Albert Tatlock

Have we had this one? I forget which page the table of 10d and 1/- stamps is on.

Three theories: 1) These are some of the A & G items that the buyer is putting on the market, having bought them specifically to split up the lot and make a profit. 2) These are some of the items that the buyer found surplus to requirements and is now offloading, having decided to keep the rest. 3) These are a fresh batch being sold by Ian's family, who have decided not to consign them to A & G this time around. Did anyone at the time notice whether these items were included in the A & G sale? There were a couple of large heavy boxes, but no list. If these are from the A & G sale, they are possibly only a fraction of the original accumulation.

They are indeed from Ian Penman's collection. His name appears on this item:

Wonder whether this lot of fanzines, etc are the leftovers from the Ian Penman collection. No really good stuff there, if they are the Penman items, the choice items have been weeded out. https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/ancient-mariner-auctions/catalogue-id-ancien10004/lot-db39ff2f-fc49-404e-9b7e-afab00e47901

I prefer to think that the 10d oblong stamps were first applied to FF # 56, 57 and the rest of that shoal. The FF # 41 and # 51, I reckon, arrived later, when Goldstar were casting around for supplies after T & P were back up and running. There are quite a few examples of the Oct-Dec 1966 batch, but only oddments of earlier stuff. If Goldstar had been importing before the T & P hiatus, there should be more of their stamps around, also T & P were, at the time, fond of printing 'SOLE DISTRIBUTORS' on their stock, so there would have been repercussions if someone else were muscling in.

There was never a shortage of Marvels of this period until they unexpectedly went AWOL at the end of '66. Dock strikes came and dock strikes went, but the comics always seemed to get through somehow, I used to believe in the dock strike theory, it was prevalent among the little gang in my neck of the woods at the time, as we could think of no other rational explanation, but it has now joined its colleagues phlogiston and Piltdown Man in the dustbin of history.

And their daughter Jacqueline, who ran Ann Summers, survived her father by only a few weeks, passing away last month.

The FF # 51 would have been well out of date when it arrived, the # 41 even more so. Working on the assumption that Goldstar entered the fray when T & P unexpectedly dropped the ball in late '66, only to get their act back together after a couple of months, thereby shutting the porn baron out again, is it reasonable to assume that Mr Gold, having tasted a bit of extra wonga, did not want to leave the arena? I would guess that the out of date stuff was supplied to him by a Stateside scavenger rummaging the unsold warehouse items, but we will probably never fully untangle the history of this episode. Worth keeping an eye out for similar remnants, though.

Has this one cropped up before?

I recall that in one of my local newsagents, the newly-arrived batch of comics was not in a box, but in a little stack tied up with string, with grey cardboard top and bottom. The cardboard almost, but not quite protected the mags from being bitten into by the twine or string. That, however, was a small shop, and the bundle of comics numbered only a few dozen at most. Maybe larger outlets were deemed worthy of the expense of a box.

I have quizzed Mr Google regarding the Postal Act of 1879, and he has informed me thusly: The primary purpose of the 1879 Postal Act, or Mail Classification Act, was to create a distinction between second and third class mail. Material deemed second class could be sent at a cheaper rate of two cents per pound. To qualify, a periodical needed to be numbered and printed at least four times a year, printed in a known location, printed without a bound cover and have a legitimate list of subscribers, among other requirements. The 1879 act was simply meant to clarify and classify what belonged in the four classes of domestic mail. The U.S. Postal Service hoped it would bring additional revenue by limiting second class mail to periodicals. Beyond the cost issues, the act had a more significant effect: By lowering postage for periodicals, circulation in the magazine and newspaper industries exploded, helping spur changes in marketing and communications, as well as society overall. However, second class quickly became the fastest growing mail segment, eclipsing first class, and it soon became a burden on the postal service. To make matters worse the postal service also suspected that much of the mail being sent as second class did not qualify for the rate. So Lois Lane became a burden not only on the Caped Kryptonian, but also on Uncle Sam's revenue-raising efforts. This at a time when the Viet Cong had decided to wage a war of attrition on the decadent Western Imperialistic publications such as those we have been seduced by. No wonder the powers-that-be decided to do away with her subscribers.

