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

[Surfing Alien]

On 3/19/2022 at 10:57 AM, frozentundraguy said:

A new arrival, even tough it was ordered the same day as Hideous Strength. Author of 46 books about sleuth Nero Wolfe Rex Stout wrote The Case of the Black Orchids in 1942 (9th in the series). One wonders if Stout was a hen pecked husband. His second novel was titled "The League of Frightened Men".

 

Sweet Ray Johnson cover on this one, from the heart of his Golden Age Avon run.

If a man isn't at least slightly afraid of his wife, he might have picked the wrong one 

[Surfing Alien]

A great trip to the mailbox today. Upgraded my baddest girl of them all - there's a bit of foxing near the spine but the corners are razor sharp, pages lighter than my under-copy and the colors are blazing. I may have a biased opinion but, between the cinematic lighting, composition and the coloring, the image on the digest blows away the cut out that was pasted onto the comic book cover 4 years later

[Book Guy]

Agreed! This version is better.

 

[Book Guy]

I've been 'going through boxes', so here's little of this and that.

One of the better photo covers, IMHO.

 

[Book Guy]

Two of the better Avon Horror covers. CREEP is a bit rough.

[Book Guy]

Ballantine Horror.

[Book Guy]

A little bit of lurid. Imagine the price of a Comic with the HAPLOIDS Cover Art! And the Chaber Book as well!

[Book Guy]

JD's, Beatniks & Bikers!

[Surfing Alien]

 

On 3/24/2022 at 5:00 PM, Surfing Alien said:

A great trip to the mailbox today. Upgraded my baddest girl of them all - there's a bit of foxing near the spine but the corners are razor sharp, pages lighter than my under-copy and the colors are blazing. I may have a biased opinion but, between the cinematic lighting, composition and the coloring, the image on the digest blows away the cut out that was pasted onto the comic book cover 4 years later

 

 

It's kind of crazy how coincidences and fate work. Woolrich writes so well about these things so maybe this was just meant to be.

Shortly after posting what I thought was my "forever" upgrade to my RSG copy, I was searching the internet, trying to find out more information about Avon's subsidiary Diversey Publishing Corporation as I occasionally do, when I came upon an obscure tiny ad for a copy of RSG and three other scarce Avon Digests. There were a couple of pictures, one of them containing a portion of the first page of text and my heart jumped a beat because I could see that the first page contained letters.  The infamous letters that Avon excised out of the book after model Marty Collins' father threatened to sue Avon over the incestuous father/daughter relationship revealed in the fictional letters.

I was quite wary because, even though the ad was obscure, the seller was asking for a fair amount of $ for the books. I contacted the seller, and after several rounds of back and forth, she offered to accept payment by credit card, so I would have comfort that I could reverse charges if she was a scammer. Well the books arrived the other day and the RSG is legitimate and complete with the letters page, and in excellent condition. The only other copies of this book with the letters page I have seen in 10 years or so of online records were one that @SOTIcollector had posted on the boards back in 2019, the copy that is on Worthpoint , and a copy that sold on AbeBooks years ago.

So I posted the book on a highly active Facebook page and set said page on fire with activity and comments. So far, out of 16K+ members on there, two have said they had copies with the letters page at some point in time.

Although I'm sure you guys are tired of seeing my RSG's posted      I feel an obligation to post it here since this is the best and brightest vintage pb crowd I know and the ones I actually consider friends      The letters pages are pretty creepy and I can see why her father was upset!

 

 

The three other Digests are pretty scarce too. I have a copy of "Night Club", it's an early Raymond Johnson cover, and I have seen "Regenerate Lover" before, but I have never seen a copy of "Marianne In India" in 35 years of collecting. It may be rarer than RSG but it also may just never show up for sale because it doesn't have the fame/value of RSG - still I am sure it is pretty scarce since i've seen just about every other Avon digest for sale at some point or another.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by Surfing Alien
Added content

[moonpool]

Fantastic find!

[Sarg]

On 3/30/2022 at 1:28 PM, Surfing Alien said:

 

 

 

It's kind of crazy how coincidences and fate work. Woolrich writes so well about these things so maybe this was just meant to be.

