Surfing Alien

Eric, can you check your copy of Into Plutonian Depths when you get a chance? I don't have one now but iirc it was 285 but didn't have laminate, like the other 2 "Fantasy Novels" It's a "Fantasy Novel" as well but they folded it into the regular numbering.

Dug a little deeper and so far as I can tell, the start of regular lamination might have been 254, a wonderful little Hell-cat named "Flame Vine" I think a few after this didn't have it but most do through the 400's. I haven't seen an earlier one that does but i'm missing a few in the 240's-250's

Here's a random groupshot... they're very colorful in groups...

Nice pickups I'm always jealous of your bookstore adventures... I miss them myself. I can't think of a better theory than yours on the laminated copy with blue 4. I am trying to think whether i've seen any early Avons with laminate. Laminate started sometime in the circle logo period. I want to say yes but can't place it. It's certainly a rare exception but i'll try to keep a better look out for any.

No apologies needed Variety is the spice of life. I need to work on the Fredric Browns, I used to have almost all of the Bantams. "The Last Kill" is killer Maguire. I've been looking for a nice copy but these late # Signets are tough to find in nice shape.

Thought i'd seen you post "No Way Out" ? but was pretty sure i've never seen "Violent Night" Wasn't intentionally blocking you (in fact they were somewhat mistitled, it was pure luck I stumbled on them) Not worried though, you've done pretty well hunting these down They are pretty pricey in the storefronts, i'm gonna have to be very patient to find any bargains and i'm sure I will just have to pony up for some of them.

Got started on the Phantom Books quest with these 2 arrivals. They are pretty special in hand. They feel more refined than many other digest lines, similar to the Falcon Books. The George Gross cover on "Violent Night" is pretty killer... so to speak... "No Way Out" is no slouch either, it looks like it could be Gross as well but I can't find any attribution... I think i'm hooked

The seller on that Masked Rider sells vintage paperbacks and digests and often gets prices 5-10X what I think the book is going to go for, even when there are other similar copies available for less to anyone doing a diligent internet search. I have listed the same book subsequent to one of these sales, in a similar condition for what I thought it should go for, and gotten no nibble, even though it's a scarce book, there were multiple bidders and you would assume the underbidders would be out there looking

I was buying things I liked pretty steadily for about a year and a half but last year the asks on Ebay went pretty crazy and a lot of that was for lesser condition books. I still seek out better deals from wherever I can on the web and get some good deals but i'm having a much more fun time filling out my vintage pb's and digest collection. I still look around a lot though and top condition pulps still get snapped up quickly and for strong prices from what I can see but run of the mill "Fair/Good" condition Planets are not going to sell for VG+ guide prices - there's just too many lower condition common pulps out there to support that kind of pricing but I see them and they sit, sit sit.

Ok, enough nerdiness for now, let's get back to the ladies... Here's the risque Dell I mentioned i'd found a while back. Pretty rare to find "Tail-lights" like that on a Dell mapback. While I was at it I upgraded my copy of Seven Sneezes, which is still my favorite Dell cheesecake...

I've done some looking also and agree on all 3 of your points. I haven't seen an example of #1 with 20 titles on the back but it could be out there as an in-betweener. It might not though, which goes to your point about poor sales keeping some from being reprinted - there is also the certainty that some of the reprinting was staggered. For instance there may have been enough #1's on hand through the first 26 titles being released that they only ever went to the "16 titles" back cover and jumped to the generic back cover because they didn't need to reprint it during the time period of the "20 titles" back cover, while #7 and #10 came up for reprinting while the "20 titles" back was in use so got that treatment. I believe each nn# has it's own course that will need to be plotted, but they all combine to show the possibilities of what was used in the time period. I did find this later printing on the 'bay. It lists 28 on the inside front cover and obviously many more on the inside back cover (he didn't picture it). It has the generic white back cover with 2 paragraphs that started being used in the later double digit Avons (around #57 is the first time I see it with 2 paragraphs rather than 3) It has the original yellow corner text block with the red "Pocket Sized" removed. So this is at minimum a 5th printing.

So here's some more Avon nerdiness for you. I pulled out the 2 copies of Elmer Gantry I currently have. Neither is a 1st print with Globe endpapers. I believe they might be (what i'll call) 3rd and 4th "printings", unless we locate copies with intervening characteristics. The first one has the 16 titles listed on the rear cover, but 26 listed inside on the last book page. It has no globe endpapers - the inside back cover is blank where the Globe Endpapers would have been affixed on (what i'll call) a "16 title, Globe endpaper" cover state. This one is likely a second printing of the text section, with the additional 14 titles, with a second state cover with the 16 titles on the rear but no globe endpapers affixed. I'm calling it a 3rd "printing" for ease, even though it is likely only the 2nd printing of the interior pages I guess in technical bookman's terms it would be 2nd printing with its 1st state cover. The second one has no titles listed on the back cover and the inside cover shows a house ad with pictures of 14 of the titles. The last text page has the same 26 titles as the example posted above. I posit that this is the same second printing of the text section, but they had used up the remaining 16 title rear covers so they printed up new covers with the generic Avon back cover and the house ad on the inside. Variations of the generic Avon back cover became the norm for Avons going forward. I'm calling it a 4th "printing" for ease although in technical bookman's terms, it would be 2nd printing with its 2nd state cover. It is possible that the scenario is flipped, and they already had the generic back cover ready to go for the second printing of the interior text and only used the 16 title covers because they ran out of covers. But knowing the frugalities of publishers, i'd think the scenario I outlined is more likely. In sum, i think the printing order for Avon #1 might be: 1st Print - Globe Endpapers - 12 titles inside and on the back cover 2nd Print - Globe endpapers - 12 titles inside and 16 on the back cover 3rd print - Blank inside cover - 26 titles inside and 16 on the back cover 4th Print - House ad inside cover - 26 titles inside and generic Avon back cover. One last point is that the 1st 3 Prints I described here have "Avon Pocket-Sized Books" on the front cover. The 4th just says "An Avon Book". This might be a result of the Appeals Court injunction against them using "Pocket" on the cover (that was was subsequently overturned) and might provide a clue for dating this printing. I'm happy to update and change this list if "intervening" printings are produced. I know it's pure nerdiness and only of interest to a few people in the world but it's a mystery and we like mysteries here so we may as well try to solve it!

