Binding - i.e. having comics bound

[Rob J]

Saw this item on ebay a few minutes ago:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Beano-comic-1961- ... dZViewItem

Does anyone here have their comics bound like this? Seems kind of cool - although I can't really decide. Gotta be better than a mildewy old crisp box in the cellar though, right??

[Peter Gray]

too much for me.......300 pounds...
great era of The Beano though..

[Lew Stringer]

Saw this item on ebay a few minutes ago:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Beano-comic-1961- ... dZViewItem

Does anyone here have their comics bound like this? Seems kind of cool - although I can't really decide. Gotta be better than a mildewy old crisp box in the cellar though, right??

Nice idea, but could be problematic for the Bash Street centre-spreads.

Twenty five years ago a guy called Howard Leroy Davies used to offer a binding service for American comics at the Westminster Comic Marts. He did a really nice job of them, trimmed, pseudo leather covers, gold lettering etc. Beautiful books. I bought one of his bound collections (First Editions of Marvel Seventies comics) but the edges have all gone yellow and brittle, having been sat on a bookshelf for 25 years.

Bag 'em and/or box 'em. Much better IMHO. The important thing is to keep them out of the light.

Lew

[Rob J]

Out of the light - right, yeah. Will do. Gotta say though, this binding idea seems really nice to me. Those spines look fantastic! I'm wondering if there'd be anyone in the yellow pages who offering some sort of book binding services who could do work like this? The downside to it would be that once they're in, they're bloody well in. No going back. Bit scary in that sense.

[Rob J]

too much for me.......300 pounds...

Slightly! Although they look fantastic I really couldn't bring myself to spend that much.

great era of The Beano though..

Yeah - I don't actually know it at all. Haven't got any annuals or comics from then, and never have had either. Earliest I go back w/ the Beano is probably mid-late '60s. From there into the early '70s is my favourite - but probably cos it's just what I know. I mean, it's obvious even from the small glimpses offered in the above auction images that the strips of the early '60s were bloody ace. Love that Bash St. Xmas party - looks well anarchic.

[felneymike]

Binding was seemingly the norm for collectors (who where of course the minority of actual readers) in the days of old storypapers. I have a bound volume of Union Jacks from 1894 that have survived "well", how many single issues have also lasted from the same age?

Though of course they didnt have those plastic bags then, and the paper was chemically different as well. I have actually considered having a go at binding myself, on some modern comics... perhaps the 2000AD's containing the Origins storyline then following on to a convenient issue where all of the stories end. There's an article on book binding in the 1927 Schoolgirl's Own annual, and i also want to try ink marbling out of the Dangerous Book For Boys, so it'd be a chance to try both in one, and preserve this most modern of comics in a very old fashioned cover

[Lew Stringer]

I suspect those bound Beanos will go for far higher than £300 in the end. (There's a week to go yet.) It does look like a superb era for The Beano though: Baxendale, Reid, Law, Watkins... fantastic stuff.

Very tempting....

Lew

[philcom55]

Of course it was standard practice for most publishers to keep bound file copies of their publications, and in some cases these were later cannibalized in order to reprint particular strips. Presumably DCT still have theirs but copies from Odhams, AP, Fleetway, etc. do occasionally turn up for sale. From a serious collector's point of view however, it's worth remembering that the trimming involved could seriously affect the price of individual issues: this is particularly important in the case of something like a mint copy of Eagle no.1 which might otherwise be worth more than the rest of the first year put together. Also, binding is particularly frowned upon by collectors in the US where prices are especially sensitive to any kind of 'restoration' - regardless of how it may seem to improve the comics in question.

- Phil R.

[Peter Gray]

The great flood of London might not be clear enough.the pictures and text go over two pages in the centre pages..

I only have one Beano of 1961..

1958-62 Best Beano era..
how much for one comic when added up 52 comics...just too much money in one go for me..




middle bit could be missing in the binding!!!

[philcom55]

It'd be nice if DC Thompson themselves could produce quarterly volumes of 'the Complete Beano', somewhat in the style of their Annual facsimiles (possibly printed to order like some academic textbooks). The interest shown in this ad proves that there would be some kind of market, and I can't think of a better period to begin with than 1960/1! (Of course, the obvious alternative would be a series of CD-Roms like Peter's Mad collection - something that's bound to become available sooner or later!)

- Phil R.

[Peter Gray]

I can see a cdrom of The Beano as well in the future....
starting at 1959 to 2009
As these are already on film and easier to put on cdrom...

Puit me on the list for 2009 for a Beano CDRom..
lets hope!!!

The early Beano cdrom 1938-1958 may take longer to come out.love to have that job..good way of reading them..

[Peter Gray]

Dandy comic 1947 - Complete year

Complete year of 26 issues from #335 (New Year) to #359 (Christmas) in an amateur string bound volume. Could easily be disbound and bound up in professional hardback volume.

230 pounds........

Tan pages, bright colours. Some wear to corners of #335. Generally VG- examples

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dandy-comic-1947- ... 911.c0.m14

[Peter Gray]

Hotspur Comic Bound Volume 1958 - Full Year

A professionally bound hardback volume of comics - an excellent way to preserve, present and view a collection of comics.

Contains Hotspur comic #1104 (4/1/58 - New Year) to 1155 (27/5/58 - Christmas) inclusive.

A total of 52 issues - the full year.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hotspur-comic-Bou ... 911.c0.m14

20 pounds at the moment..

[Peter Gray]

drool.......
Topper comic 1957 - Complete Year (Bound Volume)

The full year of comics for 1957 in a brand new, professionally bound volume.


The comics are lightly tanned and trimmed (as is usual with binding), and in very good shape. The odd issue has a centre fold but otherwise all were originally flat prior to binding.

Being tabloid in size, loose Toppers are a real 'bind' (sorry!) to store and read. Binding them offer a great solution to this problem, and they look fantastic.

#205 (5/1/57) to 256 (28/12/57) inclusive. #255 is the Christmas issue.

Rare bound volume.

300 pounds.....

[felneymike]

it's worth remembering that the trimming involved could seriously affect the price of individual issues: this is particularly important in the case of something like a mint copy of Eagle no.1 which might otherwise be worth more than the rest of the first year put together. Also, binding is particularly frowned upon by collectors in the US where prices are especially sensitive to any kind of 'restoration' - regardless of how it may seem to improve the comics in question.

I think it was Descartes who said something about "the price of everything and the value of nothing"
Or maybe it was Doctor Who