I envision it as something like Lew Lipset's Encyclopedia of Baseball cards, which involved an extensive writeup of each set involving background information, date of release theories, relations to other sets, etc. It was a shame that only 3 volumes were created - 19th century (N), tobacco (T), and early gum and candy (E). There was a basic pricing section, but that was not a focus, and in my opinion definitely not something necessary.
Online the Old Cardboard site (which you can access with the tab on upper right of this page) and prewarcards.com site do a pretty good job with vintage card info, with Old Cardboard providing great images and checklists for many sets, and Anson with his prewarcards site approaching each set in a more thorough Lipset-ian fashion, with of course updated info and research since Lew's books were published around 40 years ago. Perhaps using Anson's output, combined with input from experts in particular sets, could create a great physical hobby resource....
Just a thought.
Brian
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