As I usually do before heading out of town, I’ve been busy packing up and getting some reviews posted that I wanted to squeeze in before I go. Rich Harvey’s Pulp Adventurecon #10 is an all-day show on Saturday in Bordentown NJ, and I’ll be there:

   I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning with Paul Herman. We’re planning on doing some bookhunting along the way, then staying tomorrow night with noted paperback collector Dan Roberts over in nearby PA. (What’s really neat about Dan’s collection is that it’s all out on shelves where you can actually see it, and he has a lot of shelves. Unlike having four do-it-yourself storage areas that you can’t get into all four of, since right now the door on one is busted, and even for the other three, it has to be during regular business hours. Sometimes I feel as though I have to make an appointment several days in advance to see my own stuff.)

   As for the Bordentown show, I always have a great time, and I’m looking forward to it.

   Editor, reviewer, anthologist, bibliographer, and crime fiction scholar extraordinaire, Allen Hubin’s extensive contribution to the field began over forty-years ago. In 1967, working out of his basement, he founded the legendary fanzine, The Armchair Detective (TAD).

   Then, with just one review under his belt, Hubin was asked to review for the New York Times Book Review, taking over for Anthony Boucher. In his column, “Criminals at Large,” Hubin reviewed six books a week for almost three years. He hadn’t given anthologies a thought until Dutton called and asked if he’d carry on for Anthony Boucher and edit the Best Detective Stories of the Year.

   Hubin’s involvement in crime fiction bibliography began innocently enough, as well. He was asked to write the introduction to the world’s first crime fiction bibliography compiled by North Dakota librarian Ordean Hagen: Who Done It, (published by Bowker in 1969). During the compilation, Hubin opened his home and extensive library to Hagen and offered to help with the research. Unfortunately, Hagen passed away before the book was released.

   When corrections and additions to Hagen’s published work began to accumulate, Hubin decided to publish them in the pages of TAD, but they were rather extensive and a bit too random, and he had some ideas on how the information could be better organized. So, with the six-book-a-week reviews having wound down, he decided he could manage a “little” bibliographic work.

   That work mushroomed into a massive and seemingly never-ending project laboriously begun during the typewriter era, and in 1979, The Bibliography of Crime Fiction, 1740-1975 was published. Hubin could have left it at that, but he had in mind to add another five years of coverage and a new feature or two. Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography appeared in 1984.

   And that was not the end. Others followed, and by the year 2000, the end of the 20th century seemed to Hubin a more fitting climax to what would be more than thirty years of bibliographic effort, bringing him to the current Crime Fiction IV: A Comprehensive Bibliography 1749-2000! This impressive work contains author and title indexes to over 106,000 books, the contents of more than 6,600 collections, and identification of over 4,500 movies.

   A 2008 revised edition of the bibliography has been published on CDROM (by Locus Press). In addition, given that hundred of pages of new/corrected material has since accumulated, a 2009 edition (still with the 12/31/2000 cutoff date for new publications) is contemplated (again on CDROM by Locus Press). Much of this material for the 2009 edition can be found (with linkages and enhancements that won’t appear in the CDROM) at www.crimefictioniv.com.

[UPDATE / EDITORIAL COMMENT]. 11-02-09. Bouchercon 2009 has come and gone. I’d have loved to have been there, but the closest I got was my annual Columbus Day weekend trip to see my brother and sister back in Michigan something close to the same time.

   I certainly don’t know who deserved the award more. If you look at Al’s resume and all of those numbers, his accomplishments are staggering. (And all the more so when you consider that he began when typewriters were all the rage.)

   The updated version of the Revised Crime Fiction IV is now available on CD-Rom from Locus Press. I don’t have my copy yet, but it was on sale at Bouchercon. It incorporates all of the online Addenda included through Part 34. I uploaded Part 35 this morning, and I have some material to send Al later today that will appear in Part 36.

