The great "Int" mystery thread! 1 1

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

The practicality of hand writing INT on all books headed for overseas distribution seems highly unlikely unless it were one book on the top of a bale. In that case the odds of surviving in good condition are even lower.

 

Seems more likely to be a collectors mark or a filing mark as suggested.

[Comicdey]

Internment ?

[Cat-Man_America]

Internment ?

 

That's another possibility, but it wouldn't explain pre-war Int designated books unless remaindered copies had been warehoused for years before reaching internment camps.

[Robot Man]

My first thought is that it was a distributor mark. But, the copies out there are all such great shape. Has anyone ever seen a lower grade one? This might mean a distributor mark.

[Sqeggs]

Because they are mostly high grade, it seems likely they were set aside for some purpose. Because they are high grade and span different publishers, it seems likely they are all from the same collection.

 

The "Int" or "Inl" is probably not a distributor's mark because we would then expect to have seen lower grade copies.

 

If the person involved was amassing a personal collection, "Int" or "Inl" is rather a mysterious thing to write on the comics.

 

Leads me to think they were put aside by someone other than a personal collector. Maybe the international angle is accurate.

 

Ultimately, some dealer(s) presumably acquired these books at some point. We may not know the full story until someone who bought them early on contributes to the thread.

[Cat-Man_America]

Because they are mostly high grade, it seems likely they were set aside for some purpose. Because they are high grade and span different publishers, it seems likely they are all from the same collection.

 

The "Int" or "Inl" is probably not a distributor's mark because we would then expect to have seen lower grade copies.

 

If the person involved was amassing a personal collection, "Int" or "Inl" is rather a mysterious thing to write on the comics.

 

Leads me to think they were put aside by someone other than a personal collector. Maybe the international angle is accurate.

 

Ultimately, some dealer(s) presumably acquired these books at some point. We may not know the full story until someone who bought them early on contributes to the thread.

 

Excellent points!

 

The more I think on this the more I'm leaning to Int being a designation for file copies submitted for foreign distribution approval. I'm basing this entirely on logic. Thus far there has been little historical evidence forthcoming to establish provenance. In order to develop more compelling evidence, the ownership of one or more Int copies would have to be traced to a government employee source.

[vaillant]

If it helps, none of these so far had been published in Italy.

Very little Golden Age material did, and the earliest Timely material is from rare italian journals from 1945, after the liberation (Captain America).

 

Maybe they were set aside for possible submission to a foreign publisher interested in them? But I see they range from 1939 to 1944…

[Cat-Man_America]

If it helps, none of these so far had been published in Italy.

Very little Golden Age material did, and the earliest Timely material is from rare italian journals from 1945, after the liberation (Captain America).

 

Maybe they were set aside for possible submission to a foreign publisher interested in them? But I see they range from 1939 to 1944…

 

An interesting prospect, but I'm gradually moving off the idea that these were government approved or even military PX assigned. If so, the books would've been stamped, not hand signed.

 

After mulling it over, there's another possibility that I'm leaning toward. This seems even more likely with the hand printing and signature styles that vary. I think these might've been the printer's file copies. IOW, samples of finished work pulled off the press run. What "Int" means remains unclear, but of all the likely explanations, this one seems most logical to me.

 

Thoughts?

[Robot Man]

That makes sense Cat. It might also explain why they are all in such great shape. I need to look carefully at some of my books to see if I have one. I wasn't really aware of them until now. A few months ago I found a very early Action that was a Cosmic Aeroplane copy that I was un-aware of.

[Sqeggs]

I do think it makes sense. The main reason to doubt this explanation is that the discovery of printer file copies from multiple publishers seems like it would have been a big enough deal that the story of the discovery would be well known.

 

But, then, I guess that doubt could be raised about any explanation. Whatever they are and wherever they came from, whoever brought them to market must have realized he had gotten his hands on quite a treasure trove. Unless the OO or his family sold them off slowly over time to multiple dealers in a way that didn't attract notice.

[jimbo_707]

I do think it makes sense. The main reason to doubt this explanation is that the discovery of printer file copies from multiple publishers seems like it would have been a big enough deal that the story of the discovery would be well known.

 

But, then, I guess that doubt could be raised about any explanation. Whatever they are and wherever they came from, whoever brought them to market must have realized he had gotten his hands on quite a treasure trove. Unless the OO or his family sold them off slowly over time to multiple dealers in a way that didn't attract notice.

When did they come to market? If they were sold off before the pedigree craze, it's possible that neither the seller or the dealer thought much of bringing the collection to market.

 

I would not assume that the "Int" notation dated to the time of distribution. For instance, if the books were sold at an antique market or co-op, the code could have indicated which seller was entitled to get credit for the books because those places often have multiple dealers who take turns watching the shop. That was a common practice here in Michigan by the late 80s (and maybe earlier).

 

It's possible, though, that the books from a single collection might be the only surviving copies to have been handled by a small distributor, so the "Int" could have been a distributor's mark.

 

I could see the "Int." meaning a couple of things at a bindery. It could have meant that the interior of a book had been checked or needed to be checked; it could have meant that the copy was the bindery's internal copy, as opposed to a copy or copies to be sent back to the publisher.

[Sqeggs]

I do think it makes sense. The main reason to doubt this explanation is that the discovery of printer file copies from multiple publishers seems like it would have been a big enough deal that the story of the discovery would be well known.

