Book grumbles

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Once upon a time, it was very difficult to find certain rare books. One had to haunt library sales, travel to out-of-the-way antiquarian bookstores, and enlist the help of geographically scattered friends to keep an eye out for desired titles.

Then along came the Web, Amazon, and Google Books, and things got much easier.

Too much easier... so that now it's getting difficult again. It's far too easy these days to find an out-of-copyright work and knock it together with a Print On Demand company and sell it on Amazon. Trying to find a quality reprint is getting to be a challenge.

I cite my own experience with a reprint of John Wilkinson's Narrative of a Blockade Runner here... the would-be-editor contacted me to see if he could use a paper I'd done for a Round Table and afterwards put up on my website as a foreword to a reprint of Wilkinson's book. I said, sure, knowing that all I'd get out of the deal would be a couple of free copies of it-- but since I hadn't really expected to get anything for it, that was fine with me.

Problem is, I don't like the resulting book. I'd have preferred to make a few edits in my foreword (which is listed as a "forward," incidentally, to my chagrin) but was not given an opportunity, and while the typeface would be appropriate as a large-print work, I find it really distracting and difficult to read. As a result, I can't recommend a book that has my own name on the cover.

And when looking for a rare or out-of-print work, I often find myself willing to pay extra for an actual original edition or pre-Web reprint, because I just don't trust the Print On Demand stuff. I also see an increasing amount of garbage being sold as books-- stuff that real publishers wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole and could only be done by "vanity" presses, but that's no longer expensive enough to serve as a real obstacle to junk.

 

[Lost Cause]

I was given the following book as an online gift: Blood: Stories of Life and Death from the Civil War, Adrenaline Series, edited by Peter Kadzis.

The book is a list of excerpts used obtained from more popular civil war figures and authors routinely used (ie Grant, Sherman, Lincoln, Pickett, Watkins, Shaara, Crane, and Foote to name a few) in documentaries and movies such as PBS The Civil War and Gettysburg. The book's lack of originality reflects either disinterest or lack of knowledge of the civil war. Also, the book's title does not reflect the content. The cut and pasted entries end mid story. In a nutshell, I would not waste a match to burn it.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I've also spotted a number of "books" that are simply downloaded versions of Wikipedia articles. What the hey?

 

[John Winn]

I'm sorry to hear that your generosity was squandered in such a way, Mark.

I only learned of the print on demand thing a few years ago when I bought what I thought was an actual copy of Dunning's Reconstruction only to receive an assembled photocopy of a printing complete with underlining and margin marks. Live and learn I suppose. It was cheap and it suffices for my needs but it was definitely not advertised in any way to lead one to not think it was an actual printing. Caveat emptor.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Actually, I'm not fretting too much about the experience with the Wilkinson book... I just brought it up by way of illustration. The bigger headache for me is sorting through the dross to find the gold, and noting that the situation's deteriorating rather than improving.

(Incidentally, there are a few reprinters out there that I've found decent. The Kessinger firm, while a bit no-frills, seems to produce a sturdy hardback book, and I've ordered a couple of things from them. But yeah, caveat emptor and watch out for cheap stuff...)