Sun 23 Dec 2012
ADVENTURES IN COLLECTING: Thoughts on a December Evening, by Walker Martin.
Posted by Steve under Collecting , Pulp Fiction[16] Comments
Thoughts on a December Evening
by Walker Martin
While looking through the Western Story duplicates that I obtained recently, I’ve been involved in that occupation that has driven collectors crazy for generations. Yes, I’m talking about the heartbreaking job of comparing issues to see which copy is the better one. The better condition copy you keep for your own collection and the lesser condition copy eventually finds a new home.
Why did I use the words “crazy” and “heartbreaking” above? Because sometimes the copies have different flaws that make it almost impossible to choose one issue as the “better” one. For instance, many times I’ve compared the two copies of the same issue and seen a small piece out of the cover of one issue; but the other copy has some spine problems or perhaps the pages look white compared to almost white, meanwhile someone has scribbled on the contents page “VG” and maybe the back cover has been bent or maybe, etc, etc, etc.
I’m like the horse caught between two bales of hay; I can’t make a decision and so I starve to death. Or in the case of the collector, you keep both issues!
A while back we were discussing items that we sometimes find inside pulp magazines or comments that a prior owner has written. I’m looking at the June 5, 1920, issue of Western Story and it has a great N.C. Wyeth cover showing a cowboy riding a bucking bronco while two pals cheer him on.
Unfortunately, a prior owner by the name of Frederick Gutzwiller has chosen to scribble on the cover. He has written his full name plus the date of Sunday June 13, 1920. He has even added the time: 1 PM. In addition, he must have reread the issue more than 10 years later, because he has written June 1931 and June 1932. There also is a stamped date of January 1935.
Inside, on the contents page he has written beside some of the stories these dates again. In addition he has rated some of the tales with the comments “poor” and “No Good”. One story he particularly hated because on page 49 where the story “Duty” by S.S. Gordon begins, he has written “29th of June 1932” and slammed it with both “Poor” and “No Good”. But wait, he’s not finished. He then puts on the top of every other page the initials “N.G.”, standing for no good.
Between pages 90 and 91, Mr Gutzwiller, I presume, has tucked a 16 page pamphlet titled, “Cultural Directions for Will’s Pioneer Brand Nursery Stock”. I see the booklet was published in Bismark, North Dakota. At first I had no idea what this booklet was about but upon reading further I found out it all about planting fruits, vegetables, plants, and trees.
I also have pulps where Mr Gutzwiller has listed on the covers the various prices realized for eggs, vegetables, and livestock. What I find so interesting about all this, is that he made these notations more than 80 or 90 years ago and probably is long dead. Yet he lives on with his name prominently displayed on some old magazines for collectors to puzzle over and wonder about. I guess that is a sort of immortality, more than some of us will ever receive.
In fact, as soon as I sign off this computer, I’m going to start writing my name, address, and date on the covers of my pulps. I have a lot, so this might take me quite awhile. I can hardly wait to scribble “Walker Martin” on the set of fine condition Planet Stories that I won at the Frank Robinson auction held by Adventure House.
POSTSCRIPT: Today I’ve spent the whole day continuing to compare issues, which I find to be a lot of fun. There is nothing that make me happier than to look at a fine condition Western Story that I just obtained recently and then see that it is about a dozen times better than my old copy which is sort of brittle and faded, just like me!
Replacing the old, battered copy with the nice condition copy is like being reborn. I feel like a new collector instead of an old one. If I can find hundreds of nice Western Story magazines at this late stage, then what new worlds are waiting to be conquered? Or collected!
December 23rd, 2012 at 3:02 am
Conquering new worls by collecting a new kind of stuff, for example books by an author which one has not collected until now, is what a collector keeps going. This changes the personality slightly and develops it and broadens the horizon.
Much fun with your collection, Walker, and Merry Christmas!
December 23rd, 2012 at 4:13 am
Scribbling on your collection, especially the pristine parts ….hmmm.
That will be the day, Mr Martinwiller !
Good thing you don’t collect Gutenberg bibles .
Seriously, Walker, April 1st is tall story day .
Decades before the internet, I read my old and used copy of ‘All the King’s Men’ by Warren.
Although I don’t scribble in books, not even my old legal textbooks are marked, apart from name and possibly buying date,this copy was heavily marked.
For instance, it said in one annotation, that the governor is really Huey P. Long.
Never heard of that man in our neck of the woods.
But-lo and behold- no internet still, but some time after I read the book, a TV- documentary about Long.
I was prepared.
By the marks set in the book in some college in the 1950s .
Have a nice Christmas in the real traditional Christian sense, all !
The Doc
December 23rd, 2012 at 6:46 am
Things found in books:
An old one-cent and a 3-cent stamp from the 1950s in a copy of STREET OF THE LOST by David Goodis, valued today at Thirty-five cents;
LET THE PEOPLE LAUGH, a chase adventure by J.B. Priestley mostly set on trains, and inside, a British Railway ticket;
On the inside cover of ANECDOTES OF LOVE (1858) by Lola Montes (!?)written in a flowery script,
“Taken out of the ruins of Providence, La. presented to Constant Delang, by Dr. M. Bauer” No date.
