Although PulpFest invests a great deal of time and energy to develop a top-notch programming schedule each and every year, it also prides itself for the effort it puts into its annual auction. Each year, the convention’s auction director, J. Barry Traylor, endeavors to put together a range of material to make for lively bidding. Last year with the help of auctioneer Joseph F. Saine, Barry was able to acquire a collection of more than 150 pulp magazines that were sold through the PulpFest Saturday Night Auction. Additionally, there were manuscripts, books, fanzines, and more from the collection of WEIRD TALES author Everil Worrell, and books and artwork from the collection of Paul S. Powers, the pulp writer who created Sonny Tabor, Kid Wolf, and other western heroes for Street & Smith.
The Saturday Night Auction returns to PulpFest 2015 on August 15th, starting at 9:30 PM. The always entertaining John P. Gunnison of Adventure House will serve as our auctioneer. Any member of PulpFest 2015 can submit items to the auction. Your PulpFest badge number will be used as your auction bidder and/or seller number. Highlights of this year’s auction include the original typescript for the Phillip José Farmer novel, DAYWORLD, with notes and corrections in the authors’ hand, along with an original 1930’s Shadow mask. It was either a premium or sold as part of a Halloween costume. The auction will also feature a number of lots from the estate of Earl Kussman who, along with Ed Kessell and Nils Hardin, organized the first Pulpcon, held in Clayton, Missouri over a June weekend in 1972. Finally, there will be several lots of ARGOSY pulps from 1936 and 1937, including a couple of issues featuring L. Ron Hubbard stories. There may also be a number of weird-menace pulps in the auction, including the first issues of SINISTER STORIES and ACE MYSTERY MAGAZINE, plus thirties issues of DIME MYSTERY and TERROR TALES. We have also had discussions with an individual who may be entering a number of lots of Arkham House, Donald Grant, and related materials into this year’s auction.
Pulp magazines and related materials, vintage paperbacks, digests, men’s adventure and true crime magazines, original art, first edition hardcovers, series books, reference books, dime novels and story papers, Big Little Books, B-Movies, serials and related paper collectibles, old-time radio shows, and Golden and Silver Age comic books as well as newspaper adventure strips will be allowed in the auction. Modern graphic novels and comic books will be allowed only if they are related to the pulps. Sexually explicit magazines such as PLAYBOY, PENTHOUSE, and OUI and soft-core porn will not be allowed.
In addition to the lots submitted by the convention’s membership, PulpFest also welcomes estate auctions, mainly because we would like to see collections stay within the pulp community. Many of us do not like to think about our eventual passing, but it is a good idea to do so in order to make sure that the collections that have meant so much to us find a good home. It is also wise to give your loved ones instructions as to whom to contact for the dispersion of one’s collection after your passing. If anyone would like to submit an estate collection for auction at PulpFest or has a question about the convention’s auction, please write to the PulpFest auction director, J. Barry Traylor, at 1767 Crooked Oak Drive, Lancaster, PA 17601 or via email at barry@pulpfest.com.
All lots submitted to our PulpFest 2015 auction must have a minimum value of $20. All lots that do not receive a bid of $20 or more will be passed. If you plan to offer an auction lot with a reserve price, your reserve must be $50 or more. No lots with a reserve price of less than $50 will be accepted. PulpFest reserves the right to reject any auction material that is unlikely to meet our minimum bid or reserve price standards as well as our content standards. Due to time constraints, limitations may be placed on the number of lots a seller can include in the auction. The convention charges sellers 10% of the selling price for anything sold in the auction. If a reserve price is placed on an auction lot and it fails to sell, there will be no charge applied. All auction lots must be submitted to PulpFest prior to 2 PM, Saturday, August 15th. If you’d like to submit a large number of pieces to the auction, please contact Barry Traylor prior to the start of the convention. PulpFest makes no guarantees concerning materials submitted to the Saturday Night Auction. If you plan to bid on an item, please examine it before bidding. Time will be provided for an examination of all lots prior to the start of the auction.
Start making your plans now to attend PulpFest 2015 to see some of the great material that Barry Traylor is hopes to assemble for this year’s auction. Although the Saturday Night Auction will take place on August 15th, the convention itself will begin on Thursday evening, August 13th. To learn more about what PulpFest 2015 has to offer, please click here.
Please remember, if you have yet to book your room for this year’s convention, do so without delay. PulpFest will be sharing downtown Columbus with Matsuricon this week. However, there may still be a few rooms available at nearby hotels. Please visit pulpcon.org/2015/06/16872/ and you’ll find a link to a list of hotels to choose from. If you are not from the Columbus area and want to attend PulpFest 2015, we urge you to book your room now and not wait until you arrive.
(Best known as a cartoonist for PLAYBOY and THE NEW YORKER, Richard Taylor began his career as a cartoonist and comic strip artist in 1920s Toronto. Between 1958 and 1963, Taylor contributed five dust jackets to the Arkham House line, including works by H. P. Lovecraft, Frank Belknap Long, and August Derleth, including the one pictured above for THE MASK OF CTHULHU.
Howard J. Sherman began working as a freelance commercial artist during the early 1930s. Among his assignments were interior illustrations for pulp magazines such as the Thrilling Group’s THE PHANTOM DETECTIVE and POPULAR DETECTIVE. Additionally, he contributed covers to ADVENTURE NOVELS MAGAZINE, DOUBLE ACTION WESTERN, REAL WESTERN, SMASHING NOVELS MAGAZINE, and the iconic May 1936 ACE MYSTERY MAGAZINE. During the forties, he drew Doctor Fate for MORE FUN COMICS and Three Comrades for Standard’s THRILLING COMICS.
PulpFest 2015 will be saluting the 125th anniversary of the birth of Lovecraft as well as the Thrilling Group’s lines of pulp magazines and comic books at this year’s convention.)
