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

[Randall Dowling]

Cool book, SA!  Here's a couple of group shots  for this week's arrivals.  Nothing really big (a few are duplicates), just a bunch of high grade cool covers and stories.

And these were so dang fresh, I had to snag them.

[Surfing Alien]

6 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

And these were so dang fresh, I had to snag them.

Sweet pickups  "Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah" is one of my favorite Maguire covers and, as for "fresh copies" I can never resist   Won this cheap lot, that was obviously a "barn find" - advertised as 20 books but they sent 22 and all real sharp, and of course, shipped in a box, not bagged, so unpacking was like finding a stack in a store. No top tier "classic" titles but just fresh stacks of great looking 50's pbs 

[OtherEric]

13 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

Cool book, SA!  Here's a couple of group shots  for this week's arrivals.  Nothing really big (a few are duplicates), just a bunch of high grade cool covers and stories.

 

 

 

The title story from "The Survivor" was first published in this issue of Weird Tales, the only story from the collection I've read:

[Surfing Alien]

1 hour ago, OtherEric said:

The title story from "The Survivor" was first published in this issue of Weird Tales, the only story from the collection I've read:

Nice copy 👍 Those Ballantine Lovecraft collections were the ones that enthralled me as a teenager (after learning about him from Marvel S & S comics 😁) and I still have a couple of my originals 

[OtherEric]

1 minute ago, Surfing Alien said:

Nice copy 👍 Those Ballantine Lovecraft collections were the ones that enthralled me as a teenager (after learning about him from Marvel S & S comics 😁) and I still have a couple of my originals 

Just don't mistake The Survivor for being actual Lovecraft, Derleth was very prone to exaggerating how much he took from Lovecraft.  The novel "The Lurker at the Threshold" has all of 1200 words of Lovecraft in a 50,000 word story.  Not necessarily bad stuff, as long as it's correctly attributed.

I should have shared pictures of my Pinnacle Solar Pons books by Derleth before I sold them off.  (I upgraded to the original hardcovers from Mycroft & Moran, an imprint of Arkham House.)

[Pat Calhoun]

Cong, Surf (as MM would say) - the Black Lizard is but a shadow of the Pop Lib - still kinda fun...

[OtherEric]

From the local store today.  Always great to add a Frazetta cover to the collection:

[Surfing Alien]

6 hours ago, OtherEric said:

Frazetta

Frazetta Gorillas 🤘🤘🤘 Killer🏆

[Pat Calhoun]

 I ordered what should be a real nice copy tonight - thanks OEric!

[adamstrange]

10 hours ago, OtherEric said:

From the local store today.  Always great to add a Frazetta cover to the collection:

Authored by a noted sci-fi author from the pulp era who also wrote many comic book stories.  His wife, Leigh Brackett, was the frequent collaborator of Howard Hawks, supplying many screenplays.

[Pat Calhoun]

I don't own this version...

[OtherEric]

23 minutes ago, Pat Calhoun said:

I don't own this version...

I actually have both versions now:

[Surfing Alien]

Just got in a nice copy of this classic golden age Diversey Novel Library. I saw an attribute of this cover on the web to Robert Bonfils, presumably based on the "RB" next to the girl on the right, even though most biographical sketches don't have him painting paperback covers until 1955 and this is 1948. I decided to run that by Bruce Brenner, who was a friend of Bonfils and who has a truly incredible collection of his books and original artwork. He agrees that it probably is, based on the both the style of the lettering and the way the fingers and lips are painted. Bonfils lived in Chicago at the time so he was near the W.F. Hall printing plant on Diversey Avenue where Diverseys were printed and may have done this as a one off since he was doing Agency work at the time. It does beg the question whether he did any other early paperbacks.

 

If you haven't stumbled on Bruce's website, www.vintagepbks.com , it's worth a visit. It was one of the first sites devoted to vintage paperbacks back in the early 2000's. It's a little clunky/dated looking now but filled with cool images and information. Click on his "Bonfils wants" link to see a ton of advertising work that you never would have guessed was him because they were painted in more realistic and detailed styles than the Ember/Greenleaf etc. covers that he churned out at the rate of 50 a month

 

 

[moonpool]

That's a lot of covers!

[OtherEric]

A few pickups at a local store today, including one Book Club Edition rather than a paperback.  The common element between the books should be obvious:

[OtherEric]

And one more BCE that, despite being a BCE, is still probably worth more than the $25 I paid for all six books today:

[Surfing Alien]

4 hours ago, moonpool said:

That's a lot of covers!

Sure is, some are great but quite a few are imho but people love 'em. The guy sure could paint when he took his time, no doubt.  Some of his ad work is beautiful and very realistic.

[Surfing Alien]

1 hour ago, OtherEric said:

And one more BCE that, despite being a BCE, is still probably worth more than the $25 I paid for all six books today:

Nice Frazettas and this. I had the 1st signed but sold it at some point to fund other things. Wish I kept it now 

[Surfing Alien]

Picked off another Avon nn 1st print. This is nn#4. A sharp one with nearly full lamination, globe endpapers & 12 titles on the back.

[Westy Steve]

On 3/5/2021 at 11:02 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Happy to finally land a copy of one of Ray Johnson's priciest covers. Oh, the author is Jim Thompson  It's a swell looking cover and a bit frayed on the corners so i'm looking forward to reading it as I never had this one before. Love the extra painting on the back of the Popular Librarys of this period 👍

 

I love the "girl in the car" covers.  I've considered collecting them as a sub-genre.  Something extra alluring about them.