The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

One of the things that I really enjoy doing is browsing through book stores.  As a collector, sometimes I am looking for something rare (as you may have guessed by some of the posts on this blog).  Sometimes, I am looking for something very specific, in a very specific category.  And sometimes, I am just looking...period.  But the cool part about a book store and book collecting is that it is such a rich hobby.  You can collect from any number of authors or subjects, art books, first editions, or even just collect bindings and fore-edge paintings.  Some people collect books about books...and that gets us to this book featured here, "The Man Who Loved Books Too Much", by Allison Hoover Bartlett.

A couple of years ago I got this for Christmas and it really was a great read.  It is a thriller, a mystery and a book about collecting all wrapped into one.  The true story of a man who...well, I don't really want to give it away, but the title says enough...he loved books too much.  

The problem chronicled in this book is not an uncommon one.  Criminals steal paintings from galleries, comic art at comic conventions, small antiques from mall dealers and high end dealers, and yes, they steal rare books.  A while ago, a comic dealer friend of mine had some original art stolen from his store.  My original thought was (and actually still is), "What an idiot!"  You can't display it and share it with people, there is only one...and for high end comic art, there are sites that track stolen work.  At the end of the day, collectibles are meant to be shared and enjoyed with other people...not holed up secretly where only one person can see them.  (Reminds me of the Getty Museum in LA...now THAT is the way to share a collection!)

Anyway...I have updated my Amazon recommended list to the right if you want to find a copy of this read.  I highly recommend it for book lovers and even non-book lovers.  It's an interesting peak into the whole world of rare books and rare book dealers.  

Until next time..(hopefully sooner rather than later)

United Airlines C-54 to 747

I was out at another local estate sale today.  This man was a retired United Airlines pilot who had flown for United from 1945 to 1978.  That...is impressive.  Just imagine what this guy must have seen and been through.  To live through the golden age of aviation in America.  That really had to be something.

I have generally focused on vintage aircraft in this blog, and I won't stray too far from that today.  I am going to give you two items I found today, spanning the career of this pilot at United.

First up is a C-54 flight manual, published in 1954.  What is so remarkable about this book is that it is only about a half of an inch thick...maybe 100 pages.  Operator manuals for a modern jet aircraft are many volumes.  You can see in the scan here the full contents of the book.

From the other side of this man's career is this post card of one of the very first United 747's.  Using my handy dandy magnifier,  I was able to identify the "N" number on this aircraft as N4703U.  This airframe was built by Boeing in 1970, first flown on April 6th, 1970, and delivered to United on June 30th, 1970.  The very first 747 to go into service did so with Pan-Am on January 22, 1970...so I suspect that this was United's first 747...or at least one of their earliest.  For a complete history of this particular aircraft...check out this link.

So...another interesting outing to a local estate sale.  As I have said before...estate sales are interesting for a lot of reasons.  In this case, I got to get this cool stuff...but I am again reminded that we cannot take anything with us when we die...it all stays here.  So...just as this man seems to have done...be a good steward of your time, serve others, and live as fully as you are able.  

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Books About Comic Books

The American comic book has been around since the middle of the 19th century in one form or another. Of course, comics as we know them today, really had their origins in the 1930's when enterprising businessmen decided to reprint newspaper comics in booklet form and give them away as promotional items.  Well...the bottom line is that the history of comics is a rich an varied one, and many a book has been written on the subject.

Today I am going to feature one of...well, one of MANY...books about comic books that I have in my library.  It is called All in Color for a Dime, first published in 1970.  When I started collecting comics almost 30 years ago now, this was the book that people would refer to if you wanted a book on the history of the industry.  It was edited by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson, both fixtures in the comics and sci-fi world of the day.  Don was the founding editor of the Comic's Buyer's Guide, while Dick is the author of many science fiction stories and was an editor for a number of Edgar Rice Burroughs short stories in the 1960's.

