Surfing Alien

Most times that I go against this advice I regret it when the book disappears later

It depends on that combination of factors. Since I sell books fairly regularly, i'll take the plunge if I'm confident i'll double my money. If it's a sharp copy of Marihuana for $100 i'm buying it no matter what (and no, that never happens anymore ). But it's super hot and always sells. For less sure things, even if they're rare, as with all "store stock" you have to have the time/patience/$ to be tied up in something that might not sell quickly and 2x price isn't enough. If you don't sell books, you have to ask yourself if you'd rather spend that money on something you really need.

No doubt on the reading quality. I've been reading a bunch of the pulps i've bought lately. It is a lot of fun to journey back in the time machine these present and enjoy the innocence of some of the tales and the period ads and letter columns. I've found the various reputations true - Astounding and Argosy have been the most polished stories in their niches. Weird Tales is a league of it's own in the ghost/weird stories - many that wouldn't fit in another publication. Planet falls in the middle with some great stuff and some sketchy work. The lower end mags like Fantastic Adventures vary incredibly widely in story quality, with one or two cool tales and some stories that seem to be just raggedly thrown together. That all said, I enjoy the Astounding Freas period and the October 1953 issue is unavailable for anywhere near what the guide price says it is.

Great picks. Kunstler is very high quality. When I started collecting in the 80's those Avon T series were considered too new to be really interesting but time passes and many of them are more interesting now than a lot of books in the earlier series. I remember seeing the lot with Ladies of the Dark and wondering what the name was for - I figured it was the owners name but pseudonym makes sense. I've won some nice lots from that seller and others but you've hit the snag, which is the pile up-of unfocused books. I've done fairly well lately selling those off to fund more purchases...which leads to more unfocused books which leads to sales which leads to...

Thanks, i've bought a few off him too, including a few decent deals. He seems to have a large supply of interesting stuff but i've seen a few of these auctions go for more than what other available copies on the internet are priced at. Note - Not this one - it is pretty rare and likely one of the last needed for anyone trying to collect the MMM's. I guess he has a dedicated following on these auctions and some people aren't scouring for other copies sometimes. Nice pickup on the Big Sleep - it's a must have Avon. I'm glad picked this pretty clean one one up a while back.

Strong action on a book that has always been rare. Does anyone know this seller? I wish I could get these prices... https://www.ebay.com/itm/264747103784

It's hard to know what's truly rare because the market is so unorganized. The best you can do is search for other copies for sale at a given moment, which can be misleading. Accumulating "opportunity copies" of Popular Librarys with great covers is great sport!

This Avon was in the mail. Still picking these off where I can. I used to have them all, #7 I don't see as much. They're reprints but what a lineup! (and cover!)

Sandman I presume? Great pick-ups!

Yup It was the nicest copy of this book i've seen and was able to bundle it in with a few auction wins

Could be a horde but I suspect it's more likely a mistake, or a reprint. I've seen a few vintage paperbacks reprinted in a look that is close to the original. Someone did that with Marihuana, although granted, they didn't use the old copyright date or charge $95. https://www.amazon.com/Marihuana-Drug-Crazed-Killer-at-Large/dp/487187611X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?dchild=1&keywords=marihuana+"william+irish"&qid=1591292552&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmr0 I'd be skeptical at minimum.

Here's my mail call today, another inexpensive war cover. It's hard to beat a Kuttner/Moore story, and a red DeSoto cover with a GI punching a Nazi in the face, a male harpy and a babe over a futuristic city background. At first I thought the right edge was trimmed but it looks too perfect and appears to be wrapped to the back with an outsized overhang on the rear. Any expert opinion would be appreciated.

Nice color as well. I've really come to appreciate deep colors on pulps. There are so many that look dull and lifeless.

I'll never have all the Weird Tales I want either but I finally manned up and picked up one I had to have. I remember buying Conan 58 off the newsstand as a teenager and me and all my friends fell in love with Buscema's Belit. Brundage, 1st cover with Conan, great author/story line up and nice bright colors. It's a keeper for me.

Picked off a few more Quarter Books. Both are Rodewald covers. I love the color palette on Wild Passion.

Nice book but yeah that's like some Liefeld body geometry

Nice! @OtherEric It's an Argosy kind of day as this cool WW2 cover just arrived at my place. I like finding inexpensive war covers.

Wow! Awesome story... there are still finds They looked very fresh overall, not the usual ratty brittle things that are dragged out to auction.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164211809405 Incredible action on these Black Mask pulps today...I hope we have some winners here today 🙂

Some random goodness just in... A couple of razor sharp Popular Library's from the later gritty art era An unread copy of the 3rd Ace double And finally, a Maguire that you wouldn't know about from the guides because the early printings had a different, much tamer cover. This 16th printing gets the full length Maguire babe treatment. One of many pb's where the later edition is more desireable.

Phenomenal books. Thanks for sharing these. It's a little ominous with the story "Unlucky Larruper"

Here's a few more:

I took a quick look on the interwebs for some of those Belarski re-uses. There are a ton of them actually. This was 5 minutes of searching Google for Belarski pulp covers - it helps that i've seen so many Pop Libs in my time so when I see a pulp cover that looks familiar I know there's a Pop with it

@Westy Steve I found the thread with the comics & paperbacks covers again - let me see if the link will work again. It's fun stuff. I don't think anyone has compiled the pulp/paperbacks covers like this. The paperbacks start on the bottom of page 8.

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