Movie Poster Price Almanac 1998
edited by John Kisch
Movie Poster Price Almanac 1998
edited by John Kisch
Separate Cinema® Publications, Hyde Park NY 12539, USA (1998)
Tel (914) 452 1998, Fax (914) 454 7131, email Johnkisch@aol.com
614 pages, 23 x 16 cm, hardcover; ISBN 0-9661482-0-7; US$ 39.95
in english
The internet brings to light astounding treasures. I must confess that I had never heard of John Kisch's Movie Poster Price Almanac before, although the semi-annual is in it's ninth year of publication now, and his other book on black cast movie posters, A Separate Cinema, is quite well known. Having seen and used the Almanac, I cannot imagine how a serious movie poster collector can do without it.
The book lists 60'000 poster prices, all referenced to a source, either an auction, an ad or a sales catalog, or an internet offer. The posters are sorted alphabetically for title, and the printout shows date of release, stars, the country, the size and condition, price, and the address, fax and so on of the dealer who sold or offered it.
Lets make an example: The polish poster for Bridge on the river Kwai, re-released in the 80's, featuring Holden and Guiness, measuring 26x38 inches, in fine condition, was offered in an ad in February 1997 for 150 US$ by Eastern Euro Art Company in Colorado.
All this mass of data is arranged and explained clearly, and it is a pleasure for the eye and the mind to access it. And remember, this is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, as only posters worth more than 25 US$ are included. The rest, it is explained, would take up the size of the New York Yellow Pages.
But there is even more. Over 300 dealers are listed, sometimes with their illustrated ads, so there is a sprinkling of pictures throughout the volume to break the monotony of the data. Some of them are as far away as Uruguay or Turkey. The almost one hundred internet addresses of poster dealers sit there quietly on two pages, waiting to be surfed. What is going to happen to us poor movie poster fans if they all switch to push marketing over the next few months?
So, before you clean out the attic and throw away those funny old King Kong posters, look them up in the Movie Poster Price Almanac, it just could make you filthy rich overnight. Don't forget to send a thank-you-note to John Kisch afterwards for his monumental work.