Comics, Pulps, and Paperbacks: Why such a discrepancy in values? 25 25

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/15/2022 at 10:05 PM, flashlites said:

Funny you should mention Beacon's.... I just got rid of a few...I'm not sure what they are really worth but they seem to go for about 10-15$. Kinda wanted to keep them but I am downsizing so I let them go, just one left now. They are very cool! A little on the .... how shall I say... 'spirited side'...I got a warning from ebay. I'm like geeze these are from the 50's. How raunchy could they be?

They're kind of all over the place - depending on condition and the issues. The early ones have always been considered "classic" but almost all of them have covers re-cycled from Uni-Books and other digests - some classic - some are kind of "meh" for me. Still there are quite a few true classics and some pretty costly - Willeford books for example.

The later ones are very interesting - similar to the Monarchs - many of the late Beacon's have covers by the great good girl artists like Maguire, Johnson, Stanley, Chiriaka, DeSoto etc. but almost none are signed and they have to be known and attributed for anyone to know who they are. We identified 12 by Johnson on our recently published checklist for example. I'm a buyer all day long at $10-15 for high grade copies on the late ones with great art. The one you showed looks like it is possibly DeSoto by the woman's face - but I'd have to have a much better scan and get some other opinions.

Here's a copy of one of my favorites by Ray Johnson

 

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Surfing Alien

[Pat Calhoun]

surf has spelled the author's name correctly in the above post: it was Beacon that went awry

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/16/2022 at 4:47 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

surf has spelled the author's name correctly in the above post: it was Beacon that went awry

"Still there are quite a few true classics and some pretty costly - Willeford books for example."

Thanks Pat.. perfect timing  A rare book and part of the fun of collecting Beacons!

Edited August 17, 2022 by Surfing Alien

[Blorgon scum]

I don't think I have seen the film adaptation of the book.  This edition of The Circus of Dr. Lao is from 1964.

[Pat Calhoun]

The film is classic: saw it in movie house (or drive in) back in the day and then on TV a couple of years ago. The novel is worthy as well...

[BakerFanOne]

[BakerFanOne]

[BakerFanOne]

[Book Guy]

On 8/17/2022 at 10:01 AM, Pat Calhoun said:

The film is classic: saw it in movie house (or drive in) back in the day and then on TV a couple of years ago. The novel is worthy as well...

The Book is GREAT! "Was it a Russian or was it a Bear?"

[OtherEric]

Three from ECCC today.  The D-Series is just a minor fun fill-in, the other two I consider fairly major pickups, particularly in really nice shape like these are:

[pmpknface]

On 8/18/2022 at 11:51 AM, BakerFanOne said:

Ok, I need one of these!

[Pat Calhoun]

another Au$$ie SF PB in: 1955 reprinting a novella that ran in SF+ in 1953. It's the only one in a series of 8 that isn't a 'clone' of US or UK books. 114 pages saddle-stitched (2 staples and folded -like a slightly thinner Avon Fantasy Reader) with a fun little logo. It's a bright, clean, and solid copy. BC ad is for one of those mags that you 'buy for the articles'...

[Blorgon scum]

I think I saw this book posted earlier.  This is an Ace paperback from 1979.

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/19/2022 at 1:28 PM, Blorgon scum said:

I think I saw this book posted earlier.  This is an Ace paperback from 1979.

I posted the first paperback edition, Ace A-8, earlier with the Jack Gaughan cover - this one appears to be the second Ace edition. ISFDB says this cool cover is by Walter Velez who I don't know much about although he did a ton of covers starting in 1979. I recognize a few from the list on ISFDB.

[Surfing Alien]

Speaking of Ace's, I just got back from a few days off taking our daughter back to UF and there was a nice box waiting at the door   Included were a whole bunch of Ace books that I got very reasonably. The condition was mixed but there were a bunch that I needed, including D-7, the last of the "Big" early doubles from the 1st series that I needed, the scarce "Vice, Inc." and three PKD firsts

 

[OtherEric]

One book from ECCC today.

[Surfing Alien]

A couple more nice ones in today

The Big Caper by Lionel White, Gold Medal 470. First Edition, First Print with cover art by Barye Phillips. His second Gold Medal novel. With this pickup I'm nearly complete on the early Lionel White pb's. This one has been really tough to find in any kind of decent condition so I had to pony up for this one among some pretty good competition...

I keep picking up nice UK editions lately... partly because I have so many of my USA wants/needs and the beast needs to be fed  Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming, First Print of the First Pan paperback. Very nice cover art by Rex Archer, which was what drew me in, and the condition and color strike were excellent.

[flashlites]

On 8/19/2022 at 6:59 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Speaking of Ace's, I just got back from a few days off taking our daughter back to UF and there was a nice box waiting at the door   Included were a whole bunch of Ace books that I got very reasonably. The condition was mixed but there were a bunch that I needed, including D-7, the last of the "Big" early doubles from the 1st series that I needed, the scarce "Vice, Inc." and three PKD firsts

 

The PKD's are soooooo cooool! How much to they usually go for? Indecently if you are a PKD fan did you ever notice here on the boards it wont let you type out his last name? They censor it for some reason.

Edited August 20, 2022 by flashlites

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/20/2022 at 3:26 PM, flashlites said:

The PKD's are soooooo cooool! How much to they usually go for? Indecently if you are a PKD fan did you ever notice here on the boards it wont let you type out his last name? They censor it for some reason.

Yeah, they don't like the "D" word around here lol. So we call him PKD. Prices are all over the place for him (and vintage paperbacks in general) Booksellers price truly Fine/Very Fine copies of his first edition paperbacks at $30 and up - The Man in the High Castle 1st PB is tough to find in high grade and I've seen them go for $100+ at auction. But you can get lucky from an inexperienced seller (or get them in a lot) on ebay for a couple of bucks - *if* you get lucky. The Ace's are fairly common so you see quite a few of them, although, like all vintage pb's, they are pretty scare in unread, uncreased condition.

[flashlites]

On 8/21/2022 at 9:12 AM, Surfing Alien said:

Yeah, they don't like the "D" word around here lol. So we call him PKD. Prices are all over the place for him (and vintage paperbacks in general) Booksellers price truly Fine/Very Fine copies of his first edition paperbacks at $30 and up - The Man in the High Castle 1st PB is tough to find in high grade and I've seen them go for $100+ at auction. But you can get lucky from an inexperienced seller (or get them in a lot) on ebay for a couple of bucks - *if* you get lucky. The Ace's are fairly common so you see quite a few of them, although, like all vintage pb's, they are pretty scare in unread, uncreased condition.

I may have to go hunting then, thanks so much for the info!