...a snapshot of Second World Britain where shitty tat abounds on rickety tables and dirty old blankets.
As ever with these things, I entered convinced that I'd find Fantastic Four #1 for 10p. No joy on that front I'm afraid, but never mind, because happily, (while I increasingly leave jumble sales and junk shops empty handed), today I returned to my comic lair loaded down with a nerd sack full of disintegrating SF mags. Yay!
Yes imaginary web chums, for just 20p a pop I procured a bunch of old Street & Smith's Astounding Science Fiction and a healthy wedge of Analog. There are some cracking short stories inside, some great bits of pop culture history (including a rather fine piece from the 60s reflecting on the first season of Star Trek) and some beautiful illustrations. But, let's face it, I bought these things for the covers. BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL COVERS particularly the Street and Smith stuff...
At Death's End
Thinking Machine
Martians, Go Home
What's Eating You?
Boy, they sure did like to cup their chins in their hands and look thoughtful back in the 50s and 60s. Actually, I originally thought I'd only scan the chin cupping covers, but I couldn't resist putting up that Death's Head - Ace isn't it? It's the work of one H.R. van Dongen, a prolific SF illustrator about whom I can find little info on the net. van Dongen, Kelly Freas and a fellah called Emsh seem to have knocked out thousands of these covers - the three of them are responsible for the ones I've scanned in - and they are all top, top quality pieces of fantasy art.
There you are then, just a small sample of the many pretty books I picked up today. Super score! There's a peculiarly satisfying feeling that comes from finding a stash of cheap, vintage tat in the wild that I just don't get from trawling ebay. Huzzah for the dying world of jumble sales! I shall return for more yellowing goodies next week!
2 comments:
wow... how exciting. its great to find stuff at jumble sales. i used to have a recurring dream of finding stashes of comics in charity shops. never happened.
We went to the one down in Battersea the other week, and they seem far from a dying breed to me! The funny thing is the number of younger (which is to say twenty-something - oh christ) people manning stalls with blatant flat-clearing stock.
What I love best about them is there's no sense of anyone trying to scalp you. Everything is nice and reasonably priced. Good atmosphere at the Battersea one, too. I went a bit crazy for 50p books and we bought a nice old clock. Though I'm kicking myself for not getting the massive Cosmos book for a fiver.
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