Books we would like to see reissued

G

gatoraptor

ACCESS: Top Secret
Senior Member
Joined
29 August 2010
Messages
600
Reaction score
305
There are plenty of out-of-print books I would like to see reissued, either the same as before or updated as required. Among these are:

ALL the Putnam Aeronautical Books, especially the factory histories (e.g. Boeing Aircraft Since...) and service histories (e.g. British Naval Aircraft since...)
The Cold War Years in Crecy's Hikoki series, a companion to two books still in print.
Combat Aircraft of the World, a 1969 (!) book that I still refer to!
Aircraft of the Third Reich, the missing volumes 2 & 3 to the recently updated volume 1.
Vietnam Air War Debrief and Gulf Air War Debrief, the best of the World Air Power Journal books.

(P.S. I prefer the Putnams in the smaller page size, not the larger one used in later years.)
 
I agree with you about the Putnams, they are really showing their age as several date back to the early 1960s. Even those that were updated later generally only had additions at the end and did not review the original text.
I would also encourage Tony Buttler to consider updating British Fighters and Bombers 1935 - 1950. There would be merit in pushing the start date back to 1930 in addition to revising the text
 
Ah the ultimate secret projects, from the minds of the Old Ones ;)
 
Agree on Putnams. Especially the German Giants and and Jerzy Cynk's Polish Aircraft.
 
Though I would revise them a bit. I agree with gatoraptor that smaller format suited the series much better. What I would change is the addition of "Jane's AWA" style technical and performance descriptions for each type covered. As of now the performance spec. is quite basic with information like take-off distances at various loads (ground roll and to clear 50 ft.) missing. I wouldn't mind constructional drawings either.
 
Everything written by Jean Cuny.
Jonathan Thompson's book on Italian aircraft.
 
Arjen said:
Jonathan Thompson's book on Italian aircraft.
Click to expand...

I agree on that one! It's amazing that after all this time, his book still stands up very well.

(P.S. All my other Thompson books are about Ferraris!)
 
Yefim Gordon's MiG-31 book from the Famous Russian Aircraft series. This book need to be seriously updated and reissued, perhaps doubled up with the MiG-25 like what he did with the Tu-22/22M book.
 
Must not start pulling Putnams and WAPJs from the shelves and muttering 'My Precious'....

It's worth keeping an eye on Amazon and other sites that sell second-hand, I picked up the Putnam's Fairey for a reasonable price last year. And the RAF and RN histories from a local bookshop for £8 each a few years before that. But updated editions would be nice, some of them are a lot weaker on unbuilt projects than others, and even for people who aren't fascinated by the might-have-been aspect they're a necessary element towards understanding design evolution.

Looking at naval stuff, there's a whole bunch of Norman Friedman and DK Brown books I'd like to see in a decently priced UK edition.

But the book probably most in need of re-release has to be Project Cancelled.
 
The key really is revising and updating.
With such a thriving secondhand book market there is little value in simply republishing old titles, unless prices have moved into the stratosphere. I would estimate that nearly half of my library of books were purchased secondhand.
 
Schneiderman said:
With such a thriving secondhand book market there is little value in simply republishing old titles, unless prices have moved into the stratosphere.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the quoted prices for a lot of secondhand books have "moved into the stratosphere"! I have some books on my Amazon "wish list" that occasionally appear as available - for prices like $200, $500, even $1500! I wouldn't pay more than $50 for any of them, and I seriously doubt if anyone else would, either. Who are these sellers trying to kid?
 
Its the result of using some kind of badly-written automatic pricing algorithm, or so I have read (or just plain greed/stupidity). Why sellers use it is a mystery. Checking out alternative sites, such as Abebooks and ebay, usually results in more sensible prices if you are patient. Many aircraft museums sell secondhand books at reasonable prices too.
 
Best aggregator site for book hunting that I'm aware of is https://www.bookfinder.com/.

Martin
 
martinbayer said:
Best aggregator site for book hunting that I'm aware of is https://www.bookfinder.com/.

Martin
Click to expand...

Well, I tried that site for a book that was supposed to have been published recently for $75 but which Amazon (U.S.) claims they could not get. Bookfinder showed 12 offers - for from $139 to $3020! Still ridiculous and unacceptable.
 
A few Putnams seem to be available for a fair price, but some command quite high prices. And I have a Putnam catalogue dated, I recall, 1990. There were supposedly forthcoming several new titles that remain still unpublished like Armand van Ishoven's Messerschmitt Aircraft. Antony Kay's Junkers Aircraft got published, but in my opinion it is the worst of all Putnam manufacturer volumes.
 
gatoraptor said:
Who are these sellers trying to kid?
Click to expand...

A question as old as time (statement assumes time started after commerce on the internet was a practical phenomenon). I once thought that some clearly ridiculous prices - I've seen fairly mundane books on Amazon listed for millions of dollars - were a way to launder money. But that would only make sense if someone actually bought the book, and of course nobody ever seems to. I suspect in a good fraction of the cases it's simply an automated algorithm screwing up somewhere; in other cases, it comes down to "it's very unlikely that someone will buy this, but maybe, just maybe..."

