The first room of the Allentown Paper Show, just inside the front doors, which housed a plethora of dealers with many different kinds of paper collectibles.
Review & Onsite Photos by Kiersten Busch
ALLENTOWN, PENN. — Twice a year, the Allentown Fairgrounds Agri-Plex sees thousands of paper collectible enthusiasts pass through its doors for the Allentown Paper Show. The warm fall weekend of October 3-4 was the show’s second run of the 2026 season, following the spring’s April 25-26 dates.
The Paper Show has been a staple of the collecting community for more than 50 years and provides a wide array of merchandise, including rare books, antique postcards, advertising materials, movie and pop culture memorabilia, vintage photographs, vintage posters, comic books, antique toys, political buttons, Civil War items and magazines of all kinds.
Entering the two sets of red double doors behind the long line of first-day attendees — eager to secure the best goods before anyone else — and passing by the two ticket booths, you’ll find the first of two large showrooms packed with dealers. Positioned at one of the very first booths by the entrance was Allentown Paper Show veteran Dede Schaeffer of Lancaster, Penn. Schaeffer and her husband have been attending the show as dealers for 40 to 50 years, touting that she is “one of the longest-running dealers here!” She got into collecting through her mother, explaining that she started with illustrated children’s books and postcards, which is now her specialty.
Dede Schaeffer shows off some of the best pieces in her collection, including a six-picture wood block puzzle made in the 1850s, complete with its original box of accompanying illustrations (left) and an early “mechanical” book, still in working condition, which Schaeffer explained was “not American” and most likely from the 1840s-50s (right). Lancaster, Penn.
“I have a lot of signed artist’s works, too,” Schaeffer added. This included work by Louis Wain, who she explained was known for drawing cats and is now widely collected, “although he died a pauper.” She also had some early puzzle blocks from the 1850s and an early “mechanical” book, still in working condition, which was made somewhere between 1840-50. Using a flap behind the page, the illustrations on several of the book’s pages could be switched to another image, making the viewing experience an exciting one every single time.
Heading deeper into the first room, collector couple Anne Bedics and Tom Kort caught this reporter’s eye with their shared booth of unique offerings. Bedics, who owns three separate shops but was showing under the name Maus and Figge, has sold in Allentown for 35 years. “It’s a really good show, including the customers and the quality of merchandise,” Bedics explained as her reason for coming back year after year. As for her own merchandise, she said, “I have a good balance of eclectic and rare things. Right now, it’s holiday items, Halloween especially. It’s a great holiday — no one really asks anything of you and you get to dress up!”
Bedics’ Halloween wares spanned from small prints to old balloons, pennants and whole paper crepes, which were framed. “The crepes are rare,” she explained excitedly. “They were produced between the 1910s and 1930s. People usually make things out of them so they get used. When we find rolls of it, we frame it! It makes a great backdrop. It’s all about the display!”
Anne Bedics, trading as Maus and Figge, has been coming to the show for 35 years and specializes in eclectic and rare things of all shapes and sizes, including the Halloween items she had for sale. The orange-and-black paper crepes were “rare” and produced sometime between 1910-30. Ackermanville, Penn.
Kort, on the other hand, is a Modern art and music aficionado with a lifetime collection that he was just about ready to pass on to others. “I’ve collected for over 50 years. It’s time to let it go and let someone else enjoy it!” His most prized possessions were a set of pins and buttons from Keith Haring’s Pop Shop, which he had on display in a small glass-covered case; each pin and magnet was carefully labeled. He also had an extensive array of Tim Burton figurines, including a complete 12-piece set of Tragic Toys for Girls and Boys that was accompanied by a first edition book about the figures, as well as five in-box Nightmare Before Christmas action figures, including two Jack Skellingtons, Sally, Behemoth and Werewolf.
It was John Gunninson’s first time dealing in Allentown, representing his business, Adventure House. His booth was lined with bins upon bins of vintage comic books, mostly of the pulp fiction variety, but what he was truly proud of was a small glass display case in the front which included his “big ticket” items, such as a restored copy of The All-Story Magazine that included the first issue of Tarzan, and the complete set of Black Mask magazines that contained The Maltese Falcon in its original, serialized form, spanning September 1929 through January 1930. Gunninson also publishes his own works on pulp fiction, including a catalog of the more than 18,000 items in the Frank M. Robinson collection.
History buff Don Massey of Suffolk, Va., usually shows at coin and currency shows but is also a regular at the Paper Show, in order to offer enthusiasts in this specific field a look at his extensive paper collection. He proudly showed off a donation certificate for the National Lincoln Monument Association, of which he explained, “they raised money for the Lincoln Memorial, and this was the receipt you received when you gave money. It’s extremely rare.” Massey also had a few miniature portraits from Nineteenth Century France, including one of the infamous socialite Madame du Pompadour, which was signed by a “F. Bucher” and set in a Rococo-style frame.
Though he usually deals in coins and currency, Don Massey brought his best paper to the show, such as a donation certificate for the National Lincoln Monument Association dated May 11, 1868 (bottom left), and a shadow box with a letter addressed to shipbuilder A.S. Eells and related banking materials (top right). Suffolk, Va.
Heading into the second room of the show, attendees were able to peruse an entire section of postcard dealers set up in a centralized and easy-to-access location. However, postcards were not the only merchandise on offer. Unpublished children’s books were the specialty of Timothy Stevenson, who heads Adams House in Manchester, Vt. “It’s already been good!” he shared happily. “It’s always a great time, both to find things and to sell.” Stevenson has been attending the Paper Show for “at least 20 years” and was happy to show off an array of unpublished children’s stories, such as the circus-themed Let’s Pretend, The Grateful Dog and Hammer Head, which was written by Bernard Garbutt. He also had published children’s stories, including Harry The Laughing Rat, which was accompanied by original cover art for the book.
“It wasn’t planned. As other dealers left, the postcard dealers came in!” Kym Landry said of the 18-dealer collective Dater Cottage, whose booth Landry was manning on the first day of the show. While the selection of postcards was seemingly endless, Landry admitted that Halloween cards were the best sellers of the day so far. She even made a sale while we were browsing her collection up close!
Doug Souders, who sells under the name Yesterday’s Paper, was positioned in the back corner of the second room. In line with his business’ name, Souders had stacks and stacks of magazines, seemingly from every era of documented history in the United States. “I like history and nostalgia. Magazines give you a perspective on when historical or other events actually happened,” Souders said of his passion for magazine collecting and selling, which has spanned approximately 40 years. “It’s my passion, it’s what I like!” he added, with a smile. When asked, Souders admitted that one of the most interesting sets of magazines in his booth were two 1865 editions of Harper’s Weekly, one published the day after and one a week after President Lincoln’s assassination.
Specializing in magazines and comic books, Doug Souders had something from every era — from two Harper’s Weekly magazines from the day and week after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, a TIME magazine issue about toy maker Louis Marx and a Rolling Stone cover featuring Madonna. Yesterday’s Paper, Adamstown, Penn.
Shifting from magazines to entertainment, Virginia-based dealer Steve White had a booth around the corner from Souders’ which proudly showed off his love for all things sports and music. “I’ve been coming for six years as a dealer,” said White. “It’s my best show! I do it every year, twice a year. It feels like I vibe for six months then come back here.” When asked to show off his best merchandise, White was happy to admit that most of it had already sold. “The dealers have already demolished me, it’s all gone!” he joked. “When you buy the best, it sells. All the high-end pieces were snatched up.” Instead, he directed us to one of his tables full of collectible trading cards, which ranged from boxing to rock bands to basketball. They sat beside a stack of Jet magazines featuring artists such as Janet Jackson, as well as several issues of Wrestling Life magazine.
The last stop on this reporter’s journey was at the booth of author and collector Gary Sarnoff, who traveled all the way from Alexandria, Va., to show for his second year in a row. What drew him back to Allentown? Plain and simple: “I want to sell some more stuff,” he said matter-of-factly. He offered mostly baseball memorabilia in the form of action figures, pins, pennants, bobbleheads and signed photographs, but the main items on display in the front of his booth were Sarnoff’s own books, which were also for sale. He offered copies of his book on the Washington Senators titled The Wrecking Crew of ‘33, another titled The First Yankees Dynasty, which covered the reign of Babe Ruth, Miller Huggins and the Bronx Bombers of the 1920s, and his latest title, published in 2024, Team of Destiny, which dove into the history behind the 1924 Washington Senators team.
Fear not, for the Allentown Paper Show will be back at the Allentown Fairgrounds Agri-Plex next April 24-25. For information, www.allentownpapershow.com or 610-573-4969.
