New Ltd. Edition of Collector's Book Is Ready

[magicam]

The following paragraph added March 15, 2006

A FEW COPIES NOW AVAILABLE!

After waiting a very long time to receive payment from those who ordered copies, I now have 5 (only 5) copies of HGCR #1 available for sale, and they are at present only being offered to Genii Forum readers. After that, my supply of the edition of 200 copies is gone! Please see ordering details below, EXCEPT please e-mail me for my new mailing address. Do not send payment to the Mohawk Drive address listed below, and please e-mail me to confirm availability prior to sending payment. The comments by others in this thread fairly well reflect the overall response to HGCR #1, which of course has been most gratifying and humbling (and I thank you all for the kind comments). And so far, after a year and a half, I havent seen a copy offered for resale by a collector, so I gather most people think this series is a keeper at least for now!

For those who have wondered, the text of the next 3 volumes has been largely finished for quite some time I just need to get the photographs done, which is very time-consuming for me (an amateur). Im hoping to get another 2 volumes out in the next 6 months, before our first child arrives and all (good) hell breaks loose with being the father of a newborn (Ive been warned, ya know).

Finally, a request to all of you who own a copy of HGCR #1: please let me know if you have spotted any typos or other errors in the book, AND please read the last page of the book and see if you can perhaps help me out with my requests. My thanks in advance for any constructive criticism or bibliographical information you can provide. Remember, this is a sort of work in progress, and no good bibliography derives solely from its compiler!

Thanks for reading.

Clay Shevlin
Meminisse Magicam

End March 15, 2006 insert
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Well this book isnt rare or even probably appealing to most of you, but its not a thumb tip either. With the current debate about whether or not dealers and the rest of us are taking advantage of Richards good graces in this category, I hesitated to post this. But since Im publishing this book myself and am not really making money on this venture, and since it probably wont be reviewed anywhere other than (I hope) Magicol and The Magic Circular (i.e., it wont get much press), I thought it might be interesting news to those of you who are book collectors and or who like magic history and bibliography.

I am happy (and somewhat relieved) to announce the publication of the first installment of The Historians Guide to Conjuring (Redux), the slightly renamed second edition of Historians Guide to Conjuring (originally published in 1981 by the Conjuring Historical Society). When completed, HGCR will probably exceed 2,000 pages and will contain over 1,500 entries, all devoted to historical, biographical and bibliographical reference works on conjuring. I have no idea how many color and black and white illustrations there will be when the series is finished, but the number will be in the thousands.

HGCR #1 is at the press now and will be ready to ship early next week. It will have 94 large-format pages (including 12 pages in full color on glossy paper), a full color laminated cover, and will be perfect bound. There will be 64 illustrations, 34 of which are in full color. The edition is strictly limited to 200 numbered copies, each signed by the compiler (thats me).
The first portion of HGCR #1 contains an illustrated 18 page introduction which classifies and surveys the historical, biographical and bibliographical literature over the past 125 years, with well over 100 full titles given and briefly discussed to whet the appetite of the historian, bibliophile and collector.

The second portion will feature and provide detailed bibliographical information on the writings of Dr. Edwin A. Dawes (in my opinion the finest conjuring historian living today), and will contain never-before-published information on his books and monographs. In addition, all of the indices to Dr. Dawes books will be provided in HGCR #1, allowing a researcher to quickly locate where Dr. Dawes has discussed a particular magician or topic in his books.

Each bibliographical entry in HGCR will contain the following information:

Author, editor, compiler, etc.
Title
Place of publication
Publisher name
Date of publication
Printer name and location
ISBN
Number of copies printed and other edition limitation information
Notes on reference resources, i.e., indices, appendices, bibliographies, etc.
Detailed binding description
Detailed dust jacket description
Original retail price
Full color reproduction of binding and dust jacket
Reproduction of the index or indices
Commentary (sometimes lengthy), written with the general goals of providing
useful and interesting information to the researcher and/or collector, including
the merits of the title, its history and background, and other information intended
to inform and delight the reader

So who should buy this book? Well, if you are a book collector, you will learn details and see complete pictures of each book, including print runs and variants to help you assess rarity, edition, etc. (alas, dealer descriptions of a book edition, for example, are not always correct. And how often have you wondered whether or not a certain book was issued in a dust jacket and what that dust jacket looks like?). If you are a researcher, the indices and annotations in HGCR will provide valuable assistance in locating a particular topic or magician. If you are a book lover, you will find bibliographical information you have never read before. And if you are a historian or you just love history, you will find reference sources you did not know existed. Even if you dont collect books, HGCR will provide you with reference sources (some of which you may not be aware of) in your area of interest, whether its magic sets, periodicals, posters, apparatus you name it. And you will get a good taste of these resources by reading the introduction in HGCR #1.

