Comments on: Porter: Gryphon Books Inventory, Collection Destroyed by Sandy

By: Robert Whitaker Sirignano

Robert Whitaker Sirignano — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:44:07 +0000

Uhm. I do have a batch of stuff that should go elsewhere, but you can contact me via website or e mail as to specifics. I have material like an almost complete run of LIGHTHOUSE, which might fare better if it were scanned and offered up on line. Much of my material is from 1960′s onward, though there are a few odds and ends. I also have a decent collection of Algonquin Round Table writers. On my blog, I have a photo of my “room” as it looked four years ago. It hasn’t gotten better (look under “My wife says…” in the search engine.)

By: Morgan Wallace

Morgan Wallace — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:40:47 +0000

Robert, if you have any British, Aussie, or Canadian material from the 1940s-1950s era, that are NOT hardcovers, I love thin booklets, pamphlets, digest paperbacks, pulps, fanzines, etc. I’ll help you clear out some clutter. LOL. I definitely do NOT have too much stuff Still rebuilding since I lost it all 12 years ago.

By: Robert Whitaker Sirignano

Robert Whitaker Sirignano — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:44:33 +0000

I am a collector, but started a few years ago to dispose of a good number of items. I saw no point in having five or six varient editiions of one title. I saw no point in holding onto signed limited editions. Books that ceased to0 interest me went ont that “sale” list.

I can understand the shell shock of having lost it, as I felt that kind of strong feeling two decades ago, putting out a fire that started in my bedroom. If I’d lost all of that then, I doubt if I would be able to start over.

*sigh*–got some Gyphon Books. I like some of them too. The Howard Waldrop titles.

In a mild rebuke to Dale, I might point out with the storm the size of Sandy there is no way you can be assured that anything will be safe.

I still have too much stuff.

By: Gregory Benford

Gregory Benford — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 04:13:34 +0000

This was a sad marker indeed… I spent 4 days last week in NYC lower at the NY Academy of Sciences and saw the destruction there too… Gryphon was such a signpost for us all!
Alas…

By: Taral Wayne

Taral Wayne — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 04:13:31 +0000

And runaway cement mixers or buses crash through ground floors of homes… Jay Ward was struck by a runaway truck in his office on the first day he opened his real estate business. (One wonders if a bump o the head is why he went into animation later, instead of going back to real estate.) The only safe place for a collection of books is in NORAD headquarters, under Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. Assuming there isn’t a nuclear war.

By: Morgan Wallace

Morgan Wallace — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 02:31:57 +0000

Dale, I don’t know you, but, that remark was totally uncalled for. I’ve met Gary only once in person, and don’t know him well enough as a person, but, from one collector to another and all, your response was not necessitated. As he pointed out, he had lived in his home for 20 years. Historically, for him, his home had not been a flood-zone. In fact, hurricanes are an anomaly up there. I know. I used to live on Long Island, in Babylon Village. This remark is about as ludicrous as a collector in the Midwest announcing that his homestead was leveled, no! OBLITERATED, by a tornado, and you replying and saying “Gee, that’s why I have an underground World War Three bunker.” I’m not making a personal assault on you, mate, just pointing out that it was a remark without soul. Point is: SHIT HAPPENS. We can’t always foresee what or when. Your home could blow up tomorrow from a gas leak; frayed wires could start a fire, etc. I lost my entire collection back in the late 1990s. I couldn’t go back and reconstruct it if I tried. I didn’t have what Gary did, but, I can rightly sympathize. Gary, dude, if you are reading this…wishing you the best, for what it is worth, from one who has had, and has lost.

By: Dale Speirs

Dale Speirs — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 02:05:55 +0000

Which is why my books and valuables are on the ground floor. No one should be storing valuables below grade. It doesn’t have to be a hurricane. Sewer drains back up, water lines leak, sinks and bathtubs overflow, and mould grows better in the basement.