We have no idea if this retailer was just giving away books that “at some point” just lost their cover, or if he was keeping books that were supposed to be destroyed. If it was the latter, then he had no right to sell them or give them away-they weren’t his to dispose of as he saw fit.
The thing is, by the late 1970s, the comic book direct market had been established. Instead of taking comics from publishers on consignment (and have to return them for credit if unsold), comic book stores were buying the books outright. They paid less, but they paid up front and the books weren’t returnable.
The books were thus the property of the comic book shop. They could do whatever they wanted with them – even give them away. Most likely, the cover came off and he decided to give it away. Since he had paid for the book and the publisher wasn’t going to buy it back, that was his right.
This only applies to comics. Mass market paperbacks still use the consignment system. But they’re a small portion of the market these days; most paperbacks are trade paper, which means the entire book is returned to the publisher if unsold.
When I was a kid, the local corner store sold comic books without covers, in a package of 3 books in a plastic wrapping. The books were much cheaper than the original price. I have no doubt that the covers of these books had been returned to the publisher for credit, so the store owner (or whoever was responsible for this fraud) was essentially getting the books for free and the sales price was pure profit. The books were sold like this for years, in a big rack at the front of the store. I didn’t realize until many years later that there was anything fishy about this.
Zombie comic books without their covers just want your bbbbbbbbbbbbbrrraaaaaiiiiinsss!!!
I also recall seeing coverless comic books in a spinner rack, back in the mid-60s. I wondered about this for many years until I finally learned about stripped books.
Personally, I never had any interest in buying the stripped books I occasionally saw at garage sales and thrift shops; I wanted paperback books with pristine covers, and I did my best to keep them in mint condition while reading them. My parents made fun of me for this; their attitude was that paperback books were SUPPOSED to have cracked spines and look beat-up after they were read.
I used to see them all the time at thrift stores and garage sales, and now rarely see them. I’m also a library volunteer, and whenever we get one, it ends up in the recycle bin, usually because it’s obsolete or in such poor condition, we wouldn’t sell it anyway.