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

[Randall Dowling]

On 12/11/2023 at 5:01 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Every once in a while you take a gamble on something no one knows what it is and it pays off. Just got in this exquisite piece of Gothic PB original art.

It's the cover art to "Shadow Of Polperro" by Frances Cowen, Ace Books No. 760181 published in 1973.

 

I've figured out that the artist is Norman Adams, who I had never heard of because he is in a later period of pb artists than I usually collected, however his Trompe L'oeil techniques are incredible.  He was a commercial Illustrator in New York starting around 1959 through the mid-70's when he left commercial art (and New York) to become a highly respected wild life painter. Here's a link to a bio about him:

http://www.normanadams.org/

He had covers on many major magazines, including the moon landing cover for Reader's Digest in July 1969, which I thought was incredibly cool.

Here's a nice Flickr page with a whole bunch of his stuff:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/illustrator_normanadams/

 

The picture can't do justice to his work, the details are so fine, it's mind boggling. There is almost no depth to the brush strokes so this is either watercolor or gouache applied in many super thin layers and likely the reason it wasn't thought to be a painting, the surface appears to look like a print. It is a painting on illustration board with all the usual commercial illustration tags and scribbles on the back of the board.

I was struck by the image itself anyway because I love good gothic covers and this one has all the elements, including an excellent portrait, far larger and more detailed than you usually see, as well as a great castle-like manse and gates (noticeably cut down in publication)   It probably wouldn't fetch big money but I love it and the whole journey of discovery

Here's a pic of the PB, not something I'd usually pick up but now I gotta get one.

That's an awesome grab, SA!!! 

[Darwination]

I've noticed this one a few times on the Bay, as an iconic LBJ face to face with a hippie painting.  I don't doubt some of his Cabella's catalogs were around my dad's house, either.  Looks like it's in great shape, are you gonna reframe?

[Surfing Alien]

On 12/11/2023 at 11:35 PM, Darwination said:

Looks like it's in great shape, are you gonna reframe?

Love the LBJ cover 

The paint condition is bright and bold. I actually think I may have the frame touched if it works. None of the color changes in the pics are actual chips, just spots where the finish is worn. It has the period look and is definitely the original frame from a pro framer in NY only a short distance from the Associated Artists studio he was repped by.

[ThothAmon]

Upcoming pulp auction at HA and I’ve got my eye on a few, including this one. I long ago realized that nothing flies under the radar at HA so discussing in advance doesn’t worry me. My guess is it hammers at least 20x where it currently stands. 
 

[Surfing Alien]

So I'm always a bit jealous/nostalgic when OtherEric and some others post their bookstore finds so I decided to give a "paperback exchange" type place near me a shot, even though from the outside it looks like a strip mall warren of "Goosebumps" and James Patterson young adult trade books. Well I was pleasantly surprised to find at least a few pre 1980's pbs in there and took home this pretty decent Bantam, Fredric Browns "Space on My Hands" with the classic Charles Binger cover. Not rare but it was well worth it just to browse and smell some pulp. I guess I'll have to make it a stop in the future as they had some areas I didn't get to but ran out of time.

 

Also received my purchase from JimJum's mixed sale. This book was so esoteric, and the cover striking enough,  it just appealed to me. It reminds me of the Monarch Human Behavior series in that it strives to look like a more legitimate literary effort than the regular sleaze the publisher put out. It's really a kind of wacky beatnik fantasy about the "Good Old" beatnik days in Malibu California lol. 

Also in, I re-acquired a copy of one of my favorite books I used to have, the Arkham 1st of A.E. Van Vogt's "Slan". I loved the story of Jommy Cross as a teenager. I started reading the first chapter again and remembered why, you just get thrown into his terrible struggle head first...

Finally, I got my buddy who restores furniture to come over and work a little with his magical restoration pens on the frame of the Adams painting. You'd never know those wear spots were there and she looks 100% better now and ready to go on a wall 

Sorry about the angle but this is the only way I could photograph it without my big mug reflecting in the glare

Edited December 15, 2023 by Surfing Alien

[Pat Calhoun]

[OtherEric]

[Surfing Alien]

Instead of Friday fun, I'm gonna post a throwback to a convo we had on here 3 or 4 years ago about early Avons & lamination, because I have recently come into copies of Avon nn#1 & nn#2 with intact lamination Yeah, the lam is scruffy (and the copies aren't minty), but it's there on these first prints and should pretty much put to rest the question whether 1st prints were laminated. They were, but it was just such terrible, paper thin lamination that it has shredded off most copies entirely, leaving lamination-less copies out there, looking good, but not in their original state. They're not GGA or highly collected titles but historically important as the first major competitor to the Pocket Books line in 1941. I imagine there are pristine copies out there somewhere with perfect lamination but I haven't seen any. Odd to value, because in todays market, only geeks like us are probably even interested at all in them

[jimjum12]

I got introduced to this one in one of Surfing Alien's sales threads. Apretty copy is a thing of beauty.GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

...and another ...

[jimjum12]

This one has it's charm...GOD BLESS ... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Darwination]

Love that book.

[themagicrobot]

The US edition of this book sold 600,000 copies it seems. Mr Keel is best known for the Mothman Prophecies though. The original book had Al Jaffee artwork on the cover so I assume the interior artwork was his too? This UK edition, also from 1966 has a particularly odd cover. "Camp" seems to have been all the rage in the mid 1960s

 

 

[Pat Calhoun]

double header for the thread: ordered a 'Fast One' and a 'Fickle Finger': I appreciate the inspiration...

[pmpknface]

Saw this, thought I'd share here:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/raymond-chandler-lost-poem-rediscovered-180983437/

[Surfing Alien]

"Blood Money" by Dashiell Hammett. Dell Books No. 53. 1944. Hammett's 1st Mass Market small pb. Iconic Tommy Guns n Gold cover art by Gerald Gregg.

A pretty vibrant copy. Colors and gloss on this book are usually washed out and dulled.

[Surfing Alien]

On 12/16/2023 at 2:50 PM, jimjum12 said:

I got introduced to this one in one of Surfing Alien's sales threads. Apretty copy is a thing of beauty.GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

...and another ...

James, to me, there's nothing in the vintage bookmaking world, quite as infectious as a high grade early 1950's Avon paperback with a large striking cover subject and full lamination & gloss 

[Surfing Alien]

 

[Darwination]

My only pb I've noticed with lamination (very bad, thin lamination) is a Signet?

[Pat Calhoun]

This one's on my short list for the 'Great American Novel'. First published in 1935, Penguin-Signet put out the first PB edition in May 1948 due to the book's growing reputation in Europe as an enduring classic.

 

[Surfing Alien]

On 12/20/2023 at 11:05 PM, Darwination said:

My only pb I've noticed with lamination (very bad, thin lamination) is a Signet?

All of the major publishers experimented with it at one point or another and they all ended up giving it up. I can't think of any that were still doing it by the late 1950's. It really looks fantastic with such high gloss when it is fully intact but when it goes it can get fugly quick.