I finally got my grail. Thought it would never, and COULD never, happen!

[OtherEric]

And thank YOU for letting Steve get the book. This is a case where I think almost everybody would agree a very rare item got into the hands of the person who it most belonged with. Steve's SOTI collection and research is important, and letting him get the book where a lot of collectors might have kept it for themselves is a genuinely good thing. So, again, thank you.

[sfcityduck]

For me, the fun was in hunting for and finding the book. Once I had it, I felt I had two choices: (1) Justify to myself keeping the book by jumping deep into collecting SOTI and pre-Code comics or (2) find it a better home. I thought it deserved a better home more than I wanted to take on another collecting goal.

 

After I got some interest in the book and and a sense of its value to others, I came to the conclusion that there were only two collectors who I thought deserved the book based on what I know of their collections. I reached out to both. Steve was immediately interested. He'd been seeking the book for years and run "want ad" posts on this site.

 

The other collector, to my surprise, just didn't recognize how rare and desirable an item it was. Despite that the book would have fit his collection to a "T," he just didn't seem to appreciate the book.

 

I had the opportunity to sell the book to others with no demonstrated interest in SOTI material, but I didn't want to sell to a flipper or someone who didn't have a demonstrated passion for the book. It just felt right to sell to Steve, even though I

left money on the table. No one deserved the book more than him.

 

I'm really glad it has a good home.

[originalisbest]

For me, the fun was in hunting for and finding the book. Once I had it, I felt I had two choices: (1) Justify to myself keeping the book by jumping deep into collecting SOTI and pre-Code comics or (2) find it a better home. I thought it deserved a better home more than I wanted to take on another collecting goal.

 

After I got some interest in the book and and a sense of its value to others, I came to the conclusion that there were only two collectors who I thought deserved the book based on what I know of their collections. I reached out to both. Steve was immediately interested. He'd been seeking the book for years and run "want ad" posts on this site.

 

The other collector, to my surprise, just didn't recognize how rare and desirable an item it was. Despite that the book would have fit his collection to a "T," he just didn't seem to appreciate the book.

 

I had the opportunity to sell the book to others with no demonstrated interest in SOTI material, but I didn't want to sell to a flipper or someone who didn't have a demonstrated passion for the book. It just felt right to sell to Steve, even though I

left money on the table. No one deserved the book more than him.

 

I'm really glad it has a good home.

 

Cool thing to do! Nothing wrong with leaving money on the table when you do it on purpose to be nice, and your only reward is the satisfaction of having done it. Even more than nothing wrong, I'd have to say there's everything right about doing that.

[SOTIcollector]

For me, the fun was in hunting for and finding the book. Once I had it, I felt I had two choices: (1) Justify to myself keeping the book by jumping deep into collecting SOTI and pre-Code comics or (2) find it a better home. I thought it deserved a better home more than I wanted to take on another collecting goal.

 

After I got some interest in the book and and a sense of its value to others, I came to the conclusion that there were only two collectors who I thought deserved the book based on what I know of their collections. I reached out to both. Steve was immediately interested. He'd been seeking the book for years and run "want ad" posts on this site.

 

The other collector, to my surprise, just didn't recognize how rare and desirable an item it was. Despite that the book would have fit his collection to a "T," he just didn't seem to appreciate the book.

 

I had the opportunity to sell the book to others with no demonstrated interest in SOTI material, but I didn't want to sell to a flipper or someone who didn't have a demonstrated passion for the book. It just felt right to sell to Steve, even though I

left money on the table. No one deserved the book more than him.

 

I'm really glad it has a good home.

 

Cool thing to do! Nothing wrong with leaving money on the table when you do it on purpose to be nice, and your only reward is the satisfaction of having done it. Even more than nothing wrong, I'd have to say there's everything right about doing that.

 

Thanks, everybody, for the amazingly kind words.

 

Since starting this thread and getting such great congratulations from acquaintances and strangers, I've sort of felt like I need to prepare some sort of Academy Awards-style speech. I know it's a cliché to rattle off a long list of "I'd like to thank..." that nobody really cares about. But this isn't MY accomplishment, really. I couldn't have put all these books together if not for some amazing help along the way.

 

I certainly appreciate all the help I've gotten from people who sold me books, contributed information, and aided my search all these years. I see many of them in this thread or elsewhere on the boards. I'd name them all if I could, but that would be impossible.

 

A particularly heartfelt thanks, of course, to Alec (SFCityDuck) for allowing me to buy this incredible book. I feel that there were other collectors equally as worth and with deeper pockets, so words fail me when I try to indicate how grateful I am. Alec,you are a true gentleman, and I hope we some day get to share that Thai dinner we discussed.

 

Also a big public thanks for the love of my life, my lovely bride. I'm sure some spouses would have frowned on a husband's desire to spend a considerable amount of money on a single comic book. And even more money on the whole collection. But Mimi has been nothing but supportive on my entire journey to complete this collection, and I really, really could not have done it without her. This may sound like blasphemy to some, but in the grand scheme of things, comic books really are not all that important. They always do and always should take a back seat to the important things like family. As grateful as I am to have the comic book collection I've dreamed of, that pales in comparison to how grateful to have such an amazing and supportive partner in life.

 

Uh oh. I'm getting a sign from the director that I've gone over my allotted time and the music's fading in. And I think I hear snoring in the audience. I guess I've babbled on long enough. I'm going to go read some old comic books now.

 

 

 

 

 

[RareHighGrade]

It would really be awesome if you could use this thread to post scans of the specific scenes that Wertham objected to in the various books, although I recognize that would be a rather prodigious task.

[SOTIcollector]

It would really be awesome if you could use this thread to post scans of the specific scenes that Wertham objected to in the various books, although I recognize that would be a rather prodigious task.

 

A little of that has been done... there are a bunch of covers in this SOTI thread, and examples of what Wertham was talking about in Jungle #98:

Seduction of the Innocent thread started by EsquireComics, with lots of great contributions by Twistty1, Adamstrange, and others.

 

I'd like to add some choice ones when I get a chance, but I won't promise because I don't know when that chance will be.

 

 

[ianrush95]

what does parade of pleasure look like is it a run of comics

[originalisbest]

"Parade of Pleasure" was an English book, somewhat their parallel with Seduction of the Innocent, and the comics mentioned within it are similarly sought after for that reason. Its cover can be seen in SOTIcollector's sigline.

[SOTIcollector]

"Parade of Pleasure" was an English book, somewhat their parallel with Seduction of the Innocent, and the comics mentioned within it are similarly sought after for that reason. Its cover can be seen in SOTIcollector's sigline.

 

Correct. Parade of Pleasure is a book written by Geoffrey Wagner. It was published in 1954 in England, and then in 1955 in the United States. A couple years ago, Pure Imagination published a trade paperback that reprints the text, but not the illustrations, from POP.

 

POP criticized not just comic books, but also magazines, sleazy paperbacks, and movies as well. For photos and a list of all the comics referred to in POP (including a couple not noted in Overstreet), check out the Parade of Pleasure page at SeductionOfTheInnocent.org .