What's a "file copy"?

[Rob]

Title says it all.

[MightyBeanComics]

I believe a "file copy" is an issue that the publisher kept in their personal files.

 

[Anfield Fox]

or writer, artist, etc.

[Rob]

They only kept one of each issue?

[TheWatcher]

They only kept one of each issue?

 

No. Sometimes there were multiple copies, like the Gaines File copies.

 

 

Angelo

[Wally's Comics]

I think there is an Official "Stan Lee" file copy collection out there somewhere.

 

 

[OldGuy]

It's a way for Heritage to squeeze a little more money out of you.

[joe_collector]

I think there is an Official "Stan Lee" file copy collection out there somewhere.

 

Yeah, but those were the ones he kept in his bathroom.

[PovertyRow]

I've always adhered to the concept of a file copy being kept on file at the publisher as a reference or, perhaps, for some legal/business purpose (such as a "pay copy" which would also be a file copy).

 

Unfortunately, the term has also been applied to warehouse finds. I don;t see a warehouse find as being the same thing as a file copy. They are exactly that: warehouse finds. Overstock.

[Silver Surfer]

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[TheWatcher]

From Comicpedigrees.com website:

 

FILE COPIES

Over the years, many collections have surfaced labeled as "File Copies". File copies can come from the publisher (Harvey, Random House, Poughkeepsie) or from professionals in the field (Lloyd Jacquet, William Gaines, William Crowley, Walter Gibson, Harvey Kurtzman, Stan Lee and others).

 

The publisher file copies are usually classified as warehouse finds because they can contain multiple copies of many issues in high grade. These are generally unread copies, but sometimes lack high page quality. Most have no distinct markings, but some have editorial or printing type notes.

 

The accumulations of professionals tend to garner a pedigree status with collectors, as they usually have more uniqueness and character to them; the notes present on the Lloyd Jacquet copies of Marvel Comics #1 and Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 shed new light on the age-old debate over which comic the Sub-Mariner first appeared in. Sometimes books in these collections are not in the highest of grades because of improper storage, or because they were used by their owner as reference material. Others, like the Gaines collection, are immaculate.

 

 

http://comicpedigrees.com/pedigrees.htm#FILE_COPIES

 

 

 

Angelo

[Wally's Comics]

I think there is an Official "Stan Lee" file copy collection out there somewhere.

 

Yeah, but those were the ones he kept in his bathroom.

 

yeah, those grades did look a little chitty...

 

 

[PovertyRow]

The publisher file copies are usually classified as warehouse finds because they can contain multiple copies of many issues in high grade. These are generally unread copies, but sometimes lack high page quality. Most have no distinct markings, but some have editorial or printing type notes.

 

That makes absolutely no sense.

[drewincanada]

I think there is an Official "Stan Lee" file copy collection out there somewhere.

 

Yeah, but those were the ones he kept in his bathroom.

 

Now there's an image I could do without.