Sv: MM Dailies

[martin_olsen]

>Here goes:
>
>At the end of the 1970's Thomas Andrae acquires proof sheets from Horst
>Schroeder (who got these from a Swiss collector, who again -probably- got
>these from an Italian archive). These proofs should cover the period from
>1946 to 1955 (-right?). Other proofs were acquired from Bill Wright. Mickey
>fan card from 1931 supplied by Andrae, himself. All other strips from 1930
>up to the earliest of Bill Wright's proofs were reprinted from newspaper
>prints.
>
>Q1: How far back did the proof sheets from Bill Wright go?
>
>So after Thomas Andrae had collected these strips/proof sheets, the first
>20 sets were printed in Arizona by Byron Ericson.
>
>Q2: When was this?
>
>Q3: Were there 3 strips missing in the original 20 sets (and 3 strips
>printed double) or did this happen in later prints, only?
>
>Q4: Were all these original 20 sets bound? -and were they all hard cover?
>
>Allegedly Horst Schroeder buys 2 sets: one bound and one unbound.
>
>Q5: Was the unbound set really an *extra* set -and were there more extras
>done?
>
>Q6: Was this deal between Ericson/Andrae and Schroeder lined up at time of
>print, and at that time known that Schroeder would do a larger run of sets?
>If so it sounds a little strange that Schroeder did not do his prints at
>the same time.
>
>Schroeder's sets are portfolios, and the print run is limited.
>
>Q7: Did Schroeder do 50 complete sets, only? And were the number stated
>anywhere in the prints?
>
>Q8: Is it some of these sets that are now resting in some Swedish basement,
>because Disney (or someone else) has withdrawn the permission to sell
>these?
>
>Q9: When did Schroeder do these prints?
>
>
>Peter Orban of " Comic Book Club Germany" start up a project similar to
>Schroeder's All 26 years are to be reprinted as portfolios. The print run
>is 500 copies of each portfolio. The project is stopped after 12 - 14
>portfolios has been printed.
>
>Q10: Was this stopped for financial reasons or was it due to Disney
>withdrawing the licence (as with CBL)?
>
>Q11: Were these printed from one of the original 20 sets (as Schroeder's
>were), or were Peter Orban's done from a "second" generation print
>(Schroeders?)?
>
>Q12: How many years did Orban do exactly, and when did he do them?
>
>Q13: Was this project finished by Horst Schroeder or not? and if so did he
>continue printing the strips in portfolios or did he switch to bound books?
>
>
>Some "loose" questions:
>
>About the John Nichols edition of 200 sets:
>
>Q12: Was this done from one of the original 20 sets, or from a "second"
>generation print?
>
>Q13: When was it done?
>
>Some of the books "Wunderwurm" has are bound printed in 300 copies in East
>Germany (- are these soft- or hard cover?). Where do they fit in? Were they
>done only for *some* of the years in the span 1930 - 1955 or were there a
>complete set done in 300 bound copies. If so -who did this set ??? Were
>*these* really bootlegs as an East German publisher would probably not have
>sleepless nights, over violating a print ban from the "capitalist Disney".
>
>
>As you see I think there are still some unanswered questions regarding
>these books/sets. I hope you guys will (again) help answering these!
>
>
>As a little special it seems that "Wunderwurm's" set consists of a mix-up
>of *3* editions: Orban's portfolios (500 copies), bound books (300 copies)
>and the very first edition (20 copies) !!!
>
>Or what????
>
>
>I think it is worth trying to solve the mysteries about these various
>editions. In contrast to the CBL -both in b&w and color -and even in
>various languages- the Mickey Mouse dailies collections have lived a rather
>quiet life. Despite being a Disney fan for more than 25 years I had not
>even *heard* about these until 2 years ago -and then only as a vague rumour
>that such a collection existed.
>


Well, I think I'd better put in my two bits.
I was there when Horst Schroeder put out his portfolio and all. I don't
remember exactly when this happened, but I do remember where I lived at the
time, so I guess it was the early 80'es. I may be able to pinpoint it more
accurately by looking through some old correspondence.
I was told that Horst Schroeder was going to publish "The Complete Daily
Strip Adventures of Mickey Mouse 1930-1955", and though I had serious (and
well-founded) doubts about the reliability of H.S. and his ability to
complete this multi-year project, I decided to jump into it with some of my
friends, and I organized buying five sets (#11-#15, I believe, #15 is in my
collection). The price was horrendous!
12 years were issued as bound volumes (soft cover). These were 1934-1936,
1938-1941, 1948-1952. The cover of these is brownish, and on the back it
says

Verein Kultur der Völker Leipzig
Printed and manufactured in the German Democratic Republic
Printrun limited to not over 300 copies

I doubt if they ever did as many as 300 copies, but then again the leftovers
may be what can be found in a Swedish basement or whatever.

The remaining years were printed as portfolios in red-orange sleeves. On the
back of these it says

COMIC BUCH CLUB GERMANY
SAMMLER AUSGABE LIMITIERT AUF 500 EXEMPLARE

In the case of these I seriously doubt that more than at most 50 copies were
done.

The year 1937 contains duplicate prints of the strips 2-15, 2-16, and 2-17,
and the strips 2-18, 2-19, 2-20 are missing. This may be due to the fact
that the five strips 2-15 through 2-19 look very much alike, all having MM,
Goofy and Doctor Einmug tied up in chairs.
Anyway, I have a copy of the missing strips, copied from original newspaper
strips owned by a friend of mine. With his permission I guess it would be
possible to upload images of the missing strips.
As far as I know - and at least my friend would notice - these are the only
strips missing from the entire run.

Most years were printed in good quality, with three strips per page printed
as large as possible. 1937 was horrible with the 3 strips missing and with
all strips shrunk to cover only about 80% of the area of the page.

BTW it is possible that one of "my" five copies is still for sale at

Pegasus
Nørre Farimagsgade 53
1364 København K
Danmark
phone +45 33 32 56 50

My conclusion to some of your questions is that Horst didn't finish the job
himself, but he took what he needed from Orban's project - or maybe Orban
just took over Horst's project (including the unsold copies?) and printed
the remaining years.

- Martin