Thursday, January 13, 2011

Pulp fiction.

As you may have gleaned from a visit to the store--maybe a visit to this blog, even--Babbitt's Books has a vast and varied stock which is not limited to antiquarian books. As long as an item is made of paper and is collectible or otherwise in-demand, we're happy to sell it.

Which brings me to our collection of pulp paperbacks.

Named for the cheap, wood-pulp paper they were printed on, pulp paperbacks were printed from the 1940s to the late 1970s, and reached the peak of their popularity in the 1950s. They were cheap and conveniently sized, much like today's mass-market paperbacks, and were the favored medium for mystery, science fiction, and fantasy. Today, they're known as much for their kitschy covers as they are for their content. Strong-jawed detectives, orgiastic young women, space aliens . . . all standard fare for pulp paperbacks. Here are some of our most recent acquisitions in that field:

1.

 Because you can't help judging a book by a cover as wonderful as this.

2. 

If only!

3.

4. 
Claudia is definitely the sort of wife I would put up for sale.

5. 
Some lovely artwork on a pocket-sized volume of Edgar Allan Poe.

6. 
Here's something you didn't know existed: a mystery by the author of Winnie-the-Pooh.

7. 
A truly fantastic cover is the selling point on this copy of Isaac Asimov's I, Robot.

8. 
If you're apt to forget that you're a man, the devil in dungarees has a cure. Apparently.

9.
And last but not least, Reformatory Girls. 'nuff said.

If you like what you see, we've got hundreds more books like these, the majority of them searchable on our website. All are priced between $2 and $150. (Yes, these cheaply bound novels can get quite collectible.)

1 comment: