Starting around 1980, I first ordered from Bud Plant, moved to do so by one of the ads they ran in Marvel magazines of the time. In that era, they were the single go-to place for everything awe-inspiring in comic book art, related historic illustrated books that inspired the great art coming out in the 1970's and 1980's, posters, portfolios, prints, underground comics, book collections of comic strips, fanzines, and mainstream comics.
Any given BUD PLANT COMIC ART catalog is a great cross-section of what was being produced in any given year.
In light of that, I was sad to see
this...
Last winter, Bud Plant shut down Bud’s Art Books after 42 years. Last summer, he offered the business for sale, but “no serious buyers have come forward,” he wrote in the “last catalog” he will ever issue in Bud Plant print format. The Web has effectively undermined and destroyed his mail order enterprise, he explained. “Today you’ll find most everything we stock online: direct from the publisher or on Amazon or EBay or ABEBooks and other sites — and at discounts that I cannot match while still producing catalogs and paying my staff a living wage and benefits.” Sales have been dropping steadily for the last 3-4 years, and last year, Plant said, “we lost a lot of money, too much to keep doing what we are doing.”
While he is discontinuing Bud’s Art Books, he has stayed in the book business at his website, budsartbooks.com, where he continues to sell out of his inventory and, even, acquire new books to sell. Meanwhile, he has started a new business, Bud Plant and Hutchison Books, which, in partnership with Ann Hutchinson, will offer out-of-print and rare books related to comics, comic strips, classic illustrated books, art and art reference, sf and fantasy art as well as Gold and Silver Age comics and pulp magazines, plus (Hutchison’s interests) children’s illustrated books and picture books.
They will exhibit at antiquarian book shows, and they have space in a local used book co-op. Bud’s Art Books customers are encouraged to sign up for newsletters and press releases at the website and/or BudPlant.com.
In the last catalog, Plant bids his customers adieu: “I’ve greatly enjoyed working with each and every one of you and being able to make so many great books available. I’ve had a great run — few businesses last for 42 years. As the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens, and I look forward to what’s next.”
BUD PLANT lives on, with a website and a similar selection of books available. But it isn't quite the same as that glorious catalogue I used to receive a few times a year.
Honestly, I last recall buying from Bud Plant in 2006-2007, among the items I purchased at that time a beautifully designed hardcover on artist Alphonse Mucha.
But not meaning to stop ordering from Bud Plant, I just found myself getting an incredible selection of often dirt-cheap items on Amazon and Ebay, that more than filled my reading needs, and unconsciously pushed out Bud Plant as a retail source. But I'll make an effort going forward to buy more from a guy who established one of the cornerstones of comic fandom with his unique and great selection.
Bud Plant's current site:
https://www.budsartbooks.com/
