Posted in: Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: pulps, Weird Tales

Legendary Dr. Richard Meli Pulp Collection Hits Heritage Auctions

Historic, high grade rarities from Dr. Richard Meli's legendary collection hit auction Dec. 4-6 in the debut Heritage Pulp Signature Auction.

Known among pulp fans as one of the world's most knowledgeable and discerning collectors in the field, Dr. Richard Meli has spent several decades amassing what might be the most impressive pulp collection ever assembled.  Already considered legendary by fellow collectors, the collection is the result of decades of careful curation of the highest graded copies available for an extensive range of the most important, rare, and desirable pulps ever published.  Heritage Auctions has just announced that more than 500 of the thousands of pulps Dr. Meli has consigned to Heritage will be featured in its premiere Pulp Signature Auction, December 4-6.  This offering from Dr. Richard Meli Pulp Collection will include a deep selection of Spicy, Saucy, Thrilling, and Weird pulps, many in grades previously thought impossible.  For vintage paper fans, collectors, and historians, it just doesn't get any better than this.

"This collection has been a lifelong passion of mine, and I'm so excited to be able to share it with the world," Dr. Meli says. "I spent the last 50 years hunting for the highest-graded pulps in existence and had a lot of fun doing it. Now that I've achieved my goal on many of the books, I'm honored to be able to give others the opportunity to do the same."

Heritage Auctions tells us: For its premiere Pulp Signature® Auction Dec. 4-6, Heritage Auctions will offer a deep selection of Spicy, Saucy, Thrilling and Weird pulp magazines from the Dr. Richard Meli Pulp Collection. Renowned for his completism as well as his discerning eye for securing the highest-quality copies possible, Dr. Meli owns one of the greatest troves, if not the premier collection, of pulp magazines ever assembled.

Pulp magazines date back to the 1890s and enjoyed their greatest popularity in the 1920s to 1940s. They typically published sensational and lurid genre fiction — science-fiction, mysteries, horror, adventure tales, hero stories. Pulp authors are still celebrated today, such as legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs and Conan creator Robert E. Howard. Renowned artists like Margaret Brundage, best known for her Weird Tales cover paintings, and Norman Saunders, remembered for creating the Mars Attacks cards of the 1960s, figure heavily in Dr. Meli's collection as well. Classic detective authors like Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie feature prominently, with Dr. Meli's Collection including some of the earliest issues of the iconic mystery title Black Mask.

Sasha Fraze, Heritage Auctions Comics & Comic Art Consignment Director for Pulp Magazines, has worked with pulps for years and says she has never seen anything like Dr. Meli's collection. She is ecstatic about the many complete runs of various titles — not to mention the nearly perfect condition of so many of them, which appear as if they could have rolled off a printing press 90 minutes ago rather than 90 years ago. "It would be easier to believe Dr. Meli discovered the secret of time travel than to believe so many of these pulps survived in this condition," Fraze says. "And I've had several other consignment directors and comics graders mention time travel when I show them these books."

Fraze points to the June 1933 issue of Weird Tales, with its cover art by Margaret Brundage illustrating the Robert E. Howard story "Black Colossus," an early Conan the Cimmerian story. Meli's copy earned a 9.8 grade from CGC, as close to a perfect grade as most modern comic books can achieve. "A 7.5 of this title is exciting for us," Fraze says. "To see a 9.8 is mind-blowing. There will never be another copy as good as this one."

The Dr. Meli Collection boasts the entirety of Weird Tales' original run from 1923 to 1954, including key issues like the first Conan story and the October 1933 No. 118 with its iconic Brundage "Bat Woman" cover painting. Dr. Meli's copy is graded at 9.2 — the sole highest-graded CGC copy.

Pulps are traditionally considered high-grade in the 7.0 to 8.5 range — "Very Fine."  For so many to be 9.0 or higher — "Near Mint" — is unheard of. A mid-grade 5.0 copy of Weird Tales No. 118 will typically go for around $7,500, while a high-grade 7.0 will fetch up to $30,000, Fraze says. As for the top known copy, who knows? Fraze expects anywhere from $50,000 to $250,000, but this is completely new territory for the hobby. In some cases, the Dr. Meli Collection includes not just the highest-graded example of a title but the only known surviving copy.

