Obadiah Oldbuck vs. Superman

[BLBcomics-migration]

Bob,

 

Do u recommend that collectors break open bound volumes to extract key issues like Oldbuck or keep the publisher's volume intact? Current eBay auction ends 06Sept17.

 

depends

 

many times the string bindings can be easily cut - but if tight or if glued, i would not take a chance without some pro help, somebody trained in museum conservator concepts

 

this older stuff tends to be bound by string, and this is bound that way i suspect, and since the only thing of value in this bound volume is the OO, i suspect the winner will do that

 

 

bob

[BLBcomics-migration]

 

I present the above scans due to the Superman talk on this thread that for some reason some people might think i do not think much of Superman, and simply is not true

 

Notice the last line of the intro page

 

The interview with Jerry & Joe which appeared in Nemo #2 in the early 1980s I paid for. I was supposed to go also, the interview had been set up for a month, but that week the new comic book shipment truck was buried in a mud slide on the Grapevine along Interstate 5, and did not show up until the end of the week and i had to hang around to receive it, and make sure it got broken down, and also to collect from the comic book stores getting books from me. so i missed out on it - i was very bummed out at the time and remain so to this day

 

I paid all the money for Tom Andrae and Geoff Blum to fly down to LA, put em up in a hotel, rental car, dinners for every one during the interview time. Memory sez i put out $1200

 

I had all the questions for the boys re the Humor books, Detective Dan, etc, the Superman cover i had restored a decade earlier, etc

 

Tom, Geoff and Gary Coddington did not ask the indepth stuff i would have re the Humor publishing company, who the owner was, etc. The final answers to those questions will most likely remain unanswered for ever - so much the pity

 

i also asked Richard Lupoff, whose fanzine legendary fanzine XERO helped jump start comics fandom back in 1960-62 along with Jerry Bails & Roy Thomas' ALTER EGO as well as Thompson's COMIC ART, so borrow his copy of SCIENCE FICTION #3 Jan 1933, went to Krishna Copy across the street from my comic book store on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley to make the xeroxes which were used in Nemo #2. The bummer here is i could have borrowed all five issues in 's complete set, but thought at the time, well, i do not know these days what i thought, but another opportunity gone down the wrong path. I guess i was too wrapped up with running several comic book stores and a comics re-distribution sub-distributorship at the time.

 

So, please, spare me re supposedly not caring that much about Kal-El

 

It do not fly with me

[Theagenes]

Very cool! Are you familiar with this Reinhardt as well?

 

No, but i have comics scholar friends in Germany i can put you in touch with - these guys are on my Plat list, which you should join. Address to join in my sig at the bottom.

 

Reinhardts work looks beautiful - i now want to learn more about him

 

We also have a visual aid e-list called PlatPics, where all scans get poured thru, then discussed on the main list. We have two lists cuz many posters cannot take the large files which come thru PlatPics

 

- we post onPlatPics so scholars can blow up the scans to huge dimensions to study the printed line work better

 

These would be reprints from Germay, BTW, especially i know for a fact the Busch stuff, as far as i know Busch never actually came to America.

 

There is a Busch museum in Cologne I believe, though i might be wrong on the city where it is located - he is very famous in Germany, like Topffer is in Switzerland

 

Thanks Bob. I just sent in my request to join the Platlist -- I hope you approve me.

 

I did find some more strips in the Frank Leslie tabloids and I'll try to post them tonight. It's amazing going through these things. These engravings are just blowing my mind.

 

I finished removing them all from the binding. In this case it was just string binding so it was easy. The reason I chose to do so in my case was because the rear board was seriously deteriorated from moisture damage and had mold on it, so I wanted to get them out of there. With this OO on eBay, I think I would just leave it alone if were up to me, especially if this is a bound publishers/file copy.

 

Now that I have all of these unbound issues, though, I have to figure out how to store them. Does anyone know someplace that sells tabloid-size mylars?

[Theagenes]

I had all the questions for the boys re the Humor books, Detective Dan, etc, the Superman cover i had restored a decade earlier, etc

 

Tom, Geoff and Gary Coddington did not ask the indepth stuff i would have re the Humor publishing company, who the owner was, etc. The final answers to those questions will most likely remain unanswered for ever - so much the pity

 

 

That's so frustrating! There is so much to learn about these books.

[BLBcomics-migration]

Very cool! Are you familiar with this Reinhardt as well?