   Just back from PulpFest after a tiring 500 mile drive and discovered that Trenton, NJ had been hit by a big storm on Sunday which caused some damage to the airport which is near my house. Fortunately my pulp collection survived, but my wife’s car had to be towed to the repair shop.

   Upon arriving in Columbus on Thursday, I met fellow early birds for dinner and we all started to unload our pulps in the dealer’s room at 7:00 PM. This lasted until around 12:00 midnight and was a nice way to start the convention. We all missed the usual old Pulpcon rules of “no talking, no dealing, and no looking at other tables!”

   Friday the fun officially began and I noticed a vast improvement over the previous Pulpcons in Dayton. For example the attendance was over 350 which is more than Pulpcon ever had and I’ve been keeping track since 1972. This figure put PulpFest near the great level achieved by Windy City’s 400.

   During the three days the dealer’s room never looked empty and I saw several important and rare deals being made. For example I sold 17 bound volumes of Weird Tales, numbering 97 issues, mostly in the 1930’s, for only $1000. That’s like $10 an issue. Also sold from my table were many canceled checks from the Munsey and Popular Publication files.

   I bought my usual mound of pulps like Western Story, Dime Mystery, Dime Detective, Detective Story. There was a lot of original art for sale and I bought a framed, signed Edd Cartier drawing which illustrated a Harry Whittington story.

   I also obtained a Detective Fiction Weekly painting from 1931 and a strange bondage cover that was supposed to be used for Fred Cook’s 1960’s pulp fanzine, Bronze Shadows. I say “supposed” because the magazine died before the cover could be printed.

   Also sold from my table were such odd items as a Charles Russell bronze and a pulp painting cover from Fifteen Western Tales. Across the aisle I was witness to the five issues of Black Mask containing the “Maltese Falcon” serial being sold for $4,000.

   What made this deal so strange was the fact that the buyer wanted the issues not because they were from Black Mask or contained Hammett, but because he is an Erle Stanley Gardner fan.

   For those collectors who went broke buying pulp magazines, there were plenty of panels, slide shows, and auctions during the evening hours. The panels were all interesting and covered such pulpish topics as collecting pulps (I was so excited about being on this panel, that I almost tripped and fell on my face), Frederick C. Davis, Edmond Hamilton, The Shadow, and H. P. Lovecraft.

   The guest of honor was Otto Penzler, book dealer, editor, expert on mystery first editions. He was the perfect guest and appeared to be enjoying himself.

   However I was stunned by his announcement that his big book of Black Mask stories had been rescheduled for publication and would appear in late 2010, about a year beyond the date we were hoping for.

   Why? Because since vampires are so popular, they decided to publish a big book of vampire stories first. This of course was sad news for all pulp and mystery fans, but to offset the disappointment, Otto announced that he would also be editing a big book of adventure stories.

   In addition to thousands of pulps there were also quite a few reprints making their debut, such as new Edmund Hamilton collections and several new collections from Black Dog Books, including a stunning collection of Roger Torrey stories. Torrey died an early death but was quite prolific in the detective pulps. For some reason he has been unjustly forgotten and this is the first big collection of his work.

   Also being introduced was the new and enormous issue of Blood ‘n’ Thunder with a ground breaking article by Ed Hulse on Popular Magazine.

   After the panels and auction ended many of us gathered in the Hospitality room for snacks, soda and thank god, beer. More that one collector contributed to the free food and drink, and I’m not sure of their names but I believe Rusty Burke deserves my thanks for supplying the beer, and not just the usual watery American beers, but imported beers.

   I was glad to see such women collectors as Laurie Powers and Karen Cunningham. I caught a glimpse of Clare MacDonald from Australia but Curt Phillips quickly escorted her from my view.

   The Sunday morning Munsey breakfast was a rousing success with far more collectors being willing to rise up early on Sunday morning than I expected. The new Munsey award was a stunning image by David Saunders. I thought about stealing it but it was always under guard. I asked Mike Chomko if I could trade my Lamont award for the Munsey but he was not at all receptive to this reasonable request.

