Circa: 1957
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 Tinder-Box comic book, No. 540 (Number 540), with 15 cents price on cover, dated on the inside July 1957. This is not a first edition as the listing on the back cover of other comic books available in the series ends with No. 559 The Japanese Lantern (HRN #559). This book is not the new reprint (there is no UPC block on this book).
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 The Tinder-Box comic is a good copy overall, but does have a lot of writing on the cover all in the same general location. Basically around the bottom of the Classics Illustrated box a child's full name was written in blue pen ink, next to which some large capital letters were written in crayon with these then crossed out in crayon and multiple lines of blue ink (see image). The connect the dots picture on the inside front cover and the coloring page on the inside back cover are clean, they have not been done or colored. We note that the front cover seems to fall slightly short of covering the inside pages along the right edge as you can see a thin vertical area (under 1/16 inch in width) of the inner pages when looking at the cover. The comic does have usual age reading use/wear including on the front cover a strong diagonal fold line near the bottom right corner, general wrinkling/creasing/handling, a 3/8 inch tear from the right side edge near the title, fold lines/tip chipping/wear in both right corners, wear/creasing/paper wear along the left bound/stapled edge, wrinkling/chipping/paper wear along the top and bottom edges, impressed lines, scuffing wear and crease/cracking lines in the front colors, etc. The back cover is overall slightly dirty with similar creasing, wrinkling, handling wear, etc. The inside pages are clean but browned, with some having pin holes and small holes (we believe this is from how the paper was made/handled in printing), corner tip bending, a bit of scuffing/dirt, etc. This copy includes two pages after the story illustrating and telling Aesop's Fables The Lioness and her Family, followed by a page illustrating and telling the Hickety, Pickety nursery rhyme, with an illustrated page The Animal World, The Kinkajou (an animal that belongs to the same family as the raccoon and the Panda and lives in South America) on the reverse side.
This collectible comic book measures about 7 x 10 1/8 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.
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).
Please Note: Comic books must be shipped via U.S.P.S. First Class Mail Package rate; they cannot be shipped via U.S.P.S. Media Mail. The post office does not permit comic books to be shipped via Media Mail due to the advertising that many include in their books. Please choose First Class Mail Package rate shipping for this item (also known as First Class Mail Parcel rate). Thank you. |
