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Vintage Books and Magazines

The Lonely Navigator

Practically Family
Messages
644
Location
Somewhere...
Hello,

I'm sure there are others here who collect some vintage books.

I like to collect Alan Villiers' books. He was an Australian who sailed on the Cape Horners many times in the 'Grain Trade'.

My collection isn't big, but what I have is nice: Feb. 1931 National Geographic which has Villiers' article in, "By Way of Cape Horn", and "Last of the Wind Ships".

What vintage book (and even magazines) do you have?

Prien
 

pigeon toe

One Too Many
Messages
1,328
Location
los angeles, ca
I collect vintage books, but they are all beauty, charm, personality "self-help" type books from the 30's to the 50's. They actually have some great useful information. And they are always so cheap on Ebay (don't tell!).
 

The Lonely Navigator

Practically Family
Messages
644
Location
Somewhere...
Hey, they're still vintage!...and still a collection! :)

I usually wind up getting most, if not all, of my vintage books through ABE (Advanced Book Exchange). They have hard to find, and vintage books.

Prien
 

mikepara

Practically Family
Messages
565
Location
Scottish Borders
hi Prien,

have you got Peter Villiers [Alans Son] 'Joseph Conrad Master Mariner' based on a previously unpublished study by Alan Villiers? its good.

I've 1000's of books not all vintage by all means. The oldest is Quaker apology by Barclay 1702.

Just got cruise of the Conrad but yet to read it.
 

CharlieH.

One Too Many
Messages
1,169
Location
It used to be Detroit....
Closest I've got to a vintage book is a facsimile of the original Ripley's Believe It Or Not! from 1928.
I also have quite a few vintage periodicals. Not much really. There's 5 LIFE magazines from 1938 to 1941. Some interesting articles on colour television, Artie Shaw, british women at war, Bette Davis, the new B-17, not to mention scores of wonderful ads.
And on a "nerdier" side I got 9 issues of The Model Railroader from 1939 (with some world's fair coverage).
 

Maj.Nick Danger

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,469
Location
Behind the 8 ball,..
I have been fortunate enough to have found a few magazines from the 20s through the 40s. I love the ads.
I buy anything I find if the price is reasonable. I seem to find more lady's magazines than anything else.
Ads like this are great,...
ladieshomejournaljuly44016.jpg


ladieshomejournaljuly44013.jpg
 

The Lonely Navigator

Practically Family
Messages
644
Location
Somewhere...
Hello,

re mikepara: No I don't have that book. I've actually been trying to get my hands on vintage film footage of Cape Horners at the moment. Since I have the National Geographic and 'By Way of Cape Horn' book - I'd like to get that footage Villiers and his friend Walker made while on the Grace Harwar. Quite frankly, I'm not sure if I heard of that book, although I may have seen it mentioned somewhere in time.

The ads are really interesting. I found the ads in that old Geographic rather neat - almost all of them done in Art Deco style (since it's 1931 issue). There were many ads for passenger steamer lines, as well as other travel ads.

Some of the other books that I do have are reprints from books that first came out during the 1930's. 'The Nitrate Clippers' by Lubbock and 'The Peking Battles Cape Horn' by Johnson is the other.

:)

Prien
 

HadleyH

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,811
Location
Top of the Hill
Once I found on a second hand bookshop hundred of loose pages from a magazine called "Picture Show Art Supplement" from 1920 to 1930, absolutely amazing! It's a history of all film and film stars of the era, with beautiful sepia photos...The pages are yellow and faded but apart from that they are in perfect condition...I love these old pages...sometimes I just go through them looking at the pictures, sometimes I read gossip that is 100 years old...I feel totally transported in time and I want to stay there.
 

Novella

Practically Family
Messages
532
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I don't have any old books, but I love old magazines. I try to stick to magazines from the 1930s, because otherwise I get carried away and spend way too much money. Film Pictorials (in the early 1930s before they merged with Picture Show) are my favorite:

dsc02880gb9.jpg


I seem to be able to find them cheaper than others like Picturegoer and Photoplay. I also have some LIFE magazines since there's a vendor at a local antiques store that always has a ton in stock (I tend to break my 1930s only rule there.)

august022006003.jpg
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,760
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Been collecting magazines since I was 13, and sorely miss the days when Saturday Evening Posts, Ladies Home Journals, and other mainstream slicks of the '30s could be easily found for a quarter a pop.

