Low Grade Trimmed...Less Stigma on GA Books? 5 5

[fifties]

I've never turned my nose up at a PCH or crime book regardless of condition, except for trimming or brittle pages.  In that way I managed to collect damn near all the horror and crime books I've wanted, 24 boxes worth, since I got on the net in 1998.  Before that I just had two handfuls of books from mail order dealers and monthly meets at the Shrine Auditorium annex in downtown "AL EH".

I learned early on that I did not like to see a pile of crumbles below the stand I had the book on while reading.

[Krydel4]

On 10/7/2023 at 5:29 PM, ttecwaf said:

Batman #49.  From Heritage.  As soon as I took it out of the bag it was obviously trimmed.  Still waiting a week later to get authorization to return the book.  Top to bottom does not even measure 10 inches (see ruler).  The trimming was not mentioned in the description.  Need to be careful with raw books even from the big auction houses.  Placed it next to an untrimmed Batman #44 for comparison.  

For Comparison. It's not been trimmed too much at the top. It seems to be mostly the bottom and side.

Edited October 11, 2023 by Krydel4
Clarity

[Point Five]

On 10/9/2023 at 12:27 AM, Krydel4 said:

For Comparison. It's not been trimmed too much at he top. It seems to be mostly the bottom and side.

Yep. Your cover has a lot less Robin, if that's any consolation.

 

[lou_fine]

On 10/7/2023 at 5:28 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

The only thing that bothers me more than trimming is brittleness. I would not buy a brittle book, and I would not buy a trimmed book—full stop.

I can definitely understand that sentiment with a "trimmed" book, but how about a properly done "micro-trimmed" book where the work has been done so perfectly well that nobody can really tell with 100% confidence whether it had been trimmed or not?    
 

Edited October 9, 2023 by lou_fine

[Robot Man]

On 10/8/2023 at 7:56 AM, Robot Man said:

I once went through a period that I didn’t want anything below fine. I stupidly sold off a bunch of vg and lower books. Some real killer ones. Luckily, I came to my senses.

The only books I just won’t buy or keep are brittle, heavily taped, mold or rat chews. Everything else is fair game at this point. 

OK, I eat my own words… many, many years ago I bumped into one of my largest and favorite collection buys. About 600 late GA/Atomic Age books. Every possible genre and nice runs of many titles. Probably nothing better than fine and a lot of lower grades. But just wonderful titles. The guy had them priced “each” and I bought most of them except the Dell westerns and some lousy funny animal books. There was a small box that the rats got to. Some not too bad and some totally trashed. The guy just threw them in the deal free. I got rid of the worst of them but this was one I kept to keep the run complete…

[Robot Man]

A question for the experts here. Has this book been trimmed or it is the victim of poor trimming at the plant?

Obviously, I’d like to think the latter. I do know the history of the book. It was from the OO  “Paul” collection that surfaced here a few years ago. Paul bought it off the stands and remained in his possession until a local friend bought his entire collection from one of his heirs. I bought it from my friend along with a couple hundred others. Could Paul have trimmed it himself? Maybe, but I doubt it. He never intended to profit off it and I have seen no other books with any kind of resto.

What do you all think? I wonder what the grading Gods would think? 

By the way, it doesn’t matter one bit to me either way. One heck of a cool book and a Gerber no show.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Robot Man

[Krydel4]

On 10/10/2023 at 7:39 AM, Robot Man said:

A question for the experts here. Has this book been trimmed or it is the victim of poor trimming at the plant?

Obviously, I’d like to think the latter. I do know the history of the book. It was from the OO  “Paul” collection that surfaced here a few years ago. Paul bought it off the stands and remained in his possession until a local friend bought his entire collection from one of his heirs. I bought it from my friend along with a couple hundred others. Could Paul have trimmed it himself? Maybe, but I doubt it. He never intended to profit off it and I have seen no other books with any kind of resto.

What do you all think? I wonder what the grading Gods would think? 

By the way, it doesn’t matter one bit to me either way. One heck of a cool book and a Gerber no show.

IMHO that has all the earmarks (fanned pages, jagged edge) of being cut with a rotary trimmer and not the guillotine cutter that would be used at a printers.

[MrBedrock]

On 10/7/2023 at 10:53 AM, Funnybooks said:

can't do trimmed
I would rather own a book with pieces added $.02

Couldn't you buy a trimmed book, then have someone add back the pieces that were trimmed off?

