Category: Books

Harold Bell Wright

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Books, The OzarksLeave a comment

One name that has remained popular here in the Ozarks is Harold Bell Wright, an author that wrote several books about my area.

One such book that he wrote is called “The Shepherd of the Hills”.  The story is based mainly in the Branson area, and at one time was second in sales only to the Bible.

Even to this day, you can still catch a play at the park that has the same name as the book.

All of his books are still well received here in the Ozarks, and you can still find them in just about any flea market or antique mall you go to here.

What are some of the books by Harold Bell Wright have you run across?

There’s a coin reference book for every collector

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When you first start to collect coins, the first book that you will most likely get (or at least look at) is, “A Guide Book To United States Coins”.  After a little bit of collecting, you start to narrow down what your interests are.

Wither it be large cents, Morgan dollars, or even hard times tokens, you start to look for at least one book to help you out in your collecting endeavors.

There are many books that I have picked up over the years that are very helpful to me.  The first one is called, “Encyclopedia of Morgan And Peace Dollars,” and it was written by Leroy C. Van Allen and George Mallis.

This one covers both Morgan and Peace dollars and their die varieties, which are called VAM’s (which is a play on the two author’s last names, Van Allen and Mallis).

The next book that I picked up is called “Hard Times Tokens 1832-1844,” and the book was written by Russell Rulau.

This book gives you a really good view of what tokens were made during this time frame.  I like the fact that it’s broken down by the state, and then lists the tokens for that state.

There are plenty of both new and used books that you can pick up once you narrow down the area that you want to collect.

What kinds of books have you already found?

Alternate comic book cover art

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This is an area of collecting that I found out a while ago while I was at a local comic book shop.  This applies to the front cover that is on comic books, and it can be a fun area pf collecting to dive into.

When a publisher like Marvel, IDW or DC puts out a comic book, they can give it another cover to help commemorate a special event like a new character coming about or it being the first issue of the series.  Because of this, collectors will often pick up to issues to get the different covers.

How do you know when you have an alternate cover on a comic book?

One way to help you out is the look at the corners of the cover.

This will provide you information on who made the comic and the issue number.  If this is the same, then you stand a good chance that you have the alternate cover.  Another thing to remember is that sometimes the comic producer will put an “A” or “B” after the number to help with identifying what the comic is.

Another place to look is at the copyright information on the bottom of the first page.  With comics, the producers will change the volume number if they to decide to either do a reboot of the series and start fresh or if a totally new chapter is starting with the character or series (like what Marvel did with the HEROES REBORN storyline that took place with several titles several years ago).  If the copyright information is the same in both books, then you are one step closer.

The last thing to do is to flip through the comic book itself.  What you are looking for is to see if both books you are looking at are the same all the way through—the covers on both books will be the only thing that will be different.

So, if the content is the same, you most definitely have the alternate cover of the comic. Do you have a comic book with the alternate cover?

The collectible comic book series titled CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED

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CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED is an American comic book that was first published in 1941 and finished its first run in 1971.  The comic book series featured adaptations of literary classics like Les Misérables, Moby Dick, Hamlet and even The Iliad.

Created by Albert Kanter, the series ran for 169 issues.  When the series debuted, it was first called CLASSIC COMICS and was renamed to CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED in 1947.

This series also had a lot of great artists as well.  Lillian Chestney, Matt Baker, Jack Abel, Matt Baker and even Dik Browne are a small handful of the artists that worked on this series.  The one that jumps out at me is Jack Kirby.

Jack Kirby may not be a name that you might have heard of, but some of the characters that he helped create will.  A few of the notable characters that he helped create are Captain America, The Fantastic Four, Thor, The Avengers, Iron Man, The Hulk and even Black Panther.

There are several ways that you can collect this series—you can collect the comics themselves, the artists or even the titles that the comics covered.

You can see all of the great CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED comics that are in my shop on Etsy here.  Head on over and check them out!

What a great gift idea for any stamp collector!

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Books, eBay items, Ephemera, Paper, Stamps, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

What a cool gift idea for a stamp collector—finding them a vintage stamp album to accompany their collection.  One album that you can find is titled “The International Postage Stamp Album Junior Edition.”

stamp book (0)

This album is great, it is by the Scott Stamp and Coin Company.  Not only does it have the look of a regular book, it has space dedicated to have stamps from many countries of the world.  Some of the countries that are included are the United States, Austria, Bavaria, Germany, Cuba and even Hungary (there are many other countries that are not listed here).

stamp book (1)

There is a copy of this book in my eBay shop—not only does it have all of its pages, it also has some stamps with it.  There are about 150 stamps in total that are included, and they range in date from 1876 to the 1920’s (two of the stamps from Hungary are OVERPRINTS from 1919).