 

No, but i have comics scholar friends in Germany i can put you in touch with - these guys are on my Plat list, which you should join. Address to join in my sig at the bottom.

 

Reinhardts work looks beautiful - i now want to learn more about him

 

We also have a visual aid e-list called PlatPics, where all scans get poured thru, then discussed on the main list. We have two lists cuz many posters cannot take the large files which come thru PlatPics

 

- we post onPlatPics so scholars can blow up the scans to huge dimensions to study the printed line work better

 

These would be reprints from Germay, BTW, especially i know for a fact the Busch stuff, as far as i know Busch never actually came to America.

 

There is a Busch museum in Cologne I believe, though i might be wrong on the city where it is located - he is very famous in Germany, like Topffer is in Switzerland

 

Thanks Bob. I just sent in my request to join the Platlist -- I hope you approve me.

 

I did find some more strips in the Frank Leslie tabloids and I'll try to post them tonight. It's amazing going through these things. These engravings are just blowing my mind.

 

I finished removing them all from the binding. In this case it was just string binding so it was easy. The reason I chose to do so in my case was because the rear board was seriously deteriorated from moisture damage and had mold on it, so I wanted to get them out of there. With this OO on eBay, I think I would just leave it alone if were up to me, especially if this is a bound publishers/file copy.

 

Now that I have all of these unbound issues, though, I have to figure out how to store them. Does anyone know someplace that sells tabloid-size mylars?

 

Yes, tabloid size mylars exist from several sources - i have a lot of them with stuff in them

 

Now you have an inkling of what i have been looking at for a decade now doing my research into this early stuff - there are many 1000s of strips in 100s of American pubs beginning in the 1840s

 

Here is a recent post from the Plat lis re an article from 1891t:

 

Studies in Illustrated Journalism.

The Rise of the Comic Paper.

By David Anderson.

Magazine of Art, Vol. 14, 1891.

 

http://yesterdays-papers.blogspot.com/2006/09/studies-in-illustrated-journalism.\html

 

Here is the first page, note it says Comic Papers", more proof the word comic was being used early on, before general popular myth thinks so with most comics collectors

 

[showcase4]

Bob,

 

Do u recommend that collectors break open bound volumes to extract key issues like Oldbuck or keep the publisher's volume intact? Current eBay auction ends 06Sept17.

 

even though you were directing this question to Bob, this one is right up my alley. To use a real estate term, the "highest and best use" for Obadiah Oldbuck in the bound volume would be to dissasemble the volume, and remove the indivual issue.

 

An experienced, highly qualified conservator can repair the spine damage, resew the string binding using the original sewing stations with an aged looking archival string, and add the appropriate pulp/paper to the edges of each page to offset the trimming. The entire book could be deacidified and cleaned also. With proper blending of the new/pld paper, this could be an attractive "apparent fine" when its all said and done.....nothing to sneeze at. The restoration would cost about $2,000, and take about a year.

[aardvark88]

Show-4,

 

Do u suspect that the bound edition of OO may be trimmed on the right edge to fit the hardcover binding? I was suspecting this when I viewed the pics in the current eBay auction.

 

For myself, I could not justify $2k in pro resto costs. Then again 1842 pulp is VERY fragile compared to 1942 GA comic paper.

[ciorac]

Show-4,

 

Do u suspect that the bound edition of OO may be trimmed on the right edge to fit the hardcover binding? I was suspecting this when I viewed the pics in the current eBay auction.

 

For myself, I could not justify $2k in pro resto costs. Then again 1842 pulp is VERY fragile compared to 1942 GA comic paper.

 

Talk to Matt Nelson about it. He may be able to do it much cheaper and faster than you think.

[showcase4]

Show-4,

 

Do u suspect that the bound edition of OO may be trimmed on the right edge to fit the hardcover binding? I was suspecting this when I viewed the pics in the current eBay auction.

 

For myself, I could not justify $2k in pro resto costs. Then again 1842 pulp is VERY fragile compared to 1942 GA comic paper.

 

you could definately get this book restored cheaper and faster....but I wouldn't suggest it. When having work done to America's 1st comic book, you don't want to use one of the regular players in the comic book restoration world. This is whole different Georgia peach.....you need an expert on paper this old who won't rush the job, and in fact do it painstakingly slow. This is a 164 year old historical 40 page document, and needs to be handled by an expert in this field. I use a Conservator who works for the Smithsonian and is established for 20+ years....that is a 1 year, $2,000 commitment to excellence! This is not an FF1..this is history from 1842 !!!

