killjoy32 wrote:
and are we sure they are like 100% legit? nobody sees them pretty much for many years and then all of a sudden...multiples? hmmmm maybe its just my pessimism showing again

Well it would seem only 2 people have/are selling these.  Bill Owen which would make sense as he kept various things and this seller.  I half expected people finding these buried in draws and what not and putting them up after those other auctions, but maybe these just didn't survive as well.

ShaneG.

Plaag wrote:
Well it would seem only 2 people have/are selling these.  Bill Owen which would make sense as he kept various things and this seller.  I half expected people finding these buried in draws and what not and putting them up after those other auctions, but maybe these just didn't survive as well.

ShaneG.

It might be worth contacting that Seller and asking him about the history of his items given that they are a real collectible. He may have an interesting snippet of history.

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tac cards

killjoy32 wrote:JZavoda....are your ebay auctions intentionally US only?

some of your items would go for more if you allow other bidders (like me, wanting to bid on WotMR)

I added you to my exemption list, but yeah, I was trying to keep out of the post office as much as possible. Even for regular shipping I normally get someone to take the packages down for me but I make exceptions for people I know or who come recommended.

aia wrote:
well, if possible, i would really love to be part of as well... i have written you in the past with no results...    (my nick on ebay is kingofprimiera)

tnx

I've lost count of the number of questions I've seen on auctions with Axel's 'k-o-p' moniker. (He's always real polite - and knows from experience that it never hurts to ask!!)(BTW - Axel - #28 left me this morning )

Plaag wrote:
I would guess early on they were 2-3k and maybe later 5k but thats only basing on subscriptions and later print run numbers.  Who knows..

ShaneG.

Yes, we would print at least 2,000 of the catalogs and more like 5,000... but that was 1977-1978. It's possible that the initial print run (before a major con) was larger later.

The catalogs were incredibly cheap to print as they were on newsprint and importantly, not bound with staples. Binding the pages with staples may have doubled the cost.

Until later when Bob had so many products they were made into giant, stapled books (instead of tabloid, unstapled like I made up which was also the Journal/Pegasus initial format if I remember correctly). Sometimes Bob would add self-covers utilizing the first 4-8 pages (and last 4-8 pages too) with what Stevens called High Quality Newsprint nearly white in color which is the products were printed with. I sold a red covered catalog like this recently on eBay.

All of these products after the original 7x8" installments, were produced on giant web presses in western Illinois town of Astoria. Essentially like what most weekly newspapers and junk mail catalogs are still done on. KK Stevens has since added such improved-quality 4-color versions of the presses so that he gets better work still and in quantities that are staggering--I think half million was the largest I heard about. And they do the mailing too so Astoria has its own major Post Office even though it's a town of a few hundred people.

I get a giant kick out of seeing the presses and smelling the ink... it's in my blood, maybe literally, ever since I sliced 4 fingers on a mimeograph press sharp edge in 1971 making game materials and pulled out my hand soaked in glistening black ink with a crimson ribbon across all the fingers.

Back in 1978, an 8-page tabloid catalog on newsprint, several thousand copies, could be printed in just a few days for only $90... which is the equivalent of $450 now perhaps with inflation (1.5 teenager weeks). So each copy for about 9 cents! (In today's prices!! 1.8 cents in 1978 prices.)

I remember these prices because I carried this publishing knowledge back to the travel agency where I got to the high point of a 64-page bound full-color Travel Catalog of our local departures of tours and cruises. These 36 catalogs (plus several other special collateral items) were all with high-white or 'heavy' 60# stock, self-covers, most in full color.

Some of the JG products, while I was there, got separate covers printed by sheet fed presses like Abbott & Foran locally... with 2 colors of ink and nicer, heavier paper... like Thieves of Badabaskor, Revised CSIO and First Fantasy Campaign. The covers sometimes were nearly the same price as the text pages! But we thought justified by increased value and marketing impact.

Sorry, if I just go on and on but I get started and it all comes out!

Back to the original point, I would think it's rare to reprint a catalog (unlike the products) because in a few months you would likely have new products to include anyway. For this reason and the fact that catalogs were frequently thrown out because they were free or missing the latest stuff, they actually might be rarer than most products.

I saved lots of catalogs because of possible orders and graphic interest... I was self-taught so they were among my textbooks. And how many times has my wife berated me for reading the menu upside down because I'm deconstructing the design rather choosing an entree?! (I didn't say I was sane!)

Great info as always.

ShaneG.

Seller has the 1978 newspaper format catalog as well as three of the early journals including no. 3.  Only two hours to go. Would have bid only the shipping to Australia is prohibitive:


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HermitFromPluto wrote:Seller has the 1978 newspaper format catalog as well as three of the early journals including no. 3.  Only two hours to go. Would have bid only the shipping to Australia is prohibitive:


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yeah i saw then. i wouldnt have minded getting them, but whopping shipping to UK cost. just not worth it.