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

[Pat Calhoun]

Bought this at the local store this weekend...culminates with Maupassant's marvelous 'Ball of Fat'...
Stories:
Prosper Mérimée – Mateo Falcone
James Baldwin – Previous Condition
Ernest Hemingway – Soldier’s Home
James Joyce – A Painful Case
Maxim Gorky – Chums
Walter Van Tilburg Clark – Why Don’t You Look Where You’re Going
Jim Thompson – Time Without End
Roald Dahl – The Wish
Stefan Zweig – The Runaway
Judith Merril – That Only a Mother
Alex Austin – Where the Kings Die in Madrid
Christopher Lazare – Last Visit
Sherwood Anderson – Hands
Guy de Maupassant – Ball of Fat

[Surfing Alien]

On 2/21/2022 at 3:19 PM, damonwad said:

Very cool SA. Do you know when they stopped putting the eyeball/keyhole on the spines? My #42 has it but #115 doesn't and I have nothing in between.

Thanks. If your 115 doesn't have an eyeball keyhole on the spine, it is either an error or maybe Canadian or something. They moved the eyeball to the top of the spine around this time - erratically as you can see (that's 115 at the far left - glare obscures the top a little). But they kept it on the spine until somewhere in the upper 400's or early 500's. I don't have enough in that range to pinpoint it better.

[Surfing Alien]

On 2/21/2022 at 10:40 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

Bought this at the local store this weekend...culminates with Maupassant's marvelous 'Ball of Fat'...
Stories:
Prosper Mérimée – Mateo Falcone
James Baldwin – Previous Condition
Ernest Hemingway – Soldier’s Home
James Joyce – A Painful Case
Maxim Gorky – Chums
Walter Van Tilburg Clark – Why Don’t You Look Where You’re Going
Jim Thompson – Time Without End
Roald Dahl – The Wish
Stefan Zweig – The Runaway
Judith Merril – That Only a Mother
Alex Austin – Where the Kings Die in Madrid
Christopher Lazare – Last Visit
Sherwood Anderson – Hands
Guy de Maupassant – Ball of Fat

Great cover art - The Lions are some of the least documented of the early pb artists but most of them are the same as the artists who did Goodman's Mens Adventure Mags so some good eyes could probably figure out most of them. The woman's face looks like a Nappi girl to me and I've seen that dude on the floor somewhere before, if I could remember where it might be another clue

[damonwad]

On 2/22/2022 at 5:31 AM, Surfing Alien said:

Thanks. If your 115 doesn't have an eyeball keyhole on the spine, it is either an error or maybe Canadian or something. They moved the eyeball to the top of the spine around this time - erratically as you can see (that's 115 at the far left - glare obscures the top a little). But they kept it on the spine until somewhere in the upper 400's or early 500's. I don't have enough in that range to pinpoint it better.

Thanks.

After 2 1/2 years of collecting pb's, not only am I still a newb, but also apparently too stupid to look up.  

[Surfing Alien]

Just got a copy of the G-Men Detective pulp to compare to it's re-use of Belarski's art on the cover of the Popular Library classic, "Overboard" and have to say, although the pulp was first, the color strike and paper quality of the paperback cover bring out "certain" details on the paperback that render it the superior version imho

[Joshua33]

On 2/23/2022 at 11:11 AM, Surfing Alien said:

Just got a copy of the G-Men Detective pulp to compare to it's re-use of Belarski's art on the cover of the Popular Library classic, "Overboard" and have to say, although the pulp was first, the color strike and paper quality of the paperback cover bring out "certain" details on the paperback that render it the superior version imho

Napples aren't everything. 

[Surfing Alien]

On 2/23/2022 at 3:45 PM, Joshua33 said:

Napples aren't everything. 

True that! But actually all of the details/contrast are much sharper and the absence of the additional story tags makes the image stand out as well

[Surfing Alien]

On 2/21/2022 at 10:40 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

Bought this at the local store this weekend...culminates with Maupassant's marvelous 'Ball of Fat'...
Stories:
Prosper Mérimée – Mateo Falcone
James Baldwin – Previous Condition
Ernest Hemingway – Soldier’s Home
James Joyce – A Painful Case
Maxim Gorky – Chums
Walter Van Tilburg Clark – Why Don’t You Look Where You’re Going
Jim Thompson – Time Without End
Roald Dahl – The Wish
Stefan Zweig – The Runaway
Judith Merril – That Only a Mother
Alex Austin – Where the Kings Die in Madrid
Christopher Lazare – Last Visit
Sherwood Anderson – Hands
Guy de Maupassant – Ball of Fat

 

As I mentioned in my first response to Pat's post, I thought LL6 looked like Nappi art and I recognized that guy on the floor from somewhere. I ran across it today and it was this Lion Books 231 gem...

 

 

Definitely the same dude. It's not signed or credited anywhere either but when you start to put these clues together sometimes you find a third or fourth book that is signed or credited and you can work outward from there    It helps to have a steel trap upstairs   - seriously though, whoever it is, it's real nice work.

