vintage Janes's annuals, worth the effort?

[phrenzy]

Through a strange confluence of events I've found someone who has 56 James annuals on a wide variety of topics from '76 through 2001.

I actually contacted him about buying one he had advertised locally for around $50 and asked if he had more and what would he want for the lot. He told me he had more than 50, he'd had them a while and nobody was buying them and they were fast becoming clutter, I could have them all for $200 (that's less than $3.90 a book he said). They are ex library books in good condition (the ones I've seen pictures of anyway), I assume he got them very cheap (or free) saw other annuals listed on eBay or somewhere else for big money and then wondered why nobody bit his hand off for a 1981 small arms annual for $50.
Being a lover of cold war histriography I thought this was an easy decision but this chap is interstate and the books apparently weigh 122kg so it's going to cost me an additional $275 to ship it here in 4 30kg boxes.

I suppose my question is if I'm going to study these sorts of subjects (particularly as a history student) am I going to find them useful? It seems to be an all our nothing deal as he wants rid so I cavy cherry pick without paying nearly 10 times add much per book. Still after shipping that's still less than $10 per.

Do you have old Jane's annuals? Are they interesting/useful? Would you fork out $500 for them?

I can't decide if this a bargain and the possibly a cornerstone of a good personal reference library or if I'm a little batty and it's not really going to be good for much...

Thanks!

 

[phrenzy]

I Certainly didn't mean to lock this topic, not sure why that happened but thanks to everyone who PMed me!

 

[CJGibson]

The question you should be asking is:

'How can I sneak this lot into the house without the missus knowing.' As a Librarian, Mrs CJ can detect such things in seconds.

Chris

 

[martinbayer]

Using USPS media mail you should be able to bring the pure shipping cost down to about $135, see the downloadable pricing file at https://www.usps.com/ship/media-mail.htm.

I have a number of Jane's annuals of various vintages, mostly on aviation and spaceflight, and paying about $6.50 per copy for additional ones in my areas of interest would be a no brainer to me.

Martin

 

[phrenzy]

Unfortunately I'm in Australia so usps isn't an option. I'm a little surprised that you can ship 270LBs of anything for that price in the states, no wonder they are going broke

I've decided to go ahead with it even though I can't really afford it and I already have books coming out of my ears. I used to think storing books was a problem until I realized I could make bookshelfs for smaller books out of bigger books. Plus for all the books I have laying around I don't have much solid reference material so this should be good.

Id only have spent the money on food and shelter anyway.

Thanks for the reassurance, I think I'll be pretty happy though.

 

[Bill Walker]

This is probably not statistically significant, but I thought you might be interested in my experience last weekend. A dealer at a local flea market had a box marked "hard cover books $1". (Canadian of course.) I dug down to the bottom of the box, and bought a very nice copy of the 1976/1977 Jane's All the World Aircraft for $1CDN.

 

[phrenzy]

That certainly doesn't change my decision (in fact is already paid for) but it suddenly makes them look a little expensive.

If anyone has a question that a 30 year old Janes annual might answer you know who to ask now...

 

[Jemiba]

... it suddenly makes them look a little expensive.

Such findings are the reason, I'm often poking through those boxes with books on flea markets,
too. Always hoping for such gems, the seller hadn't recognised... :-\
At professional second hand book shops, chances are close to zero, I think.

 

[Bill Walker]

Jemiba is right, the pros know what this stuff is worth and you never find deals there. Like him, I live in hope and visit every book dealer at every market I visit.

 

[Stargazer]

A collection of Jane's All The World's Aircraft annuals is certainly a valuable source of data for any serious aviation researcher. Although some of the info therein may be obsolete, at times inaccurate with regards to information divulged later (especially regarding Cold War aircraft) they are full of lesser-known types that would be all but forgotten without they inclusion in these volumes. I envy you!! ;D

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

I found some amazing stuff in England - a brand new looking copy of The Attack Aircraft, Su-25 and its Derivatives by Ildar Bedretdinov in an Oxfam bookshop for 5 pounds, and a load of stuff for 1-3 pounds at a market once. I still dream occasionally about that market stall - I didn't have enough money to buy everything I wanted and when I returned a few weeks later he had gone

 

[Orionblamblam]

Always hoping for such gems, the seller hadn't recognised... :-\
At professional second hand book shops, chances are close to zero, I think.

Found this one at a hole-in-the-wall rock/newage/music/book store:

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,21829.0.html

I've seen some amazing things in "professional" used book stores. And they almost always knew exactly what they had.

 

[phrenzy]

I'm a pretty vigilant op shopper and second hand book peruser, I think I've found about 5 copies of cnn's Gulf War for every other slightly interesting book. Not sure why it was so popular here unless it was a giveaway with something else or a newspaper deal or something but I find them EVERYWHERE.

 

[phrenzy]

So they have all arrived.
I'm a little disappointed as there are a few duplicates, many sequential years and no straight aircraft annuals but there is some good stuff. Not a whole lot of modern stuff but it would mostly cover any cold war research someone might want to do. If there is anything anyone needs a reference for that might be covered in one of these just pm me and let me know. Also, if there are any (particularly that aren't the newest ones) you might want and have some aerospace ones to trade please let me know.

