Pre-internet Underground Book Distribution

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Original ad here.

Gather around, children, and you shall learn of an ancient time, before the internet. A day of paper fanzines and weird information obtained only via books delivered by snailmail.

The main purveyor of such good stuff was the Loompanics catalog. Alas, they were driven out of business in 2006. The current website using their domain name is a shell and a scam by cybersquatters.

Over one hundred Loompanics books have been tagged as a Goodreads collection. You can get a small sense of what they were all about there.
     Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 11, 2013
     Category: Drugs | Avant Garde | Books | Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers | Conspiracy Theories and Theorists | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s





Comments
I went alookin' and found a couple of those titles lingering in hidden places on the world wide web. :coolsmile:
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/11/13 at 09:09 AM
Loompanics was a great independent publisher / distributor. I have a number of books ordered through the years - Poor Man's James Bond (Vols. 1 & 2), Anarchist's Cookbook, Get Even!, and others. There was a company that took freedom of the press seriously.
Posted by KDP on 01/11/13 at 09:29 AM
Expedient Homemade Firearms. Indoor Marijuana Horticulture. And my personal favorite of all time: The Art & Science of Dumpster Diving: "...bizarrely reminiscent of the Boy Scout Handbook." -USA Today
Posted by Roland on 01/11/13 at 10:47 AM
I bought some of the books just because the government didn't want them published.

The only one I ever used was because of a twist -- I read somewhere that growing marijuana was much like raising tomatoes. I ended up with a great crop of tomatoes by following tips and tricks in the marijuana grower's guide!

I might still have some of the books in one of the boxes I haven't unpacked from two or three moves ago.
Posted by Phideaux on 01/11/13 at 01:25 PM
Sure, Phideaux (if that's your real name). I bet those tomatoes are hard to keep lit.
Posted by Drug Enforcement Administration on 01/11/13 at 02:52 PM
Not as hard as Camels, I'll bet!
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/11/13 at 03:17 PM
You don't smoke them! But the juice makes you like really mellow, man, and it's so tasty and so red and it tastes so good . . .
Posted by Phideaux on 01/11/13 at 08:41 PM
Joyus Childbirth? So they published fiction as well!
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 01/13/13 at 08:31 AM
I used to work across the street from the former headquarters/living quarters of the gentleman who ran Loompanics. His cat is rather large and friendly. Loompanic books are frequently available at used bookstores in this area..
Cosmic Trigger. Psychedelics. Weed! This ad would have grabbed my attention.
Posted by mkvd on 01/14/13 at 03:42 AM
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