  

The book itself features chapters written by various collectors, creators and writers of comic books on the history of Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Popeye and the like.  These characters and others like them are the foundation of the Golden Age of comics.  The book also talks to publishers like M.C. Gaines, and publishing houses like Fiction House.  All in all it is a great look at the Golden Age...written at a time when the Silver Age had just drawn to a close.  There is even a chapter in the book by then future editor-in-chief of Marvel, Roy Thomas.

Many books on the topic have been written since...many good ones.  But this one remains one of the first and best.

Until next time...

Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958-1959

Jane's is the recognized leader when it comes to information on military equipment.  Jane's All the World's Aircraft was founded in 1909 and first edited by Fred T. Jane.  These books are a lot of fun to look at...even if you are not particularly into aviation.  But if you are into aviation, they offer a complete index of all that has happened in aviation since the earliest days of powered flight.

Today' post features a copy of Jane's All the World's Aircraft from 1958-1959.  The thoroughness of these books is what makes them so fascinating.  There are countless aircraft presented here that most people, whether avid fans of aircraft or not, have probably never heard of.  

In the picture above is a page from the Bell Aircraft section featuring the Bell X-14.  This was a one off experimental Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.  I actually saw this plane rotting in a field when I used to work at Ames Research Center in Sunnyvale, California.  It has since been salvaged and isnow located at the Ropkey Armor Museum in Indiana.  

Prior to cracking this book open today, I had never even heard gof the Breguet Type 763.  Looks like an interesting, albeit bulky passenger/cargo aircraft.  Sort of reminds me of the Boeing 377 that I posted on a while back.  

Finally...I wanted to comment on the "Airlines of the World" section.  When I saw this today, my initial thought was that it would make a great reference for the aviation postcard collector.  For example...looking at the page scanned here, I can see all of the aircraft that Air France had in it's fleet in 1959.  I suppose it is not unreasonable to expect that the company probably published postcards featuring these aircraft.  So, in a way, this section almost serves as a checklist for someone collecting vintage airline images.  

Until next time...

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Advanced Reading Copy

As I have discussed previously in my blog, an uncorrected proof (or advanced reading copy) is a copy of a book sent out to book buyers and reviewers to solicit interest prior to availability from the publisher. When the first Harry Potter book came out in America, the success of the book the year before in Britain was evident, but it was not clear whether or not the American audience would receive the book with similar enthusiasm.  Scholastic, the American publisher for Harry Potter, paid J.K. Rowling her first big check of $100,000 for the rights to publish the book in America.  The rest...as they say...is history!

The thing I like about this particular edition is that it tells you straight away how many copies of the first edition, first print run, of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone were published in the United States.  Scholastic printed 30,000 copies of the book for the first print run.  I don't know where things are at today exactly, but I think the hard back is on its 80th printing or so, and over 400 million copies of all Harry Potter books have been printed.  So...these are very early editions in what was to become the Harry Potter phenomenon!

Until next time...

Modern Library 154 Cyrano de Bergerac from 1929

Sundry Collectibles will be on vacation from July 30 through August 4th, so for the next few days I am going to pull a few items out of the archives and give a brief description of what they are and why I have them in my collection.

Wednesday, August 1st.

What is it?:  This is a first Modern Library edition of "Cyrano de Bergerac" from 1929

Why do I have it?:  Early Modern Library first editions are hard to come by, especially with the dust jacket.  This is a collection that I pretty much "let come to me"...in other words, I do not actively pursue these books, but when I see something like this one, I will pick it up if the price is right.  Oh...yes, it's a great book too!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - A Well Read Copy with a Twist

As I mentioned in my previous post on the first Harry Potter book ever printed, collecting first edition Harry Potter books can be a somewhat daunting hobby.  The valuations for these books can be rather steep.  But, there are some interesting items out there at a reasonable price if you look long and hard enough.

Not long ago I came across this first British edition of the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  By the time this book came out, J.K. Rowling was a very well known author.  There was no advanced reading copies for book reviewer pre-view, because everyone knew the book was going to sell millions of copies...which it did promptly.  And signing events with Rowling started to get scarce because there wasn't a great need to promote the books.  As a result, finding a signed (let alone inscribed) copy of any of the British or American first editions from book four through book seven is not easy.

