Best edition of a Jane's Annual book?

[uk 75]

I know that I am not alone in building up a collection of old Jane's annual books notably Fighting Ships and All the World's Aircraft.

Inevitably some editions get looked at more than others.

The late 60s editions of the Fighting Ships seem to be my favourites judging by the number I have and how often I use them.

All the World's Aircraft in the early 90s seem chock full of fascinating projects that never made it. Russia and Ukraine rather than the Soviet Union account for a lot of these.

So as 2022 staggers to a close which Jane's do you reach for most often?

 

[NH 17]

Mid fifties through early seventies. The building of the post war fleet, and the emergence of the Soviet Union as a peer to the USN.

Editions from 56-57 and earlier employ the landscape format, which is difficult to use unless you are at a table or desk. The photographs from the early editions can be poor as well.

The latest editions are fantastic, with color photographs and minutely detailed specifications. However, what was always an expensive book is now $2000, which is just out of the range for most of us, especially with the internet at our fingertips.

Never caught the All the World’s Aircraft bug, so can’t comment.

 

[southwestforests]

I kind of like the Jane's World Railways 1985-86 which is currently over on shelf under a dusty stack of softcover airplane books.
Was interesting time for introducing and/or developing new technologies, some things weren't changing, yet, and some things were.
(is also the only Jane's book I own)

 

[zebedee]

The early editions of Surface Skimmers - Hovercraft and Hydrofoils from the late 60's and early 70's are fascinating... so many ideas and technologies being tried!

Zeb

 

[Foo Fighter]

Never had the funds or storage to get into this but, when library's began to divest themselves of these assets 'could' have acquired about a decades worth for literally pennies per book. As we all know, storage is the real killer of these and other printed products so digital will be cheaper. Again here, we have improvements in storage etc which mean constant moves for the data and that leads to corruption. No true answer but go back to paper.

Quite the roundabout this puzzle.

 

[NH 17]

I know that I am not alone in building up a collection of old Jane's annual books notably Fighting Ships and All the World's Aircraft.

Inevitably some editions get looked at more than others.

The late 60s editions of the Fighting Ships seem to be my favourites judging by the number I have and how often I use them.

All the World's Aircraft in the early 90s seem chock full of fascinating projects that never made it. Russia and Ukraine rather than the Soviet Union account for a lot of these.

So as 2022 staggers to a close which Jane's do you reach for most often?

Been thinking about this post. Never actually met anybody that collects these things, although like this exchange, occasionally see it mentioned online. Where do you get your copies? Bricks and mortar stores, online, or both? What other naval almanacs do you collect (think I have seen you mention Weyer's). Have you seen a change in pricing and availability?

Clearly, there is a core group that covets the most valuable copies (pre 1914, and to a lesser degree pre 1939). Always scarce, they are now difficult to obtain for anything reasonable, if they can be found at all. Recently, there was a 1904 copy online for $1900 that is no longer listed. Did someone actually pay that?!

The price for other copies has dropped considerably. Before online sales, it was unusual to find more than a copy or two at a time, and then only in a used bookstore with a depth of inventory. You had to pay what they were asking, almost regardless of condition because there was little choice. Now you can go online and price shop for copies across the continents. Still, I kinda miss the thrill of the chase.

Do you have standards for a purchase, such as first editions, non- library copies, having a dust jacket and so on? Perhaps you just want a reading copy and don't care about that stuff?

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

I own a few (post 1970 volumes) which I picked up for small amounts of money when I lived in England (14+ years ago now). You'd come across the All The World's Aircraft and the Fighting Ships ones pretty often in second hand bookshops and I even found some more esoteric volumes. They aren't that useful to me in general as someone interested in projects and design history.

Since the massive price increases in the cost of the books, I imagine much fewer copies were sold, so the second hand market would have greatly reduced supply.

 

[uk 75]

I started buying Weyers Flottentaschenbuch in 1974 when I found a damaged copy of rhe 1973/4 edition going cheap in a Hamburg secondhand bookshop (it closed in 2017!).
I bought a new edition in 1983 after the Falklands and have bought new ones at regular intervals to the present day.

Oxford Library used to get all the Janes books each year and still has fairly recent copies of Aircraft and Ships. Some of the others were kept in the stores at the Library.

I have also bought old editions of Flottes de Combat and recently added the 1962/3 and 1964/5 editions of the Almanacco Navale from UK booksellers.

Thanks to a second hand shop in Charing Cross Road and another in Wantage I have various military Janes from 1960 to 1995 or so I did manage to get the 2002 or so Fighting Ships from a Charity Shop.

I dont mind big books without dust jackets as these tear easily and I cant be bothered to cover them. I dont record prices but they were bought usually because cheap.

 

[NH 17]

Keep your eye out for Marinkalender (Swedish). They are a bit smaller than Weyer's. Although they are weakest of the almanacs, they are cheap and worth a look.

Coming to England in May and looking forward to the used bookstores.