Official book collectors thread

Well, I tried to subscribe to the newsletter, but pressing the submit button did nothing, so I sent an email. So far, just a “we’ll get back to you” response.

 

I sent them emails too.
No reply.

Marcel Massini

 

Would you like me to order a copy for you both?

 

Thank you for the very kind offer. Much appreciated.
Right now no.
I will just wait.

My best regards
Marcel Massini

 

Looks like I can (still) apply the discount code!

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I just placed my order and received the 22% discount. Enter code 22in2022.
Still looking for copies of Don't Wash Mine.

 

Thank you, Dennis, for your very kind offer. I’ll let you know after I get a reply from the publisher.

Jack.

 

Not a book as such, bookazine!
Wish my French was a bit better
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I was delighted to receive, a few days ago, a gift of Dealing in Dreams by John Collins of Talacrest (not, I hasten to add, from John Collins!). This is the second edition, although, much to my surprise seems considerably different to the first edition. I should note, however, that I don't have a copy of the first edition to hand to do a detailed comparison but this edition no longer includes tests of many cars taken from Auto Italia magazine, has a different layout and a number of additional sections.

The bulk of the book takes the form of some brief history of individual cars and details of Talacrest's dealings with them over the years. For some cars Collins has bought and sold them several times. There are also some pages of biographical background on John Collins; a section on his own Ferraris; a section on some of the non-Ferraris he has dealt with; some pages on the recent Riyadh Concours etc. About 440 pages in total with hundreds of photos.

Now, of course, this is John Collins book and he is telling what he wants the reader to know and that (at most!) is only his side of the story. As an example, the cover shows John with 250 GTO s/n 3387 but in the book he only says, rather coyly, that he had it for sale for £45million in 2016. Well, there's rather more to that story but you won't find it here.

Notwithstanding the above and although I have only dipped into it so far, I do like this book. It is something a little different, with its background on the deals, but very much a niche that some will have little interest in, rather than an essential for a Ferrari book collection.
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Sounds like it is more interesting than the first edition, which I found to be a complete waste of paper.

 

I do think it is the kind of book that some will like (as I do) and others will hate and it is still John Collins' views. So, if you didn't like the first edition, I doubt you will like the second edition very much better.

 

It is fair to say that I wouldn't have considered purchasing Taschen's Ultimate Collector Cars if someone hadn't asked about it here. The first thing to say is that the two volumes, slipcased are very large (900 pages) and very, very heavy. Certainly a good candidate for the heaviest book I own. It features 100 cars from a variety of different makes including a number of Ferraris (250 GTO, 250 LM, 250 Testa Rossa, 365 Tre Posti etc.).

It must be said that the quality of presentation is very good. An example of each car is shown in a number of large format photographs along with period photographs (which are mostly familiar). The text will likely tell you little new about the cars you know but perhaps, like me, you may not know all 100 cars.

The RRP is £200 GBP. I paid half that. It actually says it is a limited "first printing" of 10,000 copies (yes really!! hahaha!). I have a few Taschen books on other subjects and, like those, this is a book you will likely browse from time-to-time rather than sit down and read from cover to cover. Anyway, I am pleased I have it.

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OK, which Ferrari book is the heaviest so far (in terms of weight)? OPUS Ferrari with 37 kilos?
Any others?

Marcel Massini

 

You know what you're going to get with McKlein book and that is superb photography. Jochen Rindt - A Champion with Hidden Depths certainly does not disappoint on that score with some 400 photographs of Rindt at work and at play. Perhaps a little more surprising is the text (bilingual in English and German) by Dr Erich Glavitza, who knew Rindt well and paints a fascinating picture of the man, even if he doesn't always come across that sympathetically. The English translation is mostly satisfactory although you do have the original German there to refer to as well. The 1965 Le Mans win with the NART 250 LM gets its own chapter.

The book is large format (29cm square, 400 pages) with a slipcase. Officially €99.90 but shop around for the best price for this superb book.

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Heavy in terms of pure weight (as opposed to informative/intellectually stimulating), probably the Taschen Ferrari book, including the cilinderhead-box (and/or exhaust pipes).

 

Ah yes, the Opus. How much did the diamonds weigh, I wonder?

It took two hefty security guards to lift it at the presentation in London, I remember:

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I had hoped for the end of bilingual (and trilingual) books with the bankruptcy of Italian publisher Automobilia.

 

Opus, and to a lesser extend Taschen are pump and dump schemes.

 

Ah yes, I forgot that, its standing next to my desk here. My cleaning lady aways gets upset.

Marcel Massini

 

LOL

 

Cost per lb/kg might be an interesting comparison?

 

Well it is a cost thing, isn't it? It makes the book more viable for the publisher. In my view, better to have the book than not. Also, given many niche books are not that well translated, it can actually be an advantage to have the text in the original language to translate yourself if something isn't too clear.

Cost per lb/kg or value per lb/kg? Quite a different result between the two, I think!!

 

Completely agree, some books are of little or no value. Ferrari Fifty Years on the Track comes to mind.

 

I appreciate your opinion. Personally I dumped most of the Automobilia titles, as I couldn’t bear their appalling english translation.

 

I'm not saying you're wrong but it is quite rare these days for publishers to pay for a decent translator for a niche motoring book. So the choice is to have the book with an imperfect translation or not have it at all. With the Rindt book the English is fairly good for the most part. Better than some of those translated from Italian (e.g. Ferrari at Heart) that I have read in the last year or two.