Book Guy

On 6/4/2023 at 9:47 PM, OtherEric said:

To make a VERY general statement, I think on average you'll pay about double for a D-Series Mystery double what you would pay for a SF or Western, with tons of qualifiers based on demand for the specific book and so on, of course.  You'll pay about the same for an average Western or SF book, but you'll see about 100 SF doubles for every Western double you run into.

If you want REALLY scarce, look for the handful that aren't in any of the three main categories.

The Wodehouse I see around. I sold a copy earlier this year. The others are pretty hard. There won't be much buying pressure on them as they fly under the radar of genre collectors so the prices might be reasonable. Other than the Wodehouse it looks like the others are French Authors in translation. An Editorial idea that didn't pan out?

On 6/4/2023 at 4:20 PM, Surfing Alien said:

100%. Way harder. Sci-Fi collectors have hoarded everything compared to other genre collectors. OtherEric and I have discussed this and the Westerns are even tougher to find, although usually cheaper, since they are less collected.

The later Ace Double westerns seem to turn up fairly often. Almost nobody collects them or collected them back in the day but I still see them around. The Mysteries almost uniformly have great covers. The earliest D Westerns also have very Pulpy Covers, but they are Westerns so I just don't care much emotionally!

Maze AND Floating Eyes cover!

An imaginative depiction of dreaming.

Clean copy, but a boring cover.

Some MARVEL TALES. The UFO looks more like a football than a Flying Saucer.

Pound for Pound I think the Ace D-Series Mysteries are harder to get than their Sci Fi. I'm always excited when I turn them up out in the wild.

I like the distinctive 'Atlas Green' in the text background. More Books tomorrow.

Another Everett cover. Sometimes he simply had problems in rooting his figures into the ground. They are always lurching or falling or swaying. Eye-catching in a way, but I can't say I really like it.

Clean copy but a tepid cover. I do always  like the floating eyes motif though.

Clean copy. Odd cover.

Everybody has seen this one, but it never hurts to see it again. Atlas really loved extreme forced perspective on their covers and so do I!

I also love Maze covers

An unusual cover.

I'm always a sucker for post-Apocalyptic AND Flying Saucer covers and this has both!

I love the deep saturated colors on this one. This was one of the first non-Monster Atlas Books I bought. Cover by Everett, I think.

Creepy. The Atlas covers of this era seemed aimed towards an older Demo than young kids. I've read that early on a good portion of comic readers were adults (still is...) and I think Atlas aimed their covers at them. This doesn't seem to have much 'kid appeal'.

I've been posting lately in the Pre Hero Marvel topic, but I have some Atlas Books that seem more appropriate for this section.

I always liked Robot covers.

Getting this one was very memorable. It was the 1980's and my wife were visiting London. I had been in the UK for about a week traveling through southern England buying books and my wife had arrived for the 2nd part of the trip which was to be mostly sightseeing. We were trying to see if we could buy a piece of Brian Bolland Judge Dredd art (which we didn't end up doing) so we went to a small comic shop to see what they might have. It was Saturday and the place was jammed! The shop was a thin longish space with glass cases on one side. On that wall were hung vintage comics, T-Shirts, Posters etc. The shop also dealt in gaming miniatures and other stuff. And it was packed wall-to-wall with British teenagers. Hard to move and very loud as they compared painted War Hammer figurines, tussled etc! I saw this Book on the wall and worked my way to the glass display case and tried to ask the clerk about it. He couldn't hear me over the roar of the assembled Harry Potters, so I tried pointing. No luck in making myself clear. There was a small step ladder in front of the glass case so I got onto it to better point out which comic exactly I wanted. I had to lean forward quite precariously over the glass case. I pointed to this one. In an absolute stentorian voice the clerk roared out "GAGOOM! HE"S BUYING GAGOOM!! Instantly the room silenced and the entire store on all sides turned and stared at me, perched on the step ladder, my finger outstretched almost touching "Gagoom". I felt like I was an insect being examined under a microscope. Maybe that's how Aliens look at abductees before they are probed. At the very least I was going to be put in a giant wicker figure and burnt as a witch. They were silent taking it all in for about 5 or 10 seconds then abruptly resumed talking, my situation forgotten. Obviously I bought the Book though I didn't correct the Gagoom/Googam mistake-there was that witch burning option still out on the table after all, and have never forgotten any of it. Probably the High Point for that trip. My wife still laughs about it.

I suspect Marwood & I was there, in spirit if not in flesh.

If only all purchases had such strong memories attached!

On 6/4/2023 at 3:02 PM, Frisco Larson said:

WoW, that price is a bargain, I don't care WHERE you're from!!!   Seriously cool book and if you got it for that price, well done indeed!!!  

Back in the day...No longer possible obviously!

Stan Lee honing his alliteration chops.

Some of the stories apparently didn't lend themselves well to visually exciting depiction.