Sun 19 Sep 2010
ConReport: The 2010 NYC Vintage Paperback Expo by WALKER MARTIN
Posted by Steve under Collecting , Conventions , Pulp Fiction[12] Comments
by WALKER MARTIN
Just back from attending this long running one day event that Gary Lovisi has managed to organize for over 20 years on an annual basis. Over 50 sellers in a large dealers’ room selling vintage paperbacks, pulps, new books, and original artwork. Prices seemed very reasonable to me and I managed to find several of my Dime Mystery pulp wants.
Steve and I had discussed the problems in attending this show because we both were limping around due to overexertion. Steve couldn’t make it, but I manage to survive the train ride from Trenton, NJ to NYC with the help of long time collector Digges La Touche.
We arrived at the show at a little after 9:00 am Sunday and were immediately met with the delicious aroma of old books and pulp paper. The crowd appeared even bigger than last year and consisted mainly of elderly book collectors of the male gender. There were a few females trying to reign in their husbands and boyfriends passionate love of collecting but it was a losing battle.
You know what I’m referring to: the age-old battle between the non-collector and the collector. These battles have led to the breakup of many a marriage, and many a collection has been ordered sold by the courts in order to split the proceeds. A collector’s worst nightmare!
There were numerous guests selling and signing their books. Too many to mention but I do want to give special note to someone I consider the most notable writer present: Ron Goulart. Not only has he been a professional writer for over 40 years but he has written some excellent books on the pulps such as Cheap Thrills, The Dime Detectives, The Hardboiled Dicks and others. C. J. Henderson had a table selling his numerous books and driving collectors nuts by yelling at them to come and visit “The Wonderful of Me”. This of course just scares everyone away.
As we all know, a great part of the fun of collecting involves the many friends that we make over the years. Here are some notes about the collectors I talked to at the show:
Tom Lesser. One of the great West Coast paperback collectors who organizes the annual LA Paperback Convention each year. He just had a bypass operation, and I’m happy to report he is up and about and looking better than ever.
Dan Roberts. Another serious paperback and art collector who has one of the largest collections in the world.
Paul Herman. Pulp and art collector who always has interesting items at his table.
Ed Hulse. Publishing and editor of Blood n Thunder magazine which deals with the pulp and movie world.
Nick Certo. A major pulp, paperback and art dealer.
Mark Halegua. Organizer of the Gotham Pulp meeting every month in NYC.
David Saunders. Artist and author of many articles in Illustration Magazine. He is the author of the excellent book on Norman Saunders and the new book on Ward, the pulp artist.
Rich Harvey. Organizer of the annual Pulp Adventure Con in Bordentown, NJ.
Chris Eckhoff. Dealer and expert in the field of paperback erotic novels.
The above are just a sample of the crazed and over the top dealers and collectors that you can meet at this convention. The paperback collecting field is wide open, and most paperbacks are very inexpensive. This show and the LA show should not be missed, especially if you live within two or three hours driving distance. Collecting books has been called the grandest game in the world and this show proves it.
September 19th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
I missed this show last year because I misremembered that it’s always on a Sunday. I thought it was on the Saturday before and scheduled something else for Sunday that I couldn’t cancel.
My energy level has been below par for the past couple of weeks, and by Thursday of this past week I decided I hadn’t better go, as much as I hated to miss it again, even if it’s only a couple of hours away by car.
You may have noticed that Walker made no mention of the programming and the panels. At Gary’s show there are no programming and panels, although the guests are set up at a table at the far end of the room to do signings and so on, and usually you can sit down to talk with them when they’re not busy.
What you go to a show like this for, though, besides hunting through all of the wares offered for sale, is to meet and talk to collectors like yourself. You spend some money, sure, and if you have a table, you make some money, maybe a lot of money, but it’s the friends you know and the friends you make that make a show like this a success.
I’m sorry I missed it.
September 20th, 2010 at 7:43 am
I sympathize with your woes regarding New Jersey transit. I had a bad feeling about my car Sunday morning — I’m paranoid about a break-down in the middle of the Holland Tunnel — so I took the train. This meant I could only bring one box, so I didn’t sell much, but it was fun to see everyone at the show.
Brendan Faulkner commented that less than a third of his sales were paperbacks. Seemed as though most of his sales that day were lobby cards, dvds, and pulp magazines. Odd for an event that began life as a paperback show.
C.J. Henderson is a pal of mine, but yes — his routine can frighten people away. Perhaps it’s time he retooled his approach, since some of us have heard it numerous times. C.J. has just finished writing a brand new SPIDER novel for Moonstone Books — and I’m finishing up a brand new story starring ED RACE, THE MASKED MARKSMAN, who appeared as a back-up feature written by Emile C. Tepperman in numerous SPIDER pulps. I’ve read C.J.’s story — his selling-pitch may frighten you away, but I think he’s really done justice to a great pulp hero.
