As of June 19, the PulpFest 2026 Auction had 207 lots of books, comics, pulps, and more consigned. These lots consist of material submitted by members of PulpFest 2026 and other collectors. Of particular note is the George A. Rawling collection of hero and aviation pulps.
You’ll find our photographic catalog by clicking the “2026 Auction” button located on our website’s top menu. Our photographic catalog and a link to our descriptions in PDF format can be found at the bottom of the auction page.
Included in our 2026 Auction are 8 early issues of Weird Tales in good to very good condition; copies of New Worlds Science Fiction, long the leading British science fiction magazine; an autographed first edition copy of Robert Bloch’s 1947 novel, The Scarf; the first paperback edition of Raymond Chandler’s hardboiled mystery, The Big Sleep; the first issues of Confession Novel of the Month, The Frontier, Red Hood Detective Stories, Texas Rangers, and other pulps; two Stephen King first editions; early paperbacks by Philip K. Dick, David Goodis, Jim Thompson, and others; two original appearances of Robert E. Howard stories in Argosy, and much more.
Of particular note is the George A. Rawling collection of hero and aviation pulps. Largely purchased by George (1921-2012) from American drugstores and newsstands of the 1930s and early 1940s, our hero pulps include Captain Future, Doc Savage Magazine, and The Shadow Magazine. The air pulps are Sky Birds and the Street & Smith pulps and bedsheets featuring the aerial adventures of Bill Barnes. To learn more about this amazing collection, please click here.
Consigning Material to the PulpFest 2026 Auction
Do you have a piece of art or a pulp collection you want to sell? Wouldn’t it be nice to see your collection stay with people who appreciate what you or your departed loved one has 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 several major collections of pulps, books, digests, fanzines, and related materials, as well as several works of original art.
PulpFest welcomes large and small collections, from a single item to thousands of books, pulps, comics, digests, fanzines, and related collectibles. If you’re ready to sell that collection, consider using the PulpFest auction. You don’t have to be a member of the convention to participate. If what you have is somehow related to the pulp magazines of the early twentieth century and related pop culture collectibles, we’re interested!
Although we will accept any submissions up through the day of the 2026 PulpFest auction, you are encouraged to submit your lots before the start of the convention. This will allow PulpFest to list your lots — including photographs and descriptions — on our online auction page. Online bids will be accepted for all lots that have been submitted by 11:59 pm on Sunday, July 5, 2026. Any material submitted after that date will not be added to the online bidding page.
All auction lots must have a value of $20 or more. The convention will charge a 16% commission based on the selling price for anything sold in the auction. For example, if an item sells for $100, the seller will receive $84.
To minimize the submission of what most people term “junk” to our auction, PulpFest will charge $5 for those auction lots that receive no bids.
PulpFest reserves the right to reject any material that does not meet our standards. Sexually explicit material — including Playboy, Penthouse, and Oui — cannot be submitted to the auction.
Of course, all PulpFest 2026 members can also submit items to our auction. We will accept materials up through noon on the day of the auction. But the sooner you can get your items to us, the better. Auction lots listed online often receive higher bids than those lots listed at the last minute. Again, the deadline to submit auction items for online display is July 5.
If you’re interested or have further questions, please write to PulpFest auction coordinator, Mike Chomko, at mike@pulpfest.com or 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104 for further information about placing material in the next PulpFest auction.
Online Bidding
For those unable to attend PulpFest 2026 or attendees who wish to bid anonymously, the convention will accept bids placed through the PulpFest Online Auction Bid Page. The bid that you submit will be your final bid for the lot.
Online bidders will be asked to provide contact information, payment method, and their final bids for each auction lot. You can submit bids for multiple lots on the same form by clicking the “+” button on our online bidding page. All information submitted will be kept confidential.
Online bids of $10 or more can be placed on every auction lot in our photo catalog. The deadline to place online bids is 9 pm Eastern on Tuesday, July 28. After that time, the PulpFest will be shut down.