Not just books. There have been more than a few ebay listings discussed on this forum that were for prints or display models asking for *stupid* sums.
 
Typical of this apparent price gouging is a new British series called "Unseen Images from the Archives". These are a bit unique in that they each include two DVDs. I bought the first two volumes, on the Comet jetliner and on Grand Prix racing, at a fair price, but that all seems to have gone out the window now.

Three recent volumes, on Boeing, the Constellation and the Mosquito, are supposedly now all available, but only for exorbitant prices. I checked Amazon.co.uk to see if things were better in Britain, but not so; the books are all listed for over 400 pounds each! (Conversely, the Comet book is available for 6 pounds!)

It's almost as if the books are really not available, and that the publisher has no intent of actually publishing them. It reminds me of a magazine advertisement parody I once saw for a '30s French motorcar called a Vume, where the catch phrase was "A motorcar so exclusive that none will be built!"
 
Quite ridiculous.
My own book on the Schneider Trophy flying boats and seaplanes is on sale by a reputable UK online book seller for £284.18 while others price it at anything up to £794.95. The sensible price is around £25 and I am sure it can be found discounted.
 
I've seen The Air Staff and the Helicopter on Ebay for 35 quid!

Chris
 
The two favourite airplane books of my youth were Bill Gunston's Encyclopaedia of Combat Aircraft (from WW1 to the present day, i.e. 1977) and "Hitler's Luftwaffe", by Gunston and Tony Woods. I am nostalgically reminded of them now that my son is the same age as I was when I first discovered them.

The former is IMO deserving of an update and reissue, perhaps as "Gunston's Encylopaedia of Combat Aircraft from World War One to the Cold War", given what we now know about the true performance and history of these aircraft (especially the truth about the Soviet ones), and the fact that almost all the aircraft in it are now obsolete and their production and service histories are pretty much fully written. It was later split into three small handbooks in the same style which introduced a few extras (e.g. the Manchester) not covered in the original volume. As a broad-swath snapshot of military aviation's history, it still can't be beaten IMO despite the fact that time has exposed its deficiencies.

Much has also been done to uncover the true history surrounding some of the aircraft that flew for Nazi Germany, and both the operational history and technical sections of "Hitler's Luftwaffe" could be significantly expanded and revised.
 
Not a reissue in the strictest sense: I would like to the equivalent of Jane's All the World Aircraft for WW1 and WW2 (separate books).
 
Hi,

I hope to saw again; Jane's Encyclopedia of Bombers again.
 
By the way, the Jane's reprint "Jane's Fighting Aircraft of WW1" has some incredibly detailed info on some engines, even component metallurgical analysis!
 
Pasoleati said:
By the way, the Jane's reprint "Jane's Fighting Aircraft of WW1" has some incredibly detailed info on some engines, even component metallurgical analysis!
Click to expand...

Of course,it was a great book,but the Jane's Encyclopedia of Bombers was a rare one.
 
Pasoleati said:
When was it published? How detailed?
Click to expand...

To be honest,I don't know,but as I remember during late 1980s and early 1990s ?.
 
No hits on Google with "Jane's encyclopedia of bombers".
 
Indeed, and no hits with just the words Jane's and bomber (in case the title was slightly different from the one Hesham gave)
 
There was a Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation but not one of Bombers I'm afraid..

Maybe an other publisher...?
 
lark said:
There was a Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation but not one of Bombers I'm afraid..

Maybe an other publisher...?
Click to expand...

Did Bill Gunston not do a Bombers book a few years ago?
 
Yes indeed , "Jet Bombers ,from the Messerschmitt Me-262 to te Stealth B-2"
All about constructed machines.

Publ. Osprey Aerospace 1993-314p.
Bill Gunston with Peter Gilchrist
 
Perhaps this is the book you're thinking of? It's not by Gunston, and I don't know how good it is.

http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Encyclopedia-of-Bombers/dp/1844775100/
 
Project Cancelled - by Derek Wood

This was the book that spiked the interest in Cancelled Projects and a must for the collection.
 
Certainly a landmark book and worth a place in any collection, but I would not see a need to reissue it. More recent works have expanded upon his work and, in some cases, shown that parts are incorrect.
 
My dears and my friends,

in early 1990s,I went to a library to buy an encyclopedia,the founder told me there was three book for Jane's
of America,that book was one of them,and as I remembered he showed the three boo covers in a catalog ?,
because he didn't has them by that time,and he offered to export one of them to me,I picked the Jane's
Encyclopedia of Aviation.
 
Not a reissue in book form, but I would like to see Philip Jarrett's long Aeroplane Monthly article series "Nothing Ventured" reissued as a book. The same sbout AM's series Per Mare Probare and Probe Probare.
 
Schneiderman said:
Certainly a landmark book and worth a place in any collection, but I would not see a need to reissue it. More recent works have expanded upon his work and, in some cases, shown that parts are incorrect.
Click to expand...

Prices I've seen for used copies are fearsome; a reprint might drive that down. Regardless of its inaccuracies, it still represents an excellent broad-brush introduction to the cancelled-projects world. It was very much my gateway drug to the Secret Projects books.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom