Looking backwards from there, I don't see any comic dealers advertising in FF #48-51, so I'm going to guess that was the beginning. Note the $50 offered; that was probably for issues like Action #1 and Marvel Mystery #1 and Detective #27.
In Blackhawk #202 (November 1964), editor George Kashdan offered to set up a trading corner on the letters page:
And in Blackhawk #206, we saw the beginnings of this new section:
This became a very popular feature in Blackhawk, showing the demand for back issues that dealers soon rushed to fill.
This might be the most significant silver age discovery I've seen in a while! Good work, Pat.
ReplyDeleteI remember Argosy books. They were down the street from Cherokee Books and around the corner from Collectors Bookstore. Collectors was one of (if not the first) store specializing in high grade back issue comics. Cherokee was a regular bookstore but had a comics department run by the owner's son (Bert Blum). Argosy was a regular used and antiquarian bookshop and did comics mostly as a me too kind of thing. They had the advantage of charging 2-3 times what the other two stores did, which means I never bought anything from them.
ReplyDeleteWhat many may not remember was that up through the 70's Hollywood was the bookstore center of Los Angeles. There were more than a dozen new and used bookstores along the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, including Pickwicks, the largest new bookstore on the west coast.
Two others I remember were Howard Rogofsky (in Queens, NY, IIRC), and the Passaic Book Center in Passaic, NJ.
ReplyDeleteRogofsky preceded Passaic, but I think he dates back to the late 60s, early 70s, b/c I ordered a catalogue from him.
Tomahawk also had a corner of the letters page set up for trading comics. I forget the name right now.
I remember taking the train down to Passaic Book Center around 1972 or so and buying a batch of mid-50s Detectives including #198, #205, #223 and #226. Always bugged me that I didn't pick up #225, but back then nobody thought that was a special issue.
ReplyDeleteMigawd, Pat, I used to drive over there (about 20 minutes tops from my home: I was a Jersey boy then) to scoop up old books. Brave and Bold 71 was one that I remember.
ReplyDeleteThey opened a second store in Montclair, NJ, which was a great place, too. Not sure if either place is still around. Do you know?
Ed, Googling suggests that the Passaic Location closed although it was around to the 1990s; see here:
ReplyDeletehttp://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4205195
Montclair is still open:
http://www.montclairbookcenter.com/
Whereabouts in NJ did you live? I grew up in Allendale.
Verona, about 7 or 8 miles outside of Newark. Kind of a mobbed-up Pleasantville. :)
ReplyDeleteWe had about seven "candy stores' where you could usually buy comics, and since it was only about a square mile in size, it was a relatively enjoyable quest to go on a weekly search for comics.
I sent a letter in to the trade center and it was published as I got some responses to it. I just never knew what issue it appeared in until I managed to collect a full run of scans.
ReplyDeleteI remember getting some individual letters and a couple of lists. I'm pretty sure I got a response from Rogofsky with his catalog.