ITEM #1: Every once in a while, something happens that just underscores how exciting the world of collecting can be. There’s always the potential for new discoveries, new connections, and even a new chapter in history being written. And sometimes, you get a call out of the blue that leads to a fascinating encounter with the past.

I received a phone call from an antiquarian bookstore in Pennsylvania called The Title Page. They were (and still are) in the process of handling the possible purchase of a rare comic book for which they had very little information, and they contacted me for background details. It was a small, very old illustrated book, still in very nice shape but of course yellowed and partially worn. The title? The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck.

That’s right, a copy of one of the rarest Victorian Age comics had just turned up out of nowhere, emerging from the history-laden hills of Pennsylvania and arriving on the desk of a very pleasant book shop. Registrar Andy Hershberger and I took a little trip to view the book and it turned out to be a copy of the 1849 Wilson & Co. reprint of Obadiah listed in The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. While it may be missing a back cover page, we were thrilled just to see it and take part in uncovering another small slice of comic book history. The book itself is still owned by a private collector but if and when it emerges into the larger collecting world, we hope that perhaps we’d have a chance to showcase it at GEM.

The story of comic book collecting is filled with these kinds of stories. No matter how much we think has already been discovered and documented, it’s amazing how much more there is yet to find; history awaits us hidden in countless attics and basements, in old libraries and municipal buildings, and in far unlikelier places. Sometimes it happens through careful research, sometimes it happens by accident. But every time it does happen, a little more light is shed on the vast scope of that pop culture universe. And it’s always a joy to be a part of it.

Our current “Special Edition” exhibition: Scrooged! is a tribute to the works of Carl Barks (1901-2000) as well as the life and times of Uncle Scrooge McDuck, celebrating the legacy of the “Good Duck Artist” through a unique exhibition of original oil paintings, artwork and other memorabilia, including the complete original artwork for the comic story, “North of the Yukon.” The exhibition is open through the end of May, so you have time, but we certainly don’t want you to miss it.

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Don’t forget to

Visit Geppi’s Entertainment Museum online at www.geppismuseum.com

or in person at

301 W. Camden St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 625-7060