As you can see, this book is really beat up.  Its spine board is almost totally separated from the volume.  The hinges are heavily worn and detached.  The cover has some grit on it.  Bottom line...this book is a mess.  But...it has a terrific inscription by Rowling!  And while book collectors get really fastidious about condition, I think this one has more character than the finest of fine books.  I am grateful that "Sam" (the original owner presumably) had Rowling inscribe it as is!

Until next time....

The Very First Harry Potter Book

Ever since Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone came out in June of 1997, there has been an enormous, loyal and dedicated following to the series.  Thing is...most of the loyal and dedicated following were kids when the books came out.  But collectors and dealers, as you would expect, took notice, and the early editions of the book are now very much sought after.

Philosopher's Stone (as it was titled in the UK) was published by Bloomsbury with a tiny print run.  While the numbers have sometimes been debated, the general consensus these days is that 500 copies were printed of the hardback first edition, 300 went to libraries, the remaining 200 to bookstores.  I have not seen any good numbers on the first edition paperback print-run...but last I saw it was thought to be around 5000 copies.  By comparison, Scholastic printed 30,000 copies of the US first edition in October of 1998 (still a small number given the millions of copies that have sold since).  

But...the very first Harry Potter book ever printed was a rather humble looking affair with a yellow and white paper cover.  It has no illustration on it, or inside it, and only has the title on the front cover in simple black letters.  The inside title page even lists the author as "J.A. Rowling"!  This is the Uncorrected Proof copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.  Only 200 were printed and given out to book reviewers and buyers.  It's not clear how many of these still exist.  Some of the people who were sent these books have said they threw them out after reading them...or they just gave them away or lost them.  The book carries a reasonably hefty price tag at auction...about as much as the paperback first edition of the book (but still lower than the hardback first which goes anywhere from $10K to $20K.)

I have dabbled in this hobby a little bit...but not too deeply.  As you can see...the water gets a little deep!  That said...I still think these books are a great investment.  All those young kids are going to grow up someday, and a few of them will want to have these books and they will have the resources to buy them.  

Until next time....

Little Nemo in Slumberland

On October 15, 1905, Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland appeared in the New York Herald and New York American newspapers.  Back in the day...comics were used as a way to sell papers, and they did them in an epic style.  These papers were larger than todays newspapers, and each of these stories took an entire page.

In each episode, Little Nemo would be in a dream that involved some wild adventure in Slumberland, only to wake up with comments like, "Oh, I don't want to go to sleep again. No! No!  Oh!"....or from his mother, "There's that boy again, I wish you wouldn't let him eat turkey dressing at bedtime!"

Shown here is an episode from April 8, 1906 from the New York Herald.  It has Little Nemo with the Princess of Slumberland awaiting a marching band.  The character playing the tuba can't seem to stop playing and his instrument starts to grow and flay wildly out of control!  Nemo wakes up to the first comment I mention above.

A few years ago, a Bay Area guy by the name of Peter Maresca edited a book called Little Nemo in Slumberland So Many Splendid Sundays!  It reprinted, in full size, a selection of these stories.  It's a huge book given the format of the original comics (and a tad pricey, too) , but great to read while lying on the living room floor with the kids!

Until next time...

Peanuts Reprint Books: Good Ol' Charlie Brown

I have been a Peanuts fan since I was a kid.  Aside from reading the strip in the papers almost everyday, I remember getting a book called A Peanuts Treasury, and practically wearing the covers off the thing.  (I still have that book somewhere).  Another memory is purchasing the paperback reprints at elementary school book fairs.  I started buying these in the 1970's, but there were reprint Peanuts books being printed well before that.

Today I am showing one such book.  It's in a larger format than the ones from the 70's, approximately 5 by 8 inches with each strip presented in a 2x2 block, two per page.  It's a little hard to say when this might have been published...but based on the Library of Congress number, I am guessing 1957 or so, not long after the start of the strip itself.  