   The first winner of this award is Bill Thom, who administers the Coming Attractions website. This site is new every Friday evening and announces all sorts of pulp related news.

   I would like to thank the PulpFest committee for a great job on their very first attempt. Soon Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers, Barry Traylor, and Ed Hulse will be busy planning the 2010 convention. Fellow Pulp Collectors, this is an event that you must attend, so start making plans!

Editorial Comments: I echo everything that Walker has to say. By any standard you can think of, the convention was a resounding success. The dealers room was constantly busy with none of the lulls that has afflicted the past few PulpCons in recent years. I didn’t buy much myself, but there seems to have been lots of activity at and around Walker’s table.

   I’ve looked carefully, but I have not spotted myself in a short YouTube video of the event, but you can see Walter Albert’s brother Jim in the process of covering their table with a white cloth, probably just before one of our joint ventures out for food and/or local bookhunting.

   I won’t mention any of the names of the people I met there, some for the first time, even though I’ve known many of them for a long time. I spent most my time walking up and down the aisles, but not getting very far any time that I did. It was far too easy to find someone to stop and talk to for large chunks of time, and more than anything else, that’s what I did and why I go.

   For me the convention was compact, intense, and all too short. It was hard to believe it when Paul Herman and I got off the plane together and he dropped me off at home thirty minutes later. Many thanks for all of the effort put into this year’s event by the organizers of PulpFest 2009, and as Walker says, it’s time to start thinking about next year!

I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning for Columbus OH and this weekend’s 2009 PulpFest convention, the first under the new name and new management. They’ve done a tremendous amount of advertising and stirred up a lot of excitement about their show, more than there’s been in a long time. The fellows running the old PulpCon had done a good job over the years, but attendance had been dropping and they didn’t appear to be very receptive to new ideas.

PulpFest is primarily a venue for collectors of old pulp magazines to get together and talk about their recent acquisitions as well as those that got away, and of course to look for more. The center of the show is the dealers’ room, but in the evening are various panels and presentations, all in a very relaxed atmosphere. Many of the attendees have been coming for years, but anyone coming for the first time should feel welcome right away.

Some of you reading this I expect to see there, including several whose names should be familiar if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, such as Walter Albert, Walker Martin, Mike Nevins and Dan Stumpf. Stop by and introduce yourself if you’re there and I don’t see you first!

I’ll be back home on Sunday, but it may be a few days into August before the blog is very active again. Whenever I go away I pretty much stay off the computer, so no reports on the big bash until I get back. See you then!

   I just got back from Windy City. I went by Amtrak this year. Going from Trenton, NJ to Chicago only took an agonizing 28 hours with some delays and microwave food that I had trouble eating. Not to mention the claustophobia that kicked in when I closed the door to my sleeping car room.

   I traveled with long time pulp collector Digges La Touche and we spent the long train ride mainly reading. The last time I went to Windy City I drove for two days, but I can’t do that anymore since my eyesight is deteriorating. I’m a danger on the road for long trips or night time driving.

   I checked with Doug Ellis, and he said there were over 400 registered for the weekend and 128 tables. I spent all day each day in the dealer’s room roaming around looking through each table for pulps and artwork.

   I usually skipped lunch because I couldn’t tear myself away. However I did have breakfast and dinner each day with such great and out-of-control collectors like Nick Certo, Scott Hartshorn (Mr. Hollywood), Digges La Touche (The Human ATM Machine), Ed Hulse (the latest issue of his Blood n Thunder magazine debuted at this con and is over 100 pages!), Dave Scroggs (Pulp Librarian), Dave Kurzman, Kevin Cook, Steve Kennedy (pulp art dealer), and others too numerous to list. All these characters may not be well known to readers of this blog, but they all have enormous pulp collections.

   Bob Weinberg was there with his wife, and he has some great projects coming up. He and George Vanderburg of Battered Silicon Press are the new editors of Arkham House. I think this is great because Arkham has been a ghost of its former self the last few years. Others in attendance were Rodney Schroder, Paul Herman, Tony Tollin, Tom Roberts, Doug Ellis (thanks to you and John Gunnison for a great Convention), Rob Preston, Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers, John Locke, and others.

