Vintage Halloween Collectibles Research (1900-1979)

Vintage Halloween Collectible Guide: THR's New Visual Survey of Lanterns The Halloween Retrospect  ( see THR's bookstore on etsy here ) is pleased to announce that as of the end of September 2024 nearly 200 books by THR have sold since the first research digests arrived for sale in June 2023. Perhaps that is relatively a small number, but the archive librarian feels this ain't too shabby give the niche subject matter, and that THR (publications) is a small do-it-yourself enterprise available only via the etsy bookstore .  And, at that, most of those books were wordy research digests based on data from THR's archive library (!!!) but now, just over a year later, THR begins a splashy new series of visual survey books that are more like art-books in their presentation of vintage Halloween collectibles. That said, the content remains focused on using that archive library of catalogs, newspapers, etc., to show the market availability of the items' as seen from the vinta...

Halloween Collector Guides THR - a year in review As of late June 2024 (almost a year since the first book) there will be  three volumes  of The Halloween Retrospect  ( and a new art survey book added below as of September ) for the Halloween collector to add to their shelf of vintage references supporting that collection of visual survey books. THR is full of informative research articles that focus on certain market items as seen in the pages of various primary sources (mainly ~550 catalogs of consumer/vendor materials 1900-1979) and other archive materials across the United States (such as Framingham History Center for THR, V2 or Hallmark Archives for THR, V3 ). Guidebooks for the vintage Halloween collector with a focus on vintage research through vintage sources. If you are just now encountering The Halloween Retrospect archive library and its in-house publishing, please see the Home page (for introduction and a list of numerous blog entries) or check out variou...

Vintage Halloween Collectibles Guidebooks: As the image states above,  The Halloween Retrospect is a new guidebook series for vintage Halloween collectibles as a digest series for collectors seeking an archive and library research emphasis on the novelty markets of yesteryear (1900-1979). And so, while recent blog entries have focused on bits of this-and-that related to articles inside the editions of The Halloween Retrospect ( available on THR's Bookstore via Etsy ), this particular entry reviews the books' contents as well as page samples and poster inserts.  Guidebooks for the vintage Halloween collector with a focus on vintage research through vintage sources. As noted elsewhere, it is my wish as jack o'lantern of all trades , that is, as the author, editor, collector, archivist, librarian, artist, designer, publisher, and seller for this book series, that you too are seeking more details about old Halloween than previously available these last twenty or so years. In ...

The Halloween Retrospect: A new chapter here at The Sane Halloween Observer is ready! If you slogged through the last entry ( What Next? ) you read the news that this blog will move toward support of recent project  The Halloween Retrospect  archive library, for subject matter that very much aligns with that already found here. In fact, not only did some blog content originate here to be expanded upon in print, there's most likely a tidbit or two in way of interesting facts, items, or images left out of print that will instead find there way here.  The author has finally ordered a small initiating batch from the printer, and these should go on sale during the shortening days of summer as we head into the 2023 fall season! Keep an eye on the THR website, particularly the  Publications page, or to learn more about The Halloween Retrospect here's the About page. ( Update : available now as of July 26th ). Cover art for The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 1 by Bindlegrim ...