Other Peoples' Collections

My summer job, at the moment, is cataloging a collection of amateur fanzines from the fifties to the seventies that belong to my supervisor, Bart Beaty.  It is a collection he inherited from a friend, and that friend supplemented his own fanzine collection with those of others.  The result is quite wonderful, and the last week has been filled with amazing finds.  I will be starting up yet another blog to showcase some amateur comics I've come across, assuming I can arrange permissions of some kind, but I thought I'd post one or two cool things here too.  Collections are everywhere, and often within them are interesting things that don't really fit.  That's what I'll show you here over the next couple of days.

The first piece I discovered today in a science fiction fanzine called Ciln.  It appears to be from 1962, though may be a year or two earlier.  At the bottom of the page is a short, six-line poem by a young man named Rog Ebert.  If that name sounds familiar, it's because this is likely the same "Rog" Ebert, famed film critic, who passed away a few weeks ago.  A reference to his early life on Wikipedia states that he "became involved in science fiction fandom,writing articles for fanzines" in the late fifties and early sixties.  Later in the same zine there is a two-page science fiction story accredited to the same writer.  While I've not been able to absolutely verify that these are by the famous critic, the dates and names appear to line up.  So, I present a little-known piece of Roger Ebert ephemera:  (of course, if the copyright in this belongs to you, please let me know.  I'm not trying to profit from it, just to present it because I think it's neat and important)

  

I will be scanning one or two other pieces, and will post them over the next couple of days.  The cataloging portion of the project is just about completed, but you never know what else I'll find!

As far as this being something that doesn't quite fit the collection, the poem is not a science fiction inspired piece.  Indeed, it reads more like social critique.  The rest of the zine contains pieces on film, science fiction, and conventions, including the aforementioned story by Mr. Ebert.   The poem seems somehow out of place, which perhaps adds to its profundity.

Bizarre Things I Have Found In My Collections #1

An irregular, in many senses of the word, feature I will put on this blog.  As I go through my various collections, I am struck by the very strange things that have managed to find their way into our popular (and not so popular) culture.  Here, I will showcase some of these oddities.

The first is a back cover ad from the February 1981 issue of Warren's "The Rook" magazine.  The main character of this magazine is the grandson of H.G. Wells' time traveller from The Time Machine.  This back cover ad, which ran on numerous issues of the magazine, has nothing to do with that.  Though the products that are being advertised are from another science fiction giant, which, one assumes due to copyright infringements, goes unnamed.  See if you know which it is....

Two things: One, the "[E]xciting adventures from the disco to the outer limits of space" sound just brilliant.  And two, I think I'd really like one of those jackets.  They look pretty badass.

That's it for this installment.  Next up, an ad for Saturday morning cartoons from a 1967 Superman comic book, featuring Moby Dick, action hero whale of the seven seas!

Welcome

It seems that I have a pretty good track record for starting blogs, but not necessarily with keeping them alive.  So we'll see how this goes.  Maybe I collect blogs.
I have recently finished a course at the University of Calgary entitled "From Books to Dust: The Practice of Collecting," taught by Dr. Stefania Forlini.  It got me seriously thinking about my own practices of collecting.  Perhaps that's the best place to start.

I am an inveterate collector.  There.  I've said it.  I am fascinated by things that are collectible.  I know I'm not alone in this.  I primarily collect comic books, though have also delved pretty seriously into action figures, Lego, books, cards, card games, records, superhero movies, etc, etc.  I fully expect that in 20 years, I'll be featured on a "Hoarders"-style television show.

What I hope to do with this blog is two things:  First, I want to think about what exactly it is that I'm doing as a collector.  Why am I drawn to the things I'm drawn to, and, more generally, why are those of us who collect drawn to the practice?  I want to think about the nature of the objects that we collect, and the nature of the objects that are collections.  And what those collections do to the objects that comprise them.

Second, I want to put my collections out there for all to see.  I'll be posting pictures, and lists, and musings on the specific collections.  As I said, I've recently finished a course looking at collecting, so I do have an academic interest in the practice, but I'm also a collector, and we like to display our collections.  For the most part.

So, expect essays.  Expect photographs.  Expect reproductions of want-lists, reviews of great places to find great...stuff, expect anxiety over not having nearly enough space to house my vast arrays of things.

Disclaimer: Nothing that you will see on this blog is for sale.  I apologize to any fellow collector who sees something on here that needs to be in his or her own collection.  I'm happy to keep my eyes open, of course, but the things I post are part of my own collections.