Esquire 1968 Passion of Muhammad Ali Cassius Clay Rare A great copy of an exceptionally rare/beautiful cover! Start Price USD 119.00 Current Price USD 119.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Wednesday, November 12, 2008 End Time Tuesday, December 02, 2008 Location Portland, Oregon See more about 'Esquire 1968 Passion of Muhammad Ali Cassius Clay Rare' Description longfellowspdx Store I read somewhere that this has been voted one of the 10 best magazine covers ever printed, and I would have to agree.  It is an amazing example of a window into a different time in America, a society which was intent upon vilifying and denying the right to fight one of the great men- not to mention athletes- of the 20th century.  Ali was banned from boxing at this point, and the article discusses his attitudes towards life, boxing and his situation at the time.  The last issue I saw listed on eBay sold for $80+, and they come up for auction very rarely.  This is a very solid copy of this issue, with a solid spine which has a couple of intact light chips, and a light black line running from the spine to Mr. Ali himself.  I will tell you that I have purchased 5 or more copies for more than $50 here on eBay in the last 3 years and that most of them have come with major defects, even if the photos don't make them explicit during the auctions, so I will be as honest as possible when describing this one, and please keep that in mind if you see other copies of this issue up for auction.  The front cover is lightly soiled, but it was originally a light cream so it's taken on a little of the dust that it's come in contact with over the years.  Mr. Ali is bright and untouched on the front cover, and the covers are solid.  The magazine is not musty at all, and I find no cutouts or rips at all.  There is what amounts to approximately a 7 page article on him spread out along many pages and including a beautiful full page black and white photo from the same photo shoot in the article.  It's a wonderful magazine and a must have for any true Ali fan.  Please see the photos below and click on them to enlarge the images.  Thanks for looking, and keep in mind that I have a large Ali magazine collection and may even be listing every issue of Sports Illustrated he has appeared on together in the near future.  The free shipping will be for media mail only, which can take up to 10 days to arrive.  if you wish to upgrade to priority mail, I believe the best option would be a flat rate box for $9.80, but I'll charge you $6.80 for it.  That won't include insurance, and we won't be held accountable for items lost in the mail, so if you'd like to add insurance that will be an additional $3.  Thanks for looksing.These are magazines from our inventory of tens of thousands that we've accumulated over the years.  I try to give you at least 2 pictures and in most cases 3 or 4 in order to ensure that you understand the condition of the item in question.  As we all know magazines are inherently fragile and brittle, and I try to convey exactly the condition of all of my items, which is something most sellers will not do.  Very rarely will you get only a photo of the front cover of one of my magazines/books.  A detailed description immediately preceded this and please click on any of the photos below to get a larger view of them.  Also, we will ship all of our magazines in protective plastic bags, normally with a backing board and always with cardboard to protect it in transit.  I'm also happy to combine shipping for items purchased within 7 days of the first purchase and will do so as economically as possible, depending on the size and number of items purchased.  Thanks for looking.  We are a bookstore located in Portland, Oregon, which has decided to attempt to list some of our stock- including magazines and ephemera- on eBay.  We have been in business for 28 years and selling online for over 5 years via the regular book sites and our own site, ....com, so we do know what we are doing and strive to keep our customers happy.  We specialize in quality books and magazines, including rare and antiquarian materials.  If you have any questions about us or our auctions, please don't hesitate to ask. We use the traditional grading system for books and magazines.  The grades for BOTH books and magazines will be Fine, Near Fine (NF) + or -, Very Good (VG) + or -, Good (G) + or -, Fair and Poor.  I can't think of anything that we will be listing here which will be worse than Very Good or Good.  Fine would be Mint, which we do not use; our best magazine grade will be Near Fine+, which would be NrMt+.-Fine or Near Mint+:  Little to no wear, with at most one or two minor flaws.-Near Fine:  Light wear, described in the listing, may contain a small marking in the book by a former owner.  Possibly a bumped corner.  Magazine will show a little wear and may appear to have been very lightly read.  -Very Good:  A little more wear, maybe some light creasing, soiling or nicks on a magazine; will appear to have been read.  Book showing some light marks on the covers, maybe a bumped corner or two.  Both should be clean inside unless noted.-Good:  Significant wear, with some soiling and probably some light rips or tears.  Books are significantly worn, soiled and sunned.  Very well read.Shipping will be via media, first class or priority mail when possible.  Media mail will be $3 including delivery confirmation, and a priority mail envelope will be $5.50, which in most cases can fit up to 3 magazines- more if they are thin.  If the magazine is light I will try to ship it first class mail for $3 when I can.  After that a flat rate priority mail box will be $11 and it can fit close to 10 magazines- sometimes more depending on thickness.  I am not here to make money off of usurious shipping charges, and I know how frustrated I am when people try to do so to me.  Insurance is optional, but we will not be held accountable for items lost in the mail which were not insured.  In over 4 years of regular shipping, we have had no more than 3 items lost in the mail.  In most cases we will be able to cover delivery confirmation with the price of shipping.  Please contact us if you have any questions about an item, our policies or anything else. I'm going to strive to keep everyone happy when it comes to my auctions, fees and service, and I believe I'm knowledgeable enough about this stuff to do so, but please ask questions before the auction ends if you have them.  Also, I will try to send you an accurate shipping invoice after things close but sometimes the automatic invoices are inaccurate, so let me know if that's the case with you.   Place a Bid!