing.

Thought I would post a few we do not see often on the boards.

 

 

 

I used to not see what all the fuss was about Matt Baker... Seeing covers like these completely opened my eyes. Thanks for posting these!

I find it interesting that on a lot of these later Romance covers, Baker starting adding additional facial lines near the cheekbones that gave a more realistic and older appearance on many of the people.

Many thanks to Stephen for parting with this toughie.

 

 

I actually never saw a copy of this in the 90s and only recently picked one up from Heritage. This is a very cool giant with another great Baker cover. Congrats on the copy!

Took me a while to find it, but here is my copy of Teen-Age Romances 9.

I have not received my book yet. I do have a low grade GCE 13 to read and look at, so I will not likely crack this copy. This copy just sat there on Ebay as a buy it now option for awhile, It was driving me crazy until I just had to pull the switch and purchase it. Steep price, but what the heck, you only live once.

I stared at it for weeks as well. Very conflicted as to whether to pull the trigger. Glad you took that decision away from me.

I also looked at the GCE 13 and debated on whether it was worth it. For me the decision came down to the cover. It is cool, but not one of my all-time favorite Baker covers. Still, a rare GCE and a must have for all Baker collectors.

Here's a recent purchase. Really love the coloring and composition on this cover. As usual, my scanner washes out the color but in person they are very deep.

 

Ken

 

 

 

A beautiful copy. Is this from the Sixth St. collection? Some fantastic Baker romance books surfaced from this recent collection. I just picked up the GCE # 13.

Still some books available.

 

I picked up a couple as well. The guy selling them on eBay is asking some pretty strong prices, though.

 

I just had to grab one of these, too. (And I very nearly bought that sweet TR 33, instead...) The colors are amazing, really fresh and lustrous. For high grade Baker romance, the offerings in this collection are among the best we've seen in the past ten years. Besides many "Highest Graded" examples, a number of the ultra rare and HTF books are present, as well (like the 100 page rebound giants, and the Diary Secrets digest.)

 

His prices on the non-highest graded copies are high, but not impossible. But $1,700 for a 7.5 Pictorial Romances 17? I have a raw copy that I'm pretty sure would grade at least that high -- particularly with a press. If I had had that one graded and it had come back, say, 8.5, he would probably be pricing his copy at maybe $750. So anyone buying at the current price is spending in the neighborhood of an extra $1,000 for the distinction of owning what may turn out to be only briefly the highest graded copy.

 

Again, that Diary Secrets 9 is great, but $3,300 for a 6.0? I would be surprised if there is anyone willing to pay half that.

I feel a little torn about some of these prices. On one hand, it feels like the collecting community is finally realizing how rare these books are in Fine or better and how much more desirable they are than a Walking Dead 1 in 9.8. On the other hand, the guide has been very very low on most of these books for a long time and it feels a little bit like price gouging,

I guess only time will tell if the new pricing tier on these books brings out more high grade copies or if what we are seeing now is as good as it gets and these prices turn out to be pretty sweet deals.

Turns out, I've got two of them. (Gnarly staining on the DS 12.)

 

 

Seems like every copy of that DS 12 has that staining.

Haven't posted in a few months, but here's another one...

 

Beautiful book!

So I sent a hundred bucks off and took a gamble.

 

Waited a couple weeks, wasn't sure if I was going to get them, had no idea what they would look like.

 

Found the package stuffed the mailbox. No cardboard, just in an envelope with no protection.

Well, I can't complain. (thumbs u

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whoa! Great score for $100. eBay?

Awesome!! Reminds me of the good old 90s when Baker was available at a good price. Congratulations.

I think that Secrets of True Love was actually published after Baker's death. You have some great HTF Bakers! (thumbs u

Thanks! I am really glad that Baker collectors are so passionate on these boards and that many are pursuing his tremendous Romance covers.

Just in from Heritage. Seems as if this is a pretty common issue, even in high grade. Anyone know why?

 

 

One supposes a warehouse find. I got my high grade copy off ebay years ago from a fellow boardie, for (gulp) $30.00.

 

Ooh! Nice grab!

 

I was thinking a warehouse find or maybe a temporary positive hiccup in St John's spotty distribution. Even Edgar got his hands on a copy!

I don't know for sure, but it seems like there was probably a small warehouse inventory of the book.

I do know that there was a comic store in Massachusetts I used to frequent in the mid-90s that had a ton of rare Holyoke books including multiples of Captain Aero 26, although in low grade. I also remember there were warehouse finds of Thing 16 and Great 1.

I lived in Philly for about 10 years and that is where All Negro 1 was supposedly published. I cannot remember where I saw it, but one comic dealer or collector had about 7 copies of the supposedly super rare All Negro 1. Paper was brittle on all of them but the condition wasn't too bad. I wish I had bought one of them.

Finally, there were a few publisher finds where local printing press workers had saved multiple copies of the same book. I found a small collection in the 90s that had multiples of some Romantic Marriages 23 and 24 with Baker covers as well as some copies of Farmer's Daughter and Strange Worlds. So in conclusion, I would say that is probably the case here.

Nevertheless, a great pickup and congrats!

I feel like this is a bit underrated:

Have not seen too many copies of this one:

Is this Romance or Horror?

This is my personal favorite because its subject matter strikes a personal chord. My wife has South American heritage, and my daughter's name is Elena. Amazing.

 

Very cool personal connection.

This is another late Baker favorite.