He's highly qualified. Wonderful perspective and use of color (and irony😅)

A Planet For Texans is one of my favorite Ace Sci-Fi covers. It's hilariously stereotypical if you think about it 😅

Makes sense, it sounds like a classic case of a 1st printing interior with a 2nd state cover. Since they released 4 more titles shortly thereafter, they included the new titles on the back cover but continued using the available, already printed interiors with 12 titles. The series was quite successful so it all probably happened within a couple of months.

Sweet pickups and research. Elmer Gantry was a big deal back in the day but sadly seems to not have as much interest now. Probably because it's about religion, even though about hypocrisy, and not a mystery, sci-fi or drug book like Popular, Pocket and Ace #1's. I like the movie with Burt Lancaster and thought that might carry it on but it doesn't seem so. That said, your copy is beautiful and there's plenty of mysteries and other goodness in the early Avons to nerd out on. The series was and is my first love in vintage paperbacks and happy to see you share these beautiful books They're not easy to find so nice with those stiff cardboardy covers.

Here's a new arrival that i'm really excited about. I don't have much interest in most Harlequins but there's a couple dozen that are ultra cool and anyone who's ever tried to acquire some know they are impossible to find without being creased to death. This is definitely the craziest Harlequin cover and on a core sci-fi classic. It appears unread and it is signed by Van Vogt to boot. The later Beacon printing as "The Mating Cry" is cool but much more common. This copy has found its home

All the articles i've read, including Wiki, are pretty spotty on bibliography. This is the best i've found online, but it doesn't list these short story collections, just the stories themselves. It is good though, for separating the novels from the shorts, and lists the1st appearances as well. https://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/biblio/woolrich.html Quite an output.

Hear hear... I pick up way more than I can read, mostly because I love the covers. I'd love to know the ratings source. I just finished this classic... It was actually very cool stories...some terms dated but I see what was meant by his very terse plot and prose... Plus I love classic cars so those descriptions were great. I don't know what the next generation will make of it though. I don't think they know what any of these things are... Their experience is so internal. My kid is extremely bright and well rounded but had no clue who Eddie Van Halen was until I told her he played the solo on "Beat It"

Hey there Don't think it has anything to do with Covid. That's just not a high print run book, and desired more because it's a somewhat noted author and a risky cover, so it'll be hit or miss finding one at all. Any book dealer is going to charge some bucks for it, but you could still get lucky to find one in a lot of 10 books for $20 from someone on the 'bay who doesn't know what it is. That goes for many books that don't carry the author's actual name. Generally speaking though, good material doesn't go cheap-cheap on ebay unless it's an inexperienced seller in the field. I've gotten lucky lately on a few auctions that were poorly described but most of the sellers who auction regularly get multiple bidders on anything cool. There's tons of scarce books on BIN's (and bargains to be had if you know what you're looking for and the seller is taking offers.) You've gotten good at picking scarcer things, so i'm not surprised you don't see lots of them. I've ponied up for some very nice books that have surfaced lately, but also gotten some great bargains (to my mind) on auctions. From what I sell of my undercopies and non-focused books, i'd say the market is solid. I only have a basic store but a few things seem to sell every week, so I keep rotating more in. Don't know if that helps, I don't think it's a gold rush out there but scarce stuff isn't flooding the market cheaply from what I've seen.

It's funny, when I sold my collection way back, I kept my #1 and #3, probably for that reason. So now I have all 3 no numbers #1 could use an upgrade but i'm not complaining. #3 is the 1st "Popular Library"

The couple of sources i've seen say it's the first 16 as well. I've never had a copy of 16, or 17 (The Agony Column by Earl Derr Biggers) but we know Damonwad's 16 has them so that's a start

Sweet pickups @OtherEric. Early Avons like that Sayers are keepers for sure. With no organized base to record them, any very sharp copy of the "earlies" might be one of the best extant. The Coblentz is a classic (and a current want! one of the only classic Avon sci-fi's I haven't re-acquired yet). I need to read that Heinlein story to remember if I know it. I definitely had that Perma back in the 80's I have one for tonight Been looking for a decent copy since Pat posted his eons ago I'll keep looking for an affordable sharp copy of the first pb edition, which is the Digest sized Avon MMM #27, but this is a nice collectible copy that I can still read

That's quite a haul! I could comment on all of 'em but the Croydon is in amazing shape for a Croydon. It has all the hallmarks of Bernard Safran, who did the majority of them. Looking at bookscans, the cover is a reverse of #60, which is also uncredited in all the guides I have. Dell was quite demure about depicting women but there were exceptions to the rule. The Case of the Seven Sneezes by Boucher always comes to mind but I've found another one that should be arriving soon

Got in some beautiful condition 40's mystery titles, including Popular Library #2. You don't see these earlies like this every day Never seen this great Gregg cover before I like when they're so square they stand up by themselves on their side And finally, picked up a decent 1st print of Candide with its whimsical blurbs and cover...