Damaged Annuals

[abacus]

I have noticed sellers of collectors items and charity shops selling annuals with the spines torn or missing altogether.The collectors market still offer these at fairly high prices so there must be buyers out there for them.

To buy or not to buy that is the question, personally I tend to give them a miss.In the week my son picked up some books from a charity shop that he thought I might be interested in (I had to pay of course)one being SEA HUNT comic book annual type based on the old tv series.It cost me £2 and was missing the spine.This was one I probably woudn't have bought myself and yet it contains some great comic stories.Is it better to have the damaged annual or no annual I' m still not sure.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

yes missing spines is a real turn-off for me too and I will only buy such annuals if they are going for a song.

You can add on your own tape to improve the neglected look and if you really wanted to you could even create your own facsimilie spine in photoshop and print it out and laminate it , I guess---I don't see why not with the technology availible today.

[stevezodiac]

I was going to sell the 1977 Valiant annual on ebay but noticed a piece torn out of one page. I asked my mate Steve if he had that annual and he did so I borrowed his, photocopied the page and did a patch up job with the copy. I did a similar thing a few years back with a Man From UNCLE annual with a page missing. Luckily I had a second copy so again did a photocopy and replaced the page. The page had one purple type colour so I used a felt tip pen to reproduce the colour. We only had a black and white copier back then. It can be done.

[abacus]

I was going to sell the 1977 Valiant annual on ebay but noticed a piece torn out of one page. I asked my mate Steve if he had that annual and he did so I borrowed his, photocopied the page and did a patch up job with the copy. I did a similar thing a few years back with a Man From UNCLE annual with a page missing. Luckily I had a second copy so again did a photocopy and replaced the page. The page had one purple type colour so I used a felt tip pen to reproduce the colour. We only had a black and white copier back then. It can be done.

Most of the World distributors(Manchester)ltd books have the distinct yellow spines.This has helped in cases where I have had two damaged books one much worse than the other.This has enabled me to repair the least damaged one by taking a cutting from the badly damaged one,leaving me with just one of them looking distressed instead of two.

[philcom55]

A lot depends on whether you want the book as a collector's item or for the actual contents. In the case of your Sea Hunt Annual I'd be far more interested in it for any Alex Toth artwork it might contain than for the condition of the spine.

[Phoenix]

A lot depends on whether you want the book as a collector's item or for the actual contents.

I agree. There is no reason whatsoever why people shouldn't want their annuals, or any book whatsoever for that matter, to be in Near Mint condition. However, while I prefer mine to be as presentable as possible, I buy them to read not to worship.

[abacus]

A lot depends on whether you want the book as a collector's item or for the actual contents.

I agree. There is no reason whatsoever why people shouldn't want their annuals, or any book whatsoever for that matter, to be in Near Mint condition. However, while I prefer mine to be as presentable as possible, I buy them to read not to worship.

I prefer annuals to look good because they are bought for their artistic content.I once bought a book with no cover at all because the knowledge it conveyed was of far greater importance.Although Phoenix gives the final nod to Philcom55 I think he gives the case for both sides of the argument.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I personally find annuals without spines to be very off-putting, far worse say than the 'this book belongs to' name section filled in, which has never really bothered me.

A book without a spine alongside a collection of otherwise good condition books just looks bad to me at least.---a spineless book really stands out--- but for all the wrong reasons, like a single cracked tile does.

But I do agree that it's not the end of the World in the grand scheme of things, just a personal preference.

[alanultron5]

Try to avoid cellotape if you can. I advise paper and card `gum` I find it's great for comics and books!

[geoff42]

a good solid spine, no dedications on interior page, price not clipped, puzzles not filled in - that's my kind of acceptable annual. And they can always be found. There's no need to accept anything less.

[japandroid]

I will only buy nm annuals. There are so many of most of them that it's worth the wait for a top copy.

[paw broon]

As Phil mentions, the Sea Hunt annual is worthwhile buy because of the art. So even if it's a bit tatty or has spine damage, it's always worth looking inside. The stories, I think, are all reprints of Dell material and 4 Color #1041 had Toth art. There was also a lot of tasty Russ Manning art in other issues. If you don't have the originals, check out these reprint books.
I will buy annuals in not the best nick because my interests are in some of the stories that I can't get otherwise. Mind, it's usually much older annuals that interest me.

[dishes]

I'm the guy who snaps up cheaply the stuff you all reject.

I remember as a kid in my local antiques shop finding the 1961 Beezer Book with damaged spine, some pages missing, coloured crayon marks scribbled throughout. It was 50p and I was so excited to have found such an ancient treasure for such a low price, for I had rarely seen pre-1970s DCT albums except those locked behind forbidding-looking glass cases, unbrowsable and priced far beyond my wildest dreams of avarice.

Thankfully the crayon marks were mostly light-coloured that didn't hinder the reading of any of the stories. And may I add that that this was the first time (as far as I can remember) I had ever seen Leo Baxendale's artwork in its original published context, and in colour to boot!

[David McDonald]

I rarely buy annuals on-line because of the postage costs. So most of my annuals are bought locally, at charity events of second hand shops. Missing spines don't bother me too much, I prefer if they had them, but its the content I want. Filled in 'this book belongs' no problem with that either, missing pages or crayon, Ill pass.

[DavidKW]

There are a lot of things sent to try us when buying annuals.

I'm not too worried about missing spines, just as long as all the pages are in there. What annoys me are missing pages at crucial points like when the final parts of a story are missing; plus felt tip scribblings (which I did to some of my annuals when I was a kid - with regret!), most annoyingly when red lips are coloured in on strips.

It depends a lot of how much you want an annual and are willing to pay. It's good just to have that particular annual in your collection and if conditions no good then you've got it for the now while you'll eventually find a better one (for a bargain perhaps) a few eyars later.

I bought one collectable annual for £7.50 - valued by a collector- with some loosening pages. Was worth it though as always a jot to read.

I got another for £6 once - and couldn't speculate view at time - but it had annoying lip colour ins on most strips. Still a joy to read; then I bought same one on a better condion for a quid from a market stall. Paying more doesn't always gurantee quality.