Dangerous comics and rare anti-comics items. THREAD CLOSED 5 5

[SOTIcollector]

How did Wertham miss this one?  

Classic PCH.  Ghost Comics #4.  CGC 4.0, off-white pages.  Classic negligee cover.  $2600.

[SOTIcollector]

Baffling Mysteries, CGC 5.0.  More PCH with a great GGA cover.  Restoration includes a small amount of color touch and a small amount of glue on the spine.

$1200

 

[WASM]

On 12/9/2021 at 9:08 PM, SOTIcollector said:

No connection to the anti-comics sentiment of the 40's/50's, but still a pretty cool book.  WWBN 32.  CGC 6.5 OW/W, $2200.

 

Take per pm

[SOTIcollector]

This may be the last anti-comics item for this thread.  It's one you may never see again.

This is two bound volumes of Saturday Review of Literature, consisting of every issue of the weekly magazine from 1948.  What does this have to do with comics?  Quite a bit, actually.  Feel free to just scroll down a bit if you already know this stuff.

Dr. Fredric Wertham’s attacks on comic books began in 1948, and culminated in 1954 with the publication of Seduction of the Innocent and the U.S. Senate’s televised hearings into the dangers of comic books.

Wertham’s anti-comics attacks started with the symposium “The Psychopathology of Comic Books” on March 19, 1948, and his anti-comics work was cited in an article by Judith Crist in Collier’s magazine, dated March 27, 1948.  Then, in the May 29, 1948 issue of Saturday Review of Literature, Wertham made the case in his own words for his assertion that comic books are dangerous.   He elaborated, for a national audience, on his presentation from the symposium.  Wertham’s article kicked off a firestorm in the pages of Saturday Review of Literature:  subsequent issues contained letters from readers who supported, and readers who were horrified by, Dr. Wertham’s position.  The most notable of the comic book supporters was David Pace Wigransy, a 14 year old who presented such an articulate pro-comics case that the editors of SRL contacted the child’s school to make sure the letter was indeed authored by him.  Boardie SFCityDuck researched Wigransky and wrote a great thread about him, perhaps the first great comic book collector. 

Clearly Wertham’s attack on comic books had an impact.  Starting in its books cover dated November, 1948, Marvel published editorials in defense of their publications.  The second of these editorials (see Kid Colt #2, Millie the Model #16, and most other Marvel books of the period) called out Wertham by name, and mentions the debate raging in the pages of SRL.  The editorial also applauds and quotes from Wigransky’s defense of comics.

Now that you know about the 1948 Saturday Review of Literature’s contributions to the anti-comics crusade, here are the details of this item.

 

This two-volume set contains every issue of Saturday Review from 1948, including the following comics-related content:

3/20/1948:  A review of Coulton Waugh’s “The Comics”; John Mason Brown’s “The Case Against the Comics” and Al Capp’s “The Case for the Comics”

5/1/1948:  A letter in response to Al Capp’s defense of comics.

5/29/1948:  Wertham’s “The Comics, Very Funny”

6/19/1948:  Three letters in response to John Mason Brown and Wertham.

7/17/1948:  Three more letters to the editor re:  comics.

7/24/1948:  Several letters, including David Pace Wigransky’s letter (and a photo of him)

7/31/1948:  Wertham admits that he mis-stated the information about the presentation of blood in Classics Illustrated #44

8/21/1948, 9/25/1948, 10/16/1948:  Additional letters, pro-comics and anti-comics.

This set is heavy!  Both volumes can be yours for $SOLD in the US via Media Mail.   Contact me if you’d prefer another shipping method and I’ll get you as price for shipping.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by SOTIcollector

[SOTIcollector]

One price drop.  Take 10% off what remains!

[SOTIcollector]

Saturday Review bound volumes
Sold per PM

[Susanville]

On 12/10/2021 at 8:14 PM, SOTIcollector said:

And here's one you don't see every day.  The ultimate SOTI for your collection.

When SOTI was published, the publisher (Rinehart) printed the book with a bibliography (pp. 399-400).  However, due to (likely justified) fears of lawsuits from comic book publishers, Rinehart ordered the bibliography removed from SOTI prior to distribution.  Dr. Wertham didn't even know that was happening until after the book was distributed and people complained to him that their book had been mutilated.  

Some copies of the book made it out before Rinehart ordered the bibliography removed.  So although the bibliography doesn't exist in most copies, it does exist.

Here's a copy with the original dust jacket and bibilography.

Some bleaching to the inside FC and BC.  Penciled price on front free endpaper. Otherwise, a great, unmarked copy.

$1750 shipped in the US.

 

take at 10% off. Thanks.