I recently obtained 4 issues of the "Treasure Hunter's Yearbook by A.T. Evans
1970 -1971
1971-1972
1972-1973
1974-1975
Karl von mueller is prominently mentioned with a lengthy bio in 1970 - 1971.
I have the feeling he had something to do with the publication.
How many issues did A.T.Evans issue?
I can't seem to find anything regarding the author or Eureka Press listed as the publisher.
Any help will be appreciated.
A.T. Evans was the publisher of the Prospector's Club newsletter, associated with the Prospector's Club of Odessa that would later be taken over by Harley Smith and ultimately became the Prospector's Club International before being sold by Smith to someone in Indiana. Smith was similarly involved with the National Treasure Hunter's League around this same time and wrote for them a great deal. I'd have to check, but he may have been the Editor/Publisher of their magazine
A.T. Evans is probably one of the most overlooked treasure personalities I can think of. It is my opinion that the Prospector's Club newsletter was probably second only to the NPG in terms of quality among the independently published "tabloid" style publications of the era. He published the "first" (I'll explain shortly) 24 issues in a book format entitled, which can be found at amazon:
Treasure Classics Volume 1: Prospectors Papers.
Evans published as best I can tell beginning June 1964. His original newsletter was published on mimeographed legal paper and featured mostly reader submitted content. These legal paper issues are hard to come by, they were largely made with carbon paper and faded over time and under the best of circumstances probably just looked like letters to folks who didn't know what they were.
Beginning April 1965, Evans switched to a newspaper version with most issues being 8 pages long and absolutely packed. The above mentioned book covered April 1965 to April 1967 in it's entirety. The newspaper was small enough to fit into a binding (about the same size as the NPG books I've been putting out) and represent complete facsimiles of the originals news papers. These can be a bit pricey, but occasionally come up on Ebay in the 50 dollar range...and well worth the cost. I've bought several large batches of the newspaper itself over the years, these seem to be easier to come by than most. My suspicion is that the subscription rate was fairly low hence Evan's ability to hold onto subscribers.
One interesting note about the book (Prospectors Papers), and the Yearbooks...its rare to find them NOT signed. I cannot guess how many copies of any exist but again, my suspicion is that A.T. Evans took advantage of the booming Treasure Show phenomena of the early to mid 1970s and traveled the circuit and sold his books directly to customers at these shows. The bindings on them tend to split I've noticed, perhaps Eureka was a subsidiary of RAM who's books were similarly noted to have poor binding. The Yearbooks are rather unique and also, in my opinion, worth the price...usually around 20-30 bucks each. They can demand a premium because they are so frequently sold with his signature in them.
H Glenn Carson tried similar books in the early 1980s, with two editions of the Treasure Hunter Annual...same idea but not nearly as well done and his timing was bad. By 1980, the really big boom in treasure materials was starting to wane with many old timers having passed on and many of the smaller magazines either going under or being consolidated. I must confess, I was but a we lad then...but it doesn't take much to look through all the material and deduce a lot of this. 1965-1975 produced a ton of new newsletters, treasure clubs, magazines, etc. as it broke away from the Western and Men's magazines and developed its own identity. Coupled with the emerging and constantly improving (and price reductions) state of metal detectors, this was a prime era for writers, manufacturers and publishers that would begin to correct itself by the end of the Disco era.
Sorry, I realize I rambled a bit there...hope this answers your questions though!
