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VINTAGE GGA Tawdry Paperbacks-Show Us Yours

Started by eccomic,

65 posts in this topic

Doohickamabob

Doohickamabob

Posted
Posted

I'm sorry I missed this thread when most of this stuff was posted. Is there a regular place for all the paperback collectors to post about these sorts of books? (Other boards besides CGC?)

 

Today I met a local eBayer who has started selling his entire collection of rare and vintage paperbacks. He invited me over and let me peruse more than 5 big bookshelves that were stacked two-deep with paperbacks, grouped by publisher and put into numerical publication order. I only had time to look through a couple shelves. Amazing collection.

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pmpknface

pmpknface

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I love this thread!!! I only have a few of these because of the LB Cole covers, and they are either more romantic or horror related. But I've enjoyed seeing books like these in my searches. If anyone has more I'd love to see them!

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Hepcat

Hepcat

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When a whole slew of them showed up on Ebay last year, I had to get a couple for the great art, like Suburb Wanton and Arrividerci Ava. Here's a collage of some of the other one's that were listed

 

XXSLEAZEBOOKS.jpg

 

Nice! Didn't you get any of the tawdry ones though?

 

???

 

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Doohickamabob

Doohickamabob

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Here's a follow-up on the local collector I met who specializes in vintage paperbacks:

 

This man and his wife are retirement-age and I found them very charming. They are looking at selling them all off. The man has an enormous collection of vintage paperback books, and because he has worked so hard to accumulate the books, he has let his wife take charge in selling, since he tends to have a hard time letting the books go.

 

The man took up collecting paperbacks as a hobby for many of the reasons we all do -- it's a fun quest, the history is cool, the artwork is cool, there are many challenges, there's real value in many of the books, etc. From the sound of it, he started really collecting in the 1980s, and got to know many big names in the paperback collection world. He has a lot of stories about great finds, such as stumbling across collections of books worth as much as $200 each that were being sold for only $1 apiece, etc.

 

From the sound of it, it was a small collection that grew a bit out of control, but his wife tolerated it because it was harmless and relatively inexpensive (and even possibly lucrative). This guy is a walking encyclopedia of vintage paperback book knowledge. He can talk at length about any publisher, and knows a lot about the artists and authors. His collecting goal was to complete full runs of EVERY book by EVERY vintage-era publisher -- even several of the more obscure, low-distribution ones -- and from the sound of it, he succeeded on several fronts.

 

He and his wife estimate they have as many as 10,000 vintage paperbacks. There were five bookshelves stacked two layers deep with books all in paperback-sized mylar sleeves, and then there were dozens of boxes stacked in the garage.

 

Of course, when I saw this, I got starry-eyed and wanted to rummage through all the books. But time was limited and so I only looked through a couple shelves, choosing to browse some of the lurid digest-sized books with hubba-hubba GGA covers (publishers like Exotic, Ecstasy, Venus, etc.) Eventually we made a deal and I bought a few. I am really glad I didn't have more time to look through more of the books...I might be broke now.

 

Alas, it turns out the man already sold some of the really high-end books to his collector friends: His copy of "Reform School Girl," for example. It sounds like he might have had a William Lee (William S. Burroughs) copy of "Junkie," and a "Case of the Dancing Sandwiches," and some of those other high-value original paperback books, but they were the first to go. Oh well, I couldn't have afforded them anyway. He also has a lot of really early sci-fi and mystery stuff, with the creepier style old covers.

 

Now they are gearing up to figure out how to sell all the books, possibly on eBay. They aren't sure what to do because who will buy full runs, or portions of full runs, of certain vintage paperback books? What is the market for that? Is there an equivalent message board to the CGC forums that is just for people who collective vintage paperbacks? They don't want to let things go for a song, they want to get something in the range of market value, but they also don't want to end up holding out for years and not being able to sell.

 

Anyway, I thought I would share this story because I was so impressed with the collection and the decades of effort that went into it. From the sound of it, the man and his wife have a full life of other hobbies and interests and careers, with a good family, so it's not like the hobby overtook his life or anything. He was just very focused on something he enjoyed in his off-hours and did a good job of pursuing it. They were a lot of fun to talk to and I kinda want to help them figure out how to sell their books, though ultimately it's none of my business. But I hope they figure out how to get good value out of selling their books, because they deserve it. Plus the man is great lover of good beers, and gave me a frosty bottle of this kona-coffee-tinged Hawaiian beer that was delicious.

 

Some pictures:

 

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132962.jpg.1803b938188c595ec7e888058a2db677.jpg

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Hepcat

Hepcat

Posted
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Here's a follow-up on the local collector I met who specializes in vintage paperbacks:

 

This man and his wife are retirement-age and I found them very charming.... The man has an enormous collection of vintage paperback books,,,,

 

So did you ask them whether they had read them all?

 

???

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Doohickamabob

Doohickamabob

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Here's a follow-up on the local collector I met who specializes in vintage paperbacks: This man and his wife are retirement-age and I found them very charming.... The man has an enormous collection of vintage paperback books,,,,

So did you ask them whether they had read them all?

I asked if they'd read many of them, and it sounds like he did read quite a bit but not the expensive ones, out of concerns about condition. But he indicated he spends a couple hours every day reading (with a preference toward sci-fi) and the wife is an even more avid reader, having worked as an English teacher and apparently having a steel-trap memory for plots and characters. I don't think she was bragging or anything, just stating this matter of factly.

 

Plus, have you ever tried reading some of the more lurid-titled books from the 1940s and '50s? I read a bit of "Men Call Her 'TRAMP'" and it isn't nearly as saucy as the title and cover image would indicate. The paperbacks in the 1960s are another story entirely.

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