Trying to answer an Ask Metafilter question about an article in the defunct SPY Magazine sent me paging through some of my back issues. Oh, that magazine was awesome. I loved it so much. I think looking back it made me take on too fake a cynicism in my writing too early, but everybody goes through imitative phases, no?
Wikipedia claims: "The magazine was also divisive: Many established journalists considered it abrasive and tawdry, whereas many younger ones felt it precisely reflected their worldview." Heh, that latter camp, that would be me, I guess, though I could see some of the former viewpoint too.
I'm suspecting that my SPY collection might be worth some decent money were I ever able to part with them. I remember there was a weirdly beautiful magazine store in Minneapolis' Conservatory shopping mall, back before that weird mall was torn down, and I would buy back issues there. I tried to buy one back issue once and the lady wouldn't even sell it to me, apparently it was her only one of that issue (one wonders, then, why it was in a STORE, but whatever).
Anyway, I was thrilled to see that coming out next month is what looks like a collection of old SPY articles: "SPY: The Funny Years."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Oooh, a new SPY book? That news has made my day! Thanks!
I used to buy SPY back issues I didn't have on eBay, and early ones (before, say, 1993) ran as much as $20 an issue, with stuff from the first year going up to $50.
I tended to buy lots, then re-sell my duplicates separately. However, the most lucrative collectors' market to sell to was the Absolut ad collectors. In fact, one person asked if I would just send the cover with the "spectacular" (that's the lingo for an unusual ad, with a mirror or a fold out).
I ended up reselling the no-back-cover magazine to the second highest bidder, who was perfectly happy, because he wanted to, y'know, read the magazine!
Post a Comment