[Funnybooks]

On 10/10/2023 at 12:44 PM, MrBedrock said:

Couldn't you buy a trimmed book, then have someone add back the pieces that were trimmed off?

i'm too lazy

[MrBedrock]

On 10/10/2023 at 12:43 PM, Funnybooks said:

i'm too lazy

+1

[Robot Man]

On 10/10/2023 at 7:58 AM, Krydel4 said:

IMHO that has all the earmarks (fanned pages, jagged edge) of being cut with a rotary trimmer and not the guillotine cutter that would be used at a printers.

Thanks. So do you think it would come back purple from CGC? 

[Krydel4]

On 10/11/2023 at 8:10 AM, Robot Man said:

Thanks. So do you think it would come back purple from CGC? 

Well, I'm not a professional grader and CGC standards are always changing (to quote Matt's book) but I would say 50/50. As it doesn't improve the books aesthtic at all but I've seen worse that get purple.

[fifties]

On 10/11/2023 at 8:10 AM, Robot Man said:

Thanks. So do you think it would come back purple from CGC? 

IMO that book hasn't been altered.  Opened up, the left side pages fan, and the upper and lower right corners of the FC are rounded.  No reason CGC would then give it a PLOD, I would think.

[Krydel4]

@Robot Man

For Comparison...I lean towards trimmed as the top is also missing some bits too. Tough to tell 100% from the pics. Need to have it in hand for a proper look. Feel free to send it to me. And if it is trimmed I'll make sure to dispose of it properly as you wouldn't want a trimmed book back right?🤔😁

Edited October 11, 2023 by Krydel4
Clarity

[fifties]

On 10/11/2023 at 12:47 PM, Krydel4 said:

@Robot Man

For Comparison...I lean towards trimmed as the top is also missing some bits too. Tough to tell 100% from the pics. Need to have it in hand for a proper look. Feel free to send it to me. And if it is trimmed I'll make sure to dispose of it properly as you wouldn't want a trimmed book back right?🤔😁

I have to disagree with you AFA the top; your comparison book displays a slightly lower text position at the top, but at the bottom his book cuts off slightly lower, displaying just a bit more illustration.  IOW, the registration of the covers is just slightly off between them. 

[Krydel4]

On 10/11/2023 at 6:51 PM, fifties said:

I have to disagree with you AFA the top; your comparison book displays a slightly lower text position at the top, but at the bottom his book cuts off slightly lower, displaying just a bit more illustration.  IOW, the registration of the covers is just slightly off between them. 

I was referencing more the angle of the top cut of the book as the bottom is at the same alignment when compared to the other copy I used for reference (even with the slightly less of the illustration that you pointed out) I think we'll agree to disagree on this one. Like I said  I'm leaning,  not 100% certain without the book in hand to ascertain for sure so lets say 51/49😁. As long as I've been in the hobby, I'm sure that Robot Man has decades more experience than me and probably knows for sure and is just being nice. Great book. Would love to own it in any condition. Cheers.

Edited October 12, 2023 by Krydel4
Clarity

[lou_fine]

On 10/10/2023 at 7:58 AM, Krydel4 said:

IMHO that has all the earmarks (fanned pages, jagged edge) of being cut with a rotary trimmer and not the guillotine cutter that would be used at a printers.

IMHO that book has all the earmarks of a book that's been macro-trimmed by Danny Dupchak with his tried and trusted machete and not a book that's been micro-trimmed by Jason Ewert using his next gen laser surgical pair of scissors.    

[Point Five]

Funny that just a few weeks after the good Dr. B started this thread, I ended up buying the book below. A longtime grail of mine that's gotten pretty much unaffordable except for really beat copies, I couldn't resist this one when it popped up. It looks insanely nice in hand, and the bang-on centering balances out the trim, to my eye at least. I'm just over the moon to have it. 
 

[Patriot6]

On 10/27/2023 at 10:31 PM, Point Five said:

Funny that just a few weeks after the good Dr. B started this thread, I ended up buying the book below. A longtime grail of mine that's gotten pretty much unaffordable except for really beat copies, I couldn't resist this one when it popped up. It looks insanely nice in hand, and the bang-on centering balances out the trim, to my eye at least. I'm just over the moon to have it. 
 

If it's for display to look at and covet, then why not have a nice looking copy that was affordable? Restored/trimmed or not, still easy on the eyes.

[fifties]

On 10/27/2023 at 8:31 PM, Point Five said:

Funny that just a few weeks after the good Dr. B started this thread, I ended up buying the book below. A longtime grail of mine that's gotten pretty much unaffordable except for really beat copies, I couldn't resist this one when it popped up. It looks insanely nice in hand, and the bang-on centering balances out the trim, to my eye at least. I'm just over the moon to have it. 
 

Posting my copy for comparison.  If you look at the three vertical bubbles, you can see the difference from the trim; barely noticeable.  You did well; this book is indeed a PCH grail.