I am a collector who appreciates everything, new and old. One question I would have about the survival chances of a vintage only book is how much "new" stuff hits those books in a year period? Who is going to buy a copy each year, if it's updated that often?
I would only pick up one of the large catalogs every couple of years, because at close to $50, it didn't seem like much was new other than adding another year of new issues. Often I would buy a slightly older copy for much less, because I didn't need the brand new sets, so an old copy was fine. In this regard, I was growing tired of the books, because the new cards were taking up so much space with their endless tiers of parallels and inserts and the print was shrinking fast.
I may pick one of these up if the content is significantly greater than what is contained in one of the old guides.
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Originally Posted by Rich Klein
1) Alan -- that is correct for a majority of users of this board as well as show dealers; but as I pointed out and Bob agreed; the vast majorities of users of this book are not like you and me but of the more modern realm.
(I also pointed out that I hope F&W has a major success with this book -- but based on MY experience at Beckett with the Almanac I have some serious doubts that there will be large amounts of monies made at $29.95. I would have kept the price point where it was and threw in everything with the kitchen sink when it came to pre-1981 materials.)
2) I think Bob has it correct; this may be the last print edition before next year going to a completly on-line version. No one loves print more than I do; but print is no longer part of our future. Bob correctly pointed out the difficulties of the Borders chain.
Yes, I will buy a book -- but to keep this book alive -- be prepared to pay more monies in the future.
Rich
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