Wed 2 Aug 2017
CON REPORT: PulpFest 2017, by Walker Martin.
Posted by Steve under Collecting , Conventions , Pulp Fiction[37] Comments
by Walker Martin
Once again, five over the top book, art, and pulp collectors, squeezed themselves into a big van in order to attend PulpFest 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Luckily we rented the biggest van that they had because we needed all the space when we drove back to New Jersey. It was a 15 passenger van which we converted into larger cargo space by taking out some seats.
In my opinion, after attending almost all the pulp conventions since 1972, this is the best hotel that we have ever had for our shows. Sure the hotel rooms cost $125 each night but they were worth it. Not only were we close to all the action taking place in the dealers room and program room, but we had a free buffet breakfast, the best I’ve ever seen at a pulp convention. It had to be worth $15 to $20. I devoured so much food at breakfast that I skipped lunch each day.
Yes, there were cheaper hotels down the road, but staying at the host hotel helps the convention because if they reach a certain number of rooms then big discounts kick in. These discounts are necessary in order for us to have future PulpFests. I have always stayed at the host hotels because they are so convenient and help the conventions meet expenses.
The past several years in Columbus, Ohio, we lacked a hospitality room because the hotel wanted us to buy their alcohol and use their bartenders. However at the Double Tree hotel we had our own room, and thanks to abebooks.com, the PulpFest committee was able to buy pizzas and craft beer. I would have to say that this was the best beer I’ve ever had at a pulp show. And instead of the usual snack items, the pizza was a real treat.
Right outside the hospitality room was a nice restaurant that also served pizza and beer. They had live entertainment also. All the hotel employees were friendly and helpful. This is a big plus because I’ve stayed at hotels where the employees have attitude problems and don’t want to be bothered.
Attendance was 350 and the dealer’s room seemed fairly busy each day. There were over 100 tables, most crammed with pulps, vintage paperbacks, digest magazines, DVDs, and original artwork. I always have a table at PulpFest and I sold pulps, DVDs, books, and cancelled checks from the Popular Publication and Munsey files.
I bought quite a bit including artwork like an interior illustration by John Fleming Gould and a large wraparound cover painting for an early Lion Book. The painting covers the front and back of the book and was used on the Lion book titled The Naked Year (The Inheritors) by Philip Atlee.
The blurb says “They groped for excitement in an age of boredom” and the image shows a big party with some two-fisted drinking and a bit of kissing with some good looking women. I’ve always had a weakness for these risque, sort of sleazy paperback novels.
One funny thing however, I had just told several of my friends that I would not be buying any original art because I have run out of wall space and I have many pieces of art just leaning against bookcases or the wall. What a liar I am. Once a collector, always a collector! I then promptly go over and buy a large cover painting. One big blunder that I never would have made in my younger days, I failed to recognize an Edd Cartier drawing, illustrating a scene from The Wheels of If by L. Sprague de Camp, and from Unknown, one of my favorite magazines. One of my younger friends snapped it up (by younger, I mean 30 years younger). I spent the rest of the convention cursing my stupidity and bemoaning the onset of senility.
A large batch of London Mystery Magazine was delivered to me and now I only need 16 issues out of 132. When I went to the bookstores in London and Hay On Wye, I couldn’t find a single issue. I also found three boxes of bound men’s adventure magazines. Completely unreadable of course, unless you love to read about Nazis partying with girls in their underwear, but the artwork is exceptional. I bought all of them of course, mainly bound volumes of Saga and Man’s World from the fifties and sixties. My descent into the depths of depravity continues but so what? The WW II vets loved these magazines and what’s good enough for those guys is good enough for me!
Pulp T-shirts have become very popular especially since Altus Press started cranking out all sorts of pulp titles. For those readers who are into fashion I wore my lucky Fred Davis T-shirt, the one given to me by Davis’ granddaughter many years ago, and shirts showing the logos of Black Mask, Short Stories, and Adventure. All well dressed pulp collectors wear such T-shirts.
Artist Gloria Stoll returned as Guest of Honor and she was fabulous. Though in her nineties, she was witty and very interesting concerning her seven years as a pulp artist in the forties. She then went on to have a career painting in a more abstract style. David Saunders did a nice job interviewing her and showing a slide show of her covers and career.
The Munsey Award was won by Phil Stephensen-Payne, who is one of the main men behind The FictionMags Index and Galactic Central. These sites are excellent online sources for information about the writers and the cover art. I visit them just about every day. Phil lives in the UK and couldn’t attend the convention, but I had the pleasure of reading his acceptance speech for him. A remarkable pulp scholar indeed! Sometimes we complain about the validity of some awards but this is an example of an award that they got right. Congratulations, Phil!
