Most of what I saw and admired at the show was too expensive for me to buy.

One of the most attractive items was this early attempt at... what, exactly? A comic book for adults, apparently, but who knows what's inside?

The magazine in question, the same size as Life magazine, considerably larger than comic books, was called Tops. It was the creation of Charles Biro and there were only two of them, July 1949 and September 1949.

It goes without saying that they're quite rare. I'd never heard of it until today when I saw the second one at the book fair with a $600 price tag on it.

Tops is one of a few thousand things that should be reprinted as soon as possible so I can know more about it.