In March 2004 I started another blog Antiques Roadshow pt.6

I mentioned on March 16 that I'd found two "antiques" in a cabinet. The first was my 65 page printed blog about our Holy Land tour in 2009. The other, about 20 years old (March 2004) is a printout from one of my other, other blogs, "In the beginning," which is about my hobby. The hobby is about 50 years old, but I didn't start writing about it until 2004. It's probably only something that would appeal to a librarian--at least I've never found anyone else collecting these. The last one I printed out was 2006.

 
I just checked the on-line version and the last one I entered in the blog was in 2012. My ambition exceeded my wallet, will power, and wisdom. The year I decided to record my collection the average cover price was $5.80, and I don't have a figure for today because I rarely look--but I'd guess $10-$15. When I bought the premier issue of "People" with the lovely Mia Farrow on the cover in 1974 (it turned 50 this year) it was $.35. 2003 was a bumper crop for new issues--949! I'd crush our house with just the weight of the paper if I'd tried to collect new issues the last 50 years!

I started this blog on March 21, 2004 with these comments:

"I collect first and premiere issues of magazines and journals. If you want to know if there is confidence in the economy, just take a look at what is appearing on the news stands in 2004. I've purchased about seven new magazines since December, and that's without trying. That means venture capital. That means investors. That means advertisers. That means jobs. That means consumers willing to buy. That means a crazy exuberance and hope in the future. And that's what I love about a new journal."

My oldest is "Atlantic," my most exciting find is "Edible Columbus," (it just went up for sale), and my personal favorite is "Garage Slab." I did have a list of rules for collecting, but they evolved, and I frequently ignored them. I eventually even included some newsletters and government journals because often magazines began as a newsletter and every new government bureaucracy wants to publish a magazine. In the 1980s and I worked in a bookstore, I decided to drop the computer category because new ones were coming in every week. 

 
To read older entries in this magazine blog you have to look at the archive list on the right-hand side because it seems to have no code for going forward or backward. https://premiereissue.blogspot.com/