Official book collectors thread

Well I don't think Bernard Asset designed the cover.

I wasn't suggesting buying it though. Not at that ridiculous price.

Actually, I wonder how many copies they need to sell to make a profit when charging that much. I am guessing not all that many.

 

I'm feeling a bit mean about old Brad now. There are some well-known names I would steer clear of, so it works both ways.

I am not interested in anything Schumacher-era onwards and often the coffee-table-breakers lead on these cars to appeal to the more modern (and less knowledgeable) Ferrari road car buyers.

 

TOFM 52.
095993659.
7330/21.

Marcel Massini

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Factory MONZA SP1/SP2 book.
No print number.
Limited edition of 499 copies, but not numbered.
Black carbon cover.
Foreword by John Elkann.
Also shows several hundred of the many individual Monza liveries (colors).
Plus the standard and special colors available including color names.
Pages are not numbered.
Very heavy and rather thick glossy paper.
Good but not superb printing quality.
Size 34 x 42 cms.
Weight 8 kgs including slipcase.
Comes in a massive heavy duty steel slipcase.
I paid Swiss Francs 3'280 which is approx. USD$ 3'650.

Marcel Massini

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And what's the actual text like, is it a well written analysis of the car or just Ferrari patting themselves on the back for a job well done?

 

Well.... Wow... Is it at least worth a tenth of that price ? That's crazy money for a book.

 

It is not. It is all relative.
I have Ferrari books for which I paid US$ 10'000 (ten grand).

Marcel Massini

 

I'd love a cheap, glossy paperback with all the livery combinations for the Monza, along with a small caption explaining their inspiration.

 

Of course, I'm a bit naïve... 3 600 € retail price x 499 copy = 1,8 million euros of revenues for the Ferrari store. Business as usual... "diversification" as they say...

 

This is for the owners of the cars, and a pro like Marcel Massini who is in the business of Ferrari. For the rest of us, unless you have too much money, just forget it!

 

Agreed....except for the “too much money” part.

“One can never be too thin or too rich.”
(Attributed to various mid-20th. century socialites).

 

More pics from inside are highly appreciated as I am still pondering about whether to buy it or not.

 

Keep in mind that copyrights have to be respected and therefore no pix of the inside of the book can be posted.

Marcel Massini

 

Absolutely not, post away

Members of the public may also use copyrighted work without asking for permission under a "fair use" exception, such as reviewing a piece of work, or using content for reporting current events.

For example, you're generally allowed to post book screenshots if you're reviewing a book , although it won't be legal for you to post the entire book online.
Also imagines can be posted to show condition of book when selling, if this was the case no books would be for sale on eBay,

 

I don't have an issue with paying good money for a book but it's the value for money aspect I question.

Remove the carbon fibre cover and the fact that there are only 499 being printed and I ask whether the actual content of the book is worth US$3,600 or anywhere close.

Is is a well researched, factually in depth book full of unique insight and well balanced writing (like a Massini, Nye, Bluemel, Beehl, Sonnery, Pritchard, etc book) because at that price I'd expect nothing less then a must have Ferrari classic

And to be honest from the few pages I have seen my first hunch was right.

It would be best described as a very expensive (all be it with some comprehensive model background, produced vehicle colourways and nicely bound) brochure.

Is there any credit to an actual author of this so called "book" ?

 

No credit to an actual author.
This is a photo book.

Marcel Massini

 

What could it possibly contain that would make it worth $3,600? I'm not sure there is a book in existence where the content is worth that. If you're paying a very high price you are mostly paying for the rarity, history etc. Bill Gates paid $30 million+ for the Da Vinci codex but if there were a million examples of it how much do you think it would be worth? Not $30 million!

 

Or even 499 examples!
Nathan

 

The Monza SP1/SP2 book is a commercial publication by Ferrari with only one purpose: selling expensive high-end products to its rich clients. Has nothing to do with what's it worth, just what are people willing to pay.

Euro 140 for a cotton shirt is the same discussion? https://store.ferrari.com/en-nl/short-sleeve-t-shirts_cod15546005222089650.html#dept=Fall_Winter_2021_M

Hugo

 

Absolutely agree.
Who cares, it's only money.

Marcel Massini

 

Maybe I'm crazy, and I'm happy to commit myself if I am, but I seriously don't understand the logic of some of the posters here.

On one hand they will criticise books like Taschen and Opus saying they are expensive, crass, money making, Ferrari name exploiting, over priced tomes.

Yet defend a book that can only be described as (and not a single contributor has proved me wrong yet I might just add) a glorified sales brochure at a similarly ultra high price point.

And now I'm told it's not just any sales brochure but a photo only brochure.

Maybe it's the 10 weeks spent in hard lockdown that's clouding my mind but seriously, am I missing something here ??!!

 

Hi Rosey, maybe a comparison from the car world helps explain this: When Volkswagen decided to built the highly-priced Phaeton, everybody said that's a stupid thing to do and there cannot be a VW at that price level, even more as this is an upgraded VW Passat. But when Bentley started using the chassis and much of the engine of the Phaeton to build to Continental GT, nobody complained even though this car even was considerably higher priced. Why? Because Bentley is accepted as high-end car maker.

Thus, if Ferrari decides to publish a book which could appear to be over-priced, nobody complains, because that's what Ferrari does all the time: Creating expensive goods with their branding. But who on earth are TASCHEN or Opus? They are upstarts in the car world and are not considered to be entitled to publish such books (in my view they are seen this way absolutely correctly).

 

I see your point Sven with the VW car analogy, but with the book it's slightly different.

Both Taschen and to a lesser extent Opus are actually very well regarded international publishing houses, Ferrari on the other hand make cars.

If anyone is the upstart in that group it's Ferrari getting involved with publishing rather than sticking to their core business of making sports/ F1 cars.

And having Ferrari endorse or create a book doesn't make it any more legitimate to charge a king's ransom in my opinion.

 

Is it being defended? Personally, I don't care because I do regard it as a brochure and I don't collect brochures so I wouldn't be buying it whatever the price. I would be buying the Taschen or Opus Ferrari books if they were a sensible price (and you could get the Taschen without the case thing that I would just throw in the bin) although the Opus is so stupidly big. I don't see any real difference with those three, however. They are all doing the same thing which is trying to make money by charging a ridiculous price. Maybe it works because there are enough people with enough money that buy these things (and probably never look at them). If it does work, then I don't see you can reasonably complain about the publishers (Taschen, Opus or Ferrari) because they are all businesses and businesses need to make money or they don't last very long. And maybe it isn't so very different to Ferrari selling so many of their cars to VIP clients who don't drive them anywhere?

 

Ferrari have a whole business, based in Switzerland, selling the Ferrari brand. These days, that is as much part of Ferrari's business as making cars and it is almost wholly profit too.