Posted By:
Jeff ObermeyerHmmm... nothing in my hobby publication library dates form before 1939, but I can tell you that in the back of the 1939 United States Card Collectors Catalog there are about 40 ads for collectors seeking to buy cards/memorabilia. A lot of the big names, too - Burdick, Bray, Lionel Carter...
I also have a copy of Burdick's Card Collectors Bulletin from Aug. of 1939. To the best of my knowledge, the CCB is the first US publication dedicated solely to trading cards. Mine is volume 2, no. 1, so I'm guessing the first issue was published in 1938.
As an interesting aside, the United States Card Collectors Catalog is the original American Card Catalog. Burdick published it and had 500 copies printed. I've seen two on eBay in the past 2 years, including the one I have which I picked up for a whopping $2.50 (it was buried in the wrong category and mis-described - the guy would choke if he knew my high bid was $100).
Jeff Obermeyer