[Surfing Alien]

Been real busy lately but picked up a few cool things

3 Villains of Doom is a novelization, the other two are comics inside. The Batman Signets are all pretty tough to find decent copies of. I think there's 6 or 7 in all.

 

A nice Ace single, this looks a lot like the same artist as the two Lions above. It is unsigned and uncredited either but Nappi did do some Ace's at this time so it's a possibility.

 

 

Ace wasn't the only one doing doubles - these Universal Giant Doubles are pretty cool and have some great covers. Much of the cover art was re-used later on Beacons, just like they did with the Uni-Book artwork.

 

Ard is a good read and McGinnis is an all-time all-star pb artist

 

 

Finally, a reading copy of this classic - I have this first edition and the even rarer Harlequin edition but both were too nice to read so I couldn't pass this one up. I started it and it's Harry at his usual gripping pace...

 

 

 

[Randall Dowling]

On 3/2/2022 at 2:28 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Ace wasn't the only one doing doubles - these Universal Giant Doubles are pretty cool and have some great covers. Much of the cover art was re-used later on Beacons, just like they did with the Uni-Book artwork.

Apparently, Nick Fury had a dark period.

[frozentundraguy]

I visited Dreamworks a few days ago, with the thought to see what I could find in the way of vintage sci-fi. Well the pickings were pretty slim, but I found a few books nonetheless.

First up the 1976 publication of "Trader to the Stars" by Poul Anderson. The book was originally published in 1964 and began a series of adventures by trader Nicholas Van Rijn, also called the Polesotechnic League.

 

Next up is a collection of 15 sci-fi short stories in "Invaders of Earth" published in 1952. The story "Invasion from Mars" by Howard Koch (adapted from Well's "War of the Worlds"), was the basis of Orson Welles 1938 broadcast.

Lastly I obtained a copy of "Perelandra" by C. S. Lewis (1950), which is second in his Space Trilogy series. I also have "Out of the Silent Planet" which is first in the series. A nickels worth of research pointed me to "That Hideous Strength" which is the 3rd and final novel in the series.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

On 3/2/2022 at 7:16 PM, frozentundraguy said:

Lastly I obtained a copy of "Perelandra" by C. S. Lewis (1950), which is second in his Space Trilogy series. I also have "Out of the Silent Planet" which is first in the series. A nickels worth of research pointed me to "That Hideous Strength" which is the 3rd and final novel in the series.

I'm currently reading Out of the Silent Planet; a good read so far. I look forward to completing the trilogy this year. That's quite a cover for a CS Lewis book!

[Surfing Alien]

On 3/3/2022 at 4:39 PM, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

That's quite a cover for a CS Lewis book!

One of the many all time great Avon covers, here's the 1st two...

"That Hideous Strength" was released in a later Avon series as "The Tortured Planet" with less inspiring artwork.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

On 3/3/2022 at 4:36 PM, Surfing Alien said:

One of the many all time great Avon covers, here's the 1st two...

"That Hideous Strength" was released in a later Avon series as "The Tortured Planet" with less inspiring artwork.

Yeah I had just picked up the Tortured Planet about a month ago at a Flea Market with some other books. Certainly not that great a cover! That's what inspired me to read the series.

[frozentundraguy]

On 3/3/2022 at 9:09 PM, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Yeah I had just picked up the Tortured Planet about a month ago at a Flea Market with some other books. Certainly not that great a cover! That's what inspired me to read the series.

I just put in an order for "That Hideous Strength", in what I think is the best available cover. In reviewing the choices I found none of the books covers seemed to be as iconic as the first two books in the series. 

[Pulpvault]

Here's one of rare paperbacks that will be auctioned in the Friday night auction (May 6, 2022) at this year's Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention (May 6-8, 2022 at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, Illinois). This one is exceedingly scarce -- "The Human Bat v The Robot Gangster" by Edward R. Home-Gall, published in London by Mark Goulden Ltd. in 1950. As the blurb on the back cover says, "...it provides hours of exciting reading as only Edward Home-Gall can write." Who am I to argue?

 

Besides our auctions, the dealer room will feature 180 tables filled with pulps, paperbacks, vintage comics, original illustration art and much more, from dealers across the U.S., Canada and the U.K. We hope to see you there!

[damonwad]

Some random books.

I just saw the 1958 low budget Cop Hater with Robert Loggia in his first starring role (he'll always be Frank Lopez from Scarface to me though). 

[OtherEric]

On 3/6/2022 at 4:05 PM, damonwad said:

Some random books.

I just saw the 1958 low budget Cop Hater with Robert Loggia in his first starring role (he'll always be Frank Lopez from Scarface to me though).

I have Weird Shadow but need this one.  A beautiful copy!

[damonwad]

On 3/6/2022 at 4:12 PM, OtherEric said:

I have Weird Shadow but need this one.  A beautiful copy!

Thanks. I still need the Weird Shadow and the Avon Lurking Fear.

[OtherEric]

On 3/6/2022 at 5:02 PM, damonwad said:

Thanks. I still need the Weird Shadow and the Avon Lurking Fear.