Robot Man Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 On 10/23/2023 at 9:32 AM, Darwination said: I get that collectors like to know what they are buying and want to protect their investment. Slabbing also encourages commodification, cold speculation, and serves the purposes of grading companies and auction houses who will be taking in the lion's share of any new pulp slabbing frenzy (THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS). Pulps and comics are books that are meant to be read. I own many thousands of books and zero slabs. But to each their own. I don’t have a lot of slabbed books. I crack out a lot.The ones I keep slabbed are ones that I buy only for the cover anyway. Many, I have readers of. Others are books that are super high grade or very valuble. I don’t get much enjoyment from them but worth it for future “potential”. Pulps are a perfect storm for slabbing for me. I primarily collect them for the covers anyway. But, as I said before, pulps take up a lot more space and if slabbed even more. Probably (in addition to availability). One of the reasons I have way more comics than pulps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwination Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 On 10/23/2023 at 12:15 PM, Robot Man said: I don’t have a lot of slabbed books. I crack out a lot.The ones I keep slabbed are ones that I buy only for the cover anyway. Many, I have readers of. Others are books that are super high grade or very valuble. I don’t get much enjoyment from them but worth it for future “potential”. Pulps are a perfect storm for slabbing for me. I primarily collect them for the covers anyway. But, as I said before, pulps take up a lot more space and if slabbed even more. Probably (in addition to availability). One of the reasons I have way more comics than pulps. RM, I love looking at the images of books from your amazing collection. I do understand the appeal for books that are only for display. On the other hand, there's all that ugliness surrounding the actual cover (who wants a frame that is that much larger than the book itself, that has obnoxious printing and reflective stamps, numbers, etc). A nice mylar with a good backer is gorgeous in my opinion, the less "frame" the better. Also, once it's in that slab, you'll never get a proper scan of the cover again due to glare. I work with a lot of digital images and seek out raw books to work with every time even if they are a lower grade. I've been selling some books for the first time and really don't like the math with some of it (my low value books anyway). You have a book worth, say, a hundred bucks that you "may" be able to get 2 or 300 dollars for slabbed. So you can pay and wait to get it graded and slabbed including shipping costs two ways just to make a little more on the sale. It's not that I'd want a book slabbed, only that's it's necessary for it to be considered "collectible" by slab lovers. My fave are the mass market books that are less than perfect that people slab up - I'm like pay the slabbing costs towards a better copy, homie These guys that crack, press, and resubmit are insane, once again the house always wins. But not trying to start a knife fight, just my two cents. Convenience store wisdom, take a penny, leave a penny... Robot Man 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecollectron Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 On 10/23/2023 at 6:41 AM, tth2 said: The 20th Century called and said it misses you! Well, I kind of expected that. I'm off to the quarry to carve out a stone tablet and chisel my next rant on it. tth2 and Robot Man 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 I put on my loin cloth last night, dragged out one of my vintage guitars and plugged it into my ‘50’s Fender tube amp. Wasn’t even irritated to have to wait for it to “warm up”. Trying to explain the reason to the average Taylor Swift fan who listens to her on digital music on little earbuds is like trying to explain sex to an old spinster. jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detective35 Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 (edited) On 10/23/2023 at 7:41 AM, tth2 said: The 20th Century called and said it misses you! No that I am against slabbing, at it is inevitable, and has its positives; but the 20th century has also produced an inability to research and gain knowledge through experience on how to grade pulps, to understand how to accurately grade pulps on your own and to spot restoration, and the reliance on someone else to perform these tasks for you. Edited October 24, 2023 by detective35 Robot Man, waaaghboss, jimjum12 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghastly542454 Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 Pulps-there are going to be a whole lot of brittle pages!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwination Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 (edited) For real. I don't even know what a high grade squarebound from the 20s looks like - I certainly don't own any. So much acid in a one or two hundred page pulp. They're beguiling, though, sometimes a book will look good but then the pages are so brittle that just a little bit of handling makes the area look like a snowglobe. Others, the cover will be worn, but the pages are still thick and supple. Issues that "feel" very well read can be preferable for actual handling to the primadonnas that have never been cracked. How much does putting a book in a slab actually prevent further deterioration? I get that it protects a book from physical knocks and bumps (to a point), but isn't the paper still dissolving away? Edited October 25, 2023 by Darwination jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waaaghboss Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 On 10/24/2023 at 10:05 PM, Ghastly542454 said: Pulps-there are going to be a whole lot of brittle pages!!! Maybe they'll grade pulp flakes. Ghastly542454, OtherEric, comicjack and 1 other 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibou Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 jimjum12, ThothAmon, comicjack and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 On 10/25/2023 at 7:33 AM, Darwination said: For real. I don't even know what a high grade squarebound from the 20s looks like - I certainly don't own any. So much acid in a one or two hundred page pulp. They're beguiling, though, sometimes a book will look good but then the pages are so brittle that just a little bit of handling makes the area look like a snowglobe. Others, the cover will be worn, but the pages are still thick and supple. Issues that "feel" very well read can be preferable for actual handling to the primadonnas that have never been cracked. How much does putting a book in a slab actually prevent further deterioration? I get that it protects a book from physical knocks and bumps (to a point), but isn't the paper still dissolving away? Would micro chamber paper prevent any further interior paper degradation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwination Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 (edited) Not really familiar with how that stuff works, but I'd guess a piece between the first page and the cover at the very least might help prevent leakage to the cover. You might need a good number of sheets? The Library of Congress made the call long ago to cut covers and microfilm the paper cuz of space and stink concerns. I handle a lot of pulps, and they are generally in pretty bad shape to say the least, but I honestly don't know what high grade collector's copies look like of tens and twenties pulps. Most any mags I have from the 20s is only in good shape if it's on a slick paper. Imo it's already a four alarm fire in terms of getting quality scans of early pulps, especially low circulation jobbers. Still, it's not as bad as straight up newsprint. There are tabloids I hunt that had big circulations that are basically already gone like lost films... Edited October 27, 2023 by Darwination jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
