Westy Steve

Thanks. I appreciate all the good advice I've gotten here. I never thought I'd enjoy collecting any genre more than comics, but the price point relative to the rarity of these items makes it so much more fascinating to me. It's possible to chase truly rare and desirable items without breaking the bank and you're freed from the concern that you're overspending. I get a lot of joy out of these purchases. It's just so much fun to swim around in these waters.

Thanks? Must’ve searched his name 30 times in the last day and a half. I don’t know what happened there.

They are pretty small. They’re about the size of the actual paperback itself. I’m thinking about cutting the cover off the actual book and displaying them side-by-side in a single picture frame...They give an insight into his production process, but they also play out like a comic strip of a renaissance couple making out. :-) Based on my kids reaction to them last night, I’ll have to put it in my room instead of the living room or anything. My kids have no taste.

Thanks. I feel like I lucked into it. There was a Maguire prelim listed on the Comic Art Website (that I didn't buy), but I noticed the seller said he had more prelims in his ad. So I wrote him, and he offered me these at a price a cheapskate like me could appreciate. When I went to look up the actual book, I realized the author is kind of a "big deal"...she's written over 150 books and this was her second (first for Avon). So in a way, these have some cross-over appeal for the author. I love it when the universe lines up like that. Not sure how I'll display them, or if my kids will let me.

OK, now look what you made me do! I just pulled the trigger on these two Robert Maquire prelims. The seller bought them from Maquire's daughter directly. It helps that one provides the name of the book and the other is signed. Interestingly, when I showed this potential purchase to the wife, she told me she read the book. Though the book is far later than I collect, it is an early PBO from an author who became notable in the romance genre (much to my chagrin because buying a nice copy to compliment these sketches will be surprisingly more expensive than I thought). I would like to eventually get something with some color on it, but I've always had a soft spot for pencil work because it's an insight into the artist's method and prelims are cool because they are a sort of "what if". Plus they're cheaper.

Those are sweet. They must be really rare. You guys inspired me to dip my toe into art, so I’m negotiating on some prelim sketches as an early birthday present. . Hopefully more news later.

Yeah I’m a confirmed paperback collector and I’m not really doing pulps. So I’d be going for paperback art. And honestly sleeves or sleazy romance. So how do you define “very cheap”?

I would collect either of those if: (A.) I knew where to get it (Where are you finding them?) and (B.) I could come close to affording one. (How much are they generally?) I think I'd sell off some pretty amazing comic books to be able to buy one really nice paperback painted cover for the living room.

Ok, this is just cool. I ran across one of these on ebay. But I found this lower grade copy for a steal elsewhere. This one ticks all of the boxes for me. Ticks. Every. Box. Edit: I'm getting some great feedback about this book on a Facebook forum. It might be one of you guys, for all I know. It ticked a couple more boxes than I realized. I've learned that this is a period reprint, and was the first book for Nightstand. (FYI, are apparently only two other's available for sale on the internet, and they are also reprints.) Most importantly, Don Elliot is the pen name for Robert Silverberg

Wow. I feel like I should be wearing a graduation cap and gown. Thanks for confirming the grade. I’m starting to gravitate toward the higher grades now that some of the initial urgency of starting a collection has passed. But I’m also noticing that higher grades are a heck of a lot more challenging. I feel like I’m seeing less of them for sale than I did just a few months ago. In higher grade material seems to be going for higher prices. Like there is some kind a flight to quality right now. Still, that’s part of the fun I guess. Trying to find them anyway.

My first Lion. I like the taboo subject matter...Wouldn’t mind finding similar subject matter from the same (innocent) era. First one I’ve seen covering this topic from this era. Paid a premium to get one in this condition though it still has issues (I think I overpaid)...I wish we had a “please grade my” thread for books. I’m guessing something like VG+ despite the subtle reading crease. I know these Lions are more fragile than other paper backs from the same era.

What’s the backstory of that “ original collection”?

Hope those are undercopies...gonna be hard to replace them.

That’s part of its charm. Like the salacious cover to 1984 which is one of the most unsexy books I remember reading. Showing my wife covers like these validates/excuses my collection to my wife. :-)

I’m sure others exist, but this is the only jacketed paperback I know of. If you can think of a few more good ones, please share.

Ok, I'm really excited to pull the trigger on this one (seller's photos). I've wanted one of these since I first saw it in a coffee table book, but I could only find one for sale and it was at the top of my self-imposed $100 cap on spending. But for some reason, right now there are a few on Ebay at about half of what I've seen as the "ask" price. So maybe these are more common than I thought they were...but from my research and LIMITED experience, they are indeed hard to come by with the dust jacket and the current glut of them on ebay is a fluke. Interestingly, on ebay there is also a version by Permabooks with a 1957 copyright that looks like the dust jacket on the pocket book version, but it's not a pocket book and there is no dust jacket on it. Bask in the glow of its scruffiness. I'm inclined to try out my fancy, high-dollar, paper-cleaning putty that I bought to help clean up the cover a little bit.

