Official book collectors thread

Just received “Ferrari Men from Maranello” by Anthony Pritchard - ISBN: 978 1 84425 4149 -

Here are my thoughts;

It’s an obvious idea and I wonder why no one (including myself) had thought of it before - a Ferrari “Who’s who”. Here, in one place, are the biographical details of more than 200 individuals who have made an important contribution to Ferrari’s greatness over the years. Featuring most prominently are the drivers, but the author also includes Team Managers and the more prominent engineers etc. The pre-war Ferrari Alfa Romeo teams and designers are included as well.
Pritchard doesn’t pull any punches either, telling it like it is (was), and debunking the odd myth here and there. The Appendix are particularly interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the section by Romolo Tavoni who was at Ferrari from 1950-1961, first as Enzo’s secretary and then later racing Team Manager.
Well illustrated with some many previously unseen photos, although the typical Haynes penny-pinching colour centre section rather spoils it. There are the occasional spelling errors (which are SO hard to reap out - don’t I know?), but also a few factual mistakes. e.g Ricardo Rodriguez finished 2nd at Le Man 1960 in a 250 TR, not a 250GT SWB as stated. A caption refers to “younger son Pedro” when the younger son was actually Ricardo.
A little puzzling though is the amount of space allotted to the various characters. I would have thought that Luca di Montezemolo was far more important in the Ferrari story than Wilfredo Ricart, but LdM merits ½ page, whilst Ricart gets 3
pages. Strange.
But these points aside, this is still a valuable addition to any Ferrari reference collection, and will find much usage for most enthusiasts. It can be dipped into at any time, and there are some great insights into various events in Ferrari history.

Hope this helps
Nathan

 

I have had my copy for about a week and am enjoying reading it greatly. The bios for the newer personnel tend to be shorter, as I figure Pritchard feels that most people are already somewhat familiar with them. It definitely takes a different approach for a Ferrari book and, in my opinion, is all the better for it. Apparently, the book has not been released officially in the US yet. I got my copy for approximately $40 from a British bookseller on Amazon.

 

I'm beginning to wonder if there might be some sort of conflict between author, publisher, estate, club, etc. Sure seems odd.

Thanks for your notes on Men from Maranello. Spelling and factual errors drive me batty. They even crop up daily in FT and The Wall Street Journal. I think I mentioned over on TNF that Go Like Hell explained that Marco Andretti is Mario's "third son." This might come as something of a shock to Michael!

Jack.

 

Yes, thank you for the review. It is certainly insightful.

George

 

According to an impeccable source that I just called, this is not the case. Simply put, Doug Nye is the editor in charge and the project is dependent upon the pace at which he is willing to work on it. Unfortunately, for us at least, Doug has taken on many projects. The current best guess is that the book should be available in 2011, the 50th anniversary of Phil Hill's F1 championship. Obviously, this is not what many of us were hoping to hear, but given that we have already been waiting a decade, it should be possible to wait another two years.

 

Thanks for that information. 2011 would make the book about a five or six year project then. No point complaining, DCN's books are always worth the wait....I just hope I make it to 2011!

Jack.

 

Hello everybody,

I'm reading the posts here for a while, I guess it's time for a first post...

I'm happy to find people who share the same passion for books, and on the same topic! I love the stories about the way you try to purchase these absolute rarities.

My favourite (as for some of you guys) is the "Ferrari in Camera" opus, certainly one of the most remarquable volume I've ever seen. After some tries, I finally managed to pick a copy and...WOW!

As for every collector, the thing is now the next challenge. In some way you could transpose Enzo's thoughts about cars to books:
"-What's your favourite book?
-The next book."

So, at the monent my wishlist looks like:
-Ferrari Monoposto
-Ferrari 375 Racing in Agrentina
-Ferrari P 1961-1973
-The Colonel's Ferrari
-Making a Difference
-Klemantaski himself
-Inside Track...

I'd be happy to have your feedbacks about these!
Thanks for reading!

 

Latest Addition. I Picked up a 430 Scuderia Brochure at Ferrari Maserati of Seattle a couple weeks ago.

 

Welcome.. always nice to hear from another Ferrari-book aficiando...
To paraphrase Enzo again:
"Who's your favourite FChat book-lover poster?
"The next one"

Ferrari Monoposto is the only one in your list that i have. Great book. Being an artist i notice the illustrations first and foremost... and they are very well done. On the whole a very nice rundown on a long list of F1s. A solid "A".
JMHO

Making a Difference is still on my wish-list as well and i doubt anyone here has a bad word to say about that one... highly recommended by all...

Again, welcome..

GT

 

Thanks for this nice welcome!
I hope I can give some contributions sometimes.

Thanks for your opinion about "Ferrari Monoposto", I never had the chance to go through it, hope I can see it soon!

 

Here are my opinions - Hope they help;

-Ferrari Monoposto - It's OK but 'Ferrari Formula' by Paolo D'Alessio is far better. More detail and more photos

-Ferrari 375 Racing in Argentina - a good book but only covers the 375s (as per the title). I would go for 'Ferrrari Argentine|Sports Cars' by the same authors.

