Darwination

My granddad was there and described seeing the flag raised from below. Whether it was the initial raising or the photo op I don't know. I've got a copy of this one that's all beat to hell, but I love it.

Not my copy! But an image I worked with this morning from Mycomicshop, Bud Plant's copy, still there. Norman Saunders on the second issue (the first of two #11s, as can happen in the golden age). Me too, or ooh la la? How fun is this? Great colors. Readers of GA romance recognize the workplace romance as a common plot if not a great way for a young woman to meet a husband. Don't tell HR Having worked the cover, I gave it a read. From the JVJ project at the comic museums, with excellent edits from Tilliban. https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?dlid=24121 A nice one pager black and white job on the ifc. And a giant sized indicia, damn Ziff-Davis The artist is Paul Parker, who I last encountered in a re-read of his Mr Zin Hatchet Killer stories in The Killers. He's got the lead story, too, which I don't like as much as the style on The Pianist and The Earl there. The second story's from Ogden Whitney. I always like an opening scene in a diner. My favorite story in here, if not exactly graceful, are the pages from the Lin Streeter story Storywise, there's lots of melodrama throught the issue, but is does get a little catty in the last tale (Reed Crandall). Redheads are always trouble. The Saunders might just be my favorite Ziff-Davis romance cover, but there's one or two others vying for my heart.

I almost flipped past this one because of the grubby shape, but it would still be a crime not show my beautiful, grubby pulps

I like it, too, and so did Bolles, apparently, as he doesn't sign too often.

Love the top cover

Yeah, I've been selling some of my meager stuffs (2 kids in college, went from feeling set up in life to something else entirely) and am amazed at how little I miss the books (even if they are books I liked enough to buy in the first place). The amazing thing is how the regret hits and what I decide not to sell in the first place. Almost everything I'm choosing to keep is for sentimental reasons (WW2 comics that remind me of my granddad, sports pulps that remind me of my son, romances with covers that remind me of girls my wife) and has nothing to do with value. When a book goes for under value, it sucks, but as a collector I try to operate on the flipside of that coin myself, so all's fair. It takes a lot of time, though! I've just scratched the surface, and my goal of turning 40 boxes into 10 doesn't even seem to have hit the one box mark yet. I understand a lot better why people sell their collections en masse to dealers at what would seem severely cut values now. Not to mention having a "storefront," real or digital, means they will just charge the price they want and sit on books and be patient about it. I'm getting why people send their books to Heritage, too, as it's pretty damn tempting to send them a box of pulps right now I also get that timing the market isn't so much a thing and that people shed their collections when it's time in their life and not a good time in the market. Still, that pulp tree seems to be shaking right now, it's been a fun few years just getting to see books even if I win few and far between

The cover proofs can be pretty neat. The other side is blank and sometimes it seems the image is better than on the final product. They're often kept very well, too. I only have a couple and don't know how their value compares to copy of a magazine itself. The spine design on the Spicy lines is so damn cool. Here's some info on the Marvel Tales: https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/marvel_tales I don't believe I've seen one before (in scans or in person, but it's possible the scans are out there). That's the last issue, and all the covers for it I see have the 15 cent stamp marked out and the 25 cent stamp just like that one. Nice haul on the FFM, way to get em while they are hot and in nice shape to boot. That August 1946 cover is by Lawrence Stevens and is pretty hellish. Only a couple copies on eBay right now which is far fewer than most issues from the year. For a title of reprinted stories, FFM sure has incredible covers. I'm skeptical of what exactly is up with the bottom mock-up and regarding a date, but it is intriguing.

Pulps and true crime mags in a bookstore? I swear I live on a different planet than you people

The newspaper inserts can be amazing. The American Weekly, The Sunday Novel in the Detroit Free Press, Star Weekly Complete Novel, This Week are ones I can think of off the top of my head and they all have pulp elements to them or at the very least similarities to the slicks. I love ship covers, too.

I was about to say the same thing, Dave Give me a close-up of the middle bottom cover if you would, sir, as I'm not sure I'm familiar with that one.

It's a grim and macabre thing, eh? In order for hidden away rarities to come to market, someone has to die. A pulp collecting friend in Czechoslovakia passed quickly during Covid before I ever heard any news directly, and I have no idea what happened to his incredible collection that he always made sound like it was kept hoarder-style in giant stacks all over the house. Having had hoarders pass in my own family, I know the urge to throw it all out is enormous, so hopefully that's not what happened (and his peeps at the very least make some dough from it). Ufi did leave behind some nice pulps behind for the rest of us, though: https://archive.org/search?query=ufikus

Yeah, I don't know how selling a digital edition would work. Protecting a digital edition's copyright (and less face it any copyright) these days is impossible. Overstreet's subscription method is a workaround on this (as is something like subscription Photoshop), but I imagine determined hackers can bypass even those methods. However, simply having an avenue for people to pay for a digital product means that most people will be happy to do it (Bandcamp's a service I use for music - putting money directly in a living artist's pocket? yes, please). Your guide is a niche production but maybe has a new demand (especially from the gottdamn speculators). I get that it's a very small pond, though. As for the fiction, I totally disagree. Yes, the big names in fiction get reprints, but there's oceans of (often overlooked) fiction that's still only available in the actual magazines. Still, I get what you are saying. Pulps stink. They fall apart. Pulp flakes all over the bed make wifey unhappy. Handling expensive ones can be uncomfortable. If I have a good scan of a comic or pulp, slabbing it would be much easier. I do have a question for you, though, since you've been in the business of pulp. Do you think it's a good time right now to unload collections or do you think the prices will just keep going up? I know if I was an old timer with boxes and boxes of pulp looking to move to Florida and part with possessions that it'd seem like a great opportunity. By the way, I get a HUGE kick out of watching the Heritage auctions right now and comparing your notes there to the results of said auction (and it's not even about the prices)

I wonder if you ever consider a digital edition? The search-ability is a plus, you can use all the color you want, the price of production is only your labor, and it would never go out of print, only out of date. I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Even a subscription service is an option if the price is right. Also, I wonder if your assessment of scarcity of various titles changes over time? I've always admired your guide not so much as a guide to costs (and who could even make an accurate price guide in the market like it is now, it is NUTS) but as reference on scarcity and on where to find certain authors or classic covers. The slab crowd is a very, very different crowd from pulp lovers of old who are readers first and foremost, so I see a big shift happening (and once again bemoan the whole idea of books getting stuck in slabs).

