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

[Pat Calhoun]

LS = Lin Streeter ?? style similar enough and sig of 'Lin' has that same top curve on the L as the cov of AFR #11. ?

Edited June 7, 2022 by Pat Calhoun

[Sarg]

On 6/7/2022 at 2:00 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Took me a couple of years to get these Avon Fantasy and Science Fiction Readers in nice shape but now I have them all. @OtherEric get with it man! You're almost there!

They do look nice all together! Here's my copies with my artist commentary. I'm pretty sure if I search forever, we'll find that 3, 4 & 5 also have swipes from older pulps

 

#1 Artist unknown - somewhat in the style of Matt Fox   #2 Artist unknown, in the style of A.R. Tilburne, swipes from April 22, 1939 Argosy pulp (Dragon) and Harry Clarke (Harpy/Demon)

#3 Artist unknown - in the style of A.R. Tilburne              #4 Artist unknown - in the style of A.R. Tilburne

#5 Artist unknown - in the style of A.R. Tilburne, first GGA cover  #6 Artist unknown - in the style of A.R. Tilburne with swipe from April 15, 1940 The Shadow pulp (man with hands over face)

#7 Artist unknown                                                           #8 Artist unknown

#9 Copyright Office credited to Ann Cantor, who actually ran an Art Studio employing other artists  #10 Signed "L.S." in lower left corner, still trying to figure that one out.

#11 Signed "L.S." in the tree on far right about one third of the way up.  #12 Signed by either Manuel or Rey Isip

#13 Signed by either Manuel or Rey Isip                           #14 Copyright Office credited to Robert Crowl

#15 Copyright office credited to James Bama                 #16 Copyright office credited to Robert Crowl

#17 Signed by Harry Barton                                               #18 Artist unknown

 

#1 Copyright Office credited to Robert Crowl

 

#2  Artist unknown - bears a strong resemblance to Robert Crowl's shading

 

#3 Signed by Earle Bergey

 

 

I detect a theme from #5 through #16. 

WWC Art (Women Without Clothes).

 

[Surfing Alien]

On 6/7/2022 at 3:52 PM, OtherEric said:

Isfdb credits the #3 to Hannes Bok.  Which I can see as possible.

I’m working on the run, may get one next paycheck.

Although I could see Bok doing a composition like this, Bok's geometry is much more rounded and art-deco, and his shading is so much more sophisticated than this I think this credit is just wrong.

[Surfing Alien]

On 6/7/2022 at 5:09 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

LS = Lin Streeter ?? style similar enough and sig of 'Lin' has that same top curve on the L as the cov of AFR #11. ?

I looked at some of his other work and he is an interesting candidate. The faces on the two covers signed L.S. are pretty comic-bookish - over all they are a little blocky, and less smoothly painted than the ones before and after. I see that Streeter is credited with some pulp interiors. I'd love to see some of that work.

[Surfing Alien]

The other two candidates I thought of were Leo Summers, although the brushwork does not look like him at all, and Lawrence Sterne Stevens, who painted beautiful women for his covers but these two look cruder than anything I've seen by him and I haven't seen anything signed this way.

Edited June 7, 2022 by Surfing Alien

[Pat Calhoun]

Future Fiction 1940

[Surfing Alien]

On 6/7/2022 at 8:27 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

Future Fiction 1940

That's a sweet find and a real nice piece of work. There is something similar in the woman's face to the AFR covers, and the way he draws monsters in the comic you first showed is similar too but it's just too little to be able to compare drawings to paintings. I'd keep him on the short list of "L.S. maybes" though for sure.

[frozentundraguy]

Thanks guys.   I just took the plunge and ordered 3 more Avon Fantasy readers.

[OtherEric]

On 6/7/2022 at 12:00 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Took me a couple of years to get these Avon Fantasy and Science Fiction Readers in nice shape but now I have them all. @OtherEric get with it man! You're almost there!