And my favorite, a copy of HOOF BEATS by William S. Hart, inscribed on the inside “To my dear friend, Alice Calhoun, William S. Hart” Hart of course was the austere western star remembered for falling in love with his leading ladies. Alice Calhoun was an actress in silent films, and although there is no record of them having worked together, at various places in the book small flowers have been pressed between the pages.
December 23rd, 2012 at 7:00 am
http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/pfaffs/people/individuals/151/
Dan, the linked website tells you the story of Lola Montez(s), the mistress of King Ludwig the Second of Bavaria.
The King is still revered in Bavaria today, although he sold out his country to the Prussians .
The Doc
December 23rd, 2012 at 11:09 am
I have picked up quite a few books that have turned out to be inscribed by such luminaries as Bernard Spilsbury (the famous pathologist) and F. Tennyson Jesse (the True Crime writer) and I treasure them all. There is also a first edition of THE POISON BELT by Conan Doyle, given as a Sunday School prize to Nelly Tootell in 1914. I’ve no idea who Nelly was, if she has any family surviving, or even if anyone remembers her. Given the date, it seems likely that Nelly Tootelled her last tootle many years ago, but her prize remains, so here’s to you, Nelly!!!
Merry Christmas all!
December 23rd, 2012 at 11:52 am
Josef brings up a good point about collecting and how it can broaden horizons. I’ve been at it now since age 13(that’s over 50 years!) and my collecting and reading interests have gotten me through some hard times. It has kept me busy and provided much enjoyment. I’ve met some great fellow collectors over the years, some of them I’m still friends with even after 40 years(like our host Steve). Even the collectors who died I still fondly think about and the fun we had talking about books and magazines.
They may be gone but but they live on in my memory, great guys like Bob Sampson, Harry Noble, Sheldon Jaffrey, Mike Avallone, and others. The sad thing about getter older is that the list keeps expanding! I kept many of their letters and some I’ve slipped into books and magazines for the possible enjoyment of readers generations from now.
December 23rd, 2012 at 12:04 pm
Doc, Dan, and Bradstreet mention annotations and things they have found in books. That started me thinking about what was the most interesting item I’ve found in books or pulps. Collector Harry Noble loved western author Max Brand and many times put into pulps postcards describing the hardcover edition of the serial, the date bought, the bookstore, and the dates read. He often read and reread some of the serials and novels many times, carefully noting the date read, the location, and his grade. I was friends with Harry for 40 years and this connection still reminds me of our friendship and good times together.
I guess the most unusual item was a love letter I found inside a pulp. It was from a girlfriend of a pulp collector, apologizing for the arguement the night before. I’ve often wondered if he discovered and read the letter before selling the magazine to me. Maybe not.
December 23rd, 2012 at 12:33 pm
An addition in a used book which I especially appreciate is a newspaper clip with a review of this book.
December 23rd, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Thinking about this, I can also recall an old copy of SHERLOCK HOLMES LONG STORIES which contained a fascinating insertion. Someone had kept their place with a piece of paper on which they had listed down every single one of those stories mentioned by Watson but never written down (such as The Giant Rat of Sumatra).
Many, many years ago I opened a second-hand hardback and found that about three-quarters of the way through someone had kept their place with a £1 note! It looked as though the book had sold to the bookshop, sat on the shelf, and then been sold to me without anyone else noticing. In case you’re wondering, I kept the note….
December 23rd, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Doc, I knew who Lola Montes was; the (?!) I put in back there as to express my doubt that she had authored a book.
December 23rd, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Dan, ghostwriting seems to go back a LONG way !
But that would be a different thread- although, if you think of Ellery Queen, not unconnected to the general topic of mystery writing .
The Doc
December 23rd, 2012 at 7:52 pm
I’ve owned some of those Gutzwiller pulps. Had his copy of the 1932 BLACK MASK with “The Devil Suit,” for one. Apparently he was another of those early collectors with eclectic tastes.
December 23rd, 2012 at 11:24 pm
I’ve been reading some Christmas stories in the annual holiday issues of WESTERN STORY. Very well done, sort of sentimental Christmas tales usually taking place in the Northwest, Canada or Alaska. Frank Richardson Pierce specialized in this type of fiction. He wrote so much of it that he had to use the name of Seth Ranger also. He made a good living at it.
WESTERN STORY, along with such pulps as STAR WESTERN, DIME WESTERN, WEST, even COWBOY STORIES, were a motherload of good western fiction, most of it unjustly forgotten today.
December 24th, 2012 at 11:38 am
As we already have December, 24th, –
A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !!!!!!
The Doc
January 5th, 2013 at 9:57 am
I have been driven crazy trying to decide which of two issues to keep just like you have Walker, and like you have I usually kept both copies. I had a copy of Weird Tales years ago that smelled like it had come from the bottom of a cat’s litter box. I eventually found a better copy and tossed the smelly one, but it was painful to toss a Weird Tales.
January 5th, 2013 at 3:41 pm
Speaking of cat’s litter box, they like old magazines. A friend of mine noticed his cat was not using the litter box so he wondered what the cat was using. Sure enough, the cat was using a big box of slick magazines. They all had to be thrown away.