Circa: 1955
Manufacturer: Famous Authors, Ltd.
Vintage Classics Illustrated Junior comic book published by Famous Authors, Ltd., which was a division of Gilberton Company, Inc. or Gilberton Publications. This is the Thumbelina comic book, No. 520 (Number 520), with 15 cents price on cover, dated on the inside November 1955. It is not a first edition as the listing on the back cover of other comic books available in the series ends with No. 552 The 3 Little Dwarfs (HRN #552). For other age perspective, on the inside back cover there is a listing of comics available in the Classics Illustrated series which ends with No. 143 Kim. This book is not the new reprint (there is no UPC block on this book). Please note that we have two copies of this Thumbelina comic and are listing each separately as "A" and "B".
All the Classics Illustrated and Classics Illustrated Junior comic books we are listing came out of the same home where they were purchased as new items for their children in the 1950's and 1960's, so these are not recent reprints. The Classics Illustrated Junior comic books are generally in good/very good or acceptable reading condition but are definitely not mint, showing varying levels of age and wear which will be detailed. All were read and handled by children and thus show expected handling wear. All have interior pages which are browned at the edges, looking overall with an aged paper look, that is, the interior pages are not white as they would have been originally. All have an old comic book smell, not bad, but there if you go sniffing. Many have a child's name or initial noticeably written on the front cover in ink or crayon (and a few have more writing on the cover). For many the interior "connect the dots" illustration has been done or the interior coloring page has been colored.
This Thumbelina comic is an acceptable reading copy overall, but does have a child's name prominently written in crayon on the cover with the first letter initial also written visibly elsewhere in blue ink pen (see image). There is no connect the dots or coloring page in this comic as printed. The comic does have lots of usual age reading use/wear with many visible cover creasing lines, a small diagonal fold line in the lower right corner, a bit of corner tip wear in both right corners, some edge wear/chipping along the top, bottom and right side edges, a small horizontal tear to white along the right side edge, a good bit of wear along the left bound/stapled edge, crease/cracking lines in the front colors, and other wrinkling/creasing/handling/bending wear, etc. The back cover seems generally dirty, with a large diagonal fold in the lower third of the cover, lots of similar folding, creasing, wrinkling, etc. The inside pages are clean but browned, with some having a little dirt to them, some having pin holes in the paper (we believe this is from how the paper was made/handled in printing), and a few with corner page fold lines. This copy includes a page after the story illustrating and telling the Bed in Summer poem from "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson, with an illustrated page telling the nursery rhyme/poem Cock Robin and Jenny Wren on the reverse side.
This collectible comic book measures about 7 x 10 1/4 inches in size. Given that this is an old or vintage comic book, we do not know what kind of ink was used in the printing (and particularly, whether any lead based inks were used). As such, we will only sell this comic to adult collectors, it should be handled with care, and it should not be given to/handled by children due to concerns with lead exposure.
Please note that we have many other comic books listed separately for sale. If you wish to purchase more than one comic book, please e-mail us before placing the order since the shipping information has been inputted for a purchase of just one and will not calculate the savings you would get when purchasing more than one shipped together in the same package (we will need to handle this for you). |