Yeah, I noticed the Popular Detective did very well. It seems like those might be a little scarcer than I might imagine. It's not really a title I chase, though I wish I had been, as this kind of opened me up to the great covers. The asian swordswoman did spectacularly well which shows taste on a couple collector's part as well as fat wallets that I'd prefer weren't in muh pulps. The hanging skeleton cover, too, I think is fantastic (as well as a good Bergey): Also the Detective Story have done very well lately. It seems weird I've seen so many copies of some of the iconic issues. Earlier eras are very hard to find. The 600+ FFM blows my mind Also the really high prices for Amazing Stories?? I'm not really a Planet Stories guy, though I do consider many of the covers classic, and I found myself wishing I'd picked up more in the past just because of these prices. Same with other late era Fiction House like Lariat/Wings/Jungle Stories. But then I checked myself with the thought that I'm a collector and not a speculator, so the prices don't matter OUTSIDE OF ME EVER AFFORDING PULPS AGAIN The old timers with full runs of SF pulps bought at a dollar or two apiece are sitting pretty though, for real. Methinks some collectors have caught the bug and haven't figured out what titles or eras are common. Or maybe they just see the high grade and pounce. Once again, I'm gobsmacked. I was admiring the All-Story Monahan octopus cover and was happy to see it do well even if I thought there were a couple of others that might do better than they did. Maybe the wonders and subtle covers of All-Story and Argosy won't play to the newcomers. I skipped the Saunders Complete Detective when I posted the ones I like in the auction because it's so well known, but I understand why it's iconic. I don't think I ever would, but if I did shell out for a nice copy, I don't think I could live with a stamp in the skin tones. I'd rather have more imperfections elsewhere than stamps or stains in skin tones. The Detective Trails has a "total spine split" - what does that even mean? Detached cover? I believe it is very scarce, but I'm still surprised at the price as the cover doesn't really appeal to me. The "Marvel" books have always done well but might do even better with the comics crowd coming in. It sure seems like I've seen a lot of copies of some of them, so demand must be high to command the prices. There were still at least a bit of reasonable prices in there. In particular there was a Pep that never ever pops up that went for under 150. That sucker likely would have gotten much more on eBay which is weird, but likely the girlie collectors weren't tuned in. It was fun to watch some of it, but I didn't place a single bid. It makes me feel like I've sat down at the wrong poker table, as I can barely afford the ante

Holy moly. It's a great cover but gottdamn!

Fantastic.

The Kump girlie auction at HA was pure insanity. Prices have been going up for a while but the last year has been nuts. Cold speculation in a lot of pulp areas with the coming of CGC, but we will see. I have watched the girlies pretty closely for about 15 years. There are still so many issues I've never seen once and many others only once. Something like Pep or Spicy isn't like that (pretty sure Pep was Donenfeld's main meal ticket before Spicy Detective came along), but there are stretches of far more htf issues even in the main titles. And if you are including some of the earlier Breezy/Snappy Stories romance books, for very high circulation titles, they can be ghosty.. My peeve right now are the flippers. There's one who buys with one account and sells with another who always beats me in auction. A girlie I had never seen was up, and I took good swing, 200 plus, very high for me. The winner got it, cleaned and maybe pressed and now and lists it a week later for $500. All is fair in love and war, I guess, and I might occasionally pick a book up to flip, but I would far rather get beat by a fellow collector. Still, it has been a few neat years as maybe higher prices have shaken the tree. I still marvel when some amazing girlie I never knew existed pops up out of nowhere

Nice! There was a large collection that went up there a while back with pretty much ridiculous prices that have steadily come down over time. I picked one or two must have books as soon as I discovered them and have picked up others as the prices have come down. I recently purchased the most expensive book I've ever gotten there (which I haven't displayed here yet) at $300 and am pleased as hell to have it (the picture was horrible and they wouldn't give me a new one so I had to trust their grade which turned out accurate like almost everything I've gotten from them) which is saying something for a guy like me who used to consider 100 dollars as a big swing in this area. I pretty much still do consider that mark a big swing, but I lose a lot, and it wouldn't surprise me too much if 100 bucks is the average price an issue in mid-grade goes for these days. The few "old time" girlie collectors I know are flummoxed by all of it. Sure they are worth more which is nice if you have them but on the other hand how the hell will you ever get the ones you still want? The MCS girlie stock is moving much more swiftly now, as the prices are more reasonable (and even good) in some cases. Definitely interesting to see how a comics biz prices and grades and what the consigner (I assume) has wanted for them. The Nifty Stories Greiner is one I considered a number of times, and it makes me jealous looking at it, and I don't mind saying that I've had that La Paree in my cart for months (very good price and the issues it has aren't a dealbreaker for me at all). The artist is unidentified, but I think it's peculiar and lovely. A high-ish grade copy recently went for like 250 I think on eBay. The Bergey is interesting, too, with the hard sort of outline.