robert crumb's sad book

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Sorry, my bad.  Got that confused with the Yum Yum book, don't have any copies of the Sad Book.

[oldmilwaukee6er]

saw that abebooks has two copies for sale...
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=crumb&sts=t&tn=the+sad+book&x=0&y=0
looks like 1/2 price books in austin TX unearthed a pretty nice copy.

[dr_s]

Depending upon the condition, not bad pricing.

[drbenway]

I sent an email to someone at American Greetings, media relations, to see if they could give us info on the printing dates and variants of the Sad Book. Probably won't reply but who knows?

[drbenway]

Got this reply:

> I am sorry but I do not believe we can be of assistance. My only
> suggestion would be to try to contact the actual publisher, which would
> not have been us, as they may have some of this information.
>
> Best of luck.

[dr_s]

Great, some one just emailed me with my scans and asked me if I knew about it. I guess this is a case of circular searching.

[Sir Real]

I guess this is a case of circular searching.

Nah.  Just an example of a very interconnected communications network.

[drbenway]

saw that abebooks has two copies for sale...
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=crumb&sts=t&tn=the+sad+book&x=0&y=0
looks like 1/2 price books in austin TX unearthed a pretty nice copy.

It turns out one of the copies of the Sad Book was blue. So I bought it.  If you click on the link now only one copy shows up, It's a green one.

[dr_s]

First, shoot us a scan if it is different from my blue one. If it is solid blue you have made my day (except     that it is still one my want list). At a 109 years of age I wasn't crazy or dreaming, I actually remembered something from a brief sighting 25-30 years ago.

[jaylynch]

       American Greetings had these books that they gave to salesmen. In each book, the entire line of the tall-sized humor cards was bound.  If one of those old salesman sample books ever turns up, that would be an interesting item.
The most interesting Crumb American Greetings item was a pad of note paper that had a humorous "Believe it or Not" type theme.  Each sheet of paper had a different "Believe it or Not" parody gag on it.
In l966, I actually got a letter from American Greetings inviting me to apply for a job there.  Then they sent me a list of company rules...one of which was that no attention-getting beards were allowed on the faces of employees.  Not wanting to move to Cleveland or shave, I just said the hell with it and threw out the employee rules sheet.  I did save the original letter, though.
Anyway...I was following their card lines long before underground comix started.  So from what I recall, The first American Greetings printing of the Sad Book had a green cover and came out in '67,  after Robert had already moved to San Francisco.
Tom Wilson (who later did the comic strip ZIGGY) was the art director of American Greetings back then.  He would probably be the authority on the printing history of the book.  Maybe there's a ZIGGY webpage that he can be reached through.  Is ZIGGY still being done?  I do not know.

[drbenway]

First, shoot us a scan if it is different from my blue one. If it is solid blue you have made my day (except     that it is still one my want list). At a 109 years of age I wasn't crazy or dreaming, I actually remembered something from a brief sighting 25-30 years ago.

No solid blue.

[wpbooks]

Now that I finally obtained a nice copy of The Sad Book, Green cover version (1st print), I decided to consult the BIBLE on these matters, Don Fiene's R. Crumb Checklist which states at page 76,  entry # 285 -"The Sad Book - Cleveland: American Greetings Corp., 1967 (reprinted 1971). 6 x 6 1/2". Hardcover; first edition GREEN, 2nd edition PURPLE. 20 unnumbered interior pp. with a color illo. by RC on each page." Mystery solved it would seem.

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Please add this to the wiki
not the archive.
  - CJ