To understand the incredible unlikelihood of so many pulps making it to 2025 in 9.0-plus condition, it's important to keep in mind how the magazines got that nickname: the cheap paper that made them so affordable — and thus so popular — in the first place. Higher-quality paper used in hardback books is more durable and can better withstand the cumulative damages of handling and time. It's not unusual for libraries and rare book collections to have titles that are hundreds of years old, but pulp collectors don't have it so easy.

Many of Dr. Meli's pulps originally hailed from the collection of noted author and discerning pulp collector Frank Robinson, including the majority of Dr. Meli's Weird Tales and many sci-fi titles. Robinson was similarly known for obtaining uniformly high-grade complete runs. CGC now recognizes the Frank M. Robinson Pedigree, a distinction seen atop many of Dr. Meli's sole highest-graded CGC pulps. Fraze sees this pedigree as "the Mile High Pedigree of pulps," referring to an immense collection of vintage comic books in extraordinary condition amassed by Edgar Church of Denver. The Mile High Pedigree changed comic collecting forever and is widely considered the greatest comic book collection of all time. Fraze looks forward to the long-term effects the Frank M. Robinson Pedigree will have on pulp collecting.

The Dr. Meli Collection includes the highest-graded copies of almost every Spicy pulp issue. Spicy titles, which typically had titillating covers featuring a "good girl" in bondage or peril, included Spicy Mystery Stories, Spicy Adventure Stories, Spicy Detective Stories and Spicy Western Stories.

The Dr. Meli Collection also includes ashcans, test copies of a magazine or comic book created solely to trademark a title. Ashcans usually had black-and-white covers made from recycled art and dummy interiors, as they were not meant to be sold to the public or even seen by anyone outside of trademark offices. The term reflects the disposability of those prototypes. Today, because few copies of ashcans were printed and fewer preserved, they are rare, making them prestigious collectibles. Dr. Meli had the sought-after Spicy titles' only known surviving ashcans.

Heritage Auctions Vice President of Comics Rick Akers says working with Dr. Meli and his wife, Dione, to bring the collection to market has been the highlight of his career. "When Richard let me know he was ready to consign his collection to Heritage, I was truly honored," Akers says. "Stepping into Dione and Richard's lovely home and seeing the quality and scope of his pulp magazine collection was truly breathtaking. I had always heard in hushed whispers among pulp collectors that this collection stood apart, but nothing could have prepared me for the wonderland to be uncovered. I think I audibly gasped that first evening in the Meli library more times than I had in the five previous years. Now, it is our pleasure to present this collection to the discriminating Heritage Auctions clientele and the world."

More than 500 of the thousands of pulps Dr. Meli has consigned to Heritage will cross the block in the Dec. 4-6 sale, with more to come in other Signature, Select and Showcase auctions. The Nov. 20-22 Comics Signature® Auction will include a Dr. Meli Preview Section including Dime Detective No. 102 from January 1938 in a whopping CGC 9.2 Strasser Pedigree and December 1932's Weird Tales No. 108, featuring the debut of Conan the Cimmerian — the highest-graded copy available, with a CGC grade of 8.5 and a Frank M. Robinson Pedigree.

Known primarily for comics and trading cards, CGC expanded its services to pulp magazines in early 2024. Its grading along with Heritage's Pulp Showcase Auctions and weekly Select Auctions have helped reinvigorate interest in collecting pulps. "This may be the very best pulp collection in existence," says CGC President Matt Nelson. "Dr. Meli spent decades searching for the highest-grade pulps he could find. His success is evidenced by the large number of pulps that CGC graded 9.4, 9.6, and even 9.8, which is virtually without precedent since CGC launched pulp grading almost two years ago. CGC is honored to have been entrusted with preserving the integrity of this collection and to be part of its story as it is revealed to the public."

Dr. Meli says the honor is mutual. "I can't imagine going with anyone other than Heritage and CGC to sell my pulps," he says. "Rick Akers and I have become good friends over the last few years, and this was a long time coming. Sasha Fraze, Todd Hignite and CGC President Matt Nelson visited my home alongside Rick earlier this year, and it was a truly heartwarming experience. More than friends, colleagues or fellow collectors, these people are family to my wife and me. We brought together our children and our nephews and had a great time poring over the books together and sharing memories as we packed them all up."

"What Sasha and Rick have done over the last couple years in growing the pulp market gave me confidence to sell my high-end books. I am overjoyed to share my collection with the world and commend Heritage for their role in it."

Images and information about all lots in the Dr. Meli Collection Pulps Signature® Auction can be found at HA.com/7444.

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