-Ferrari P 1961-1973 - doesn't do it for me. I'd suggest 'Ferrari Prototype Era 1962 -1973 in Photographs' by Alan Henry or 'Scarlet Passion' by Anthony Pritchard

-The Colonel's Ferraris - the only book on the subject and by Doug Nye - what else is there to say?

-Making a Difference - a 5* 2 volume 'must have'. The only disppointment for me - no colour, and some of those cars, especially the Vignale's had quite colourful 2-tone paint jobs.

-Klemantaski Himself - a nice book, but not a lot of Ferrari content. 'Klementaski & Ferrari' obviously has more Ferrari content.

-Inside Track - the only one I don't have but comes highly recommended

Just my opinions - they don't mean a lot
Nathan

 

Nathan,

"Inside Track" isn't out yet, is it? Thanks for the review of "Men from Maranello." I'm looking forward to that one.

Jack.

 

Hi Jack
You're referring to 'Inside Track' the yet to be released Phil Hill book.
I was referring to a book that I thought had been published some years ago by Geoff Goddard, but I now think I had the wrong title. Just having a senior moment so just ignore what I said.
Regards
Nathan

 

Thanks for your opinions Nathan.

Having the two other titles you mention, maybe I'll better wait for a good opportunity on eBay for "Ferrari P 1961-1973".

Concerning Louis Klemantaski, I just love his photography, so "Klemantaski himself" is a must have for me although it is not just about Ferrari.

I enjoyed a lot the "Ferrari Argentina" volume, so I thought the 375-book maybe a good continuation. I also remember having heard something about a similar volume for single seaters to come from the same authors. Do you have some info about that?


Having mentioned "Inside Track" was a bit confusing, sorry...

 

The Whitefly website mentions "Working on Ferrari Argentina | Monoposti", but it doesn't say anything about the publication date.

 

check out ebay... good price right now...
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Ferrari-Monoposto-Catalogue-Raisonne-1948-1997-Alfieri_W0QQitemZ330353540066QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item4cea9afbe2&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

also.. this doesnt show up on ebay very much: the leather case edition of Making a Difference...
quite a deal considering the original price, but out of my range either way...
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Making-a-Difference-Anselmi-and-Massini-Ferrari_W0QQitemZ270444590010QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAntiquarian_Collectible?hash=item3ef7c0f3ba&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

GT

 

Hi

I put more than 60 owner's manuals of Ferrari models on Issuu.

View online is free!

http://issuu.com/blogdotrois/docs

 

GREAT !! First post and immediately copyright violation.
This is risky, what you are doing here. I assume you downloaded them from the Ferrari owners site, where certified owners have access to the free pdfs.
On issuu.com you are offering pdf versions for USD 5,--. No problem of course, if you obtained the rights.
I'm sure, the Ferrari attorneys are lurking on FChat.

Best Regards from Germany

Martin

 

I have quite a few Ferrari books, not all pictured here, I was wondering about the rarity of particularly the Gilles Villeneuve books that I have, the two written in Italian, also some of the Nigel Roebuck books and the Alan Henry Kimberly Drivers Profile is quite rare. The small GV book is in French and the French Canadian magazine is form 1987. I have some rare Autosport magazines from 1981-82, actually the whole collection and some nice Motor Sports magazines featuring my late hero:
Here are some scans of them: I am generally inquiring as to the rarity and value if my collection, if possible..thanks
I have two copies of this Doug Nye book:

This may be my most rare GV book writen in Italian, the author is Silvio Rossi:

This one was quite pricey on Amazon when I checked recently:

This other GV book I have not seen elsewhere, I bought both of these Italian books while I lived in London:


The late Jonathon Thompson wrote some excellent Ferrari technical books, I also have his Boxer book:



This is a small book written in French:


This is an excellent book, with many rare photos:


This is a Canadian magazine from 1987 in tribute to Gilles:


Gilles forever....

 

I just found LibraryThing.com tonight and figured this would be a good way to keep track of which books I had or didn't have.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/rynoshark

I inventoried a fair percentage of my books so far and can keep track of some of the books on my wishlist. It is pretty neat!

 

Here's something similar:

www.goodreads.com

Jack.

 

No body have anything to say??
GV27TIFOSI

 

Well I have all of those you list except the last one (as well as some others) but I don't know the values because I'm not interested in selling. Try looking at www.abebooks.com or check out TE Warth auto books to see what prices they give.

Jonathan

 

I have the small GV booklet in french, I bought it a few years ago during a Retromobile visit in Paris if I remember correctly. It's from the french publisher E.P.A. and from what I can see it can be found for approx. 20$ at booksellers here and there.

Concerning the book repertories, I'm currently using an Excel sheet with links to images but having a look at the www.goodreads.com site I think it might be very useful. Part of the work is already done there and it seems you can implement your own books pretty easily.