How attached are you to your zine collection?

[Harley R. Pageot]

There are certain zines I've just come across recently and now love. But of course back issues are impossible to find.

If you had a copy in your collection of a zine that somebody else really wanted, would you be willing to trade or sell it?

I'm guessing for most people it will depend on the specific zine. Some people probably cherish their collection and wouldn't want to part with any of them. But it's also likely that some people would be glad to share a zine they love and pass it along.


I was thinking of starting a new Group where people can post wishlists of theirs and see if others can help them out. I just don't know if it would be successful at all.

[kit feral]

that's a nice idea!

I have a collection of... oh, around 50, I'd guess. there's about a dozen that I'm hopelessly attached to and would never part with. the others, I'd have to be giving them up for a good reason (like I really thought a friend would love it) but I might be willing to help people out, especially if they had something I really wanted.

I'd give it a shot!

[Dan 10things]

My zine collection hit a massive 2000-3000 issues by the late '90s. So I decided to take a bunch and start a zine library at a local punk house (totally failed, they all got taken), gave away tons at zine workshops and talks, donated a couple hundred to the Experience Music Project, about 500 to the Zine Archive Project, and more recently small batches to local public library zine collections. I still have way too many. I'm continually weeding them down through donations and plans to Ebay (*gasp*) ones like The Probe and Ben Is Dead that a bunch of people are looking for back issues of. Then donate more. But there are a bunch of core favorite zines (Fucktooth and Cometbus for instance) that I would never get rid of, no matter whose wishlist included those zines. But these days I'm trying to be less attached to the physical stuff, I've had insanely huge zine and vinyl collections and am trying to convert stuff to digital and weed down my physical collections. It's a hard habit to break, being a total nerdy collector of underground culture (I also have ticket stubs from 100s of punk shows, 1000s of punk flyers, set list, and crates of live band photography).

For the stuff I'd otherwise donate, I'd be happy to sell cheap or trade if they end up on someone's want list. I've long wished there was a DIY place to buy, trade and sell old zines so people don't have to go to Ebay, which is where I turn when looking for old copies of Factsheet Five and punk zines from the '70s and '80s.

[Billy Da Bunny]

the list idea is great! for the most part, i love my zines and would never give them away. ha! but if there was a list, i would add my wishes to it!

[Ericfishlegs]

The zines I love I would never get rid of, especially considering how hard they'd be to replace. However if I found I had a zine I wasn't especially enthralled with that someone else really wanted and would love to have I'd be more than happy to pass it along.

[Bradley Adita]

unfortunately the reality is that the zines people will probably want the most are the zine that people will least be willing to part with ... but there might be some exceptions...

[tim scannell]

not attached...been in zines and
'alternate lit'
since 1988..............so, over 20
years...hundreds and hundreds have
been passed along...by mail by hand
to others and by leaving them in bus
shelters...on coffee shop tables...etc.
have sent scores and scores overseas.

but...zines are EPHEMERA...and though
i am really happy that one 'private'
collectior amassed...30.000 (thirty thousand!!)
'zines' by 1916.....for those DELUDED folk who
imagine 'zines' being 'NEW'...post-1960s...i
don't save 'em....they are ephemera.
i wrote an article on ZINE LIBRARIES...chiron review...
called the article, 'buttered toast'...zinesters should
give their zines to those libraries i listed...or volunteer to
work at them...if near your homes.
tim
port angeles

[Yvonne G.]

i think that Wishlists group would be a great idea too!

i'm not sure on how many zines i own at the moment (maybe around 100? gee...), but i already have a few favorite zines & zine/comics makers. of course, these would be very hard to part with.
but there might be other zines that i read and that don't "touch" me that much, so i'd be happy to trade them with someone who's really into them, trade for other zines on my own wishlist or any other kind of trade, i guess :)

[Harley R. Pageot]

I figure a thread is just as good as a group. So done.

[Catherine Elms]

I own around 100, and there are about 50 I'd want to hold on to - some zines are visually gorgeous so looking over them inspires me (even if the text isn't very interesting), whereas other zines have really inspiring or moving writing that I like re-reading regularly. Some zines are okay but not my cup of tea, so I'd be happy to pass those along.