[buttock]

I agree. You should use comic book restorers for comic books, and museum conservators for non-comic books.

[BLBcomics-migration]

Show-4,

 

Do u suspect that the bound edition of OO may be trimmed on the right edge to fit the hardcover binding? I was suspecting this when I viewed the pics in the current eBay auction.

 

For myself, I could not justify $2k in pro resto costs. Then again 1842 pulp is VERY fragile compared to 1942 GA comic paper.

 

Books and mags this early were not manufactured out of pulp paper - which was not invented until decades later circa 1870s/80s, when the first "pulps" began being published, lowering the price, as America's forests began to be clear cut with a passion.

 

Either cotton or hemp was used back then in the 1840s - and is of a higher quality level than pulp paper, just abut the lowest level of paper invented - and tends to last longer than wood pulp paper, BTW, properly stored, of course.

 

Pulling string bindings apart requires a steady hand like a brain surgeon working on neural pathways more than any thing else, i think, and until inspection is made, there is a possibility the original string binding may be still there, hence, no resto needed

 

And it definitely looks trimmed on the right edge, maybe even a bit at the top & bottom

 

Still, all said & done, this is a pretty scarce puppy, i now know of about a dozen copies out there of the first printing all told - way less than say, err, um, an Action #1, (cough, cough)

[BLBcomics-migration]

Last month or so this thread raged on about what defines a comic strip - the buts & bolts of coming to some sort of Spock Logic whether or not OO even qualifies for the concept.

 

Below is the fornt cover and the top of page 3 from COMIC ART IN AMERICA By Stephen Becker 1959, ostensibly recognized on some levels as having useful data contained therein.

 

Nick Pope and others raged on & on about the definitions of earlier days still holding true

 

- read Becker's carefully, he ultimately got his data from pre-eminent comics historian Ernie McGee.

 

I note the definition includes "...balloons, or of a written narrative."

 

So, i would say the jury is still out on the definitive definition.

 

Nick and others wrote word balloons only, Becker says balloons or written narrative OK.

 

Becker states recurring characters, we all know that is not necessary, we are ALL in agreement on that note.

 

Becker inserted a vey brief overview of 1800s comic strip stuff, mentioning Bellew working in the 1880s and 90s, when, in fact, Bellew began doing sequential comic strips as early as 1853. I think this is sparse becauseBecker took notes at Ernie Mcgee's house, then got sick and his wife wrote the book based off her husband' notes. (Kinda like the NY Times reporter doing his comics thing on Geppi's Museum - )

 

[infinite_comics-migration]

you could definately get this book restored cheaper and faster....but I wouldn't suggest it. When having work done to America's 1st comic book,...

 

Again, another example as to why some people think you're a spunk trumpet. Why not just say "When having work done on books of the era" or "work done on paper this old" instead? No, you insist on repeatedly being an azzhole in this manner, and rightfully meet resistance. Drop the arrogant, pretentious B.S. and some people might take you seriously.

[BLBcomics-migration]

your constant ad hominem attacks are getting more than a bit boring

[infinite_comics-migration]

Put me on Ignore then, if you can't take the truth...

[Theagenes]

Here is another comic strip from Frank Leslie's Illustrated. The title of this one translates to "The Outwitted Farmer." No author is listed.

 

 

Nov. 25, 1871:

 

 

 

Dec. 2, 1871:

 

[Theagenes]

This is one is titled "The Woman in the Proverb" or something to that effect. It's by Herbert Koenig (1820-1876), who apparently was a well-known German artist.

 

 

Dec. 16, 1871:

 

 

 

Dec. 23, 1871:

 

[BLBcomics-migration]

This is one is titled "The Woman in the Proverb" or something to that effect. It's by Herbert Koenig (1820-1876), who apparently was a well-known German artist.

 

You sound like you are having fun with a new toy

 

Might you be experiencing the same type of epiphany i went thru as i discovered this wide amazing world of comics from long before there was supposed to be comics?

[ciorac]

[quote

Still, all said & done, this is a pretty scarce puppy, i now know of about a dozen copies out there of the first printing all told - way less than say, err, um, an Action #1, (cough, cough)

 

And infinitely..(cough, cough) less deisrable than an Action #1...

[Theagenes]

You sound like you are having fun with a new toy

 

Might you be experiencing the same type of epiphany i went thru as i discovered this wide amazing world of comics from long before there was supposed to be comics?