James Payette: Fantastic Fiction, Amazing Collection
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known in the circles of experienced comics dealers and collectors. For more than
25 years, he’s been attached to large purchases – and several pedigreed
collections – of comics, but there’s substantially more than just four-color
excitement in the personal collection of this Bethlehem, NH-based enthusiast.
Though only a small portion of his business operation, Rare Books & Comics,
he’s pursued a love of first editions and other wonders in hardcover and
paperback form for years.
“When I was a kid, I bought comic
books off the newsstand in the late ’50s and throughout the ’60s,” said
James Payette. “Whenever I saw some old comic books at an antique shop, I
would pick them up, but unfortunately where I lived when I was younger there was
no real access to any older comic books of significance.”
Long
established as one of the preeminent comic book dealers in North America,
Payette still finds himself going back to his roots – a perseverance and love of
collecting that goes back to his childhood. Although back issues were hard to
come by when he was younger, he was undeterred and kept acquiring comics until
he was a teenager. Then he got a little sidetracked. Comics falling by the
wayside in one’s teenage years is a fairly common pattern to experienced
collectors, but his particular version of the collecting bug gave him a really
interesting twist on the theme.
“I collected from seven or eight
years old right up until I was about 14,” he said. “Then, I kind of
lost some of my interest in comics and became attracted to science fiction and
fantasy, or fantastic fiction books. My real love is hardcover first edition
fantastic fiction books. When I was 14 or 15, I put most of my meager financial
resources into collecting these books.”
“This was fueled by
my interest in science,” he continued. “I’ve always had a tremendous
interest in science fiction and fantastic fiction, and it started with that.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a paleontologist. I used to give dinosaur and
related animal life classes in my neighborhood, and a lot of the kids would
come, and I sort of force-fed them my paleontology class. I couldn’t have been
much more than nine or ten years old. So I had a real interest in science
through the years, particularly prehistoric life.”
Payette said he
didn’t really pursue first editions seriously until the mid-’70s, shortly after
he got out of the Marine Corps. Throughout the late ’60s and early ’70s, he
would buy paperbacks off the newsstand and visit used bookstores in search of
particular titles.
“I was more into trying to acquire a certain
author or title,” he said, “although I was beginning to think it
would be nice to have a first edition or two.”
After serving in the
Marine Corps, Payette first took a job as a chef. During that time he started
trying to buy first edition fantastic fiction books, not only for his own
collection, but also in hopes of becoming a dealer in books. Encounters with
several dealers and other fans at conventions in the Boston area made him aware
that there was also a burgeoning market in back issue comics as
well.
“I started advertising, buying, selling, wheeling and dealing
comics,” he said, laughing. “My business is called ‘Rare Books &
Comics,’ but it’s kind of funny because my business is 97-98% comics. Books are
actually a very small portion of my overall business, but they’re my first love.
Any books of significance I get through the business I set aside for my personal
collection. For instance, I just picked up a first edition Journey to The
Center of the Earth [circa 1874], which is the toughest Jules Verne first
edition to get.”
From the late ’70s through the ’90s, he focused
most of his attention on building his comics business and his family. During
that time, he found his childhood love of comics redeveloping alongside his
interest in books.
“As with anything, the more into it you get,
the more interesting it becomes, so I started really collecting comics,
too,” he said. Although he always keeps his eyes open for new additions to
the book portion of his collection, he said it’s frequently the comics that
present themselves in greater numbers.
“I have a lot of antique
dealers who call me up,” he explained. “They know me for comics, but
I also let them know that I buy books. The problem with books, though, is
someone can buy a load of books and it might not even be 5% that are worth
anything. A lot of people just don’t know what to look for. Whereas with comic
books, if you have a 10¢ cover price, it’s desirable no matter what the
heck it is. I give them lists of authors and publishers like Gnome Press,
Fantasy Press, Shasta Press or Arkham House, but I haven’t developed the
clientele for the books that I have with comics because I’ve put my energies and
finances into my business ahead of my collection.”
That doesn’t
mean he hasn’t had some memorable purchases in books, though.
“I
can remember picking up two original owner collections of Arkham House books,
especially all the early editions – and that was great,” he said. “I
also picked up a collection of paperbacks from the ’40s and ’50s, about 5,000 in
all, and I kept about 2,000 of them [that had] stunning covers. I think they’re
very under-appreciated.”
Payette’s name, in the minds of many
comics enthusiasts, is best known for being attached to three of the dozen or so
known pedigree collections – the Denver Collection, Allentown Collection. and
Nova Scotia Collection. His smile radiates in his voice when he talks about
them.
