Paul Gambino

Paul’s first book, SCRAP CITY: SCRAPBOOKING FOR SUBURBAN DIVAS AND SMALL TOWN REBELS (SOHO Publishing, 2006), was a semi-finalist for the Independent Publisher Book award in the Hobby/Crafts category and was touted as giving the craft of scrapbooking a youthful, cutting-edge makeover.

Paul has been an avid collector of the bizarre for over 20 years with an extensive collection of Victorian memorial photographs, antique funeria, mug shots, and vintage religious items (including a life-sized St. Sebastian and Virgin Mary salvaged from a 19th-century church in Pennsylvania). The past two decades of serious collecting have allowed Paul to gain the trust of some of the world’s most prominent macabre collectors.

These relationships have allowed Paul to publish his second book, MORBID CURIOSITIES: Collections of the Uncommon and the Bizarre. Amazon sums the book up like this; Morbid Curiosities is an insight into the strange world of collectors of the macabre. Centered on 18 collections, with extensive interviews with each collector and specially shot imagery detailing their objects, this is a fascinating showcase of bizarre and intriguing objects.

MORBID CURIOSITIES: Collections of the Uncommon and the Bizarre is in its fifth printing and has been translated into French and Japanese.

His third book, SKULLS: Portraits of the Dead and the stories they tell, was an ambitious undertaking seeking out human skull collectors from across the globe. After a year of research and photography, and interviews, the book was ready for submission. Then COVID hit, and the release date was delayed by a year; however, the response was overwhelmingly positive when it hit. The book resonated with a spectrum of readers — from the serious macabre collector to the pop culture enthusiasts to the everyday Goth.

In the Summer of 2022, Hachette/Laurence King released KILLER COLLECTIONS: Dark Artifacts from True Crime. A slight left turn, KILLER COLLECTIONS dives into humanity’s dark and dangerous side with this intriguing collection of artifacts and ephemera relating to some of the world’s most infamous criminals and criminal acts. From an 18th Century hangman’s noose to Charles Manson’s cremation ashes, a document signed by Lizzie Borden, and the circular saw confiscated from the home of The Kansas City Butcher. Many of these pieces will be shown outside private collections for the first time.

This unique book offers a rare opportunity to explore numerous personal archives, showcasing murder weapons, crime scene photography, police files, diaries, letters, and other criminal ephemera, alongside the fascinating and often disturbing stories behind them. Meet the collectors with unique and privileged access to dozens of dangerous and disturbed perpetrators, including Gacy, Bundy, Dahmer, Ramirez, Berkowitz, and Shawcross, and discover new insights into their troubling psychology and infamous crimes.

Summer of 2024 will welcomed Paul's latest deep dive into the macabre with the release of his latest book, The Art of Gothic Living: Dark Decor for the Modern Macabre published by UnionSquare&Co.