Do you have a book or pulp collection that you would like to sell? Wouldn’t it be nice to see your collection stay with people who appreciate what you or your departed loved one enjoyed? Why not have PulpFest sell it through our annual auction?
Besides a large and active dealers’ room and highly respected programming, PulpFest is known for its enjoyable auctions. In recent years, the convention has sold three major collections of pulps, books, fanzines, and related materials.
Our 2023 auction featured about 90 lots from the estate of Vermont collector Carl Joecks, over 80 lots consigned by Dearly Departed Books of Alliance, Ohio, and more than 100 lots submitted by PulpFest 2023 members.
Some of the highlights of our 2023 auction included the first eight volumes of the Tom Corbett juvenile series, a trio of early edition hardcovers by Robert A. Heinlein, the first authorized American edition of Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island, nine early edition hardcovers by E. E. “Doc” Smith, thirties issues of The Shadow Magazine and Weird Tales, the December 1939 Marvel Tales, a large lot of fanzines and related materials, and a set of Shadow paperbacks in very fine condition.
Overshadowing all of the lots was a very scarce ink stamp pulp premium from “The Shadow Club.” Originally offered through The Shadow Magazine from April 1, 1934, to the end of August 1934, the stamp sold for $750. All told, nearly $12,000 exchanged hands during our 2023 auction.
PulpFest welcomes both large and small collections, from a single item to thousands of books, pulps, comics, fanzines, and related collectibles. If you’re ready to sell, give our auction service a try.
For further information about selling your collection through the PulpFest auction, please write to Mike Chomko at 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104, or via email at mike@pulpfest.com.
All members of PulpFest 2024 can also submit items to our auction.
PulpFest 2024 members are encouraged to submit their items before the start of the convention. This will allow the convention to list submitted lots — including photographs that you submit — on our online auction page, allowing them to be advertised to both PulpFest members and to the public at large.
The convention will charge a 16% commission based on the selling price for anything sold. For example, if an item sells for $100, the seller will receive $84.
For those who would like to bid, but cannot attend PulpFest 2024, the convention will accept bids placed through the PulpFest Silent Auction Bid Page. We will accept your opening bid and your highest bid for each auction lot. We will then bid for you during the auction.
Accepting online bids will not only open up our auction to people unable to attend the convention but also maximize the return for all of the consigners to our PulpFest 2024 auction.
We expect to have our PulpFest 2024 Auction Page and Silent Auction Bid Page up and running on our website by the end of May 2024, two months before the start of this year’s convention.
Please write to PulpFest auction coordinator, Mike Chomko, at mike@pulpfest.com or 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104 if you have any questions about placing material or bidding in the next PulpFest auction. The PulpFest 2024 auction is currently scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. on Saturday, August 3, 2024.
Our featured image is the April 1940 issue of Standard Magazines’ Thrilling Wonder Stories, featuring cover art by Howard V. Brown. The illustration is a scene from the Henry Kuttner short story in the issue, “Beauty and the Beast.” PulpFest 2024 will be saluting dinosaurs in the pulps as part of this year’s ERBFest.
When we’re finished, you’ll know the answer to the question, “How many times did Doc Savage run into dinosaurs in his pulp adventures.”
And be sure to subscribe to the PulpFest channel for all of our upcoming videos.
Our lead image is the PulpFest Auction Banner, adapted by William Lampkin from Rafael DeSoto’s cover art for the January 1934 issue of Standard’s The Phantom Detective. It’s followed by a photograph of the rubber stamp from a scarce pulp premium offered by Street & Smith’s “The Shadow Club.” These extremely rare premiums were originally offered through The Shadow Magazine for only five months, accounting for their scarcity.
Rounding out our images is the dust jacket for The Adventures of Superman. Written by George Lowther and published in 1942 by Random House, the book’s jacket art was by Joe Schuster, co-creator of “The Man of Steel.” PulpFest sold a copy of the first edition of this book through its 2022 auction. The winning bid was $150.
