In THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION for May 1963 — a special Ray Bradbury issue — William F. Nolan wrote:
Bradbury is indeed a prose poet in the age of space, a man possessed by the beauty of the written word; his work reflects a passion for the shape and sound and precise rhythms of the language — and he has been able to translate this passion into imaginative literature of a very high order.
PulpFest 2020 will celebrate the centennial of Ray Bradbury’s birth from August 6 – 9 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, PA. Professor Garyn G. Roberts — Bradbury’s pal for more than thirty years — will talk about the Science Fiction Grand Master and “Poet of the Pulps.” Our 2013 Munsey Award winner promises to share many unique items he collected during his long friendship with Bradbury.
We’ll also have presentations on Bradbury in comic books, television, and film. Filling out our Bradbury salute will be several presentations concerning Mars in fiction, plus a look at early science fiction fandom.
However, we’re not planning to stop there. You’ll actually be able to purchase a copy of the Bradbury issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION — featuring cover art by artist and illustrator Joe Mugnaini — during our PulpFest 2020 auction. It’s one of several Bradbury collectibles that will be featured in our estate auction.
PulpFest 2020 will be offering more than 150 lots of pulps, digests, vintage paperbacks, men’s adventure magazines, and more from the collection of the late Carl Joecks. A retired television cameraman, electronic equipment repairman, and carpenter in the state of Vermont, Carl became enamored with science fiction, comic books, radio, and astronomy during his youth. He was soon collecting the things that he loved.
Acquired over many years, Carl stored his collection in a darkened room. Most of the magazines were bagged with backing boards and stored flat for additional protection.
Given the size of the Joecks Collection, it will take a number of years to disperse everything. In 2020, PulpFest will be selling Carl’s pulps, digest magazines, men’s adventure and true crime magazines, plus a selection of joke and gag books and other material. The convention will also be selling a small selection of comic books and assorted paper collectibles. These will include the 1935 Pleasure Books edition of THE POP-UP BUCK ROGERS and a number of “Ace Doubles,” one of them being the very first double paperback issued by the company.
The PulpFest 2020 auction will begin at 9 PM on Saturday, August 8. All attendees of the convention will be able to bid on the available material.
For those who are not able to attend PulpFest 2020, the convention will accept bids placed via email. The highest of these “silent” bids will establish the opening bid for each auction lot. If no bid made during the live auction is higher than the opening silent bid, the lot will be won by the silent bidder.
All silent bidders will have to register with PulpFest to place their bids. We will begin accepting registrations for silent bidding after the Joecks material has been lotted and photographed. All silent bids will have to be placed by 9 PM on Saturday, July 25, two weeks prior to the start of our PulpFest 2020 auction.
Click here for an inventory of the Joecks material that we are currently planning to offer during the PulpFest 2020 auction. Please note that this list is not final. Nor is it the auction lot list. The material to be offered will be lotted and photographed some time after the holidays. We will also be posting a picture of each auction lot online. This will appear either on the PulpFest website or via an auction website.
We are planning another auction update in late February. So please stay tuned to pulpfest.com.
(Although all of the items pictured are part of the Joecks collection, the displayed images are not photographs of the actual copies found in the collection.
The three magazines in the middle of the post all feature work by Ray Bradbury. The short story, “A Blade of Grass,” appears in the December 1949 issue of THRILLING WONDER STORIES, with cover art by Earle Bergey. “Death and the Maiden,” another short story, can be found in THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION for March 1960, with cover art by Mel Hunter. The April 1949 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES — with cover art by Lawrence Sterne Stevens — features the short story, “I, Mars.” It has rarely been reprinted. Bid on the Joecks copy for a chance to read this Bradbury story.
The lower images are miscellaneous items that are part of the collection. The 1935 Pleasure Books edition of THE POP-UP BUCK ROGERS is illustrated by Dick Calkins. Ace Books number D-1 — the first of the Ace Doubles — features the complete and unabridged novel “The Grinning Gismo,” by Samuel W. Taylor. The flip side of the book is an original novel by Keith Vining, “Too Hot for Hell.” Both covers are by Norman Saunders. The third item pictured is the March 1936 SPICY-ADVENTURE STORIES, featuring cover art by William F. Soare.
Finally, because it has been one of our most popular PulpFest 2020 Internet images, below you’ll find Hannes Bok’s original wrap-around cover art for the November 1963 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION. There will be two copies of this issue — featuring Roger Zelazny’s classic Mars story, “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” — in the PulpFest 2020 auction. Start making your plans to attend right now!)