By the way it’s worth bringing up that there are very few things that today’s teenagers can get hooked on other than video games. They might get involved in comics or Magic the gathering but you almost need to go to a specialty shop to buy them these days. However my working theory is that there are a lot of people that do get hooked on Books. There are people who are quite emotional about Harry Potter books and there are A lot of other series that are dystopian like the hunger games etc. My point is that paper back books are one of the few things out there that can still be collected off the shelf most anywhere in the United States that you can get an emotional connection to.

This is been a fascinating exchange. Something I wanna share is that a few years back I was invited to this event called elite con. It was a gathering of a couple dozen mover and shaker comic book collectors in the southeast by private invitation and was held at David Alexander’s house. I got invited as a friend of a friend and I felt like a small fish in a big pond but I’ a consistent buyer in this area and did spend big (for me) with no regrets. I got to tour Davids stock which at the time he wanted to sell for well over $1 million. (Maybe more like $2 million). He had a ton of pulps and other people paper collectibles like Sleeze but not much actual paper back books that I recall. At the time I was only interested in comics. My understanding was the non-comic paper items were things he had picked up in his store that were just too high grade or good to pass up even though he wasn’t actively selling them. If he is buying paper backs that may mean that he’s been selling through his stock or sold it, (I have no idea)but it’s fascinating to me because he kind of wanted to get rid of that inventory at the time. Must’ve seen things in the market and had a change of heart.

Wow! That’s crazy! I do remember when they were about $1000 apiece. The thing is it would be odd for Books to have that kind of explosive price appreciation since they are an older collectible, but not impossible. I don’t know if you’ve seen what’s going on with video games right now, but they are getting stupid expensive due to the advent of third-party grading. My thought is that third party grading will eventually happen to books like it did with video games That will be the starting gun and the end of collecting as we enjoy it now. Kind of surprised it hasn’t happened already what with the cost of some hardback books now.

Heh sorry. Well I didn’t out you. You outed yourself. I go back-and-forth as to whether I want the main stream comic book guys to catch onto this. At some point that would be cool to be one of the kings of this genre along with most everybody else active in this thread. But the more I do this the longer my want list gets and that would make it impossible to fill because tough books would get too expensive. Right now I’m enjoying the fact I can buy stuff that only has a few of the copies available on the Internet in the entire world for less than the cost of getting one of my comic books slabbed. Something else to consider is that the hard cover book collectors may be taking paper backs a little bit more seriously now. Seems like the articles that I can find on the Internet touching on paper back collecting are mostly written from the perspective of how paper back cover and PBO collecting can be as rewarding as hard cover book collecting.

This is interesting. I have pre-set search for cheap golden age comics on ebay. This popped up from my search parameter and was posted in the comic book section (not the antiquarian book section) https://www.ebay.com/itm/143633553578?ul_noapp=true If you don't want to click the link, it's an early Croydon with a L.B. Cole cover. I'm seeing more cross-over from the comic book people lately...just recently bought a book from a vendor known for selling comics, for example.

That's a murder in progress (MIP) cover, which is kind of rare. I see lots of "about to murder" covers, and a ton of "she just got murdered and she's sexy" covers (which gives me pause.). But yeah, definitely a cool cover on the drowner. FWIW, I look at books most every night now on ebay, and I'm starting to be able to pick out the uncommon ones, but most often, after doing the research, I find that they are indeed uncommon, rather than rare. The learning curve can be exhausting at times.

That drowner is insanely cool! How do you keep finding these?

Damn. I’m slogging through EBay and I see a cool, Lion book for $12 shipped. It’s a good price on a “tittlating” book in acceptable condition that ticks all the boxes. I wanted to make sure it was a good price so I search for other books like it and learn its kind of rare. In the process, I find a copy of the same book in Fine. Ironically, it’s a better relative bargain than the low grade copy, I feel this one should cost twice as much as the asking price. Wouldn’t be a big deal, but I’ve spent a lot lately on home renovations and I shouldn’t buy anything right now but an interesting Lion in Fine is a must have. So I pull the trigger. I had to. But now I can’t read it. And I really want to! Now I can’t spring for the cheap copy either. I keep falling in the same trap. I keep finding that a little bit more money buys a lot more book so I spring for the nicer book but then I don’t dare read it. I know this is a first world problem of ridiculous proportions but it’s irksome. Sorry, just venting. Wish it was cheaper to read these stories.

What are you guys seeing that I'm not seeing? Looks like a 9.0 to me. Has a tiny bit of staple stress on a black/dark cover that wouldn't keep it from a 9.0 (I've seem more staple stress on 9.4s). Looks like some scraping up top that balances out with 9.4-ish spine corners for a book that age. Seems like pressing would further decrease the few defects it has. I'll go out on a limb and call it a "shot 9.2 with a press", but likely (and at least) a 9.0. Probably an 8.5 as-is. Here's a 9.0 for reference. Check out the spine stress, which is (IMHO) appropriate for this grade in a dark cover. The back of this ebay book is nicer, but on-balance, I think I'd rather have the book in this thread after a press than the ebay thread...I hate spine stress. https://www.ebay.com/itm/CGC-9-0-SILVER-SURFER-4-1969-Stan-Lee-Thor-Avengers-Loki-Appearance/164229520020?hash=item263cd79a94:g:gxEAAOSwkoVe1xiP