   I spent some time talking to Frank Robinson, who looks great, and he told me several stories about his experience on the Milk movie set. He evidently got a good salary for his 17 days on the set and will be in the DVD extras. Frank warned me before one auction, “Watch out for the paper.” At first I didn’t know what he meant but as the auction progressed, I realized some the great-looking pulps looked excellent on the outside but had browning paper inside.

   Speaking of the auction, both were well attended and packed with rabid bidders. The Friday auction was mainly material from the Frank Hamilton estate, such as artwork, Shadow and Doc Savage pulps.

   The Saturday auction was of more interest, with a complete run of Weird Tales being auctioned piece by piece, 1930-1954. All were from Ray Walsh’s collection. He had the 1920’s issues at his tables. Also auctioned were many issues of The Spider, Munsey correspondence and checks, and various pieces of artwork.

   The art exhibit was stunning, packed with work by Ward and Hubert Rogers. After seeing a room full of Rogers art, I upgraded my opinion of his work. The program book was edited by Tom Roberts and at 138 pages deserves to be in all our libraries. There were several articles on Hubert Rogers, Ward, and the Spicy pulps.

   What did I actually buy? Well I went with a few thousand dollars and came back with a couple hundred. I found some pulp wants like Dime Mystery, Western Story, Far West, Street and Smith’s Detective Story.

   I also came home with many pieces of art including an Arkham House dust jacket by Herb Arnold, The Watcher Out of Time, a Detective Fiction Weekly pulp cover from the mid 1930’s, a Two Fisted Tales cover by Severin, ten illustrations by Potter from a Arkham House anthology, a Cartier illustration, and several pieces of “Outsider” art by an unknown artist who evidently submitted the pieces to Castle of Frankenstein magazine but never got them back.

   There must be something bad I can say about this convention, but no, I can’t think of a single criticism. Well maybe I can gripe about not being able to see Ed Hulse’s film program, but that’s my fault becuse I can’t drag myself away from the dealer’s room and auction.

   So after four days and nights of pulps, pulps, and more pulps, I headed back to Chicago’s Union Station and caught the 7:00 pm Amtrak. Fortunately this time the food was cooked and not microwaved, plus they had a nice lounge and bar car where you could sit and watch the scenery. This time no claustophobia! I took a xanex, closed the door to the tiny room and got more sleep than I did at the pulp show.

   Next thing on the horizon is Pulpfest! All members of this group should support it either by attending or sending in a supporting membership. Since this is the first of the new pulp shows, it must have our support in order to survive and prosper. We don’t want to wake up one day and face a world with no dealers’ room! Mark these days on your calendars, July 31, August 1 and August 2, 2009. See you there!!

         PulpFest press release copy:

   Edgar Award-winning writer, editor, and publisher Otto Penzler has been chosen to be the Guest of Honor at this year’s PulpFest, a convention for collectors and devotees of vintage pulp fiction, which will be held July 31 through August 2 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

   PulpFest not only attracts book dealers and collectors from all across the country but also hosts seminars on various aspects of pulp history and stages auctions of rare and desirable material including vintage hardcovers, paperbacks, and dime novels in addition to the fabled woodpulp magazines from which the convention takes its name.

   Penzler, whose recent anthology The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps has done more to renew interest in Golden Age pulp fiction than any mainstream publication in recent history, is a perfect Guest of Honor in that he is also a world-class collector of crime fiction, many of whose most notable authors—including Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, and John D. MacDonald—toiled in the pulp vineyards before achieving mainstream success with major publishers.

   Penzler will regale PulpFest attendees with stories of his adventures in the publishing business and as a lifelong collector. He is expected to give attendees a preview of his much anticipated Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories, an upcoming anthology collecting rare yarns from the prestigious pulp magazine that was home to Hammett, Chandler, and other giants of hard-boiled detective fiction.

