1 comments about Goldmine's Promo Record & Cd Price Guide.

1. This book is not one of Goldmine's best issues but for the most part it gets the job done. The listings are many but detailed they are not. The part that bothered me the most was the general price guidelines...for example if you look under an artist and you do not see the album listed it might say in small print the record label and a general price value. It would be more helpful to list more album titles for the artists instead of giving a general price. It was also disappointing that only NM values are given. How many records from the 1950's do you have that are NM?

   On a good note I have not seen any other promo guides so I guess it gets the job done more or less.

5 comments about The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines.

1. A somewhat personal account at times of the editor's interest in pulp magazines.
   
   He mentiones when he first saw them in Woolies in the 50s - saying they were used as ballast in ships, then sold cheaply. That is whacky, but good for him, after scoring a Weird Tales.
   
   He goes through various different types, spicy, detective, fantasy, shudder, hot, etc.
   
   Also, being a pom he talks briefly about the magazines there, especially when the yank imports where banned, and some of the artists.
   
   That is where a heavy focus of this book is, the artwork.
   
   He does detail some of the publishers, who put them out, the strategies they used, etc., but also talks a lot about the artwork and styles used as far as what they could and could not get away with as American became more and more puritanical moving into the 50s.
   
   He deliberately ignores the superheroes, or the major variety, mentioning a couple in passing like the Black Bat and the Crimson Mask. Nothing much on the Lone Ranger or various Westerns either, or major science fiction magazines.
   
   So partly interest, partly what has been covered already drove his editorial decisions, presumably.
   
   People who like those covers will like it, hardcore pulp historians maybe wouldn't be so thrilled, but would still be interested somewhat.
   
   
   3.5 out of 5



2. Note: There are a couple Mormons who are angry over my negative reviews of books written in defense of the Book of Mormon, and they have been slamming my reviews. Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.
   
   As a non-artist, it's hard to write a review of an art book, but I know what I like. So here's a non-expert's opinion.
   
   This book is well worth the price. It is full of color covers of pulp magazines from the 1930s through the 1950s. I've owned it for many years, and I still love browsing through it. I've copied a couple of them and hung them on my wall.
   
   Also, if you don't already know about Bud Plant, then also check out his site. You'll go broke ordering from it. What a wonderful collection classic illustrations!
   
   Check out my download pictures.



3. The colorfully covered, cheaply printed pulp magazine of the 1920s and 30s great out of the 19th-century dime novel and served as the forerunner of the comic books and paperback novels of today. In its heyday, pulp magazines were a staple of popular culture that offered every genre of readership the thrills, adventures, and entertainments they craved -- often to the dismay of parents, teachers, and clergy! Virtually creating the now popular literary genres as science fiction and the hard-boiled private eye mystery, these magazines were the incubators of such American literary talents as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, and a legion of others. An outstanding recommendation for personal, academic, and community library collections, The Classic Era Of American Pulp Magazines tells the complete story of these colorful pulps and those that wrote and published them, with a wealth of colorful cover art giving today's readers an accurate sense and taste of what the glory years of pulp magazines had to offer their enthusiastic readers.



4. Peter Haining has published a huge number of volumes on a variety of topics, which tend to be both well illustrated and very carelessly researched. This latest addition to the stack unfortunately follows that pattern.

   First the good stuff: the book offers a large number of well-reproduced covers from a wide variety of pulps. The images are photographs (two are out of focus slightly), and so do not have the problems seen in several similar recent books which had electronically-scanned covers displaying a color palette nothing whatsoever like the actual covers.

   Now for the bad part. The text is mainly just a description of particular magazines which happen to be in the author's personal collection. Where the text departs from what is really just a catalog of the collection, to provide background on publishers, specific titles and authors, the material is so riddled with errors as to be of very limited use and reliability. So much of the text is clueless, every reader will have his favorite (and different) gaffe. Mine is the reference (p. 203) to "famous American space artist Chester Bonestall." He's apparently not as famous as I thought!

   To summarize the contents: Chapter 1 provides a confused account of the origins and types of pulp magazines. Chapter 2 is devoted to the very-soft-porn pulps usually sold from under the tobacco shop counter. Chapter 3 deals with detective, crime and gangster pulps. Chapter 4 covers the "spicy" pulps and their imitators. Chapter 5 introduces the weird fantasy pulps, of which the best and best known were WEIRD and UNKNOWN. Chapter 6 surveys the "shudder" pulps which featured heavy doses of sadism and torture. Chapter 7 fairly casually dips into the huge sea of science-fiction pulps. Finally, chapter 8 shows us a little bit of the little-known world of British pulps and pulp publishing. (About half the space actually is devoted to paperbacks rather than pulps.) Notable complete omissions from the book are the most popular pulp genre, westerns (perhaps half of all pulp titles at peak), and the justice-figure pulps such as THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE and the SPIDER, which are the best remembered pulps today. Also largely ignored are the general fiction titles, such as BLUE BOOK, ARGOSY and ADVENTURE. With such omissions, the present book cannot be considered very valuable even as a pictoral survey of the pulp era.

   Buy it for the cover reproductions and you won't be too disappointed. But if you try to read the text, you're in for dismay and frustration.




5. Obviously the politically incorrect covers are the first attraction. You can't ignore the cultural significance of the covers and thus, if you are a teacher of semiotics or visual interpretation, I can't think of a richer source. Congrats to the publishers for printing such a glorious book. For those more interested in what's between the covers, Haining gives insightful critical analysis of the different genres. A great gift for anyone; a wonderful coffee table book for yourself. It's worth every penny.

3 comments about Cereal Box Bonanza the 1950's: Identification & Values.