PulpFest is known for its great programming, and there was so much going on that I could fill pages talking about each night. I’ll just mention a few that I found to be excellent or of great interest. Author Chet Williamson read from Psycho Sanitarium; Garyn Roberts talked about 100 years of Robert Bloch; Jeffrey Marks covered the characters of Erle Stanley Gardner; Matt Moring discussed Dime Detective; Philip Jose Farmer was covered; and finally Tom Krabacher and I discussed “Hard-Boiled at 100: The Don Everhard Stories of Gordon Young.” My conclusion was that these stories were more about a gentleman adventurer who acted as a sort of Robin Hood, doing good and fighting criminals. I like Young’s Hurricane Williams south sea stories a lot more and the Don Everhard series is inferior to such novels as Days of ’49 and Huroc the Avenger.
The auction was of interest and had many items worth bidding on. I managed to get some rare Western Story magazines. I have over 1250 issues, 1919-1949 and only need a few. I obtained two exceptionally rare 1919 issues in dime novel format and an issue from 1925. Other items of interest were a complete run of Amra, volume two, #1-71. I wanted this but lost out since I didn’t want to pay a very high price.
Fred Cook’s rare copy of the Argosy Index went for $400. I’ve never seen a copy for sale. Some Shadow and Doc Savage premiums went for high prices. Tom Krabacher, who has written the definitive article on Gordon Young, wanted a large travel trunk once owned by Gordon Young but it went to someone else for $425. All in all there were almost 300 lots.
Each year the convention publishes The Pulpster, which is a magazine full of interesting articles about the pulps. This issue was number 26 and edited by William Lampkin. There were articles on women in the pulps by Ron Goulart and Bill Pronzini; several pieces on Robert Bloch; an article about Mary Elizabeth Counselman by Tony Davis; Curt Phillips on preserving pulps; several other articles including one by me on collecting Detective Fiction Weekly. This is an excellent magazine and we should thank Bill Lampkin for editing and Mike Chomko for publishing it.
One book I noticed made its debut at the show. Pride of the Pulps is a collection of magazine studies by Ed Hulse. The articles originally appeared in his Blood ‘n’ Thunder magazine, but they have been extensively revised and expanded. The magazines covered are Adventure, All-American Fiction, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, The Popular Magazine, Short Stories, and the 1920’s issues of West.
A great convention for collectors of old fiction magazines is now part of history but I’m looking forward to the next year at this fine hotel. Thanks to Paul Herman for the use of his photos in this report. I’d also like to thank the Pulpfest committee for another job well done. Thank you: Jack and Sally Cullers, Mike Chomko, Barry Traylor, William Lampkin, and Chuck Welch. Your hard work is very much appreciated!
August 2nd, 2017 at 7:06 pm
Another great con report, Walker! I was across from Doug Ellis who I believe had the Cartier original you mention, but it didn’t have what I’d be looking for in an original by him from UNKNOWN. Speaking of Doug Ellis, he brought over 90 pieces of original art to sell from his personal collection. I think he said he was trying to downsize! Then, next I knew, he bought two large originals at the show, one was a Lovell cover from Complete Stories and also a fabulous cover from IMAGINATION by McCauley. So when you said you were not going to buy any more art and had talked yourself out of a few pieces that you saw at the show already, well, I didn’t believe you anyway!!
August 2nd, 2017 at 10:23 pm
Paul, you are right about the blandness of the Cartier piece from UNKNOWN but anything at all from that great magazine is so rare that I should have bought it.
The McCauley cover painting had a price tag of $10,000 and I remember the magazine when it was on the newsstand. I loved those risque covers on IMAGINATIVE TALES! I was only 13 and on my way to being a collector of fiction magazines, thousands of them!
August 2nd, 2017 at 10:41 pm
By the way, thanks Paul for the photos. If anyone wants to see additional photos of this great convention, my good friend Sai Shanker has many just posted on his Pulpflakes blog, including a great one showing the McCauley cover of a beautiful girl riding on a guy who is flying. Just go to google.com and type in PULPFLAKES BLOG. The link is the first one that shows up.
Also the YELLOWED PERILS BLOG has some excellent photos posted by Bill Lampkin, a member of the Pulpfest committee.
August 3rd, 2017 at 2:32 am
Excellent report, Walker, and thanks again for standing in for me!
August 3rd, 2017 at 6:41 am
It was a pleasure Phil and thank you for the hard work on The Fictionmags Index and Galactic Central.
August 3rd, 2017 at 7:40 am
Great report, Walker! It was good to see you at Pulpfest. That’s a really nice cover painting you bought. I picked up a cover painting as well although it’s a good bit smaller. I wish I could afford to buy all the art I want! One of these days I’d love to visit your place and see all of your art and pulps!