Shortly after posting what I thought was my "forever" upgrade to my RSG copy, I was searching the internet, trying to find out more information about Avon's subsidiary Diversey Publishing Corporation as I occasionally do, when I came upon an obscure tiny ad for a copy of RSG and three other scarce Avon Digests. There were a couple of pictures, one of them containing a portion of the first page of text and my heart jumped a beat because I could see that the first page contained letters.  The infamous letters that Avon excised out of the book after model Marty Collins' father threatened to sue Avon over the incestuous father/daughter relationship revealed in the fictional letters.

I was quite wary because, even though the ad was obscure, the seller was asking for a fair amount of $ for the books. I contacted the seller, and after several rounds of back and forth, she offered to accept payment by credit card, so I would have comfort that I could reverse charges if she was a scammer. Well the books arrived the other day and the RSG is legitimate and complete with the letters page, and in excellent condition. The only other copies of this book with the letters page I have seen in 10 years or so of online records were one that @SOTIcollector had posted on the boards back in 2019, the copy that is on Worthpoint , and a copy that sold on AbeBooks years ago.

So I posted the book on a highly active Facebook page and set said page on fire with activity and comments. So far, out of 16K+ members on there, two have said they had copies with the letters page at some point in time.

Although I'm sure you guys are tired of seeing my RSG's posted      I feel an obligation to post it here since this is the best and brightest vintage pb crowd I know and the ones I actually consider friends      The letters pages are pretty creepy and I can see why her father was upset!

 

 

The three other Digests are pretty scarce too. I have a copy of "Night Club", it's an early Raymond Johnson cover, and I have seen "Regenerate Lover" before, but I have never seen a copy of "Marianne In India" in 35 years of collecting. It may be rarer than RSG but it also may just never show up for sale because it doesn't have the fame/value of RSG - still I am sure it is pretty scarce since i've seen just about every other Avon digest for sale at some point or another.

 

 

 

Now that is what I call an informative post with eye appeal. Congrats. 

 

[Randall Dowling]

Finally nailed down a nice copy of this little gem (thanks to a heads up from SA!).  Very tough book in nice shape!  When you collect these digests, staple rust is the bane of the collector's existence.  Thankfully, this one is pretty clean!  

[Randall Dowling]

And a while back, I put together this little trifecta.  There's at least one other title I'd like to add but it's really tough in high grade.  Fingers crossed, I'll post a follow up to this with that book.  If I have to go with a favorite (and I think I do), I choose REPTILICUS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oakman29]

Douglas you are going to get started on these. I just know it......😂

[Randall Dowling]

On 4/4/2022 at 11:47 PM, oakman29 said:

Douglas you are going to get started on these. I just know it......😂

Too late!    @Surfing Alien and @Pat Calhoun among others have opened my eyes to the specialness of these bad boys.  They're very cool and still fairly reasonable for your collecting dollar.  You would love the covers by Robert Maguire!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really need to pare down my overstock though.  It's kind of out of hand... 

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/5/2022 at 12:06 AM, Randall Dowling said:

Finally nailed down a nice copy of this little gem (thanks to a heads up from SA!).  Very tough book in nice shape!  When you collect these digests, staple rust is the bane of the collector's existence.  Thankfully, this one is pretty clean!  

Falcons are among the toughest/best digests and this is one of the toughest of the Falcons, especially in this condition. Congrats on a great pickup RD! It's not only Hunter/McBain's little known first edition of his first book, its got to be George Gross' most valuable cover and a swell one 

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/5/2022 at 12:10 AM, Randall Dowling said:

And a while back, I put together this little trifecta.  There's at least one other title I'd like to add but it's really tough in high grade.  Fingers crossed, I'll post a follow up to this with that book.  If I have to go with a favorite (and I think I do), I choose REPTILICUS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice set 

You'll be needing one of these... 

and one of these...

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/5/2022 at 12:47 AM, oakman29 said:

Douglas you are going to get started on these. I just know it......😂

Welcome to the Jungle!  

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/5/2022 at 1:06 AM, Randall Dowling said:

Too late!    @Surfing Alien and @Pat Calhoun among others have opened my eyes to the specialness of these bad boys.  They're very cool and still fairly reasonable for your collecting dollar.  You would love the covers by Robert Maguire!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really need to pare down my overstock though.  It's kind of out of hand... 

Great Maguire selection (Babe in the Woods is Lou Marchetti tho  )

[Randall Dowling]

On 4/5/2022 at 7:02 AM, Surfing Alien said:

Great Maguire selection (Babe in the Woods is Lou Marchetti tho  )

Sonuvva... You're absolutely correct.  I got a little grabby with the images.