Stamp on Fawcett Books

 

 

   

Crest M1508

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The use of stamps on the covers of books is documented elsewhere in the "Oddities" section ... but here's an odd one. Several Gold Medal and Crest books, published by Fawcett, have a stamp that declares that they are not for sale. Ken Becker, discusses this in an email. Ken's father, Jacob, worked at a press in Louisville, KY, that produced numerous Fawcett publications. Here's what he says:

Some of the books have "NOT TO BE SOLD" stamped across the cover. This was because they were first off the presses and may have had imperfections ... creased pages, typos, tears, miscuts, upside down pages, etc.  I do not know how many were printed in Louisville, but during the 50's they did print a great number of comic books and racing programs here. When my father retired, they mainly printed magazines like Field and Stream, True, Sport, Photoplay, TV and Radio Mirror, True Confessions, True Detective, Popular Mechanix, Popular Electronics. etc. During their heyday, they even printed a monthly multi-page magazine with glossy pages serving as the employee newsletter called the PIED SHEET. It is possible the paperbacks were sent internally to the Louisville facility from other plants for employee distribution only (another possible reason for the "NOT TO BE SOLD" stamp). The printing plant is still in operation at 11th and Broadway but has changed ownership several times. I do not know what it is called now.


Ken Becker
Louisville, KY

 

The scans of Crest M1508 on this page and Gold Medal R2168 on the Oddities index page are courtesy of Jacob C. Becker.