Sarg

On 5/4/2024 at 9:10 AM, Surfing Alien said:

This is actually the latest Heritage Sale, and a much more comparable copy. The Ebay one actually has less creases and marring but a bit more missing. Still the point is that this is the Marvel Comics #1 of Marvel pulps and a fairly presentable copy can't pull $300. That says to me that all the comics guys aren't going running to buy pulps. Even if this is considered somewhat common, it would only take a fraction of a fraction of GA collectors to wipe out the supply.

 

"VG minus"? Is this a Promise book? That looks G at best...

On 4/30/2024 at 7:52 PM, Darwination said:

Last one, SPACE CLOWNS WITH RAYGUNS. Leo Morey

 

Space clowns with ray guns. The pulps had the craziest ideas.

On 4/25/2024 at 5:08 PM, johnenock said:

A few new ones. Not as happy with the grades stated vs. actual but they were reasonably priced. Maybe once people stop with the CGC markup, it might be worth buying a few.

Love this cover

 

Is that the ghost of Abdul Alhazred?

On 4/25/2024 at 5:12 PM, detective35 said:

Adventure #1 (1910)

 

I was just thinking "Nobody ever posts early issues of Adventure in this forum. Do they exist?" And then this pops up. Must be some sort of pulp telepathy!

On 4/23/2024 at 10:56 PM, AnkurJ said:

Nice! What grade?

Not mine! I meant, I anticipate a lucky owner will soon have it slabbed, and hopefully will post it here. 

On 4/21/2024 at 8:59 AM, ThothAmon said:

To me he is the true Father of fantasy artists. Have a couple prints of his paintings hanging in the boudoir. 
 

St. John is great, but most of his best work was done for books, not pulps. Some of his pulp covers look a little rushed or not very well thought out. "Golden Blood" is a masterpiece, however. 

On 4/20/2024 at 11:46 AM, OtherEric said:

August 1928 Amazing Stories... even if it isn't actually Buck Rogers on the cover, it's the Skylark of Space.

Yes. A classic, though a cover that is a lot less visually striking than many other Amazing Stories covers from the period. Its "classic" status derives from it being reproduced so many times over the decades, plus also, I believe it is the first sci-fi cover to portray a man flying. So a precursor to comic super-heroes. 

On 4/20/2024 at 3:13 PM, waaaghboss said:

You guys corrupted me with all the pretty pictures, just found these at a bookstore 😠 

The see-through blouse that launched a thousand ships.

On 4/20/2024 at 12:57 PM, detective35 said:

I'm not going to  get into what individual collectors think is a classic cover,  but more of the collecting community of pulps over long period of time.

I think discerning classic covers by chatting with hundreds of collectors and coming to a common understanding of what multiple people think are classic covers in each title, or what covers are high demand in each run consistently overall long period of time. 

I disagree with the point that there are no classic covered spiders, I think March 34, October 37 and June 1938 are all classic covers for the spider and there could be more,  operator 5 from December 1934 is certainly a classic cover

No one knows the shadow better than I do, and certainly January 1 1933 Shadow millions is a classic cover. The ultimate cover is January 15, 1933 the creeping death. The ultimate shadow image on the cover is the partners of peril from 1936.   Many people like the golden master from 1939 and you can throw in the book of death from the 1940s .  I have missed a few more classic covers (voodoo Master, etc. ). 

However, that goes without saying that one person might think a cover is classic and then another person doesn't which is fine, to each his own.

Fair enough, but where's the evidence that, e.g., Startling Stories #64 was regarded as classic by collectors "over (a) long period of time"? Covers like this and others so designated by CGC seem very trendy and recent -- unlike Batwoman or Creeping Death, which have been coveted and reproduced many, many times over the past 40 to 50 years. 

Makes you wonder, what are considered the "classic" covers by the connoisseurs of this forum? It should be a very short list, otherwise the word "classic" loses any meaning. Needless to say, Startling Stories #64 should not be on the list. Not even close. Covers that especially gory, weird, or sexy should not automatically qualify. No Spider or Operator #5 covers are "classic," IMO, though all of them are striking to behold today. A classic has to do more than simply arrest one's vision with lurid action. 

