I had two in my Golden Age. For comics, it was Walt Kelly. For fantasy and science fiction, it was Edd Cartier. Cool thing is that Cartier is still alive -- and living not too far from this con. I know I won't get to see him, but it makes me feel good, nevertheless.

I've been exploring exactly what it is that I found. For example, one place I look to find out what printing something is or what is being asked for a certain title is Bookfinder.

So I checked Isobel by James Oliver Curwood (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, May 1913), which I found, complete with the original dustjacket. And I actually can't find a copy listed (in four pages of listings) with the original jacket. So is it -- oooo! -- rare? But who's looking for it these days? Not many, I'd bet.

(And I'm re-posting this, because The Evil Glitch attacked my first attempt to post this, too. OK, last post of the evening then.)

Another type of book collecting was brought to mind, as I went through what I bought last night. (Did I mention that the books cost 50 cents each?)

It's the books that were illustrated with photos from films based on them. I bought one deliberately to give to a photoplay book collector at work. But I discovered there were three other books that I'd bought for myself that were also photoplay books: Rafael Sabatini's The Sea-Hawk, Gene Stratton-Porter's Michael O'Halloran, and Booth Tarkington's The Turmoil. I wonder whether any of the three films has survived ...

I take my hat off to myself!

The Evil Blog Bug that likes to delete my posting has been thwarted again, thanks to my remembering to copy the posting before hitting "Post to Weblog."

Not that its loss would have bugged anyone but me. Nevertheless, my meanderings about what I bought last night have been preserved. Have atcha, Glitch!

I've finally noted a list of the 73 books I bought last night. At one point, I thought of posting them here, but my guess is that anyone's interest but mine would quickly lag.

A few items come to mind, though.

For example, I bought:

Robert W. Chambers, The Common Law, New York, D. Appleton and Company, August 1911

-- and found later it contained many illustrations by Charles Dana Gibson. Moreover, it was dedicated to Gibson. Sweet!

Of most comics interest was probably a beat-up copy of:

Palmer Cox, The Brownies Kind Deed Stories and Sketches for Young Readers with Pictures Specially Designed to Please the Little Ones, Chicago: W. B. Conkey Company, 1903

I found it intriguing because there was work therein by other contributors in addition to Cox. (Visitors to the Geppi Entertainment Museum in Baltimore will know that Cox was a pioneer in the world of licensed pop culture, thanks to his Brownies.)

It's a sign of how long it took my Super-Phone to log on that the line behind me now seems to be 30 or more long. It's out of sight behind the bookshelves, anyway. Memo for next year: It's a good idea to get here half an hour early. Woo hoo!

So I'm standing in line at the Neenah Public Library. A dozen people are standing in front of me (and more are sitting), as we prepare to wait for 20 more minutes to pay $3 to take the first crack at the annual book sale here. A couple years ago I bought more than 100 Nick Carter dime novels for less than 75 cents each here (of which 8 were ones J. Randolph Cox didn't have -- till I sent them to him), so you never know what you'll find. Happy people are chatting with each other about favorite authors, building bookshelves, and what's in public domain. Nice.

On Talk of the Nation at the moment, he is discussing the death of Lisa. It'll be available shortly online, complete with comments from callers.