1. I liked this book very much, the pics are fantastic, tons of color photos of boxes and prizes. The only reason it's not perfect in my eyes is the writer's habit of trying to be funny in EVERY paragraph. Almost every other sentence has a joke, pun, metaphor or wisecrack which got old very quickly. Plus the author actually sticks political jokes and slams in here and there which is really unnecessary in a book about CEREAL BOXES! I couldn't care less about someone's opinion one leaning or another when I am trying to read about how to preserve old collectibles. Buy it for the pics, not the information, as you'll have to surf through cheesy jokes the whole time, perhaps he did this to pad it out and make it look like there was more info than there really was.



2. What a wonderful book! Worth twice the price. Filled with color photos of some great cereal box pictorials. Looking through the book was like taking a happy walk through a phase of my childhood. I think some of the pictures on the boxes were far more interesting than the actual items they offered inside or through the mail. You will not regret purchasing this book for fun or reference. I have to give it five stars.



3. This 216 page softbound volume features over 500 very large, very sharp, full color photos that you'll love. The book provides a good background for this collectible. It covers boxes, premiums, mail-in offers and more. Everything is arranged by year. I especially liked all of the offers that the cereal companies provided in the 50's. Brought back many memories. I wish I still had some of the goodies shown that I had at that time. A real memory jogger. A true bonanza worth adding to your collection.

2 comments about 60s Flashback: Music Collectibles from the Age of Change.

1. I am an artist with a keen interest in psychedelic art, and found this book a very useful reference guide. unfortunately i lent to to a freind who tore most of the pages out. in W.A. i cannot get it anywhere so I thank you amazon for having it amongst your titles!



2. I've been a big fan of Greg's art directing work (in both Cleveland and Florida) for many years and he certainly didn't disappoint here. Given the horrible vagaries of the book business in general, I, for one, am glad this book exists. (And, he did "fair use" for most of the images, which is cool.)

1 comments about Oil Company Signs: A Collector's Guide.

1. although i bought this book elsewhere, it is very informative for those who remember that there was a standard oil in many states after its breakup in 1911. however,there are some flaws in the book's text-they used the spelling of "it's" incorrectly(example: "standard is the best in it's marketing area").

2 comments about The Foremost Guide to Uncle Sam Collectibles.

1. The most comprehensive guide of its kind I have been able to find.
   Good information on the origination and evolution of the Uncle Sam character.
   Well researched and easy to browse.



2. With a better than average knowledge of Uncle Sam collectibles, I searched for specific information in this book and was able to easily locate what I needed. Very good photography. A prized addition to my collection of art books.

3 comments about Disney Dons Dogtags: The Best of Disney Military Insignia from World War II (Recollectible Series).

1. One of the most personal efforts ever produced by the Walt Disney Studios was not an animated movie for the masses, a big box office live action adventure, or even a theme park. It was the work they provided for the soldiers, sailors, and airmen of World War II. The studio animators under Walt's direction provided free of charge the design of over 1,000 original artistic logos for the armed forces. These were used on individual planes, tanks, and ships for their crews. They also helped design unit insignias for organized armoured units, air wings and squadrons, infantry units and others. These requests were sometimes funneled through the official military channels, but more often came in a letter sent from overseas signed by a bunch of American young men. Most often the boys would send in a rough sketch of what they had in mind, or asked to use a certain animated character they favored. Other times they let the studio come up with whatever they wanted, and the artists often created new characters on the spot. No request was too big or too small, the animators completed every job. These designs were incredible and inspiring works of art, not something dashed off in a hurry.
   
   This effort began when early one morning a fews days after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the phone rang at Walt Disney's house. The Studio called to tell him that 700 army troops had set up camp at the Walt Disney studio campus, in order to protect the nearby airfield. The long war hurt the Disney company many way, including the loss of key staff to the armed forces, reduction in commercial output and attendance, and cuts in overseas theatrical releases of their films. Despite these issues that could have caused resentment of the wars interference in Disney growth and success, the company dove in to do their part to support the war effort.
   
   Whether it was in producing great war time comedy animated shorts such as "Der Fuhreres Face" to keep up the public morale; or educational films to teach soldiers how to operate a certain weapon or avoid disease; or deeply researched theory films like "Victory Through Airpower"; or animated shorts that promoted war bonds... the studio worked overtime to do their part. The logos and unit insignia are a big part of that effort.
   
   The beautiful color photos reproduce the actual designs in page after page of color photos. A wonderful book for the Disneyphile, OR for those that are just interested in high quality unit design artwork from planes, etc. from WWII.
   
   Also see the book "Donald Duck Joins Up: The Walt Disney Studio During World War II (Studies in Cinema)" to get a more complete picture of all the other combined efforts of the studio during the war, including the logos in this book. In order to see the logos themselves, the book on this page features more of them than any other book.



2. A great book filled with dozens of pictures. Disney designed over 1,100 insignia during the war. This book pictures some of the best. Check out toonsatwar.com for more info on the Disney Studio's involvement in World War Two.



3. I am a military insignias artist. I have been recreating military insignias on leather for over 18 years. The Disney artist have created some of the very best military art work in the world. This book has some of the many terrific designes creaded by the Disney artists. I have been fascinated with the Disney art work ever since I had lunch with Walt Disney as a young boy.

1 comments about Value Guide to Advertising Memorabilia.

1. Beautiful paperback value guide has over 900 full color, large, sharp photos and 224 pages. Updated guide with 1999 estimated values. Main categories include alcohol, automotive, coffee, soda, sporting goods, tea and cocoa, tobacco and misc. Complete index is provided. Pictures are life-like and fun to browse. Useful addition to your advertising collectibles library.

No comments about Magazines for the Millions: Gender and Commerce in the Ladies' Home Journal and the Saturday Evening Post 1880-1910.

No comments about Posters: Identification and Price Guide (Confident Collector).