Measures 8" x 11". Folded, staple-bound, trimmed color interior printer's proofs, copiously hand-annotated by Harvey Kurtzman. Very fine condition; staple rust. Art by Severin/Elder, Ric Estrada, George Evans, Jack Davis.
Harvey Kurtzman was a famously exacting editor, and nothing shows his attention to detail more than the EC printer's proofs that he marked up with thoroughgoing zeal: circling and noting every tiny stray dot and tiny printing glitch that had to be fixed before the issue could be printed. EC proofs are very rare, and only a small handful of examples annotated by Kurtzman are known to exist.
Ironically, although printer's proofs were considered disposable, they were printed on a much higher grade of paper than the actual comic books, so the detail is much sharper and the colors brighter than on the final product. In addition, proofs were the very first copies printed from the engraver's plates, before the fine lines degraded from tens of thousands of pressings. Contemporary Fan-Addicts would have loved a chance to read ECs of this printing quality, but the 10-cents-a-copy business model made that impossible. Here's a chance to own the best-produced copy of this issue ever made, complete with Harvey Kurtzman's own hand corrections. Kurtzman's mania for perfection is evident on every page; he even corrected tiny flyspecks on the advertisements.
Provenance: From the Harvey Kurtzman Estate
Consignments Accepted for PBA's Next Comic Book Auction. Golden Age, Silver Age, Pre-Code, Original Art, Interesting Ephemera Sought. Contact [email protected] for details.
PBA COMICS March 26th Comic Book Sale catalogues available. Supplies Limited. Softcover catalogues limited to 200 copies ($45 + $5 postage/handling). Hardcovers limited to 26 lettered copies, dust jackets, special limitation plates ($150). Contact
[email protected].