August 3rd, 2017 at 8:02 am
Good report, Walker. I loved Pulpfest this year, talking with the only people I can discuss pulps with, and the great hotel. The programs were excellent, and many nice restaurants were within walking distance (loved Bravo, the Italian place).
August 3rd, 2017 at 8:36 am
Scott, I’m glad you are able to buy some art because I really believe every book and pulp collector should have at least one nice cover painting in their library. It’s a big part of book collecting. I have art all through my house but when I first started collecting art I was happy just to have a couple pieces. Cover paintings and interior illustrations are truly unique items.
August 3rd, 2017 at 8:44 am
Lohr, good point about Pulpfest being just about the only place where you can discuss pulps with like minded collectors. My neighborhood is like a vast wasteland devoid of pulp or book lovers. That’s one of the reasons I like MYSTERY FILE, PULPFLAKES, ROUGH EDGES, YELLOWED PERILS, and the online discussion groups like fictionmags, Pulpmags, and WesternPulps. We need people and places where we can discuss not only pulps but all types of literature.
August 3rd, 2017 at 9:05 am
Walker, your great reports are part of the reason why i started attending the conventions. Other reasons now are meeting you and the other friends I’ve made there, and of course the treasures that i find there.
Keep them coming, and keep your record of nearly perfect attendance going.
August 3rd, 2017 at 11:10 am
Always a great convention and yes, free parking and free buffet breakfast was fantastic. Love the new hotel.
Meeting up with people I see once or twice a year, chatting about pulps (and non-pulp subjects) as well as networking with collectors/vendors who can hook me up with materials that are old-time radio related (such as Robert Arthur short stories) for research projects (such as the radio career of Robert Arthur, who adapted his pulp and digest stories for radio and vice versa) is a plus. The annual convention is extremely valuable and necessary. Here’s to many more!
August 3rd, 2017 at 1:23 pm
Sai, I value our friendship and look forward to seeing you at the conventions. Hopefully you will be able to attend the one day Bordentown, NJ show in early November.
I so enjoy the conventions and I’m been attending them since 1972, that’s 45 years! And a house full of pulps, books, and original art.
August 3rd, 2017 at 1:30 pm
Martin, yes the convention is valuable and necessary and that’s one of the reasons I feel that we have to document the events and talk about them. I can remember when the old Pulpcons were held and followed by complete silence except in private one-on-one letters. I still have my letters from old time attendees like Nils Hardin, Fred Cook, Robert Sampson, Robert Weinberg, Sheldon Jaffrey, Harry Noble, and others, all enthusiastic about the Pulpcons.
They may be all gone but they live on in the present conventions.
August 3rd, 2017 at 3:18 pm
Another great con report, Walker! Some year the stars will be in grand conjunction, and I won’t be sweeping walkways that weekend … and I’ll make it. Really.
And I need more magazines and books. THAT statement is NOT true, unlike the previous one. But I’ll come anyway!
August 3rd, 2017 at 3:28 pm
I keep running out of superlatives when responding to your con reports, they are just so darn good. Wonderful.
August 3rd, 2017 at 3:49 pm
Mike, as you know, you can never have too many books or magazines. Hope to see you at the next convention!
August 3rd, 2017 at 3:51 pm
Thank you Barry. I enjoy the conventions so much and I guess it show through on the reports. I really believe they are so necessary to the collector.
August 3rd, 2017 at 4:22 pm
Once again, thank you, Walker, for this fine report.
August 3rd, 2017 at 4:35 pm
Thanks for your annual report on Pulpfest. Hope to see you in November.
August 3rd, 2017 at 5:27 pm
Thanks for your support Howard. I’m glad you like the reports.
August 3rd, 2017 at 5:30 pm
Thanks Jack. I’m sure you would have enjoyed it. See you in November.
August 3rd, 2017 at 5:33 pm
Nice article. And speaking of collecting cover art I thought I would share this item from the July 3, 1921 issue of Adventure magazine, showing that collectors have been around a very long time.
pg 178
“Don’t forget that the original paintings
of Adventure covers are for sale to the
highest bidder. All covers for issues previous
to that of February 3, 1920, have already
been disposed of. Bids will be accepted on
cover paintings published since that date,
and on the first of next July the paintings
bid for will be sent express collect to the
highest bidders. No bid of less than ten
dollars per cover will be considered. Send
in your bid any time.”
August 3rd, 2017 at 5:47 pm
I collect ADVENTURE and it’s one of my favorite magazines. Some of their covers were excellent paintings. I presently have 5 cover paintings from ADVENTURE and two interior drawings. Doug Ellis recently found the very first cover painting from the magazine. It was from 1910 and he recognized it right away.