“The Denver Collection was 151 first issues, and some of the
best-known copies of those given books came from that collection,” Payette
remembered. “It had a gorgeous Marvel Comics #1. The nicest
known Detective Comics #27 came out of the Allentown Collection, a true
near mint to mint copy. The Nova Scotia Collection, although it contained only
100 or so decent Golden Age books, had 2,000 books in total. In terms of
hardcore nice Golden Age books, there were only a hundred or so, but the rest
were good late ’40s or ’50s books. Superman #1-#5 and
Batman #1 were among the really good ones. I was very fortunate to
be able to buy them – not that there were any steals, there was always someone
bidding against me.”
He said the experience of finding
historically significant comics in such immaculate condition was difficult to
put into words. It has, though, provided him with many fond memories; such as
the time he received the list from the lady who was offering the Denver
Collection for sale.
“The list had pretty much everything graded
‘pristine mint,’” he said. “My reaction was, ‘yeah, right.’ I had
her send me half a dozen samples of the cheaper books. She sent me a couple
books that were only about fine minus, and the rest of them were very fine or
better, but they were at least decent enough for me to go out
there.”
While it’s an all too-common tale that the best in the
bunch is used by sellers as bait in many such offerings, that wasn’t the case
with this set of comics.
“What she had done with those half-dozen
books was send me the lowest grade books in the collection,” he recalled.
“I was blown away. It was just amazing. I bought the Denver Collection
with Joe Verenault, who at the time was with Sparkle City. The books were
incredible!”
It’s not like he’s resting on the laurels of his
three previous pedigree buys, either. He’s out looking for the next one.
“I just bought a collection that has more than 4,000 pre-Code [pre-1955]
books in it, and it runs the gamut of subjects and titles.”
His
profession continues to fuel his personal collection of comics, hardcover books,
Big Little Books, and vintage paperbacks, in addition to a small selection of
original comic art. In that collection, he said, he has many
favorites.
“I’m a reader. I’ve read thousands and thousands of
books. I’m always reading something,” he said, drifting back to his
primary collection. He quickly pointed out his complete run of Marvels
(“That’s what I grew up on,” he added), Flash Gordon, Buck
Rogers, and other Big Little Books, and an extensive library of paperbacks,
not only fantastic fiction but detective fiction and other genres as
well.
“I’ve got a very good assortment of detective and good girl
covers in paperbacks, and I look for certain companies like Avon, since they
frequently had great covers,” he said. “I would include the works of
Dashiell Hammet, Earl Stanley Gardner, Ellery Queen, Agatha Christie, and many
others. Some of these paperbacks have value because they might have actually
been the true first edition, while others have value because the covers are just
so wonderful.”
Payette thinks the common bond of the collecting
experience is that simultaneous sense of uniqueness and déjà vu of
getting nostalgia from an item that is old in origin yet new to
us.
“People that become collectors seem to like a contact with the
past,” he said. “They like the feeling of nostalgia that a
particular item might give them, the feeling of something that was printed a
hundred years ago and wondering about the thought process of the individuals who
initially held it in their hands.”
He also doesn’t hold himself in
any different light than the fellow collectors he describes. “The
collector in me loves the feeling of, say, a first edition book, and thinks,
‘here’s how it was when it was first printed and I’m holding it in my hand.’
There’s almost an aura from the item because of the antiquity. I’ve- always been
a collector. When I was a kid I collected rocks, stamps, coins, moths,
butterflies… I could keep going. I just always seem to have had a collector
mentality. It’s always been fun, and I really enjoy comics and other rare paper
items. I love the smell and the feel of them. There’s something very nostalgic
about it.”
tudios entitled ”Dizzy Dishes,” a film that actually starred Betty’s
pal Bimbo (who would ultimately become better known for his supporting roles.)
<brl>
tors could have their
portfolios reviewed and participate in a ”breaking in” panel. <br><br>Over in
the sprawling retail area of the show, fans could find favorite comics, books,
action figures and collectibles - some of wich were selling for amazing prices.
Many fans showed their devotion to the hobby by dressing up as their favorite
characters, meaning there were also many junior Supermen, Spider-Men and Wonder
Women in attendance.<br><br></div>
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par Stan Lee’s phenomenal consignment included his personal file copies of key Marvel comics such as i Fantastic Four i0 #1, i Amazing Spider-Mani0 #1, i Daredevil i0 #1, i X-Meni0 #1 and others. ”The Stan Lee File Copies, all graded and certified by Comics Guaranty LLC, surpassed everyone’s expectations, even mine,” said Petty. ”In fact Stan’s books brought anywhere from 2 to 45 times our estimates.”
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par Not only these big names, but also secondary titles broke records. Stan’s copy of i Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. i0 #1, CGC graded 3.0 with cream to off-white pages, which would normally be worth about $20, sold for $899. A non-pedigreed copy of i Avengersi0 #1, CGC graded 8.0, sold for $1,840 while Stan’s copy grading only 3.0 sold for $2,357.50! The total realization of the Stan