Surfing Alien

Great series! Reckless Virgin is an incredible cover

Yup, Al Williams and Home Institute are different and juxtaposed. I don't own the issues so don't know what it means. Each paper it was printed for must have had it's own print run so there could be differences in title features, even if they weren't different inside. Or, they could be different inside

The inserts are pretty fascinating. I didn't know much about the weeklies until I started researching Raymond Johnson and then started looking through a lot of them. So many great interiors as well as covers. Johnson's earliest known work we've unearthed was a cover to "This Week" from February 9th, 1936. He was 20 years old when these got distributed across the country. I can imagine it was a proud moment for a young artist. Here's the New York Herald Tribune and Dallas Morning News editions. Johnson did a bunch of interiors for "The American Weekly" as well in the late 1940's. Here's a favorite I've never shown before from the San Francisco Examiner, April 11th, 1948. The heroic (and fetching) teacher, holding off a tornado that is blowing down an Illinois schoolhouse door. My wife is a teacher so it's endearing for that reason and for the expressions on the little brats

I don't know their full life story but they were purchased out of a collection where almost every paperback looked glossy and unread, even many of the 1940's ones, so I'm assuming they were in that collection for a looong time. I suspect that, as our generation ages into retirement, we'll be seeing more nice books emerge. PB's have been a thing mostly starting in the 1980's, as compared to comics, where major accumulations started in the 60's and 70's, so now is the time you'd expect to see some turnover, whether voluntarily or by the passing of the expiration dates of the owners

A couple of Minty fresh early Dells "Four Frightened Women", Dell Books #5 from 1942, is the first Mapback and the second Gerald Gregg cover. "The Unicorn Murders" Dell Books #16 from 1943 is just a great early Gregg Art Deco cover. This copy is definitely a unicorn There's something about the Giant Eyeball/Keyholes on the fronts of the earlies that is super appealing.

Nice selection all around, but Dude, that copy of "The Fountainhead" looks killer!

Of course, what has really led the way in price increases in my experience is GGA, which I have to assume is comic collector cross-over to some degree. So much so that I pay a lot more attention to romance/sleaze books than I ever did in earlier years. In the thought of "what is a $100 book/" these days, my experience looking at auctions there's probably more $100+ sleaze/GGA titles than all the other genre's combined. I've seen dozens and dozens of books that were never even listed in the price guides get crazy action if they had a Ward or Stanton cover, and also many Midwoods and Beacons with Rader or other top line artists, including any imprint with uncredited artists if the title was outrageous or lesbian themed. Here's a few recent "pickups" The Girl in the Black Chemise has always been a classic in my memory, I think it was pictured in one of the early guides, one of Owen Kampen's best covers by far. The Unashamed is one of Rader's many lesbian themed covers and they tend to be bold and bright like this one.

Just a simple beauty with the Hoffman cover showing the lazy river life. I've always had a copy of this book and thought it important, but of course, not a shocking cover by any stretch and likely will always only be of interest to completist/historical interest types, like some of us here. The back cover reveals what the intent was, to print quality paperback editions of more costly hardcover editions. A quiet 1945 launch of a long major pb line that featured many classics, including much more graphic covers later on, when it became apparent what sold books.

I think of these almost as really nice prelims for a finished painting. Great lines and just enough detail to sell the mag. You always have to remember that these guys got paid at a level where they would/should do just enough to sell the mag. Barye Phillips was much like Saunders in this way - guy painted a zillion covers, so many of his covers look beautiful but you look up close and there's not a hell of a lot of detail there, just amazing line work.

I think it is some perception. D-1 is a different animal than those other 1sts. A PBO like you said, but also a drug PBO, with Marijuana on the cover and a Saunders cover and very rare in high grade. I see 10 copies of D-15 for every D-1 I see. D-5 is incredibly tough as well and has Saunders best early Ace cover imho. As for those other 1sts, I think Death In The Library is by far the most widely popular with an inventive cover and capable of pulling down good coin in high grade.