I started out with general interest magazines, but gradually specialized in radio mags -- newsstand publications like Radio Guide and Radio Digest, and trade magazines like Broadcasting -- which have been invaluable to me in my broadcasting-history research.

I also like old newspapers, especially the cheap urban tabloids of the '30s, and have a large stack of New York Daily News and Boston Daily Record issues from 1933-37, which make for fascinating reading.

bosrecord.jpg


nydn1.jpg


nydn2.jpg


All the news that fits, we print!
 

Amy Jeanne

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,858
Location
Colorado
My prized possession is my movie magazine collection, spanning 1912 to 1961. Plus both Stars Of The Photoplay books, 1924 and 1930.

Here they all are, in order, sans 3 which are in the mail right now:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/Amy_Van_doren/DSCF2024.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/Amy_Van_doren/DSCF2029.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/Amy_Van_doren/DSCF2031.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/Amy_Van_doren/DSCF2033.jpg
And, er, yes, there's few surprises there, too ;)

I've also just begun to collect novels that were made into movies. So far I only have The Office Wife (1930), Week-end Marriage (1931), and Red Headed Woman (1931).
 

Rooster

Practically Family
Messages
917
Location
Iowa
I collect old cock fighting magazines: Feathered Warrior, Grit & Steel, Gamecock, Gamefowl News from about 1900 - 1950's. I also collect old books on Gamefowl too.
Hemmingway fighting coks in Cuba.
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The Lonely Navigator

Practically Family
Messages
644
Location
Somewhere...
Hello,

I've been looking at the photos of your magazines and the one thing that comes to my mind is 'real' and 'genuine'. What I mean by this is that, many photos in the magazines of today are 'fixed' using a computer, but with vintage photos you have a 'real' photo.

I do understand that there was some 'photo phixing' back then but nothing like how it's done today. And I think that's why I like vintage photos and magazines - because it is more of a 'what you see is what you get' with the photo.

Just can't tell now in magazines what's real and what's not.

...some thoughts that I've had.

Maybe some of you folks feel the same way I do...about a sense of 'genuine-ness'.

Prien
 

Flivver

Practically Family
Messages
821
Location
New England
Vintage books and magazines are by far my worst "vice". I am interested in radio, transportation and motion pictures from the golden era and all the literature that goes with those subjects.

I began as a kid buying National Geographics... not for the content but for the car ads! At about 15, I discovered a used magazine shop in town and began collecting radio magazines and car magazines. The first radio magazines I found there were a good sized stack of Radio Digest Illustrated from the mid-1920s...still one of my favorites.

I've always enjoyed the general interest magazines like the Saturday Evening Post and The American Magazine, and have quite a few of those, particularly from the 1920s. And, Sears and Ward's catalogs...those are great too!

To me, there is nothing like browsing through a magazine or Sears catalog to get an idea of what it was REALLY like in a particular era. Vintage magazines are the closest thing to a time machine that I've ever found.
 

Amy Jeanne

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,858
Location
Colorado
Flivver said:
Vintage magazines are the closest thing to a time machine that I've ever found.

I couldn't agree more. Even more so than my beloved movies. Everytime I get a new Photoplay in the mail I always feel as though it was mailed to me from another dimension :eek:

Sometimes when I'm watching movies I tend to drift, but I can get so lost in my 20s and 30s movie magazines that it's scary :eek:
 

Liz

Registered User
Messages
132
Location
USA
I have a big collection of vintage magazines, most of which are either about celebrities or fashion. I completely agree that old magazines are like a time machine. If you're really interested in a particular era, there's nothing like getting a magazine from that time and seeing what things were really like then.
 

Novella

Practically Family
Messages
532
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Amy Jeanne said:
Everytime I get a new Photoplay in the mail I always feel as though it was mailed to me from another dimension :eek:

What a cool way of looking at it!
Oh, and your Photoplay magazines have me drooling - what a fantastic collection!
 

Rosie

One Too Many
Messages
1,827
Location
Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, NY
I collect old Lane Bryant and when I can find them, old Roaman's catalogs. Mostly to drool over the clothes and prices. Every so often, I'll come across an old Jet or Ebony that I just HAVE to buy.
 

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