Surviving Copies of the 1939 United States Card Collectors Catalog

[tim_uk]

I picked up a 'modern' (1990) Card Collectors Bulletin, published by Chris Benjamin, that advertises reprints of the US Card Collectors Catalog 1939. I've never seen any of these reproduction copies come up - does anyone know how many of the reproductions are knocking around?

And, while we're on the topic, does anyone know how the Burdick/Bray CCB become resurrected in this modern format? Does anyone keep records of the full list of CCBs extending into this more 'modern' era?

(screenshots below)

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by tim_uk

I picked up a 'modern' (1990) Card Collectors Bulletin, published by Chris Benjamin, that advertises reprints of the US Card Collectors Catalog 1939. I've never seen any of these reproduction copies come up - does anyone know how many of the reproductions are knocking around?

And, while we're on the topic, does anyone know how the Burdick/Bray CCB become resurrected in this modern format? Does anyone keep records of the full list of CCBs extending into this more 'modern' era?

I've never seen Benjamin's reproduction of the 1939 USCCC, but I have some of his other spiral-bound publications from that period.

I have most, but not all, issues of Card Collector's Bulletin from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s. (Plus all from 1939-44 and all but a few from 1944-1950.) Unfortunately I don't have my list here with me, but I can look at it Monday. Charles Bray took over the editorship from Jefferson Burdick in mid-1949, on CCB's tenth anniversary, so that Burdick could focus on organizing, cataloguing, and mounting his card collection for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (I posted Burdick's 1947-1949 articles about that process here: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=240887 .) Starting in the late 1960s, there were fewer and fewer articles in CCB, and it became more and more just an auction listing. From the mid-1970s on, I don't remember seeing any articles in CCB other than brief news items and announcements from Bray. In the early 1980s, the format became more erratic, as did Bray's typing; he sometimes forgot to include the issue number, the date of the issue, and/or the ending date of the auction. The last issue I have is from 1982 or 1983, but I'm not sure if it's the last one that was published before Bray died in 1984. After his death, Chris Benjamin bought the rights to the Card Collector's Bulletin name and historical content, and in 1986 or 1987 he began publishing a new incarnation, which was much more focused on articles and no longer included an auction. I'm not sure how long that incarnation lasted, but I don't think it went past about 1993 or so; I have some but not all of those. I can look next week and see what issues I have.

[tim_uk]

That's interesting to hear how Chris Benjamin picked up the rights to CCB. His issue numbering seems to follow on from the volume and issue# pattern established by Burdick and Bray - but no idea whether there is a smooth progression of issues.

It would be great if we could join forces to compile some form of official list of the hobby journal issues and start to create some form of orderly catalog of the hobby publications - starting from that first Burdick issue, or even the [8] articles he wrote in Hobbies - see George Vrechek article on early articles:
http://www.oldbaseball.com/refs/SCD_Hobbies.pdf

In the UK, I have catalogued (at least in my head!) most of the mainstream hobby publications, starting from a few that appeared in the 1930s. For example, the London Cigarette Card Company magazine (currently known as "Card Collectors News", but which has had several name changes over the years) has been issued continuously from October 1933, mostly monthly, and the January 2019 issue is number 892 (volume 80). There are a few mis-types and missing issues in many of these, based on loose editorship / illnesses / wartime intervention etc over the years - so the 'complete runs' are rarely smooth monthly / bi-monthly etc. So some care and research is required, to fill in all the gaps.

We would need a suitable location/place/forum to coordinate such an effort.

And it would also be great to then publish this, in due course, as a lasting record for similarly minded hobby history enthusiasts!

I'm new to net54baseball.com, but maybe we need a new thread for this to explore whether such an effort is possible .....

[Leon]

Well, happy to observe you aren't a flash in the pan about collecting and studying the (baseball) card collecting hobby. I don't know that a list of every hobby publication is even possible? There is no doubt both David and I (and many others) have some unique, or almost uniquely saved, publications. It would make it difficult to try to get them all. But it could be fun trying. And, if I am not mistaking, there was at least 1 1929 article, concerning collecting. George V and I have exchanged a lot of communications and information over the years. He is one of the best at studying Burdick and the early hobby.

Originally Posted by tim_uk

That's interesting to hear how Chris Benjamin picked up the rights to CCB. His issue numbering seems to follow on from the volume and issue# pattern established by Burdick and Bray - but no idea whether there is a smooth progression of issues.

It would be great if we could join forces to compile some form of official list of the hobby journal issues and start to create some form of orderly catalog of the hobby publications - starting from that first Burdick issue, or even the [8] articles he wrote in Hobbies - see George Vrechek article on early articles:
http://www.oldbaseball.com/refs/SCD_Hobbies.pdf

In the UK, I have catalogued (at least in my head!) most of the mainstream hobby publications, starting from a few that appeared in the 1930s. For example, the London Cigarette Card Company magazine (currently known as "Card Collectors News", but which has had several name changes over the years) has been issued continuously from October 1933, mostly monthly, and the January 2019 issue is number 892 (volume 80). There are a few mis-types and missing issues in many of these, based on loose editorship / illnesses / wartime intervention etc over the years - so the 'complete runs' are rarely smooth monthly / bi-monthly etc. So some care and research is required, to fill in all the gaps.

We would need a suitable location/place/forum to coordinate such an effort.

And it would also be great to then publish this, in due course, as a lasting record for similarly minded hobby history enthusiasts!

I'm new to net54baseball.com, but maybe we need a new thread for this to explore whether such an effort is possible .....

[tim_uk]

The CSGB has a copy of the 1939 USA catalogue. I don't, however, have a photo of the front cover. You'll have to make do with the entry on the website, shown below. The CSGB library is here:
https://www.card-world.co.uk/referen...rials/library/

[trdcrdkid]

I'm a member of the Cartophilic Society of Great Britain and was in touch with their librarian a couple of years ago. Those books are stored away in his attic, somewhere in the Midlands, I think. I should try to e-mail him again, because he was going to photocopy some things for me.

[AbeCurry]

Younger generation here checking in. Going into to 2022 I've decided to change the way I go about collecting. I hate what the "new" collectors are doing. It's ruining this great hobby. Due to that, I've decided to focus on the "middle" period between WWI and WW2, starting with the 1933 Goudey set. I'm well on my way there and was also able to find an original 1939 ACC that I picked up.

It doesn't seem to be part of the group so I wanted to have it added.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HjW...ew?usp=sharing