PulpFest will bid for those who place their bids through the PulpFest Online Auction Bid Page. We will start with the auctioneer’s opening bid and will continue bidding for the highest online bidder until their final bid price is reached. If no bid placed during the live auction is more than the online bid, the online bidder will win the lot.
Please note that PulpFest does not charge a buyer’s premium.
We’ll be updating our PulpFest 2026 Online Auction Catalog through Sunday, July 5, 2026. Any material submitted after that date will not be added to the online bidding page. Lots submitted after July 5 will only be available to bidders who are physically present at the PulpFest 2026 auction.
The deadline to place online bids is 9 p.m. Eastern on July 28.
Bidding Live at PulpFest 2026
All attendees of PulpFest 2026 will be able to bid on the available material. There will be three auction preview sessions offered during the convention. These will occur from 3:30 to 4:45 pm on July 30, 31, and August 1. There will be a brief fourth session from 7:30 – 7:55 pm on Saturday, August 1. During these sessions, all consigned auction lots will be available for examination by PulpFest attendees.
If you will be attending PulpFest 2026, the sessions listed above (and on our programming schedule) will be the only times you will be physically able to examine the lots before the start of the auction on August 1 at 8 pm.
The auction is open to the general public. You do not have to be a PulpFest member to attend. However, if you want to place bids during the convention’s auction, you must register as a bidder. There will be a $5 non-refundable fee to bid during the auction. Non-PulpFest attendees can register to bid in the PulpFest 2026 auction at the convention’s front desk during dealers’ room hours or immediately before the start of the auction at the stage of our programming room.
The Ground Rules
PulpFest reserves the right to withdraw any auction lot from sale at any time before the auction. All bidders are encouraged to review the lots before placing bids. ALL SALES ARE FINAL.
PulpFest will accept checks or money orders (in U.S. dollars), PayPal, or credit card payments for items won through silent bidding. A 5% fee will be charged for all credit card or PayPal transactions. There will be additional shipping charges for those not able to pick up the lots they have won.
Write to PulpFest auction coordinator, Mike Chomko, at mike@pulpfest.com or by regular mail at 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104 if you have any questions about placing material or bidding in the next PulpFest auction.
The PulpFest 2026 auction is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. on Saturday, August 1, 2026.
Derek Starr is a writer and popular culture enthusiast who began contributing to our website in 2022. He particularly enjoys the Fiction House pulps. One of his favorites is Planet Stories, the publisher’s legendary science fiction pulp. He’s also a fan of their air pulps and Action Stories.
Our featured image is adapted from John Falter’s cover art for The Saturday Evening Post, dated August 5, 1944.
Our lead image is the June 1934 number of Doc Savage Magazine, with cover art by Walter M. Baumhofer, illustrating “The Kingmaker,” co-written by Lester Dent and Harold A. Davis. You’ll find a copy of the issue in lot #142 of our 2026 auction.
Earle K. Bergey contributed the cover art for our remaining illustrations. First up is the Summer 1941 issue of Captain Future, published by Ned Pines’ Standard Magazines. Bergey’s painting illustrates the magazine’s lead story, “The Magician of Mars,” a Captain Future adventure written by Edmond Hamilton. You’ll find a copy of the issue in lot #30 of our 2026 auction.
Our last illustration is Bergey’s cover for the first paperback printing of Frank Scully’s bestselling book, Behind the Flying Saucers. Widely regarded as the first full-length non-fiction book on flying saucers, it popularized the concept of UFO crashes and government cover-ups. Published in 1951 by Popular Library with a 25¢ cover price, you’ll find our copy of the book listed as lot #43 of our 2026 auction.
Our final image is New Worlds Science Fiction No. 11, dated Autumn 1951 and featuring cover art by Reina M. Bull. A UK illustrator, who variously signed her work Sington (her birth surname), Reina, Janine, and RMB, Bull contributed 2 memorable covers to New Worlds, and another pair to its companion, Science Fantasy. Rather sexually charged, her science fiction covers have been compared to the work of Margaret Brundage, the Weird Tales illustrator. A copy of this particular issue of New Worlds is available in lot #31 of our 2026 auction.
