Rare Book Monthly

Articles - October - 2021 Issue

500 Comics and Other Items Stolen from Florida State University Library

Florida State University Library (FSU photo).

Almost 500 comic books and related material have been stolen from the Florida State University Library. Although just reported in the past couple of weeks, the thefts took place between March 17, 2020, and February 10, 2021. A total of 496 items were taken and have been described by the FSU library as “comic books, serials, containing and related to superheroes, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Publications include those by Marvel Comics, DC Comics, underground comix publishers, foreign language titles, pulp magazines, and Big Little Books...Other works include monographs and serials related to comic book collecting, history, and criticism as well as posters and prints featuring comic book characters and art.” Most are from the 1950s – 1970s.

 

They were given to the library in 1981 by the late Robert, Sr., and Frances Anne Ervin and named for their son as the Robert M. Ervin, Jr., Collection. It was the younger Ervin who collected the material in his youth. While no value has been assigned to the collection, and there is no mention of anything of enormous value in it, it is safe to say that with the explosion in prices for comics over the past few years, it is worth a lot more than it was at the time of the gift.

 

Unfortunately, the items were not marked as belonging to the Florida State University Library. Some may have mailing labels to addresses in Tallahassee, Florida. As such, and not being notably rare, they could readily be sold in the market without raising suspicion. Presumably, someone will be checking to see whether someone from Tallahassee began selling many comics contained on their list on places like eBay after March 17, 2020.

 

For the record, the collection was not there to enable FSU students to read comics instead of studying. Florida State has an excellent academic reputation, ranked in the top 20 among public universities by U. S. News and World Report, and #5 for best value among all colleges. The material was not available in the reading room but would have required a request made to the archivist. They are there for research and undoubtedly tell us much about the culture of their time. Perhaps some student will be better able to determine why some people are paying millions of dollars these days for comic books that a few decades ago sold for a dime. That is worthy of a study.


Posted On: 2021-10-03 00:42
User Name: bukowski

There is nothing odd or bizarre about the high prices being paid for Silver- and Golden-age comic books. The stigma of comic books as cheap, light, frivolous entertainment for kids is long gone. Comics are an art firm every bit as compelling as oils or watercolors. I detect some misplaced snobbery here.


Rare Book Monthly

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    TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000
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    VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000
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    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000
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    A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000
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    AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
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  • Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800
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    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
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    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD
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    Swann, Dec. 7: Oakley Hoopes Bailey, Hackensack, New Jersey, Boston, 1896. $800 to $1,200.

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