August 3rd, 2017 at 6:30 pm
Hey Walker!
I finally made it home from NJ to Florida after being on the road for 24 hours! Great show thanks to Jack & Sally, Maura, Mike, Chuck and Juliet, Barry, Bill L. & Bill T. for all their hard work in volunteering and let’s not forget Joe and Gunny at the auction! Also everybody who participated on the panels. I must admit that I missed a couple of the panels because I was so comfortable chatting at the bar with friends that I get to see way too infrequently! Enough can’t said about how Jack Cullers turned the lemons of us losing (through no fault of our own!) the hotel in Columbus into the sweetest glass of lemonade by getting this tremendous location in Pittsburgh! You really did hit a home run, Jack! The older I get, the more appreciative I am of being able to spend time with such quality people! Great report, Walker…may the lit candle of pulp collecting never be snuffed out!
August 3rd, 2017 at 7:13 pm
Great article Walker!
My Golden Age Horror comics sold “like hotcakes” at Pulpfest.
Great artwork was found and some new friends made.
The venue added quality to the experience.
See you at Windy City.
Steve Spilger
August 3rd, 2017 at 10:05 pm
Scott, good point about Jack and whoever helped him find the great Pittsburgh hotel. Looks like the Columbus hotel did us a favor by kicking us out. The new venue was a big improvement and I loved the hospitality room with the pizza and craft beer.
Maybe we can try for two Pulpfests a year! Ok, just kidding. I remember the old Pulpcon tried it twice but it didn’t really work out.
August 3rd, 2017 at 10:11 pm
Steven, glad you did well with the comics. Of course the ghost of Rusty Hevelin was not pleased! He had a strict rule which he enforced about no comics. I remember one of my pals, Jim Archambault, stopped coming because Rusty made him take the comics off his dealer’s table back during the old Pulpcons.
Rusty ruled Pulpcon with an iron hand. But overall was responsible for the convention staying alive during some bad years.
August 4th, 2017 at 7:00 am
Thanks for the summary. I had such a good time at Pulpfest.
August 4th, 2017 at 9:09 am
Still have some of the cancelled checks?
Thanks,
Allen
August 4th, 2017 at 12:58 pm
Jeffrey, Pulpfest is a lot of fun and that’s why I’ve been to all nine of them since it started in 2009. Before that I attended all but a couple of the Pulpcons which started in 1972. Hard to believe all that time has passed since I attended my first Pulpcon in St Louis. I’m one of only a few survivors. We should have a last collector standing bottle!
August 4th, 2017 at 1:01 pm
Allen, I still have some of the cancelled checks. I’ll be bringing them to the Pulp Adventurecon in Bordentown in November if you will be attending that one day show.
August 4th, 2017 at 2:15 pm
I really enjoy reading your reports, Walker. Your enthusiasm is great! Although I don’t talk much at the conventions, I truly value your friendship, Walker, as well as that of the other friends I’ve made at the Pulp shows. Howard DeVore is probably more to blame than anyone for me originally going to Pulpcon and for that I’m very glad.
Maybe one day we can sit down and just talk pulps and art, Walker. I’m not great at conversation, but those are subjects we both love!
I’ll be looking forward to seeing you next time!
August 4th, 2017 at 3:19 pm
Scott, the four days fly past so fast at these conventions that we don’t get to talk to all the friends that we would like to meet with. I wish you well with your art collection. It’s great fun to collect such original and unique pieces that were used on pulp or book covers.
August 7th, 2017 at 4:34 am
Any idea who the person with the high grade Big Little Books might be from one of the top photos? I was unable to attend the show but made it to Chicago Show. Any help appreciated. Michael
August 7th, 2017 at 11:38 am
Peter Renfro on his Facebook page shows an entire table full of Big Little Books but I can’t remember who the dealer was at the show. I recall being impressed and thinking that this is the largest amount of Big Little Books I’ve seen.
Go to google and type in COMING ATTRACTIONS PULP and you will get a link to the August 4 date. Scroll down to the Pulpfest listing of convention reports and click on the Peter Renfro photos.
August 7th, 2017 at 12:04 pm
Michael- I think Dearly Departed Books had the Big Big Books and BLBs in the photo. Joe Saine also had a mountain of BLBs.
Walker – thanks for another great report.
August 8th, 2017 at 6:00 am
Thanks Gary. The dealer’s room certainly had a large variety of books and magazines for sale: pulps, slicks, paperbacks, men’s adventure magazines, digest SF and crime fiction magazines, Big Little Books, and comics.