Beschreibung:

ZAP COMIX No. 1 [1st Printing, ROBERT CRUMB'S COPY, Signed with Provenance Note, CGC Signature Series Certified 8.5] Author: Place: Publisher: Date: Description: Apex Novelties. November, 1967. CGC Signature Series certified: VF+ (8.5), Signed by R. Crumb. Robert Crumb story, cover and art. Charles Plymell edition. First printing with correct issue points as noted in Jay Kennedy's Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide: "Has a $.25 cover price and says 'Printed by Charles Plymell' on the back cover." According to printer Charles Plymell, the first printing was "no more than 1000 copies." According to publisher Don Donohue, there were "more like 5000 copies." Provenance: From the Collection of Robert Crumb "This is a truly historic item, perhaps the most significant single underground comic book of all time." —Jon Gothold, EC Comics historian. PBA is pleased to offer Robert Crumb's own copy of the first printing of ZAP Comix #1, a comic that has been has been called "The Action Comics #1 of the Underground." Crumb described the book's genesis in the introduction to The Complete Crumb Comics vol. 4: "Don Donohue... got all jazzed about putting out Zap Comix. As I recall, he traded his hi-fi to this small-time printer, Charles Plymell, in exchange for printing the first issue. Plymell, an older hipster from Wichita, owned a small press., a Multi-Lith 1250. Soon after that Donohue bought the press and learned how to run it himself. Many of the early underground comics were printed by him on that thing.... We folded and stapled all 5,000 copies [of Zap #1] ourselves, and took them out to sell on the streets." Note that while Crumb specifies a print run of 5000 copies, Plymell claims the print run was 1500. Upon receiving a copy of PBA Galleries' debut comic book auction catalogue (Sale 698, June 3, 2020), Robert Crumb sent a message to PBA's Director of Comics, Ivan Briggs: "Briggs, I [received] the catalogue. I found it so interesting that I am saving it for the texts that accompany the comics which were put up for auction. This is some of the best commentary I've yet seen on the quality of the content of comic books. I especially enjoyed the reviews of the post-war horror comics, Great. Priceless. Dunno if you'll be able to keep up this level of conscientious focus in future catalogues. It looks like a lot of work, but glad to hear that 98 percent of the items were sold, and at 'a number of world record prices.' Good fuh you!" He concluded his message with a promise to send something for the next sale: "I'll dig up some odds and ends to send you. —Crumb." True to his word, Crumb followed up with "a small collection of old letters I wrote to my friend Marty Pahls, 1962-1977. I got these letters back after he died in 1989, found among his possessions." See lots 455-469. Asked if he had a Plymell printing of ZAP Comix #1 to offer, Crumb revealed that he did: "I have only one Plymell-printed ZAP Comix N°1 in my possession. I'll send it to you if you want. Let me know. You want it signed or not? On the cover or inside?" Crumb was advised to sign the bottom margin of the back cover, and to add a provenance statement in his own words. PBA's Director of Comics then contacted CGC's Signature Series Director, Brittany McManus, and arranged for Signature Series certification to be granted. Among other things, this required Crumb to fill out a certification form and to ship the comic directly to Ms. McManus, in order to maintain an unbroken chain of custody. Despite a reputation for not having much patience for this sort of thing, Crumb complied with the series of steps required to secure the coveted CGC Yellow Label, and the rest is comix history. As Crumb says in the brief note that accompanies his signature: "Time to let go of stuff (age 77)—This is the only copy of ZAP #1 that I managed to hold onto all these years. I hand trimmed it as none of these were mechanically trimmed. —R. Crumb Sept., 2020." A limited edition of 100