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 Elf Mound comic book, No. 556 (Number 556), with 15 cents price on cover, dated on the inside November 1958. Under the title on both the cover and first page it lists the author of the story, Hans Christian Andersen. 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. 557 Silly Willy (HRN #557). But on half of the inside front cover there is an ad announcing, "Coming Next Month, Silly Willy" with a description of that comic. So we believe that the publisher added comic No. 557 Silly Willy to the list on the back cover even though this was a first edition of The Elf Mound, comic No. 556. 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 Elf Mound comic is a very good copy overall, but does have prominent writing on the cover of a child's first and last name printed in blue ink pen under the Classics Illustrated Junior box (see image). The connect the dots picture on half of the inside front cover has been done in pencil and you can see the strong reverse imprint from this as raised lines on the front cover (you see this when looking at the cover in an angle in bright light). The coloring page on the inside back cover has not been done/is clean. The comic does have the usual age reading use/wear including on the cover lots of handling wrinkling/creasing, some crease lines with crease/cracking lines in the front colors (not really bad compared to many of the other comics we are listing), paper wear to white and creasing along the bound/stapled edge, corner creasing and tip wear in both right corners, wear/bending/creasing/chipping along the bottom and right edges (only a very little of this along the top edge), etc. The back cover has a somewhat overall dirty look, with similar wrinkling/creasing/handling wear, etc. The inside pages are basically clean, some having a little dirt, with some pin holes/small holes in some pages (we believe this is from how the paper was made/handled in publishing). This copy includes three pages illustrating and telling Aesop's Fables The Shepherd Goes to Sea, followed by one page telling the limerick There Was an Old Man in a Tree by Edward Lear, with an illustrated page The Animal World, The Lobster 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.