Most expensive vintage paperbacks?
Bill Palmer
of the most expensive vintage paperbacks?
I remember reading quite a few years ago
that the Ace Double with William Burroughs'
JUNKIE (witten as William Lee) was selling
then for over one hundred dollars, and--
according to what I read--was the first
mass marketed paperback ever to reach that
price. Surely there must be many more
paperbacks that go for over one-hundred
dollars these days, but I am curious since
I have no idea what they are.
Anyway, my question is not something I
can easily research on the big used book
websites, because first you have to input
the names of the books you want to price.
Except for the Ace Double with JUNKIE, I
have no idea what the other top priced
collecters paperbacks would be.
Could anyone list the top ten (or five or
fifty or whatever) highest priced vintage
paperbacks, or point me to a website that
lists only the most expensive paperbacks
among collectors?
Bill Palmer
paperbacks?
I remember reading quite a few years ago
that the Ace Double with William Burroughs'
JUNKIE (witten as William Lee) was selling
then for over one hundred dollars way back
then, and--according to what I read--was
the first mass marketed paperback ever to
reach that price with collectors.
Surely there must be many more paperbacks that
go for far more than one-hundred dollars these
days, but I am curious since I have no idea
what they are.
Anyway, I might mention to Towse that my
question is not something I can easily
research on the big used-book websites,
because first you have to input the names
of authors and/or names the books you want
to price. Except for the Ace Double with
JUNKIE, I have no idea what the other top
priced collecters paperbacks would be.
I would guess that the majority would be
genre writers, in western, science fiction,
and detective, since people were far less
likely to hang onto such paperbacks in the
late Forties/early Fifties, while they
would have been far more likely to keep
paperback versions of books which were
already literary classics when the
paperback version came out.
Could anyone list the top ten (or five or
fifty or whatever) highest priced vintage
paperbacks, or point me to a website that
lists ONLY the most expensive paperbacks
among collectors? (Yes, I could spend
a lot of time wading around at ABE, etc.,
probably spending time doing searches
for things like "Heinlein" "paperbacks"
"starting with the most expensive" but
using that approach, it would take many
hours to research all the likely suspects
(regarding authors of the most expensive
paperbacks among collectors) and even
after searching maybe one-hundred authors
at a half-dozen websites, I still might
overlook someone whose 1948 paperback
edition is selling for $850 or whatever.
So you see, it is not really a simple
quest, so I hope someone has already done
the legwork and has published a list some-
place which have not been able to find...
the alt.bean-ee-us.bill-parmer
Truman Douglas
Both my fiancee and myself are very active collectors of vintage
paperbacks and have one of the largest collections in the country. We
both have written articles on vintage paperbacks that have been
published by Paperback Parade Magazine and my fiancee has written a
200 page book on the paperback fetish artists Bill Ward, Gene Bilbrew,
Bill Alexander, and Eric Stanton. We buy books mostly from ebay,
ABE.com and brick and mortar bookstores and whereever else we can find
them. We also have almost every price guide and reference book on
paperbacks imaginable. With these qualifications, I feel I am fairly
competent to answer your question.<p>
1. Ace D-13 Junkie by William Lee (William S. Burroughs) (bound with
Maurice Helbrant's Narcotic Agent) 1953, is still in the top 5
paperbacks. It gets at least $250.00 minimum on ebay in VG (and that
is a good price) and is offered on ABE for upwards of $1000 or more.
It is a popular book because it was Burrough's first book and he is
widely collected as one of the literary icons of the Beat Generation,
a true 1st edition PBO (paperback original), and a drug themed book
with amazing cover art, which many collectors collect genre-wise. <p>
2. Pocket Book #1 Lost Horizon by James Hilton(the 1st printing only
from 1939) has recently gotten over $1000 on ebay (Late Summer 2003).