I don't think there's been real insanity with the PBs. Just a little more than normal inflation adjusted increase boosted by more market participation. In 1991 people freaked that Jon Warren priced a $4 minimum on a Fine book in his guide. A retailer would starve trying to sell $4 books today. A minty paperback with a nice cover should be worth $10 or more today imho. One that's rare and in demand in nice shape that was $40 in 1991 shouldn't be $40 today, and many of them aren't, they're a whole $75 or $80 now for the most part They've been left so far behind. The fact that there's been a ton of exposure, especially on Facebook groups with thousands of members, including younger collectors, tells me that there's quite a few more new collectors than you suspect. That doesn't mean that there's not bargains, I've shown up at quite a few online auctions where I was pleasantly surprised at low turnout, but I'm always prepared to drop a bomb, if $100 could constitute a bomb in the collectible world, to get a book I want. That said, I've been shocked here and there over the last few years, at how many other people wanted a book I wanted and crushed my bomb

D-1 just does not show up in nice shape anymore so "overpriced" is very relative to the "beat-up" There's quite a few pbs where a beat up copy still gets good coin. Martha Crane is just sizzling, and yes, that dress makes it I don't know what the hell is going on with Stable Boy either but it is a genre of it's own, see poster in my hallway below

My watchlist "ended" list is littered with the soul-less, regretful memories of books I hesitated on If a high grade Ace D-1 isn't a hundred dollar book, none should be. I long ago crossed that threshold and beyond. At some point early on in my second collecting stage I realized I was accumulating a lot of cool books at low thresholds but the things I actually desired were usually too far and few between at cheap prices and, since Covid, much worse. So I pony up for books I want in high grade, but still always happy to find bargains. There's been nothing like the run up in comics and cards but vintage pbs have been chased by a noticeably larger base in the last couple of years. Still they are at such a paltry level relatively that I have no fear of a downturn

Some Friday fun Ace D1 Too Hot For Hell/The Grinning Gismo. Saunders covers on both sides. This is one I've had to be satisfied with my Fair/Good copy for all the time I've been on the boards here, just because really nice copies don't show up and I've never been in the right place at the right time. Finally fixed that Leg Artist Red Circle #3 An early pre-Lion Book with a spectacular leg art cover. The Red Circle Books are altogether tough. Martha Crane Berkley G-83 Killer copy of a great Charles Copeland cover Gang Mistress Croydon Digest #34 Bernard Safran cover. Y'all know how crazy I go about high grade Croydons and this one hits every note. The best I've seen. Stable Boy Beacon B107 Walter Popp cover art. This one is both White Trash/Hillbilly and Black Americana at once - crazy stuff

Some fun pickups Haven't ever had a lot of Pony Books. They're pretty early, 1946. This one was in real nice shape but I can't quite figure out that art signature Another for the pre-Atlas pile with a cool skull cover I believe this is Robert McGinnis' first cover art Rafael DeSoto cover art A Lou Marchetti cover that a friend posted elsewhere and I had to find a copy. I had never seen this one before. Finally a scarce Harry Whittington Berkley with a great Raymond Johnson cover, one I never had before.

Beautiful. I still dream of finding a copy of "The Great Gatsby" in the Dust Jacket

Oh, by the way, Happy Halloween, from the usual fellas....

Oh, yeah, I could fill a box or two with hillbilly exploitation. It was definitely a thing, some of it funny and some of it pretty mean spirited and definitely not ok.

Two Jonas and one Ziel cover. All classic must haves.

Just got this recently. Incredible early Ron Lesser cover Ace that I had never seen before... I love this material and have a large shelf of it. Holloway House is a personal favorite publisher.

I don't think very often on paperbacks. I only know of a couple.

Some Friday Fun... Hardman by David Karp Lion Books 119. Cover art by Victor Prezio, another excellent painter in Goodman's artist stable. This is just about the definition of hard boiled. The back cover blurbs are "intriguing". It's pretty nice but not so nice I won't give it a read.

They're called "Lurid covers" for a reason This is a good example.

Very nice Maguire. I'll follow on with another D. H. Lawrence from Avon, this one nicely packaged with a RayJo cover

There's so much crazy variety of vintage pb's to collect, but sometimes all it takes is a couple of nice copies of pbs from the classic publishers that you never had before to be the chicken soup for your soul Blood on the Forge, cover art by Owen Kampen (I love any vintage pb with guitars/musical reference to it) Love Among The Haystacks, cover art by Bill Randall After letting so many nice books go this week, it's very satisfying to get a couple of boxes incoming