A few off the top of my head:

Shadow - skeleton coming out of curtain - Rozen

WT - Batwoman - Brundage

WT - giant tiger (Golden Blood) - St. John

Shadow - Book of Death with skeleton - Rozen

WT - Skeleton Writing Book - Bok

FFM - Green hooded Skeleton holding people - Finlay

bump

Anticipating a slabbed All Story Tarzan.

On 4/16/2024 at 6:45 PM, Darwination said:

I'm still a little confused by the term digest.  We started a thread for em with some discussion, and I thought I had a grasp of it, but it seems like it's used a little differently in the paperbacks.  I was thinking digest means saddle-stitched, but these unibooks aren't quite that.  Is it cause they are still bound in signatures (thick though they may be) and not perfectly squarebound? I know I've been confused when Eric calls some of the Avon's digests...

some randomish auction images -

 

"Digest" has two applications, I think:

1. Size: digests are wider than typical paperbacks (4.25" x 6.375"). Digests are 5" wide or more. 

2. Publication Status. "Digest" most commonly refers to periodicals, whereas "paperbacks" are books, not periodicals. 

According to this article:

"I don't think there can be any doubt that 'The Spirit Fakers of Hermannstadt' was ghostwritten. The question is, who was the ghostwriter? I would like to nominate Otis Adelbert Kline for that title. Whoever wrote the story was well versed (or mostly well versed) in the history, language, and geography of fantasy, adventure, historical, and weird fiction. Kline fit the bill in that way. Kline was also a manuscript reader, workhorse writer, sometime editor, and partway agent for Weird Tales. He seems to have been a real go-to guy for Henneberger and Baird. In early 1924, the two men at the head of Weird Tales would have needed ghostwriters for Houdini's coming stories. Kline would have been an obvious choice for the first. Lovecraft of course came last."

On 2/22/2024 at 7:20 PM, Ameri said:

Picked this one up recently

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if any readers at the time noticed that Houdini writes just like Lovecraft? 

On 4/13/2024 at 7:41 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Nice. I'm really glad I grabbed a few back in the days of sanity. 

Moving to another artist, "The Dark Man" cover may be my favorite I have of Senf's covers. 

A gem of a tale is what led me to the cover 👍

Personally, I think most of Senf's covers are ill-conceived rubbish, but I agree that this is one of his more effective ones. 

Under Satrap Pharnabazous's editorship, the best story in the issue was almost always passed over for the cover illustration, so good to see Two-Gun Bob prevail here.

Always amusing, also, to see a world famous name from literature (Alexandre Dumas) added to the author roll on the cover -- as if to give the impression that Dumas actually wrote for "the unique magazine"!

I do like that CGC is giving them consecutive numbers, like comic books. It's good to know at a glance that the October 1, 1936, issue of The Shadow is #111, rather than "Volume 19, Number 3," which is a now-meaningless jumble of numbers. 

The Man From Nazareth is a little out of place there. 

On 4/12/2024 at 6:43 AM, Paul © ® ⚽️💙™ said:

Some wonderful Foxy pulps arrived. I think this first one is probably my all-time favourite MF cover....maybe.

 

 

 

Strangely, Matt Fox cited Alex Raymond as his biggest inspiration. I can't think of an artist more unlike Raymond than Fox. 

On 4/13/2024 at 8:56 AM, Surfing Alien said:

Some nice lesbian pieces that you rarely see

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/pulp-pulp-like-digests-and-paperback-art/al-brule-american-20th-century-the-one-between-paperback-cover-1962-gouache-on-board-18-3-4-x-12-1-8-inches-476-x-308-cm-/a/8161-71122.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Open-ThisAuction-120115

 

Heritage's description of The One Between by Arthur Adlon (Beacon, 1962) is ludicrous:

"The One Between dates to what's called the "golden age" of the lesbian pulp genre. These books used the public's appetite for erotic, lurid, and sensational stories to create space for representation of queer characters not allowed elsewhere in mainstream American culture and are highly collectible today."

Beacon's strategy in publishing was purely and simply to peddle cheap thrills and sleaze to the prurient interests of men. Heritage knows this, of course, but decides instead to rewrite history to retroject a false motive of "inclusion" on the publisher's part. I hate dishonesty in advertising.

On 3/13/2024 at 9:56 PM, Ricksneatstuff said:

A couple of mine came back from CGC

 

 

8.5 ... highest graded pulp so far?

Will CGC Note Pedigrees on Pulp Labels? Just curious.