Official book collectors thread

Also added another N. Beehl book to my library with this great reference book.

I think that just about marks the end of 2021's new additions.





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I quite agree.

Thank you Mr. Massini for recommendations but unfortunately I don't speak German or Japanese.

 

Yes, love that book!

And Michael Dregni’s Ferrari - Das Werk or for our english reading friends the english version INSIDE Ferrari
is a great addition because of the great photos from F40 on the production line.

 

The "F40 LM" book by Cavalleria and the "F40 da corsa" book also appear to be excellent, although I had only brief looks at them and cannot comment in depth.

But I am very happy that as a native speaker of German I can read and enjoy Werner Schruf's book, which is hard to top.

 

I was wildly impressed with all three of them. In particular, I felt the postcards book was spectacular. What might sound like a rather esoteric subject comes alive with all of the period details (signatures, associated images, and so on). In addition, the quality of the leather binding (from Legatoria d'Arte Giovanni Codina in Milan) is a revelation. Not only does it look and feel incredible, it even smells great. In that regard, I've seen nothing else that even comes close, up to and including the recent Jota Edition of the Kidston Miura book.

 

Impressive praise indeed.

 

I have been so intrigued by what @Rosey and @trashidelek! wrote about "A Postcard from Maranello" that I ordered a copy right away. Trashidelek is right in that it appears to be an esoteric topic, so that I would never had bothered to buy a copy. But after that praise, I could not resist.

I only hope that I will be able to find the supplement from 2017 someday (see discussion in https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/a-postcard-from-maranello.647007/#post-148256888). Maybe, @piloti can help?

 

This presumably does not yet exist:

https://ferrari.cherished.cc/

 

And it is questionable whether it will ever exist ... The quality of the layout is shockingly bad. And to pay hundreds or even thousands of Pounds just to get a one-page or five-page mention in a book which consists only of people and their cars who also paid money is a strange concept. I would advise owners to turn to Blurb and create their own book with a much more professional layout at a portion of the costs.

 

I hope I haven't oversold it! I feel a certain "weight of responsibility"...

Hopefully, you will agree that it is a special book. In much the same way that period memorabilia has a fascination in that is represents a tangible link to history, the primary appeal of the postcards book (to me, at least...) was that it offers all sorts of interesting tangents and connections for an observant reader to ponder and explore. I have no doubt that much of it could be lost on someone whose interest lies only with Ferrari cars, to the exclusion of their historical context. One the other hand, for anyone interested in the people, places, and circumstances from which the cars came, or who has an appreciation for what are now very rare and privileged period documents, the appeal is strong. In short, definitely not a book for everyone, but unique for the right person and for the level it achieves in the context of what it is.

 

Exactly my taste Although I must admit that your mention of the great leather smell inspired me as much I will get a still-sealed copy with the maximum smell

 

As an author who does research for owners of historically significant cars I cringe when I see that. How stupid do they think these people are?
A book is only a worthy proposition if there is a true story to research and tell. Most relationships between owners and their recent Ferraris are not even close to meriting an article. Fyi I turned down doing a book on one 250GTO for its owner quite a few years ago because I felt it's history was too limited.

 

That was my reaction as well. As purely a business proposition this probably makes sense. There are always people willing to pay for a little bit of perceived fame, no matter how shallow. It’s part of the Facebook frame of mind, getting as much of their personal lives...especially if it implies a degree of wealth or success or inspires envy....into the public realm. But as someone already suggested, why not just vanity publish your own book instead of having it in a mash-up with other poseurs? I suppose that having it in a book with other cars implies, “Hey, you have a fantastic car! Can we include it in our book?” to those who aren’t aware of the truth.

By the way, the ghost-writer feature drips with irony....somebody wants to tell the story of themselves and their car, but not in their own words.

 

I agree with you and Marc completely. It seems like little more than a new expression of the old vanity press idea. If billionaires can commission entire books about their cars, why not try to take the concept down-market and give the "average" millionaire an opportunity to pay for a few pages about them and their 458 or 488? The scary thought that comes to mind is that the idea might actually work. Consider that most every high school yearbook in this country is filled with similar pages where people pay plenty to publically "recognize" their children. Is the relationship between the typical newer Ferrari owner and his/her car or child really that different in this respect?

 

Excellent posts, Jack and you, the Facebook world in all its crass shallow nouveau riche materialistic vulgarity. Replace Ferrari with pricy whatever, adapt to sucker, or punter in Brit speak, then charge him or her for vapid "book".

 

The whole idea made me cringe but I can see that people would go for it for the reasons already discussed. I do not understand, having paid for 5 pages, what you then do with 5 books! Presumably you give them as gifts to people who do not know what to do with such a book and that is that.

I have no idea how much something like this would cost:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10223842465323095&id=1639136628&m_entstream_source=timeline&ref=m_notif&notif_t=nf_status_story

but it is presumably better value for money and I am certain that Cyrille will have done a fantastic job.

I am surprised a book about a single 308 stretches to over 400 hundred pages if there was not enough information to warrant a book about a single 250 GTO!

 

That kind of thing makes a lot more sense. I can understand an owner wanting a well documented history of his car in book form, the more complete and well produced, the better. I’ve had a few cars that I wish I’d had the foresight to document with a book.

Unless I misunderstand, the book in your FB link was probably published solely for the car’s owner. By the way, I’m certain that a very high percentage of 250GTO owners have privately published books about their cars. It’s the prudent thing to do with respect to provenance, value and insurance cover.

 

I have such a book.... it's called Classiche !!

 

For model cars, this concept exists already for some time. Amalgam will build your exact personal car as a scale model.

 

You got me there and I have to say that while I am proud of the research I have done for my articles and books, it'll be 30 years this coming February, Cyrille is an outstanding researcher. He is helped in part by this era when information and interviewees (those still alive at least) are much easier to track down. He takes it to another level by extreme fastidiousness and using the internet very cleverly. He contacted me when he was doing a book on the ex Cappadonna Daytona because I had showed it for sale at the first Cavallino Classic and somehow talked me into going deep in my photo archives to find what I had. That is a key aspect; motivating the data source to deliver. With time you learn there are patterns by country as to how the potential interviewees will respond to a request. He looks for every gas station receipt (just an analogy) and develops a narrative from that, it was interesting to help him for that. I found these photos of the car, I barely remembered speaking to Phil Hill for the first time that day (February 1992). He also got a major US Ferrari collector to tell his tale about that car. So he is good at not just getting to the information source but at extracting it. And regarding that GTO yes I would probably reconsider the book about it now....but I have other projects.


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Ok, question- is there a way to get these books out of the white cardboard outer box without damaging the white box?

 

Do a virtual opening!

 

Well you don't have to damage the box. Just slit the paper and pull out the flap.
Nathan
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Many years after the Merritt yearbook reprints I've come across a NEW reprint. This is for the 1956 yearbook. I picked it up off Ebay where it was listed as a 'Reprint', but I expect it won’t be long until some unscrupulous people are selling it as the real thing.
It is a good reprint. about the same size as the original and good quality printing with spot colour in all the right places.
So here’s how to spot the differences, even in photos;
The cover of the original is slightly larger than the pages; the reprint cover is trimmed to the exact size of the pages
The spine of the original is white, the reprint is half white, half blue
The photos in the reprint have a slight tint to them
And of course, the reprint looks like a new book, not a book nearly 70 years old.
Nathan


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Hi Mark,

Did your copy of Sales Drive come with a print too?

Really great that you have a matching number set with a low number too

Thanks Matt