RARE 1958 COMIC ENCYCLOPEDIA - FULL SET of 12 VOLUMES - E.C. ARTISTS - 2,100 PGS

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

1958HARWYN PICTURE ENCYCLOPEDIA COMPLETE 12 VOLUME SET 2,100 PAGES OF FULL COLOR ARTWORK! Some of the greatest comic artists of all time, including many E.C. Comics greats! This is a COMPLETE TWELVE VOLUME ENCYCLOPEDIA to be SOLD AS ONE ITEM . This important and unknown landmark in comic book history is THE HARWYN PICTURE ENCYCLOPEDIA , published in 1958 by the Harwyn Publishing Corporation. This lot includes all 12 VOLUMES, the COMPLETE ENCYCLOPEDIA. This is a full color illustrated encyclopedia, with art by many great comic artists. There are over 2,100 pages of full color art in this set! These are all hardback books, printed on high quality heavy white paper. After the advent of the COMICS CODE in 1955, many comic book publishers lost most of their distribution. Many companies completely folded. Great artists at the height of their skills, including those who worked for E.C. Comics, had to scramble for work. Many artists worked for Classics Illustrated and for advertising agencies. And many did fantastic work for this project, that has been almost completely overlooked by comics history. This project was art directed by E.C. Comics great Jack Kamen. Kamen has recently revealed in interviews that he was glad to be able to give work to so many great artists. These encyclopedias were probably sold as individual volumes as a promotion by local supermarkets. To assemble a complete set required dedication and persistence, and a complete set of these is hard to find today. These pages contain work by some of the best comic book artists that ever picked up a pencil and brush. The artists here include: BOB POWELL Artist of The Shadow, Mr. Mystic, Cave Girl, and many more classic Golden Age comics. Page after page of detailed work! GEORGE EVANS E.C. Comics artist noted for his work on Tales From The Crypt, Vault of Horror, Aces High, Two Fisted Tales and more. He sneaked his signature into many pictures by cleverly hiding it! REED CRANDALL E.C. Comics artist noted for his work on Tales From The Crypt, Haunt of Fear, Frontline Combat, Two Fisted Tales and and also for his work on Creepy, Classics Illustrated, and Golden Age greats like Blackhawk. Many beautiful and action packed historical scenes from Crandall are featured in this set. WALLY WOOD Another great E.C. Comics artist, particularly well-known for his science fiction work on Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, Incredible Science-Fiction, and Weird Science-Fantasy. Some great detailed work by Wood here, including a page showing the history and use of comic books! As you browse through this astounding complete set of encyclopedias, you will also see artwork by: AL WILLIAMSON ANGELO TORRES JOE ORLANDO JOE SINNOTT and MANY MORE! There are many pages by unidentified lesser talents, but there are literally hundreds of high quality pages by the top talents. The pictures show you just a few of the great pages of these books. You will have a great time poring over these pages and finding page after page of great art by these masters. These were later reprinted in a revised and edited version in 1960 as the ART LINKLETTER PICTURE ENCYCLOPEDIA. This is the original appearance of all this great artwork. These are all in beautiful full color, on high quality heavy white paper. Each volume measures 7" by 10 1/4". They are hardcover books. Most volumes are in remarkably nice shape. They have some light wear from reading and some minor bumps to the corners, but several look unread. There is some wear to the plastic lamination of the covers near the spine on a few volumes. Volume VI has a small piece out, Volume XI has a 4" split where the spine meets the cover, but the spines are all otherwise intact. Volume VII has some wear to the plastic lamination on about half of the front cover - not visible but feels rough. Most volumes are in great shape. The interior pages are clean and white. This set of comic book related encyclopedias is not listed in the OVERSTREET PRICE GUIDE or the GERBER PHOTO-... read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.