I have some updated information on the Pulp Adventurecon (November 6th) at http://www.boldventurepress.com and there’s a new Facebook group “Pulp Adventurecon.” I’m using technology more and more, and liking it less and less …
September 20th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Makes me (once again) miss my friend Lance Casebeer and his amazing basement.
September 20th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Walker,
Another great review as always! Steve was supposed to make the trip with me, but after I told him the latest I could leave was 5:00am, I guess I scared him off. Actually I left at 4:00 am from CT and arrived at the hotel at 5:50 am. I was also the first dealer there, which is nice because I didn’t have a problem unloading my car at that time of the day. Needless to say, when I got home last night at 9:00pm I immediately went to bed.
The show was another in a long line of successes. I find it usually takes until around 10:30 or 11:00 am for the show to really get going. Like you, I’m always happy to see and talk to collectors that I usually only see once a year at Gary’s show.
I had a good day of selling and I’d say the pb to pulp ratio was about 60/40, pb being the higher %. There was a dealer across from me with a new collection of pb’s which were mostly in beautiful condition and carried the price tags to prove it. I’m sure there were a few bargains to be had for the die-hard collector, as the dealer came with a ton of books and went home with only 1/2 a ton.
The strangest request I had at my table was a guy looking for books that had anything to do with electronics.It seems that the hotel also has an electronics show the week after, but this guy came on the wrong day, so he wandered in just hoping. I mentioned this was a collectible paper show and knew nothing of electronics in either pulp or pb that came to mind.He seemed offended at my response at said his house was full of books ABOUT electronics. Oh well.
A great day nonetheless. I highly recommend it, as Walker says, to anyone within a reasonable driving distance.
September 20th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Paul
Thanks for the followup look from the other side of the tables, but did you really leave your house at 4 am? No wonder Walker keeps referring to “crazed and over the top dealers and collectors.” Criminy.
Evan
One large regret I have is never seeing Lance’s collection of vintage paperbacks. One person once told me that he had over 100,000, and every paperback ever published in this country from the 1940s through the 70s.
I suspect there may have been some exaggeration there, but perhaps not all that much.
Collectors, though, whose goal is to accumulate long runs of various publishers seem to be a thing of the past. I may be wrong, but I don’t see that kind of interest any more. Key books and specializing in what appeals to you personally appears to be where paperback collecting is today.
Me, I stick to mysteries, science fiction and westerns. Not much else, but in terms of vintage paperbacks, that’s at least 60% of what was published before 1970, the usual cutoff of what makes a paperback “vintage.”
Too bad I didn’t get to see the wares of that dealer across from Paul. It’s awfully hard to resist old books in prime condition, even if you’re only looking.
— Steve
September 20th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
One of the big disappointments in my life as a collector, has been the failure of vintage paperback collectibles to amount to anything of value. Sure there are a few titles of great interest among collectors such as Jim Thompson novels, Lion originals, etc. But for the most part vintage paperbacks fall into the $1 or $2 a book catagory or the 2 or 3 for $5 sale.
I was selling paperbacks back in the 1970’s for more than these prices. I actually thought that one day Gold Medals, Ace Doubles, Dell Mapbacks would be worth some decent money. Nope, as I found out more than once when I tried to sell duplicates. The market, such as it was, has been stagnant for a long time. They are enormously fun to collect; just don’t think there is any real money involved with most titles. The paperback price guides are of value for reference and research but the prices listed are of very little use for the most part. One day the prices may rise so that it will be worth my time to sell them at a convention but that day has passed and may never return. It’s just not worth selling them for a couple bucks each.
September 22nd, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Hey Walker!
My turn to disagree with something YOU said. Tom Lesser is not ONE of the greatest…he IS the greatest. No one better! I’d give him 4 Karloff heads.
September 22nd, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Hey Peter
Good to hear from you! It’s been a while. And I see you have a new blog, with eleven posts already this month.
I hope somebody’s reading this, because anyone reading this blog will enjoy the one Peter and John Scoleri are doing. Old paperbacks, old movies, old comic books! Nothing could be finer.
Examples: Ann-Margret on paperback covers:
http://barebonesez.blogspot.com/2010/09/kitten-on-cover-ann-margret-paperback.html
The “Sharpshooter” men’s adventure novels by Bruno Rossi:
http://barebonesez.blogspot.com/2010/09/sharpshooter-part-1.html
September 22nd, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Thanks for the plug, Steve! I’ll be running a couple of my old Mystery Files columns this and next week and then re-boot my abandoned Complete Manhunt project online (one or two issues a week). We’ve got some wild stuff planned. Now back to my good friends Lovisi and Lesser…
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Peter, the “abandoned Complete Manhunt project” sounds great. A favorite magazine of mine and I even managed to track down two original cover paintings from Manhunt. I have them hanging in my living room just to annoy my wife.
September 28th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
What is the Manhunt project? Is there a link?
September 29th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Rick
Here’s the link, the URL for which perhaps says it all
http://barebonesez.blogspot.com/2010/09/complete-guide-to-manhunt-part-1.html