I arrived at the Ramada Inn in Bordentown at about 8:00 am Saturday, November 1 and found dealers already bringing in dozens of boxes filled full of pulps, paperbacks, books, DVDs, and artwork. The official start of the show was 10:00 am but the action was already gearing up for a day of selling and buying. By the ten o’clock start all 50 or so tables were open for business.

   During the day I sold vintage paperbacks, pulps, DVDs, and cancelled checks made out to pulp authors. I had Dashiell Hammett’s first appearance in print priced at $2,000 but it did not sell. However I did sell his third or fourth appearance for $200.

   The above will give you an idea of items available at the show. I picked up a few pulps and books but my main acquisition was a pulp cover color preliminary for the first issue of Strange Stories. It’s amazing that this somehow survived; I bet the original cover art was destroyed or lost a long time ago.

   David Saunders was there with an advanced copy of the book on his father Norman Saunders. It looked stunning with hundreds of color reproductions of Saunders artwork.

   Bob Lewis was there with his friend Craig Poole, and Martin Grams came with hundreds of DVDs and copies of his immense new book on The Twilight Zone. I recommend this book highly; it seems to have everything in it that you would want to know about the TV series. David Kurzman was there with four tables crammed full of high quality condition pulps and first editions.

   Nick Certo has found the mother lode of Black Mask‘s and had many copies for sale. There probably will not be another large cache of these pulps available in our lifetime. John Gunnison had several tables of pulps.

   Cowboy Tony had an amazing number of magazines available. You name it, he had it: pulps, paperbacks, slicks, dime novels, men’s adventure magazines. The smell at his tables of musty, woody, pulp and slick paper, was overpowering. It was a heavenly smell.

   After the dealer’s room closed at 5:00 pm, about 15 of us met for an hour or so to talk about Pulpcon 2009 which is to be held in Columbus, Ohio July 31-August 2, 2009. Rich Harvey kindly provided the pizza and soda. All members of the new committee were present to discuss the Columbus Pulpcon and answer questions. Thank you Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers, Barry Traylor and Ed Hulse. All pulp collectors should visit the Pulpcon 2009 website which gives some details.

   These pulp shows are great for stirring up interest and usually result in visits with other collectors before the show and after the show. For instance, on Friday Steve Lewis and Paul Herman, visited me and we discussed pulp artwork and DVDs among other subjects. After the show was over, Scott Hartshorn and Nick Certo visited me and we watched film noir and horror movies until 2:00 am. I’ve been friends with all these collectors since the 1970’s when we met at Pulpcon or other conventions.

   So ended another day of great books and pulps, great friends, and plenty of fast food.