I found this book and five or six others from the same era at a garage sale a year or two ago.  They aren't worth much in the collectible market...but I think they are really cool!

Until next time...

The Modern Library

A number of years ago I started a collection of Modern Library books.  It is a small collection, but looks great on the shelf.  These books, published by Random House starting in 1917, are reprints of well known literature in a common size and format.  In days gone by they had wonderful cover art that today makes the books all the more special.

This is a copy of the African Queen by C.S. Forester (yes...that C.S. Forester...the guy who did all of the Horatio Hornblower books).  It is copyright 1940, but I suspect it was published sometime later...around 1947 or so.

There is actually a collectors guide for these books available, authored by a guy named Henry Toledano.  It's a comprehensive guide for rarity and value of the different books.  Needless to say...if you had every Modern Library title published...you would have a great library indeed!

Until next time...

Aviation History: Charles Lindbergh and Gary Powers

One of the smaller collections I keep has aviation history as its subject.  I have always enjoyed experiencing the adventures of aviators through their biographies.  The men and women who pioneered aviation in the early and middle part of the 20th century had some "serious thrill issues" (to quote a recent Pixar film)...they had to be a little crazy to do some of the stuff they did.  But they did those things...and the ones who lived to tell about what they did wrote some great stories.

Shown here are two of my favorites...Lindbergh's "We", a chronicle of his trans-Atlantic crossing written in 1927, and a cold war thriller with aviation as its center piece, Gary Powers' "Operation Overflight"from 1970.  

Both of these books are captivating and griping, albeit for different reasons.  Lindbergh writes about his early years in aviation up to the Spirit of St. Louis flight and then gives a blow by blow of the whole 33 hour journey to Paris.  Powers recounts in detail what it was like to be a pilot of a spy plane from the moment he got recruited to the fateful day he was shot down over Soviet Russia.

If you enjoy reading this sort of thing, these are both great reads that would work well for an upcoming summer read...unless of course you are already planning on reading a pile of vintage Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks!  

Until next time....

Winnie-The-Pooh and a $2 Bill

A few years ago I was at a garage sale and picked up a copy of A. A. Milne's "Winnie-The-Pooh" (yes...the title has the dashes in it).

This was a reprint of the classic children's story, in the original format, with E. H. Shepard's drawings.  In first edition, this book sells for thousands of dollars and is actively collected (thus the "thousands of dollars"....stuff people don't want doesn't cost that much!).

Anyway...when I got home, I opened the book and found this two dollar bill from 1976 inside.  As a kid I collected coins and I can still remember the flurry of activity around the Bicentennial.  All the coins were redone (well...at least the dollar, half dollar, and quarter) and they relaunched the $2 bill.

I have always thought that the reverse of this bill was one of the most attractive published in my lifetime.  The signers all in one room (presumably the Pennsylvania State House) and portrayed in great detail.  This picture, in case you were wondering, is after a painting by John Trumbull which hangs in the US Capitol building.

Good design is admirable in currency, comics, and collectibles of all kinds.  And in this case, it can be had for two dollars...about what this particular bill is worth today.

Until next time...

Physics in Action

One of my more random collections is of old physics text books.  I don't often add to it, and I only have about 8 books.  But the reason I find these so interesting is that, back in the day, Physics text books were loaded with great photos and illustrations of all kinds of machinery and the like which illustrated "Physics in action".

One such photo is shown here, from "Modern Physics", published in 1934.  It shows an old US Naval battleship going through the Panama canal and the caption lists a bunch of statistics on the boat.

The most interesting part of the book though, was not related to the book itself, but what I found in it.  Inserted in the leaves of the book was the following postcard which had been post marked on February 12, 1944:

W.M. Latimer was a chemistry professor at U.C. Berkeley in the 1940's and 1950's.  When I attended there in the 1980's, several of my classes were in Latimer Hall.  And while I am not a stamp collector (well...at least not avidly), you have to admire the special delivery stamp with the old motorcycle on it....classic!

Until next time...