You can see this book in my eBay shop here.  Head on over and check it out.

Wow, how great is this?  Remember when stamps were 1 cent?

What are some tips to tell a first edition from a book club?

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For several years now, I have been picking up first edition books at just about every place that I shop.  One of the things that I look at is if the book is a book club edition or not.  I quickly learned a few tricks to tell the difference between a book club edition and even a first edition.

The first trick that I found is to look at the bottom corner of the dust jacket behind the front cover.  This is one place that they will put the phrase BOOK CLUB EDITION.

SONY DSC

Another thing that will happen is that if a book is a book club edition, it may be slightly smaller than the real first edition.

Another trick to use on a book club edition is to find the price of the book.  When a book club edition is made, the price of the book might not be present.  I’ve seen the price of the book by the bar code and on the dust jacket (it’s usually on the top corner of the dust jacket behind the front cover).

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

These are only a few tricks to identify a book club edition book.  How do you identify a book club book?

There’s a cookbook for just about any occasion!

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I was walking through a used book store this weekend and stopped in their cookbook section.  While there, I realized that there is a cookbook for just about any occasion.

Salads, Asian cuisine, Barbeque, Southern and even dessert cookbooks are a small sample of what you can find.  One of the cookbooks that would be fun is this one titled BEST LOVED HERSHEY’S RECEIPES.

hersheys

What makes it fun is that it’s full of recipes for dessert, and you can see it in my abebooks shop here.  Another terrific cookbook that you can find is this one titled TASTING GOOD—THE INTERNATIONAL SALT-FREE DIET COOKBOOK.

salt free

This cookbook is literally packed full of great recipes that are salt-free.  You can see it in my abebooks shop here.  There is even a cookbook for drinks, and it’s titled THE ART OF THE COCKTAIL.

cocktails

The cookbook was written by Ben Reed and can be seen in my abebooks shop here.  As a matter of fact, you can see all of my cookbooks in my abebooks shop here.

What kind of cookbooks have you run across?

What reference books do you constantly read?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Books, Reference Books, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Wisdom LaneLeave a comment

When you dive into the world of buying and selling, you will find yourself searching for reference books to help identify what you have and help put a price on it.  There are plenty out there, and there’s a book that covers just about every aspect of anything vintage.

When I first started to buy and sell antiques, “Schroder’s Antiques Price Guide” and “Kovel’s Antiques And Collectibles Price List” always seemed to be brought along when I headed out to an auction.  Another book that I never leave with is “A Guide Book of United States Coins” (also known as “The Red Book”) whenever I head out to coin shows.

What reference books do you find yourself constantly reading?

Is it “The Collector’s Encyclopedia Of Fiesta” by Bob And Sharon Huxford or “McCoy Pottery” by Bob And Sharon Huxford?  Do you read “Collectible Glassware from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s” by Gene Florence if you love glass?

What are some of your favorite titles?

I’m now a seller on the Abebooks website!

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Abebooks, Books, Sale at Wisdom Lane Antiques!, Wisdom LaneLeave a comment

Wisdom Lane Antiques can now be found on the Abebooks website!  Over the years, I have acquired a wide variety of titles and learned how to pay attention to the details when buying books.  From first editions, signed copies and even best sellers can be found in my store on Abebooks.

For example, you will find a signed copy of I IS FOR INNOCENT by Sue Grafton (which can be seen here).  You can also find the first edition of FOUR BLIND MICE by James Patterson (this book can be found here).

Another book that you can find there is The Auction Catalog For The Estate Of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  This is from the Sotherby’s Auction House, and is auction number 6834.  This catalog has the sale prices in it as well, and it can be found here.

You can also find the mystery AS TIME GOES BY by Mary Higgins Clark (which can be seen here), and even the young adult book WINTERGIRLS by Laurie Halse Anderson.  This book can be found here.

Cookbooks like THE COMPLETE NFL COOKBOOK can be found there as well.  You can see this one here.

Take a minute and check out Wisdom Lane Antiques on Abebooks, here.  You’ll find a lot of choices and many bargains!

Yearbooks new and old

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Books1 Comment

I love looking through a vintage yearbook. They are like looking through a time capsule—looking at the fashions worn and cars that were driven are always fun to look at. What else is fun is to see what went on at the school.

1928

There are a wide variety of ways for you to collect yearbooks. One way is to find one that has a relative in them. Another way is to get a vintage yearbook for the college that you attended. The 1928 Drury yearbook pictured above would be great for both of these. You can the yearbook in my Etsy store here.

Another great yearbook is this 1971 yearbook for Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg, Missouri.

1971

You can see this yearbook in my Etsy shop here.

Yearbooks are also great to display on a coffee tables, or even in a bookcase. You can see all of the yearbooks I have for sale in my Etsy store here. What have you found flipping through a vintage yearbook?