The most useful/latest ones, for this forum at least, I've picked out are:

Janes strategic weapons issue 34 (2001?)

Jane's weapons systems 1984-85 (a very big book that seems to try and cover ALL weapons systems)

Jane's c4i 2006-2007

Jane's radar and electronic warfare systems 2006-2007

Jane's land based air defence 1997-98

Jane's Belfield surveillance systems 1992-93

Jane's military communications 1994-95


The complete list:

Janes strategic weapons issue 34 (2001?)

Janes strategic weapons issue 33 (2000?)

Jane's land based air defence 1997-98

Jane's land based air defence 1994-95

Jane's weapons systems 1984-85

Jane's radar and electronic warfare systems 2006-2007

Jane's radar and electronic warfare systems 2003-2004

Jane's radar and electronic warfare systems 2002-2003

Jane's radar and electronic warfare 1995-96

Jane's radar and electronic warfare 1995-96

Jane's radar and electronic warfare 1994-95

Jane's radar and electronic warfare 1993-94

Jane's radar and electronic warfare 1990-91

Jane's radar and electronic warfare 1990-91

Jane's c4i 2006-2007

Jane's c4i 2005-2006

Jane's c4i 2002-2003

Jane's c4i 2001-2002

Jane's c4i 1999-2000

Jane's c4i 1999-2000

Jane's c4i 1997-98

Jane's c4i 1995-96

Jane's c4i 1994-95

Jane's c3i systems 1993-94

Jane's c3i systems 1993-94

Jane's c3i systems 1992-93

Jane's c3i systems 1991-92

Jane's c3i systems 1990-91

Jane's c3i systems 1990-91

Jane's military communications 1994-95

Jane's military communications 1991-92

Jane's military communications 1990-1991

Janes military communications 1988

Janes military communications 1987

Janes military communications 1986

Janes military communications 1985

Jane's Belfield surveillance systems 1992-93

Jane's Belfield surveillance systems 1992-93

Jane's Belfield surveillance systems 1991-92

Jane's battlefield surveillance systems 1990-91

Jane's battlefield surveillance systems 1990-91

Jane's nuclear biological chemical defence 2002-2003

Jane's nuclear biological chemical defence 2000-2001

Jane's nuclear biological chemical defence 1998-99

Jane's nuclear biological chemical defence 1997-98

Jane's nuclear biological chemical defence 1995-96

Jane's electro optic systems 2003-2004

Jane's electro optic systems 2002-2003

Jane's electro optic systems 2001-2002

Jane's electro optic systems 1999-2000

Jane's electro optic systems 1998-99

Jane's electro optic systems 1998-99

Jane's electro optic systems 1997-98

Jane's electro optic systems 1996-97

Jane's electro optic systems 1995-96

Jane's electro optic systems 1995-96

Jane's military vehicles logistics 1996-97

Jane's military vehicles and logistics 1993-94

Jane's military vehicles and logistics 1992-1993

Jane's military vehicles and logistics 1990-91

Jane's military vehicles and logistics 1989

Jane's military vehicles and logistics 1989

 

[Abraham Gubler]

Which ones do you have duplicates of? I might be willing to take a few off your hands and help earn back some of the money you spent shipping them out to Oz.

My best book find story was in 2001 visiting home and popping into the local beachside newsagent. Went down the aisle of magazines to the aviation, boat section and started browsing. Saw something red behind a few magazines and reached in and pulled out an Air Enthusiast No. 63 from 1996! It is the edition with all the unbuilt projects from CAC. I thought this looks pretty interesting and was cheap at only $5.95. Went up to the counter and tried to buy it. The staff were confused because it was an old price tag and it didn’t come up on their barcode scanner. The manager was called. He looked closely and announced that it must have been sitting in the racks for five years and they couldn’t actually sell it as they probably declared it unsold and destroyed. Said I could take it for free and they didn’t even rip the cover off. Since it was mostly about Australian secret projects and in my home town I like to think it was there waiting for me.

It’s not the best book I found but it is the best story.

 

[phrenzy]

Anything in the list twice should be a duplicate. There's a 95-96 electronic warfare, 99-2000 c4i, 92-93 battlefield surveillance, 98-99 electro optic systems and possibly a couple more (I havnt had them all out together I'm just going on my handwritten list.

If there are any second / third newest editions that appeal I'm probably happy to let those go too. It's mostly the newest and oldest ones that appeal to me (if I have an 85, 91, 2000 and 2006 of something I doubt I'll miss a 2001 or 1993).

 

[phrenzy]

I have to to say I am particularly enjoying the vintage ads. "If your not using Drago artillery rounds, your only fighting half the battle! " facsimile 123456 or teletype 1234567. He graphics are a lot of fun.

I can't help but wonder who is in charge of defence spending and suddenly saw a half page black and white ad full of exclamation points and little explosion graphics for some little company in Belgium and was like "where have you been all my life? !".