Letters from many famous authors of pulp stories, as well as signed checks
are among the highlights of an auction being held during the Windy City Pulp and
Paperback Convention. The convention, which is naturally being held in Chicago,
will run from April 22-24. In addition to the Munsey Auction, over 75 dealers
will be selling at over 100 tables.

For anyone who loves the history of
pulps, as well as the pulps themselves and related material, this convention is
shaping up to be one of the most important events of the year. Doug Ellis,
author of the recently published book, Uncovered: the Hidden Art of the
Girlie Pulps, was part of the team that first organized the convention five
years ago. It immediately became an annual occurrence in the Windy
City.

For the past three years, each convention has seen an auction of
some sort, but nothing anywhere near the level of this year’s event. Last
year’s convention had the first installment of what has become known in
collecting circles as the “Munsey Auction.” Ellis tells
Scoop: “We didn’t have enough time to publicize last year’s auction
properly. So this year, we took steps early on to make the Munsey Auction an
integral part of the convention. We felt bad because last year’s auction had
some incredibly rare collectibles, the sort of stuff that fans have been seeking
out for quite a while. But since we held the Munsey Auction at almost the last
minute, there were lot of people who heard about the auction only after the fact
and they were sorry to have missed their chance on this unique
material.”

Among the highlights this year are several endorsed checks. “These
are a rare opportunity to get a signed document that connects the artist or
writer directly to their work and to the reader” Ellis relates. “You
obviously see what they are paid for creating the story or art. What may be even
more interesting are the other facts about the world of the pulps that the check
reveals. The backs of many of the checks feature a list of the rights that the
publisher acquires by purchasing the piece. In addition, other historical
information is often revealed.”

Ellis provides a great example of the information he is talking about.
“One of the earliest checks we have in the auction, made out in 1916 to
artist P.J. Monahan, is for his cover painting for Edgar Rice Burroughs’
Carthoris. The story was eventually published as Thuvia, Maid Of
Mars. The check reveals original, working title of an early Burroughs
classic.”

Other highlights of the Munsey Auction include letters from Robert Bloch,
T.S. Stribling and many other notable pulp writers. One of the most interesting
letters consists of four handwritten pages from writer Cornell Woolrich. Ellis
tells the story behind this particular letter. “Woolrich, who also wrote
the story on which the classic Hitchcock film Rear Window was based, sold
what was purported story to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science
Fiction. However, the story had actually been published by one of Popular
Publications’ pulps years earlier. The letter details Woolrich’s explanation for
the mix-up and provides a great example of the relationship between a free-lance
writer and a publisher.”

The history of the items listed in the Munsey Auction is incredible. Frank
Munsey, founder of the Munsey Company, is credited with actually creating the
pulps as we know them today. He was the publisher of Argosy, the first pulp
which changed to that format in 1896 and pretty much sparked the entire genre. A
few lots in the Munsey Auction actually consist of his personal bound, gold leaf
trimmed copies of his Pulp Munsey Magazine. As time went on, another publisher,
named Popular Publications grew into a major pulp publisher during the thirties.
In the forties, Popular Publications bought their rivals, the Munsey Company.
When they acquired Munsey, Popular became the largest pulp house around. The
unique items in the Munsey Auction are from the combined warehouse files of both
the Munsey Company and Popular Publications.

Among their many titles,
Popular published The Spider, Operator 5, and G-8 and His
Battle Aces. While they were probably the biggest, there were two other
large pulp houses chomping at their heels. Street & Smith had Doc
Savage and The Shadow and the Ned Pines’ Standard Group had
Thrilling Wonder and Startling Stories, but Popular published more
titles than any of them.

You can hear the pride in Ellis’ voice when he
says “We are privileged to offer this material in our
auction.”

If you are going to be anywhere near the Windy City for
this event, you may want to stop in. It promises to be a fantastic three days.
For details, please visit www.windycitypulpandpaper.com.