This is all increasingly bad news for the completists. First we had our American cousins refusing to believe that the T & P UKPVs were not reprints, then having grudgingly to acknowledge, in the face of mounting evidence, that they were in fact first printings, thereby creating a hole in the collection. Add to that the additional expense of tracking down and purchasing the Miller variants. Then the Australian PVs. Not to mention the Newsstand/Direct sale dichotomy. Now the subscription variants, possibly one for each shore of the Atlantic. Where is it all going to end? The shelves will be groaning.

Why have a separate indicia for subscription copies? Why not just register for the second-class postal privilege on behalf of the title as a whole, then exercise it only as and when needed? Surely a postal official would not stand by in the subscription mailing room checking that only those few issues with the correct indicia were being packed, or be following the mailman to the doorstep of the subscriber, ready to pounce in case of a breach of the legislation passed in 1879. And what if a dealer were to send out a back issue second class? They did, after all, with their catalogues, so why not with the lower-priced items from their inventory? And what would the penalty for abuse of the privilege be? How long would he be serving? Seems to me that this whole issue is just a case of bureaucracy gone mad. Now we are saddled with the task of deciphering the arcane nuances of a bygone age, which will, I hope, keep us out of worse mischief.

Every time it looks like we might have got to information overload, the horizon recedes away from us.

Miss Smooth and Fragrant is involved, so we are told, with a mob of vicious assassins. As opposed to a mob of touchy-feely nurturing assassins?

Yes, the local markets were a godsend back in the day, before mail order dealers or specialist comic shops were dreamt of. When I had exhausted the holdings of nearby collectors known to me, I was at an impasse until I discovered various second-hand outlets. The most productive of these were the street markets in nearby (within bicycle range) districts. I found that the down-at-heel areas were the best, the children in the snootier suburbs presumably were not under as much pressure to recycle their comics, as mummy (more likely mater) would supply fresh funds on demand, so little Algernon or Tristan could lay in stocks at full cover price from the local newsagent, and deny others the chance to inherit their cast-offs. A great advantage was that the stallholders had not the slightest inkling of the resale value of their comics. As soon as the fourpence or sixpence had changed hands, the purchase, if it were a duplicate not needed for the collection, could be sold on for double, treble, or even more. Of course, these transactions were completed out of earshot of the mug on the stall. When I was building my first collection (of pre-hero Marvels), I never knew what was around the corner, as there were no in-house ads, so no way of knowing what a back issue in the gaps looked like until it crossed my path for the first time. I had Journey Into Mystery # 66 and Tales To Astonish # 18, but could only speculate on which issues told the tale of how the Hulk and Gorgilla first menaced mankind. I conjectured, however, that a prequel in say, Tales of Suspense would be continued in the same title, as all the examples I knew of fitted that pattern. No such problem with DC, as they printed ads for current publications, which whetted my desire to lay my grubby paws on them. Who could resist setting off in search of such gems as these?

I have no intention of growing up anytime soon. Lines, detention, bring it on! I scoff even at the now consigned to history leather strap.

But the Wagon Train Annual on back cover has a copyright date of 1959. August or September 1959, I reckon.

Speaking of dating comics from this period, it helps when the in-house ads give us some clues. No date on the comic itself here. The inside front cover has a list of titles scheduled to appear in October, but October of which year? Back cover has an ad for Wagon Train Annual, and there are several on ebay giving its date as 1959 (presumably late in the year during the runup to Christmas that year). Dealers' lists have helped to pin down the dates of the Annuals which bear no printed date, but even without that, there are the inscriptions found on the flyleaf along the lines of 'Happy Christmas 1958 to little Johnny from Auntie Doreen'. Eventually it might be possible to date all the T & P, etc. reprint titles. We do already know the earliest possible dates from the material reprinted.

There are many examples with US arrival dates written on, proof that they had been through the Stateside retail system.

A prize like this? If not, glad I didn't bother.

And we have now knocked up a double century. Look over your shoulder, Brian Lara.

There are indeed. This periodical existed in various incarnations and changes of title from Victorian times until 1956, when it appears to have finally folded. There should be copies at the British Library if only one of our intrepid band will volunteer. I made a similar suggestion before lockdown, but no-one has yet answered the call. They may be at Wetherby, but can be perused at St Pancras if the correct procedure is followed. https://issuu.com/newtradepublishing/docs/steve_070353_combined_pdf

An adult themed Charlton from 1964, regular comic size, not magazine size, 35 cents with a 2/- printed price from RV.

And another copy of Action # 257, slightly better nick, also bearing a 1 stamp.