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

[Surfing Alien]

Just one today but she's a doozy, near the top of the drug/jd heap ...

 

[damonwad]

A couple Ace Doubles. 

I read the Norton books (including Sargasso of Space) last week and they were fun reads.

 

Also, a classic that I'll re-read someday and the new "fattest" paperback in my collection (570 pages).

 

 

[Surfing Alien]

1 hour ago, damonwad said:

A couple Ace Doubles. 

I read the Norton books (including Sargasso of Space) last week and they were fun reads.

 

Also, a classic that I'll re-read someday and the new "fattest" paperback in my collection (570 pages).

 

 

Pretty copies 

I need to re-read "Grapes" myself, when I don't have a semester end deadline to enjoy it more   I think my fattest is either Dune or one of the Signet Ayn Rand books, i'll have to check them.

Love Norton's yarns, they're great adventures.

Robert Silverberg, is a whole other level in my mind. His early books are fun reads but starting with "Thorns" in 1967, through "The Stochastic Man" in 1976, he wrote a body of work that is mind boggling in variety, originality and character depth. They're very psychological and soul-baring, not swashbuckling adventures, so not everyones cup of tea but I love them. "A Time of Changes", "The Book of Skulls" and "Dying Inside" are my favorites.

Edited September 7, 2020 by Surfing Alien

[damonwad]

25 minutes ago, Surfing Alien said:

Pretty copies 

I need to re-read "Grapes" myself, when I don't have a semester end deadline to enjoy it more   I think my fattest is either Dune or one of the Signet Ayn Rand books, i'll have to check them.

Love Norton's yarns, they're great adventures.

Robert Silverberg, is a whole other level in my mind. His early books are fun reads but starting with "Thorns" in 1967, through "The Stochastic Man" in 1976, he wrote a body of work that is mind boggling in variety, originality and character depth. They're very psychological and soul-baring, not swashbuckling adventures, so not everyones cup of tea but I love them. "A Time of Changes", "The Book of Skulls" and "Dying Inside" are my favorites.

Thanks for the info. I haven't read any of Silverberg's books yet but I'll check out one of the one's you mentioned.

Also, I'd be interested in seeing how many pages the Dune or Rand's have. Anyone have a War and Peace pb?

 

[PopKulture]

4 hours ago, damonwad said:

Thanks for the info. I haven't read any of Silverberg's books yet but I'll check out one of the one's you mentioned.

Also, I'd be interested in seeing how many pages the Dune or Rand's have. Anyone have a War and Peace pb?

 

Hemingway's "Men at War" is a fairly thick book, some 600+ pages if I recall correctly. I don't have my Signet "Fountainhead" handy, so I'm no help there (although I guess any one of us could just look it up, but that seems like cheating!).  

Edited September 8, 2020 by PopKulture

[OtherEric]

4 hours ago, damonwad said:

Thanks for the info. I haven't read any of Silverberg's books yet but I'll check out one of the one's you mentioned.

Also, I'd be interested in seeing how many pages the Dune or Rand's have. Anyone have a War and Peace pb?

 

I think Dune is only about 500 pages in paperback.  The thickest vintage paperback I can ever recall owning (and it's not that old, late 60's or so) was Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.  I want to say it was around 1500 hundred pages? 

Just try finding a copy without a extremely rolled and cracked spine; I'm pretty sure there's no way to actually read it without causing some significant damage.

[damonwad]

1 hour ago, PopKulture said:

Hemingway's "Men at War" is a fairly thick book, some 600+ pages if I recall correctly. I don't have my Signet "Fountainhead" handy, so I'm no help there (although I guess any one of us could just look it up, but that seems like cheating!).  

No cheating allowed.

[damonwad]

35 minutes ago, OtherEric said:

I think Dune is only about 500 pages in paperback.  The thickest vintage paperback I can ever recall owning (and it's not that old, late 60's or so) was Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.  I want to say it was around 1500 hundred pages? 

Just try finding a copy without a extremely rolled and cracked spine; I'm pretty sure there's no way to actually read it without causing some significant damage.

I'd like to see a copy of that book. That's huge for a pb.

[OtherEric]

4 minutes ago, damonwad said:

I'd like to see a copy of that book. That's huge for a pb.

My copy is deep in storage, but I think I saw a copy at a local used bookstore a couple weeks ago.  I'll look next time I'm there and see if I can get a photo.

I would post my Dune paperback as well, but that's in storage too.  So a couple different Dune images instead:

(Don't be too impressed, the HC is a book club edition I lucked across a few years ago.  I need to get a dust jacket protector for it ASAP, though.)

