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 Golden Fleece comic book, No. 544 (Number 544), with 15 cents price on cover, dated on the inside November 1957. We think this is a first edition of this comic. The listing on the back cover of other comic books available in the series ends with the next comic in this series, No. 545 The Glass Mountain (HRN #545). But on half of the inside front cover there is an ad announcing, "Coming Next Month, The Glass Mountain" with a description of that comic. So we believe that the publisher added comic No. 545 The Glass Mountain to the list on the back cover even though this was a first edition of The Golden Fleece, comic No. 544. This book is not a 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 Golden Fleece comic is a very good copy overall, but does have prominent somewhat light/partial writing in crayon of a child's name among the title with a separate capital letter initial written in blue ink pen near the boy figure (see image). The connect the dots picture on half of the inside front cover is clean/has not been done. However the coloring page on the inside back cover has been 40%+ colored in pencil in an erratic/scribbled fashion (not within all the lines). The comic does have the usual age reading use/wear including on the cover handling wear with a lot of creasing and wrinkling, crease/cracking lines in the front colors, wear/creasing to white/paper wear near and along the bound/stapled edge, corner fold line creasing in the upper right corner, wear/tip chipping to both right corners, wear/slight bending/chipping along the top, bottom and right side edges (this includes several small vertical tears along the top edge, etc. The back cover has a somewhat dirty look, with a small piece of tape stuck to the back, a small vertical tear with chip along top edge, lots of wrinkling/creasing/handling wear, etc. The inside pages are clean with some having some slight folding/creasing and some pin holes/small holes in some pages (we believe this is from how the paper was made/handled in publishing). This copy includes two pages after the story illustrating and telling Aesop's Fables The Donkey and the Cricket, followed by one page illustrating and telling The Daddy Long-Legs and the Fly by Edward Lear, with an illustrated page The Animal World, The Jaguar 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.
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. |
