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

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/18/2023 at 1:28 AM, OtherEric said:

Nice!  I've only got five Weird Tales with Conan stories, including the three parts of "Red Nails".  Not nearly as nice as your copy, though:

 

Nice set    I may have one of them but not the cover story. I really need to try to get that one as one of my "achievable goals" for collecting pulps when I got in was to get all the Conan Weird Tales cover stories. I have most of them, but not "Red Nails" - it's a beauty!

[Surfing Alien]

Moved our daughter off campus for the fall semester at U.F. this weekend Was tough to say good bye but I came back to this nice piece of unsung Hillman GGA in the mailbox. Fits roughly into my "Girl" set as well

Real Detective, February 1947.

 

 

Also this slight upgrade to the magnificent Maguire cover to Jim Thompson's 1st Edition PBO of "Wild Town", Signet 1461 from 1957. Signet mostly published reprints so this one has just about everything going for it and has really disappeared from the market.

 

 

[Randall Dowling]

On 8/19/2023 at 5:48 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Moved our daughter off campus for the fall semester at U.F. this weekend Was tough to say good bye but I came back to this nice piece of unsung Hillman GGA in the mailbox. Fits roughly into my "Girl" set as well

Real Detective, February 1947.

 

 

Also this slight upgrade to the magnificent Maguire cover to Jim Thompson's 1st Edition PBO of "Wild Town", Signet 1461 from 1957. Signet mostly published reprints so this one has just about everything going for it and has really disappeared from the market.

 

 

Nice grabs, SA!  Wild Town is a very tough book in higher grades and, to my eye, is a top 20 Maguire cover. 

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/19/2023 at 6:51 PM, Randall Dowling said:

Nice grabs, SA!  Wild Town is a very tough book in higher grades and, to my eye, is a top 20 Maguire cover. 

This is a book that I have, what I call "Fallen behind on the chase" - meaning I've wanted a very high grade copy for a long time, but I kept not wanting to pay the freight on a very high grade copy, hoping for a bargain to land in my lap. Because I used to see nice copies for $50-100 four or five years ago, but never pulled the trigger, looking for a bargain, but it never happened, and now, any copy is $100 and really nice ones not coming to market   

So I'm chasing it but keep falling further behind or "Falling behind on the chase" for not ponying up when the opportunity arose as it keeps getting harder/more expensive to find.

I get two lessons out of this - trust my instincts, if I love the book for many reasons, so will other collectors, second lesson, pony up if you can when you see a nice one it may keep getting further away from you

Edited August 19, 2023 by Surfing Alien

[Pat Calhoun]

back in the late '80s it was still possible to score vintage pbs at general bookstores and even thrift shops. Nonetheless, walking into a Salvation Army and seeing this on top of the bookcase on a little one-book wire rack with no indication that the asking price was more than one quarter of a US dollar was a collecting epiphany of a monumental nature. Paid that price in a deadpan delirium and it still shines on one of my super shelves.

Edited August 20, 2023 by Pat Calhoun

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/19/2023 at 7:55 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

back in the late '80s it was still possible to score vintage pbs at general bookstores and even thrift shops. Nonetheless, walking into a Salvation Army and seeing this on top of the bookcase on a little one-book wire rack with no indication that the asking price was no more than one quarter of a US dollar was a collecting epiphany of a monumental nature. Paid that price in a deadpan delirium and it still shines on one of my super shelves.

It sang to you then and sings to us now. Some books you just know are great the first time you see 'em

[alecholland]

Some new additions this week. 

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/19/2023 at 6:51 PM, Randall Dowling said:

Wild Town is a very tough book in higher grades and, to my eye, is a top 20 Maguire cover. 

Top 5 to me, along with, what I consider to be it's companion and superior,  probably #1 in my Maguire list... "The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah"

Signet paid better and I have no doubt Maguire wanted to impress the art director at this point in time. What a masterpiece of pb art it is...

 

[damonwad]

On 8/20/2023 at 3:20 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Top 5 to me, along with, what I consider to be it's companion and superior,  probably #1 in my Maguire list... "The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah"

Signet paid better and I have no doubt Maguire wanted to impress the art director at this point in time. What a masterpiece of pb art it is...

 

What a great cover that I somehow didn't even notice before. Very pretty copy too.

[PopKulture]

I was digging through a fairly unorganized box of paperbacks today and decided to capture a few random books. Once upon a time, almost all my books were unsorted as I liked to be surprised with variety while browsing. However, after you get north of umpteen boxes, you’re bound to start winding up with duplicates, and not always the good kind (upgrades). Over the past few years, I’ve organized most of the bigger publishers, but a few boxes like this remain. Some of these books I’ve had for over forty years. You know how in your mind everything you own is mint? Well, now I’ve been again soundly disavowed of that notion. Many of these were flea market or used bookstore pick-ups, back in the days when you were just happy to find a copy. Waiting for the right copy was much like waiting for a bus that never came. 

[PopKulture]

First up is this trio of Avati covers. Just ridiculous stuff, really. 

[PopKulture]

Next up, an important novel with a Jonas cover:

[PopKulture]

Here’s an oddball:

[PopKulture]

Here are two great covers from the historical romance/adventure category: 

[PopKulture]

Another Avati with a striking cover, and “double volume” is right: this obscure edition is about an inch thick. It looks apocalyptic.

Edited August 21, 2023 by PopKulture

[PopKulture]

And speaking of girth, this Avon is as thick as a 2x4 (which is an inch and a half thick - go figure). What a lovely contortionist she is, and you just know this is an Avon because the durned cover is pulling back…  

Edited August 21, 2023 by PopKulture

[PopKulture]

And last and maybe least, an early Penguin mystery with a Hoffman cover. I can tell you from experience, finding one of these in a used bookstore back then was quite exciting - not L.A. Bantam level exciting, mind you - but a sure-fire way to move the needle towards a good day.

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/21/2023 at 6:42 PM, PopKulture said:

You know how in your mind everything you own is mint? Well, now I’ve been again soundly disavowed of that notion.

Most of these look pretty nice to me. I don't think your memory is as bad as you think

[Surfing Alien]

Sorted out pretty much all of my drug books this weekend. I know I need "Hooked" by Will Oursler but have most of the other well known American ones otherwise.  "Reefer Boy" is British, which is a whole 'nuther can of worms.

 

[Pat Calhoun]

drugs from another planet

Edited August 23, 2023 by Pat Calhoun