   Still the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop, a New York City landmark that celebrated its 30th anniversary last year, Otto Penzler published The Armchair Detective, an Edgar-winning quarterly journal devoted to the study of mystery and suspense fiction, for seventeen years. He was the founder of The Mysterious Press, now an imprint at Grand Central Publishing, and also launched the publishing firms of Otto Penzler Books and The Armchair Detective Library.

   He currently has imprints at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the United States and Quercus in the U.K. In 1977, he won an Edgar Award for the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection. The Mystery Writers of America gave him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994 for his exceptional contributions to the publishing field. He was also honored with MWA’s highest non-writing award, the Raven, in 2003.

   Penzler first endeared himself to pulp-fiction fans in the late 1970s by publishing a two-volume collection of short stories featuring Norgil, a magician-detective created by Walter B. Gibson, who also wrote more than 280 novel-length adventures of pulpdom’s legendary crime fighter, The Shadow. In 1984, Penzler reprinted two of that character’s best-remembered adventures in The Shadow and the Golden Master.

   Subsequently his Mysterious Press issued trade-paperback anthologies of classic pulp detective stories by Carroll John Daly, Erle Stanley Gardner, Frederick Nebel, and Norbert Davis. First You Dream, Then You Die, a deluxe hardcover biography of veteran pulp scribe Cornell Woolrich published by The Mysterious Press in 1988, earned an Edgar for author Francis M. Nevins and became a standard reference work.

   In addition to having access to interviews and seminars featuring Penzler and other guests, PulpFest attendees can shop for vintage paper collectibles in the convention’s spacious Dealers’ Room, in which dozens of merchants will exhibit their wares. Tens of thousands of pulps will be available for purchase, along with various books and magazines of related interest. Publishers of facsimile pulp reprints will also be on hand to supply fans with inexpensive but high-quality alternatives to the original rough-paper periodicals.

   For additional information and downloadable registration forms, interested parties are encouraged to visit the convention’s web site, www.pulpfest.com, which will be updated regularly in the weeks and months to come.

   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.

   As I often do before heading out of town, I’ve been doubling up on posts this week, as you may have noticed. Rich Harvey’s Pulp Adventurecon #9 is an all-day show on Saturday in Bordentown NJ, and I’ll be there:

   I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning with Paul Herman. We’re planning on doing some bookhunting along the way, then stopping at noted pulp collector Walker Martin’s home in NJ in the afternoon and staying overnight with noted paperback collector Dan Roberts over in nearby PA. (Paul of course is also noted, and so am I.)

   It’s always a great trip, and I’m looking forward to it.

   Back from Michigan, that is, where a wonderful time was had by all, as expected, and back from Gary Lovisi’s paperback show in New York City yesterday. Attendance was up slightly and a lot of money seemed to be changing hands, but of course the even greater attraction was seeing and talking to many, many friends I’ve known for a long time.

   I hope none of them will feel slighted if I mention only one of them, writer and pulp historian Ron Goulart, author most recently of Cheap Thrills, a profusely illustrated history of the pulp magazines, and Good Girl Art, also profusely illustrated, and even more so. I recommend both to you very highly.

   Recent health problems kept Ron from this year’s Windy City pulp and paperback show, where he was to have been this year’s co-guest of honor. We’ve known each other for well over 30 years, and it was good to see him again.

   Lots of people asked me about the recent absence of posts on this blog. I’m still not sure in what direction I (and it) will be going next, but until I find out, I have a large backlog of reviews that need to be uploaded, and I think you’ll see one here sometime in the next few minutes.

Steve,

To mark this week’s Bouchercon mystery writers conference in Baltimore, the Baltimore Sun‘s book blog (www.baltimoresun.com/readstreet) will feature guest posts from visiting authors. Today, Austin Camacho will discuss black characters and Charles Todd writes about police procedurals. We will have three or four more author posts each day this week. Thought this might be interesting to Mystery*File‘s readers.

Regards,
Dave

Dave Rosenthal
Sunday Editor
The Baltimore Sun