 

But, then, I guess that doubt could be raised about any explanation. Whatever they are and wherever they came from, whoever brought them to market must have realized he had gotten his hands on quite a treasure trove. Unless the OO or his family sold them off slowly over time to multiple dealers in a way that didn't attract notice.

When did they come to market? If they were sold off before the pedigree craze, it's possible that neither the seller or the dealer thought much of bringing the collection to market.

 

You wouldn't have thought much of finding a large collection of high-grade GA books? You're more blasé about these things than I am!

[Cat-Man_America]

I do think it makes sense. The main reason to doubt this explanation is that the discovery of printer file copies from multiple publishers seems like it would have been a big enough deal that the story of the discovery would be well known.

 

But, then, I guess that doubt could be raised about any explanation. Whatever they are and wherever they came from, whoever brought them to market must have realized he had gotten his hands on quite a treasure trove. Unless the OO or his family sold them off slowly over time to multiple dealers in a way that didn't attract notice.

When did they come to market? If they were sold off before the pedigree craze, it's possible that neither the seller or the dealer thought much of bringing the collection to market.

 

You wouldn't have thought much of finding a large collection of high-grade GA books? You're more blasé about these things than I am!

 

If the collection was broken up and sold off at random after the Mile High/Church collection hit the market, you're right, but Jimbo has a good point.

 

The established importance of pedigrees is a relatively recent phenomenon that can also be linked to the success of third party grading. Old school dealers (60's & 70's era) never thought much about runs of comics being valued as part of a collection in the manner that they are now. There are lots of smaller high grade collections that've been broken up and will never be considered for pedigree status.

 

Still, the number of "Int" books out there may run deeper and the mystery continues to generate curiosity.

 

Of course, it'll probably take major investigative work to discover what the Int designation really means, but the historical provenance would be worth knowing regardless of any label recognition.

[vaillant]

At this point I believe the hypotesis which makes more sense is that of file copies of some kind, but not of a publisher, as they are varied. Maybe some kind of institution?

 

But "Int" as "internal" would have made sense if they were of a single publisher – hey maybe they are copies which were held by the FBI or some super-secret service! ::

[Cat-Man_America]

At this point I believe the hypotesis which makes more sense is that of file copies of some kind, but not of a publisher, as they are varied. Maybe some kind of institution?

 

But "Int" as "internal" would have made sense if they were of a single publisher – hey maybe they are copies which were held by the FBI or some super-secret service! ::

 

This.

 

My thoughts lean toward Int being a set-aside code for the printer or warehouse distribution system. The primary GA printer of the era was Eastern Color Printing Company which handled most comic publishing in the 30's, 40's and later, (among them Timely). Obviously the initials don't match-up, but without knowing the internal designations for set-aside copies we can't discount the possibility of a correlation between the markings and the printer.

 

One thing I'm still highly dubious of is that these books were ever shipped overseas. We can't even look north (Canada) as a possible explanation for international distribution, since early in the war the Canadian government legislated an embargo on American comics as part of a movement to keep spending local and bolster the Canadian publishing industry.

 

The mystery deepens.

[Sqeggs]

I do think it makes sense. The main reason to doubt this explanation is that the discovery of printer file copies from multiple publishers seems like it would have been a big enough deal that the story of the discovery would be well known.

 

But, then, I guess that doubt could be raised about any explanation. Whatever they are and wherever they came from, whoever brought them to market must have realized he had gotten his hands on quite a treasure trove. Unless the OO or his family sold them off slowly over time to multiple dealers in a way that didn't attract notice.

When did they come to market? If they were sold off before the pedigree craze, it's possible that neither the seller or the dealer thought much of bringing the collection to market.

 

You wouldn't have thought much of finding a large collection of high-grade GA books? You're more blasé about these things than I am!

 

If the collection was broken up and sold off at random after the Mile High/Church collection hit the market, you're right, but Jimbo has a good point.

 

The established importance of pedigrees is a relatively recent phenomenon that can also be linked to the success of third party grading. Old school dealers (60's & 70's era) never thought much about runs of comics being valued as part of a collection in the manner that they are now. There are lots of smaller high grade collections that've been broken up and will never be considered for pedigree status.

 

Still, the number of "Int" books out there may run deeper and the mystery continues to generate curiosity.

 

Of course, it'll probably take major investigative work to discover what the Int designation really means, but the historical provenance would be worth knowing regardless of any label recognition.

 

Speaks to my earlier point that one way they might have slipped into the market unremarked on is if the OO or his family gradually sold them off or sold them off in batches to multiple dealers.

 

But if a single dealer came into possession of a collection of high-grade books on this scale it would be surprising that we wouldn't know about it either from the dealer having discussed it or from initial buyers talking about how they bought books after Dealer X began selling them. I'm thinking for instance of the SF/Reilly books, which came to market prior to Chuck's discovery of the Church collection.

 

I think we know at least something about the backgrounds of similar collections. I have to qualify that, though, because it's hard to know whether there were other collections of high-grade books that lacked any markings and so can't be identified as the Int books can.

[EC ed]

Sqeggs reminded me in another thread that I just pulled in a book that might be part of this great "Int" mystery 

Edited February 22, 2017 by edowens71

[nearmint]

Picked this one up a few months ago...

[sacentaur]

1 hour ago, nearmint said:

Picked this one up a few months ago...

Great book, Jeff.

[comicjack]

1 hour ago, nearmint said:

Picked this one up a few months ago...

White paper sweetness