They do look nice all together! Here's my copies with my artist commentary. I'm pretty sure if I search forever, we'll find that 3, 4 & 5 also have swipes from older pulps

 

#1 Artist unknown - somewhat in the style of Matt Fox   #2 Artist unknown, in the style of A.R. Tilburne, swipes from April 22, 1939 Argosy pulp (Dragon) and Harry Clarke (Harpy/Demon)

 

Avon was unduly proud of their swipe on the #2... these are the back covers to the two Avon SF&F readers:

[Surfing Alien]

On 6/9/2022 at 12:10 AM, OtherEric said:

Avon was unduly proud of their swipe on the #2... these are the back covers to the two Avon SF&F readers:

Avon must be the king of swipes  They stuck that stolen Harpy on a dragon and a rocket and copied old art on hundreds of back covers in their Golden Age paperback line!

Edited June 10, 2022 by Surfing Alien
clarity

[Surfing Alien]

Time capsule alert. Got in a small collection of super high grade pbs - fresh white pages and look never read. The Whittington has a bit of shelf wear spotting and the Mocambu looks like it was opened once but that's about it. Each book has a date stamped neatly inside as if they were publisher arrival dates. Maybe some kind of file copies or something.

Here's the Ace's:

This is a fat book like the Tolkien Lord of the Rings just before it and I've never seen one untouched like this.

[Randall Dowling]

On 6/10/2022 at 2:55 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Time capsule alert. Got in a small collection of super high grade pbs - fresh white pages and look never read. The Whittington has a bit of shelf wear spotting and the Mocambu looks like it was opened once but that's about it. Each book has a date stamped neatly inside as if they were publisher arrival dates. Maybe some kind of file copies or something.

Here's the Ace's:

This is a fat book like the Tolkien Lord of the Rings just before it and I've never seen one untouched like this.

Gorgeous books, SA!  I've never seen that D-29 before but I've liked the couple Frank Gruber novels I've read (The Mighty Blockhead and one other).

[Surfing Alien]

So, the little collection I picked up was only Ace's & Avon's.

Fortunately, two of my favorite publishers.

The Avon's were equally as mint as the Ace's, including the difficult lamination for the most part.

A couple of the Avon's are from that small period where they (thankfully) credited Cover Artists

For this one you can see the credit to Robert Hilbert, and the neatly stamped arrival date that most of these have.

Possess Me Not's cover is by Robert Crowl, who might have enough credited covers to attempt a checklist on.

Second printing of one of Raymond Johnson's most famous covers. The first print was Avon 308. Just stunning condition!

Robert Stanley cover on this one for sure

Early Everett Raymond Kinstler paperback cover.

I believe this is Paul Gauguin's only vintage paperback cover

Incredible cover art on Hannibal. I believe this is George Ziel.

A hot topic in amazing condition.

Finally, a peek into my vintage pb pressing technique  Seriously... strong tape restraints on the outside of the bag work well to flatten out peeling corner laminate that is misbehaving!

Dead mint aside from that lifting corner.

 

 

 

[rjpb]

Hannibal has tiny feet.

[Surfing Alien]

Been buying a LOT of pbs lately, just been coming across so much high grade material the last couple of weeks.

Some real nice shape Frazetta covers, I only need two more of the Ballantines to have all their comic interior pbs (I think! I believe there are six in all)

Two more Frazetta covers, these are PBO's that I don't think I knew about before grabbing these.

[Pat Calhoun]

[Surfing Alien]

On 6/13/2022 at 10:28 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

Nice cover Pat! Is that edition Dell also? Or another publisher?

[Pat Calhoun]

the hardbacks were Doubleday-/-SFBC, true firsts for all that: 1973

[Surfing Alien]

On 6/13/2022 at 11:06 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

the hardbacks were Doubleday-/-SFBC, true firsts for all that: 1973

Just looked them up, you are correct, the pbs came a couple months afterwards, July 1973 for #1. They wrote inside the pbs that they were originals, but was likely lifted from the inside of the BC editions. Great that they used different Frazetta covers on the first pbs, makes them unique too.

[Blorgon scum]

A couple more from the Ballantine series.