A Collector’s Passion: Inside the World of Vintage Paperbacks with Christopher McMillen

Where were you born? Where did you grow up?

I was born on Staten Island, New York in 1964 and for most of my life have resided in Staten Island. My entire adult life.

What was the first thing you remember reading as a child?

The first book I remember was The Phantom Toll Booth by Norton Juster. I was drawn by the fantasy element and the lure of travel. It opened my mind to imagination. I read the book to each of my three boys when they were young and recently my eldest who is know 30 also stated to me what a great impact the story had on him.

Who are your favorite writers and artists?

My favorite writers have changed over the years. In my early teens I was a huge Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen fan. I especially enjoyed reading short stories and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine was quite influential. I didn’t realize it at the time but the mix of classic and new stories covering all genres of the field on a monthly basis made these monthly collections wonderful. It was my introduction to Hammett, Irish, and my personal favorite at the time Edward D. Hoch. As a young man I was more drawn to the classic detective story. It wasn’t till much later in life that I delved into hard boiled material.

Know as I approach sixty and having read hundreds of mysteries and suspense novels it is hard to pick a favorite but my short list would be Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain, Robert Parker, and Donald Westlake.

My appreciation for cover art didn’t evolve till my early thirties and I was drawn to Robert McGinnis, Richard Powers, Barye Phillips, and James Avati. Unfortunately, I was never bought original art work but focusing on the paperbacks themselves.

When did you start to be a serious collector?

My father was a NYC middle school history and a book scout in his spare time. Back in the 1970s my father sold books at flea markets and book shows. We did not have a brick and mortar shop and concentrated on mail order. During the 1970s and up until 2000 we quoted books to stores around the country advertised for in AB Bookman’s Weekly. Prior to the internet if you were interested in a book you would go to your local bookstore to see if they had a copy. If it was out of print or you were interested in a specific edition the bookseller would look for it for you. This was done through the Books Wanted section. We would go through the magazine every week and send out quotes to bookstores all over the world with our asking price. Generally, we would reserve the book for 21 days as a courtesy. If our copy was chosen a check would arrive in the mail and we would send it off. We obtained our inventory through estate, library and garage sales as well as auction houses.

As a young boy I would accompany my dad on these buying trips. My father had little respect for paperbacks and when bought in lots would sell at ¢35 or 3 for a dollar at flea markets just to move them along. I became intrigued with the uniformity of the early publishers and started out as a spine collector. The goal for me was number runs. Pocket Books, Bantam Books and Gold Medal caught my eye first and I quickly was grabbing anything published prior to 1960.

In the late 1970’s during high school we briefly opened a used  bookstore which I worked in on weekends and after school. By the time I was 16 my collection was over 2000 volumes. It was while working at the store in 1980 that my father gave me a copy of Hancer’s Paperback Price Guide. I then quickly realized that there was more to this than cool spines.

The store was short lived and we like all book scouts turned into online sellers with the help of AbeBooks in the late ‘90s and the demise of the brick and mortar.

By this point my collection was well over 10,000 volumes and I started selling my duplicates and publishers I lost interest in on Ebay and eventually and almost every booksite I could find.

Is collecting a tough business?

Not at all. Collecting is fun. Selling is tough. The early days of Abe, Ebay and Amazon Marketplace were awesome. Fees were reasonable and direct communication with clients was encouraged. Being a book scout, I was well trained in the proper way to describe a book for sale and to this day take pride in the accuracy and conservative nature of my descriptions.

In the last ten years though as Amazon and Ebay moved away from books and collectibles the landscape has become harder to navigate. Too many collectors have been burned on both of these sites by amateur sellers that many rely on the wild to fill their collections.

From the sellers end runaway fees and establishing a client base are much more challenging.

What was the strangest book or set of books you’ve collected?

I have a full run of Quick Readers. These are small side stapled paperbacks heavily abridged and published between 1945 and 1946. Royce Books of Chicago published only 49. Each cover was illustrated and had a false spine to simulate a hard cover book.

Is it mostly pulp or Noir you collect?

I always considered myself a pulp collector. I also have an extensive collection of Amazing Stories and Astounding Stories. I have extensive runs of digest size magazines from the 1960s to 1990. I have near complete runs of EQMM, Alfred Hitchcock, Manhunt, Mike Shayne, and The Saint to name a few.

What would be the Holy Grail of book or books for you to attain?

Pocket Book #5—The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. 

The first ten Pocket Books were released in the NYC Metropolitan area in 1939 in a run of 10,000 copies. Of the first ten I have first printings except for #5. It is extremely scarce. Maybe 15 years ago  a copy was offered online for $900.00 and while I tried to figure out how to explain the purchase to family it was sold. I have a fine 3^rd printing but have never seen a first let alone a second.

What other fields of collecting would you like to get into? Art, maybe?

This field is big enough for my lifetime and beyond and it still evolves. Horror paperbacks of the 1980s and ‘90s are exploding right now and I was smart enough to start putting aside mint copies back then so I am just filling in some holes.

What projects are you working on now?

I am presently into Dell/Laurel Shakespeare with Glaser covers and Men’s Adventure Series (The Executioner, Matt Helm, etc.) Both were incomplete when I acquired them off the shelf back in the day and am trying to put together and offer full runs.