It included the original postcard as well. The 1st 10 "Pocket Books
Inc. books (which are considered the first set of "Mass market"
paperbacks published) were only pblished in 10,000 copies each and
only distributed in New York City. They are quite rare. They are
valuable because of their historical nature and for a completist
Pocket Books Inc. colletor. The art on these aren't that great so
their value is mostly in their historical significance. Pocket Book
#5, an Agatha Christie title, is rare and highly valued because it is
the first mass market mystery book. I have seen it go for over
$2500.00 on a Paperback Parade Auction. The no numbered Pocket Book
Inc. "Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck (1938-9) is very rare and will
command similiar amounts. It never comes up. Again, these books are
costly because of their historical significance and rarity. I have
seen other 1st ten Pocket Book titles only get $150 to $300 on ebay
(2003).<p>
3. Reform School Girl by Felce Swados, published by Diversey (#1) in
1948 in a digest size. It features the classic "bad girl" image on
it's cover, which is mostly why this title is so valuable along with
it's campy title and cover blurbs. The book/story was made into a
Comic Book in the 1950's and featured basically the same cover as this
digest. This gives this book some cross over appeal with comic
collectors and 1950's Popular Culture Collectors, as well as hose who
specifcally collect these digest sized books. I have sold 3 copies of
this book over the last 5 years on ebay. I got $900.00 the first time
in 1999 for a copy in VG+ that I sold. In 2001, I sold a copy in VG+
again for $850.00. I sold a copy just a few months ago in Good only
condition for just over $400 (Fall 2003). (My grading scale is
Good=2.5, Good+ 3.5, Vg-= 4 to 4.5, VG=5 to 5.5, VG+=6 to 7, Near
Fine= 7.5 to 8.5, Fine=9, and Mint=10, on a 1 to 10 scale). I have not
seen a copy of Reform School Girl sell less then $300 on ebay and
ABE.com dealers ask anywhere from $1000 to $5000, although I don't
think they get those prices. <p>
4. Jim Thompson PBO (paperback originals) 1st editions are also very
valuable. The most coveted title probably being "Killer Inside Me",
published by Lion Books. Any of the early Jim Thompson paperbacks (in
their first printings) usually go for at least $75 to $300 on ebay
(better condition increases prices on any of these books). These
feature beautiful cover art and classic mystery/suspense stories by
this classic author. His books on ABE.com range in price from $100 to
$1000. Other popular authors which command at least $100 or more in
their Lion Books 1st PBO editions are Richard Matheson (Someone Is
Bleeding), and Robert Bloch (The Kidnapper). There are many authors
who are collected whose books routinely get at least $100 or more.
These are Charles Willeford (his Playtime titles), Day Keene (some of
his Gold Medal titles), Charles Williams (some of his Gold Medal
titles), Harry Whittington (some of his digests as well as PBO's),
Cornell Woolrich (AKA William Irish) and PBO's by David Goodis. There
ae many other authors who are widely collected but these authors tend
to have a very stable base of collectors and always seem to get decent
prices for their early books.<p>
5. To round out the "Top 5", I am not going to name a specific book
but rather discuss "Key Books". Most vintage paperback collectors are
usually:<p>
A. completists= they collect all the books put out by 1 or more
publishers.<p>
B. Cover artist collectors=they collect all books with cover art by a
favorite artist (these could be all paperbacks with art by Avati,
McGinnis, Barye, Robert Stanley, or other artist work on their
covers).<p>
C. Author Collectors= These are collectors who collect only certain
authors and are usually completists in this goal.<p>
D. Genre/Theme Colletors= These are colletors who buy all books in a
certain gener or them. Popular catagories inclde Sleaze books, Mystery
books, Hardboiled books, Westerns, Lesbian, Gay, Horror, drug themed
books, Science Fiction, or books that feature a specific cover art
like books with devil covers. I even kow one collector who specialzes
in vintage paperbacks featuring scuba diving gear and another who
collects only books with some tie in to hypnotism. <p>
Key books (key books are books that typify a specific area of
interest) in any of these collector areas will often sell for high
prices with any breaking well over $100. Books like "Satan Was a
Lesbian" (PEC) always get over $100 on ebay. They are scarce and a lot
of collectors want them. Oner of the most coveted drug books other
then the Burroughs Junkie, is one also called "Junkie!:The Love Life
Of A Drug Addict" by Jonathan Craig, put out by Falcon Books in 1952
in digest size. It features great art and campy cover blurbs. I sold a
copy for over $350 in the Fall of 2003. It also gets at least $250.00
on ebay. <p>
If you have any more questions or have any vintage paperbacks for
sale, please contact me at: dou...@intergate.com <p>
For more information on paperbacks, goto my fiancee's ebay website:
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/sleazedetective/ <p>
palmer....@sbcglobal.net (Bill Palmer) wrote in message news:<13ea6e3a.03091...@posting.google.com>...
palmer.william
"Truman Douglas" <dou...@intergate.com> wrote in message
news:690280db.03101...@posting.google.com...
Truman, thanks much for the very helpful information. It is
funny the way Usenet works. I made that inquiry several
weeks ago, and I had almost given up on getting a response.
Of course, I could always ferret out much of the information by
spending many hours searching the booksellers for prices on
the "likely suspects," such as the beats and the genre writers,
but you have certainly saved me a lot of time and effort.
[...] Snip of lots of great information from Truman's post,
since it is still current in newsreaders. If you have an
interest in vintage paperbacks, be sure to read what
has to say.
