Vintage Halloween Collectibles Research (1900-1979)

A World of Online Halloween Resources The Halloween Retrospect (and Bindlegrim ) are very appreciative of Etsy bookstore customers who were kind enough to take the time and leave their latest book reviews of new digest The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4 . Thank you one and all - and see below at the close of this blog entry for a handful of those review. I appreciate that so many people are enjoying these at printed primary sources given their content of visual data in tables and charts, identification posters, numerous examples, and even more entertaining pieces like the new Bindlegrim homage meant to provide tangible examples of vintage working processes.  In the meantime, this blog entry echoes some of the content recently discussed not only in THR, V4 print publication ( and a total of 5 books for sale as of this date ), but THR's recent blog entry Collectibles Research Tools that considers many of the online sources many forget... likely because those sources aren't s...

NEW! Vintage Halloween Collectibles Guide: The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4 Returning now this March 2025 with a new book for sale ---  The Halloween Retrospect  ( see THR's bookstore on etsy ) announces the latest edition released in a series of vintage Halloween collectibles guidebooks now with  The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4 . THR's archive librarian picking  up the digest series once again with a new book that not only continues solving old market mysteries (via 625+ catalogs 1900-01979) but has the honor of including a one-of-a-kind nowhere-else-available freebie vintage-style paper decoration by Bindlegrim  with an homage piece to faux stained glass educational items from the 1940’s. Also, as good measure for its puzzling audience, THR has created another new Halloween-themed crossword with its Frolic Flier series. Set of items with THR,V4 features book, puzzle, & decor.   The   Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4   (2025) $25.00 + tax...

THR publications as of October 2025 THR publications as of March 2025    Halloween Eye-Candy A goal for The Halloween Retrospect's antique/vintage Halloween collectibles art survey  Halloween Artifacts V1:Lighting is a focus on imagery (maintaining a heavy-lean on data from primary sources). The result is a full-color 8-1/2" x 11" book that displays 100+ pages of large-format photos of lanterns, shades and glow-in-dark diecut decor. The end result presents to collectors unusual views and/or previously unseen objects (with enough room in the layout to include vendor timelines and catalog samples). Below is a page sample that hopefully gives readers an idea of book contents cover to cover (and see  THR's bookstore on Etsy  to read reviews like the flattering one included below). Cover and page samples of  Halloween Artifacts, V1: Lighting    Book review of  Halloween Artifacts, V1: Lighting    Given that THR has now published a handf...

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 ).