Official book collectors thread

Since the book was presented on the Aon booth at retromobile my guess is Mr Bernard is the current director of APPIA Art & Assurance (found on linkedin), since he lists former positions with Aon and LDA. He would be the son of Lucien-François Bernard, who made LDA a reference for collectors cars insurance before making it join Aon.

 

Well, I hope I found the correct person now with the pleasant help of Yan-Alexandre, and I was even able to detect an email address after a deep web search.

If it is the right person and not an innocent French man wondering what all this Ferrari stuff is about I am addressing to him, I will let you know

 

I understand the author of the book is the AON's director son, indeed.

 

Porter Press are taking pre orders for what looks like a fascinating book on the GT40 and the original technical drawings of all aspects of the car.It is limited to 365 copies the first priced at £200 which are sold out and now £350 for the next 100 copies.The last 65 will be priced at £500.
Seems like they are imitating the Palawan method of pricing.Anyone got any thoughts of the book?


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My two cents, though with inflation I think it might only be worth about .005 cents today. OK, as far as this book goes, if you can bare with my long explanation, here are my thoughts... I missed the announcement of this book, and would have ordered one of the first 200 copies, but that's my limit for this one. (Price question... on their site it shows the first 200 being priced at £250 not £200, did something change?) Here's the thing with me... I love GT40s, been around them a lot. My model company has produced a few limited editions, and I have another one or more in the works. A number of my clients own or have owned GT40s. I have a pretty substantial GT40 photo archive, and 24 books only on GT40s, not an immense group, but enough. I also have an excellent reprint copy of the "Ford GT40 Illustrated Parts List" by/from J.W. Automotive. I don't need or want every GT40 book. Some of the books I have are great and are THE ones to have, while others which include two from Porter Press are quite lacking. The two Porter books are OK at best, though I was pretty disappointed with both.

My taste in cars and books is eclectic and very selective. I do collect books to some degree, and some are bought for their "collectibility." I don't consider myself a hard core book collector. I don't believe that this new Porter Press GT40 book will offer anything new, special, not seen or covered before by others. Some of this I am also basing on their recent big 2 volume Ferrari GTO book, and other titles they have published. I also don't know either author, and being the jaded cynic that I am, well... I don't have a great deal of confidence in what may or may not be delivered. Of course I could be wrong, and certainly some Porter books are great. So with all that wind I've been blowing, I would have bought this at £200 or £250, but not for any more. This would mainly have been bought as a collectible item, but not for any great expectations of its content for a book in this price range. And I really do not like or approve of the route that some publishers i.e. Porter Press are going these days with their pricing structures.

 

I don’t understand the economics of the pricing models some of these publishers are using. Presumably unit cost goes down with volume. So, wouldn’t it make sense to print, say, 750 copies at a lower price point than 365 copies, but still priced high enough to make a respectable profit? Surely a high quality book would attract 750 buyers at a lower, but still profitable price. But I’m not in the business, so I don’t know.

 

Sorry my error they have sold the initial ones for £250.Some very valid points,agree the pricing steps really annoy me.

 

Late edit…

I’m just not going to spend that kind of money unless the author is well known or an expert on the subject, the subject holds high interest for me, the information is newto me, at least) and the build quality is high. If all of that is offered then the price becomes less important.

 

+1 !

 

I'm certainly not a fan of that kind of pricing model but I think it is reasonable to assume that they're trying it because they think it will give them the best return. I can't say I'm too fond of limited edition printing altogether. I want the books to exist, so I want the publishers to make money so they can continue publishing but I don't care how many other people own an identical volume to one I might buy. I buy books, I don't sell them so I don't care about future value (although I appreciate other people do). Limited versions in addition to the standard, on the other hand, are a different matter. I have no issue with that.

Of course, the other thing with these limited editions - and presumably part of the objective from the publisher's point of view - is that you are pretty much obliged to buy without seeing an actual copy of the book in question. I'm not a potential purchaser of the GT40 book but fully agree that, if I were, I would want to see it first or, at the very least, have a review from a reasonably trustworthy source.

 

They may have a hard time moving 750 copies. (High end) publishers tend to limit their print-runs more and more. The new Simon Moore Alfa Romeo 8C addendum is limited to 700 copies, while 1000 copies of 'The Magnificent Monopostos' (2014) were printed and sold. The publishers' comment in the brochure:
"We appreciate that not all owners of Simon’s previous books will want to have the detail given in this volume to complement the history given in the three previous books, so we have only printed 700 copies".
Many years ago Tony Adriaensens confided to have destroyed half the print-run (750 copies) of his fantastic publication 'OttoVu' (try to buy a decent copy today). Unsold books take up a lot of space, and at some point they get remaindered or destroyed.
As discussed before book publishing is complicated and risky.

 

I bought the excellent Palawan Racing Through Europe nearly 2 years ago at the £400 price point. The £500 price point books still remain, I am sure they would have sold out at the 400 quid price..
Does it bring the, Iam not paying that much when he/she got it for that price mentality or just simply the item becomes overpriced or both? It seems a divisive method of selling.

 

Well, I find these pricing policies bizarre, to say the least, but don't forget that the price of paper has exploded in recent months and for us who print magazines, the cost of printing each issue has doubled in the space of a year. And every time we go to the printer, we don't know what it's going to cost us, as the variations are so constant (always upwards) that the quotes we sign are no longer valid.
All the publishing houses are struggling at the moment and I see a lot less books coming out than usual since the beginning of the year. I think everyone is trying to find a way to sell books without losing money... After all, it's a question of supply and demand. If Porter Press can get away with this kind of pricing and they sell books, good for them (and good for us, too)

 

I have the McKlein book “The Original Ford GT 101 “ which I’m told is close to selling out now. Euro 120.00 plus shipping. Bargain and excellent. Porter also have another GT40 book arriving soon.

 

It’s interesting that the same discussion is happening in the book thread in The Nostalgia Forum at the British-centric Autosport.com There’s a consensus that books are too expensive and people are generally resentful of the pricing games that some publishers are playing.

 

I find the Palawan pricing totally acceptable as it’s clear from the date of publication what they are asking. Take it or leave it. I find the Porter pricing less acceptable as they just put the price up when they have sold a large percentage with no prior indication or notice as to the new higher level.
If demand is not there then prices will come down. Publishers will not sell out. The second hand market will reduce to move the book and the losers will be the publisher. Dangerous game.

 

So true. At some point, you get tired of feeling worked over and get out of the game. I've been there before. Specifically, years ago with Hazleton Publishing and their Autocourse annuals. There was definitely a certain amount of "schadenfreude" when they finally blew up the business model on that one...

 

Is there any new information about the release date of this book? Thanks

 

Probably late 2023 or early 2024.

Marcel Massini

 

Thank you Mr. Massini

 

Does anyone have this book, and if so, what is your opinion? Is it just a slight update to Adler's Ferrari 70 Years book of five years ago? I've seen copies in bookstores, but they're always shrink-wrapped.

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Good question, I've seen it around the usual traps for a while now and like you thought it was just a possible minor update to a book I already own.

As shelf space becomes more scarce I'm now more discerning about my future book purchases.

 

Welcome to the club ...

 

Beginners book, don't bother!

 

Thanks for the opinion. The 70 Years book was just a slight update to his Road from Maranello book from 2006, so I'll save my money for a different title.