Names from the past

I’ve been plowing through Bantam’s Doc Savage paperbacks numbers 60-80 in preparation for Glenn Horner’s Doc trivia quiz at this year’s Arizona Doc Con. Most of them are used paperbacks that I picked up here and there over the years. I wasn’t looking for pristine copies but reading ones, so many have creases and markings on them.

The other day I started noticing that quite a few had someone else’s name written inside the cover or on the first page. I never wrote my name in my books, I guess because I never loaned them to anyone. (I learned my lesson when I let a classmate borrow a dozen or so early number Doc paperbacks near the end of the school year, then never saw him or the books again.)

So then, I started looking through my other Doc reading copies. For instance, here’s what I found:

• Mark used to be the owner of “The Majii” (#60).
• John W. Atwood of Marion, Ill.; “The Living Fire Menace” (#61) – oh, he included his full address and telephone number.
• Gerald Tilley of E. Carondelet, Ill.; “The Submarine Mystery” (#63).
• Mike Higgins; “The Freckled Shark” (#67) – though, he thoughtfully scratched his name out in ink.
• Robert L. Janogle (not sure of the spelling); “The Mountain Monster” (#84) – he rated the book “good” under his name and a “Sept. 2 76” dating.
• Robert L., again, but maybe the last name is Jeenogle; “The Metal Master” (#72) – also rated “good” with the date of “November 28, 1975.”
• Robert, well, maybe his last name is Kenogle; “The Vanisher” (#52).
• Robert Kenogle, that’s certainly what it looks like this time. Unless it’s Icenogle – nah, that looks odd; “The Midas Man” (#46) – also rated “good.” (I didn’t realize I had so many of his books. Hope he’s not been looking for them.)
• Robert, again, but this time it looks like Luenogle; “Murder Melody” (#15) –†also rated “good.”
• Mark Fogarty of Rutherford, N.J.; “The Squeaking Goblin” (#35) – he stamped his name and address in the book; a separate stamp has the date of “Mar 25 1969.”
• Greg Danforth, who attended Southwest Junior High; “The Terror in the Navy” (#33) – I suspect he also owned my copy of “The Motion Menace” (#64) because both have the same red Cancer astrological sign stamped on the first page.
• Greg Danforth; “The Sea Angel” (#49) – it also has the same red Cancer sign stamped in it.
• James Harper; “Land of Always Night” (#13).

While other books had used bookstore names stamped in them:

• The Book Exchange of La Crosse, Wis.; “The Pirate’s Ghost” (#62).
• The Booktrader of Bellleville, Ill.; “The Submarine Mystery” (#63).
• Book Bazaar of Lakeland, Fla.; “The Red Terrors” (#83).
• Nice Price Books; “Dust of Death” (#32).
• Admiral’s Books and Magazines of Largo, Fla.; “The Sea Magician” (#44) – I used to live near Largo, but don’t remember buying any books from an Admiral’s store.
• Columbus Book Exchange of Columbus, Ga., as well as a Seagull Books stamp; “Meteor Menace” (#3).
• Columbus Book Exchange, again, but I guess those pesky Seagull Books folks didn’t get their hands on this book; “Fortress of Solitude” (#22).

That took about 15 minutes, but I didn’t go through all of my Doc paperbacks. What surprised me was the number of duplicate owner’s names. I had no idea that had occurred. I guess I bought several books together at one location. (But most of my used Doc book purchases have been since the late ’80s; before that they were mostly new books.)

It’s neat to think that all of these books were read and, most likely, enjoyed by these kids just after they were published. Just like me, they were buying them off the paperback racks, eager for the next Doc Savage adventure they could find.

I hope the Nostalgia Ventures editions find as many interested young readers as my old paperbacks have. How about yours?

– William