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

[damonwad]

A couple Ace's. The guy with the hat on Hate Alley looks like Robert Blake.

Someone on ebay auctioned off a nice group of Ace pb's  3 or 4 months ago. I won the She Shark and a couple others but wish I would have picked up a few more.

 

[damonwad]

I like both of these Novel Library covers. The Crystal Girl looks familiar to me. Maybe it was a comic or pulp cover?

[waaaghboss]

On 1/20/2022 at 3:02 PM, damonwad said:

The Crystal Girl looks familiar to me. Maybe it was a comic or pulp cover?

 

(Not mine)

"Waiter, there's a barfly in my drink "

Edited January 21, 2022 by waaaghboss

[Pat Calhoun]

mine - not quite sure what's going on in the glass + a Black Lizard that's clear enough

[Surfing Alien]

Been quietly picking up some of these 1940's Detective novels with the skull covers..  they are beautiful but they ain't easy...

[Book Guy]

What follows is another Original Art question. Below is an original James Avati preliminary painting. Any idea what book this image was used for when fully developed (if it was used)?

[OtherEric]

On 1/22/2022 at 12:38 PM, Book Guy said:

What follows is another Original Art question. Below is an original James Avati preliminary painting. Any idea what book this image was used for when fully developed (if it was used)?

You might want to cross post in this thread as well:

 

[Book Guy]

And here's some pictures of a Stanley Meltzoff piece. Bought at an Estate sale years ago.

Meltzoff was a studio mate of Avati and an avid scuba diver, later famous for his very well executed 'Fish Pictures' which were often painted underwater while diving! There is a recent book on him and this picture is shown but the image is taken from the Magazine publication and not the original art. It was used as the cover of an ATLANTIC Magazine which is also shown. Very attractive in person NFS!

Apologies for the flash.

[Book Guy]

I assume everybody who posts here knows about this book. I read it years ago when it came out and remember it as one of the best books on Vintage Paperbacks. Tons on Avati and Meltzoff and that whole school of Paperback 'Realism'. Copies on ABE Books for as little as $12.50. A must-have reference book.

[Surfing Alien]

On 1/22/2022 at 3:38 PM, Book Guy said:

What follows is another Original Art question. Below is an original James Avati preliminary painting. Any idea what book this image was used for when fully developed (if it was used)?

Since most of Avati's pb work was for Signet, you should go to the Bookscans website and click through the Signet covers there as that is probably your highest % avenue of pursuit to find it if it was published 

[Surfing Alien]

On 1/22/2022 at 3:43 PM, Book Guy said:

And here's some pictures of a Stanley Meltzoff piece. Bought at an Estate sale years ago.

Meltzoff was a studio mate of Avati and an avid scuba diver, later famous for his very well executed 'Fish Pictures' which were often painted underwater while diving! There is a recent book on him and this picture is shown but the image is taken from the Magazine publication and not the original art. It was used as the cover of an ATLANTIC Magazine which is also shown. Very attractive in person NFS!

Apologies for the flash.

Gorgeous 

[Surfing Alien]

On 1/22/2022 at 3:51 PM, Book Guy said:

I assume everybody who posts here knows about this book. I read it years ago when it came out and remember it as one of the best books on Vintage Paperbacks. Tons on Avati and Meltzoff and that whole school of Paperback 'Realism'. Copies on ABE Books for as little as $12.50. A must-have reference book.

An essential early reference and Piet is truly a gentleman and a scholar. I reached out to him regarding my article on Ray Johnson and he still has his reference notecards on the artists he covered in the book! 

Unfortunately, like everyone else, he had very little info on the Great Mystery Man.

In retrospect I find the book too Avati-centered, since his movement lasted a couple of years out of the 25 or so years of the paperback golden age. But Avati and Zuckerberg made themselves highly available to Piet so their horns got tooted at length and deservedly so.  Piet actually sent out interview requests to many paperback artists and got widely varied responses. Most artists just got a blurb in the back section with whatever he could cobble together. 

That minor criticism said, it's still a great and pioneering effort. There is artist info, even in some of those tiny blurbs, that is invaluable to researchers today since he was gathering this info closer in time to the era than anyone else and the vast majority of these artists are now painting on that great canvas in the sky.

[Book Guy]

On 1/22/2022 at 3:54 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Since most of Avati's pb work was for Signet, you should go to the Bookscans website and click through the Signet covers there as that is probably your highest % avenue of pursuit to find it if it was published 

It's from LOUISVILLE SATURDAY by Margaret Long as per a response in the Original Art Thread. A Bantam 35 cent Giant. Thank you 1,000 Headed Man!

[htp]

I'm still surprised at the quality of books in the local stores here. Found a whole shelf first edition Harry Whittington. This was the most beat-up of the bunch, but hey, a two digit D- for $10:

[Randall Dowling]

It's really good to see more people sharing their books in this thread.  Like it!  

[Surfing Alien]

Dug out my copy of Paperbacks USA and Thomas Bonn's Undercover, which came out the following year. Together these two slick references launched a generation of new collectors in the early 1980's. A peek inside the covers shows you that what were considered classics then are still the classics we geek out on now 

[OtherEric]

A couple in today.  I've already got a copy of the Ace H-56 somewhere in storage, but was easier to just get another copy than dig it out.  Super happy with how nice the Gold Medal looks... it has a library stamp across the top of the book, but is otherwise a very solid copy that was dirt cheap.

[Randall Dowling]

These are a few of the books that I've picked up.  Year of Consent has one of my favorite Richard Powers covers.  And I love Popular Giants!  

I'm slowly chipping away at a very specific period of Avons with this colored flag logo, price and number at the top.

A little Ray Johnson, a little Rafael DeSoto

Some classic Dells.  Cats Prowl at Night is a classic cover to me.  The artist on Unfinished Business looks familiar... 

And these last 2 are completely normal purchases.  Sherry is a story of a young lady negotiating a complicated world.  Wild French Nurse is a perfectly ordinary title to collect... 

[OtherEric]

On 1/24/2022 at 9:55 PM, Randall Dowling said:

Some classic Dells.  Cats Prowl at Night is a classic cover to me.  The artist on Unfinished Business looks familiar... 

 

 

I love the A. A. Fair books that are early enough to not be "ERLE STANLEY GARDNER writing as a a fair"

This one is only a few years old but is a great example of what I mean... A great cover, but use the A. A. Fair name properly!

Then again, I prefer my William Irish, Cornell Woolrich, and George Hopley correctly credited as well.

[Surfing Alien]

On 1/25/2022 at 12:09 AM, OtherEric said:

A couple in today.  I've already got a copy of the Ace H-56 somewhere in storage, but was easier to just get another copy than dig it out.  Super happy with how nice the Gold Medal looks... it has a library stamp across the top of the book, but is otherwise a very solid copy that was dirt cheap.

LOVE Wonder Warthog! Had all of his undergrounds but lent them to a buddy to read at some point 35 years ago and still waiting for 'em back