[damonwad]

6 minutes ago, OtherEric said:

My copy is deep in storage, but I think I saw a copy at a local used bookstore a couple weeks ago.  I'll look next time I'm there and see if I can get a photo.

I would post my Dune paperback as well, but that's in storage too.  So a couple different Dune images instead:

(Don't be too impressed, the HC is a book club edition I lucked across a few years ago.  I need to get a dust jacket protector for it ASAP, though.)

Even if a BC edition, still very cool. 

And I don't own many magazines but those pre-book Dune Analog's would be some I'd love to get. Great looking copy.

[Surfing Alien]

On 5/18/2019 at 4:43 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Picked up the nicest copies of these two that i've seen in years. Must've been unread.

Most copies are beat to hell with an occasional survivor that looks okay, but never see them with unbroken spines.

Pages are white as well. Nice Avati cover on The Fountainhead.

Here's an old post with the Rand books - I dug them out and The Fountainhead is 715 pages, Atlas Shrugged is 1084 - all of the Signet "Triple's" are pretty fat, I recall James Jones' "From Here to Eternity" being one of them.  OtherEric is right about the Ace 1st pb of Dune - I think it's about 500 pages. I don't have a copy of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich but I remember seeing it and it may be the fattest standard commercial paperback title. I'm only counting standard commercial pb's because of course there are super fat trade paperbacks like the English literature anthologies used for college lit classes that are five inches thick and probably 2000 pages, but we're talking vintage pb's here.

[Surfing Alien]

I like how Pocket handled fat books, they split them into two volumes. The Hunchback is 657 pages combined.

[damonwad]

25 minutes ago, Surfing Alien said:

I like how Pocket handled fat books, they split them into two volumes. The Hunchback is 657 pages combined.

Nice. I like the split volumes better too.

[Surfing Alien]

It's been a while.... some fun....

The 1st Lion Book (#8) with a great early Harry Schaare cover. Martin Goodman was on a "Marvelous" track from the get go...

A very sharp early Ace with those sweet Norman Saunders covers

 

and one of Donald Westlake's scarce early efforts... gotta pay the bills ya know 😁

 

 

[Randall Dowling]

What a great bunch of books, SA!  That Day Keene is particularly desirable!  

[Surfing Alien]

26 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

What a great bunch of books, SA!  That Day Keene is particularly desirable!  

Thanks... The reds are slightly faded but the structure is crazy... I don't think it has ever been opened... I did very carefully 

Campus Doll is super-campy fun and scarce too but I think "Hungry Men" is my favorite.

Aside from Schaare's moody, stogie smoking chick and leering dude... it's like Marvel #1 for gritty pb's (The Red Circle's are great but Lion is the Golden Age for Goodman in paperbacks) and sets the mood for all the shabby PBO realism that followed by Thompson, Goodis, Matheson, Bloch etc. etc. in the Lion imprint.

[OtherEric]

8 minutes ago, Surfing Alien said:

Aside from Schaare's moody, stogie smoking chick and leering dude... it's like Marvel #1 for gritty pb's (The Red Circle's are great but Lion is the Golden Age for Goodman in paperbacks) and sets the mood for all the shabby PBO realism that followed by Thompson, Goodis, Matheson, Bloch etc. etc. in the Lion imprint.

Not meant as a criticism, just honestly curious:  I thought stogie was a term for a cigar, not a cigarette.  Whenever you mention one I always do a double take and look to see if it's a Bonnie Parker lookalike on the cover.

 

[Randall Dowling]

1 hour ago, OtherEric said:

Not meant as a criticism, just honestly curious:  I thought stogie was a term for a cigar, not a cigarette.  Whenever you mention one I always do a double take and look to see if it's a Bonnie Parker lookalike on the cover.

 

I think technically, a stogie is neither a cigar or cigarette, but more like a cheroot.  However, when I was young during my misspent youth, we used the term to describe all manner of long, thin, rolled up smokable things.  Cigarettes included.  

[Surfing Alien]

5 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

I think technically, a stogie is neither a cigar or cigarette, but more like a cheroot.  However, when I was young during my misspent youth, we used the term to describe all manner of long, thin, rolled up smokable things.  Cigarettes included.  

@OtherEric, no offense taken  Growing up on the streets of the inner city my experience was the same as RD's. No one asked to bum a cigarette. It was "got a stogie?" Other smokables had various nicknames but "don't bogie that stogie" was a specific social admonition for those who tarried too long during the ritual of sharing Ah youth!

[Surfing Alien]

Putting away the Day Keene Ace so took a quick group shot of some faves...