To my knowledge, there has never been a work of this scope and detail published in the conjuring field, and due to the time and expense of production, there will probably never be another work like this published. Over 100 of the 200 copies are already sold. After sufficient time has passed to get the word out to our community, HGCR #1 will be offered to institutional libraries and general book dealers as a reference source. I realize it sounds immodest, but once completed, I really believe that HGCR will be THE reference source for persons seeking bibliographical and other reference information on the rich and varied literature covering conjuring history, biography and bibliography. If you are a procrastinator (like me), since half of the edition has already sold out without any publicity, consider the fact that the first edition of Historians Guide to Conjuring now sells on average for five times its original selling price (some copies have sold for as high as $250), with a copy of the limited edition recently selling for about $750 at auction last November at Swann Galleries (what was that person thinking? :p ).

You can order a copy for $46.50 plus $2.50 (domestic) and $9.00 (outside of USA) for postage. HGCR #1 will be packaged in a heavy cardboard envelope, and will be ready to ship next week. If you order a copy, please include your e-mail address so you can receive notice when subsequent installments are published (about every three months or so).

To order, send a check or money order for $49 ($55.50 if outside of USA) (sorry U.S. funds only) to:

Clay H. Shevlin
615 S. Mohawk Drive
Santa Ana, CA 92704

Okay, Im done tooting my horn. Thanks for reading and I hope some of you find this of interest.

Clay Shevlin

P.S. RK, your copy will be in the mail soon!

[Richard Kaufman]

Clay, when people bitch about seeing too much junk sold on the Forum, their complaints refer to things like the umpteenth copy of the latest DVD set which is old news prior to its release.
Announcements such as yours are both welcome and invited.

[magicam]

Glad to hear it. Thanks.

[magicam]

Some of you have written privately to say that a check is on the way for HGCR #1. Many thanks for your support. I really appreciate it and don't think you will be disappointed.

Some of you have written and asked a few more questions. I'll try to answer them here.

HGCR #1 is intended to appeal to the bibliographer, collector and historian. The bibliographical details of each entry are quite extensive and contain information never before put in print, such as the print runs of books, etc. And each entry has a unique number given to it, so if desired, dealers, bibliophiles, and collectors can describe a book by the entry # and the result will be a precise, short-hand description of the title.

For the collector, in addition to the bibliographical details which will help assess edition and rarity, the title page of each entry is reproduced and there are color pictures of the cover of each book as well as the dust jacket if one was issued. Because of the surprising number of variants of publications, this should help a collector determine EXACTLY what he/she has. It will also help determine if a book advertised on Ebay or on a dealer's list is correctly described or what it purports to be. Take my word for it, some dealers do not correctly describe a book and may call something a first edition, for example, when in fact it is not. Or they may claim a book is "rare," but if the entry tells you that 1,000 copies of a book were printed, it almost certainly is not rare.

For the historian and researcher, the annotations for each entry will contain information highlighting what is important about each book and the kind of information it contains. In addition, where provided in the books themselves, the indices will be reproduced, which will enable a researcher to have a handy way of determining if this or that book would be helpful in their research, esppecially if they don't have the title. In addition, the annotations will often describe the history of the writing and production of the book, which usually makes for interesting reading.

Some of you have asked what an entry looks like, so below I have inserted a sample entry of one of Edwin A. Dawes' books (by the way, "T" means title and "A" means author - there is a four page glossary at the front of HGCR #1 which should be helpful to collectors wanting to learn the lexicon of book collecting and description). Of course, the formatting in HGCR will look more attractive, but at least those who are curious can get an idea of the type of information presented and the nature of the annotations.

Hope this helps!

[EAD100] The / Great / Illusionists.
Newton Abbot[, Devon] & London: David & Charles, [1979]. Printed in Newton Abbot by Redwood Burn Limited, Trowbridge and Esher. ISBN 0-7153-7773-6. First U.K. edition, approximately 5,000 copies printed (unstated).
[i-x]11-216 pp. Illustrated, references and notes, index.
Black pebbled paper over boards, TA and publishers logo in gold on spine, white illustrated dj, TA and publishers logo in black on spine, TA in black and illustration of black top hat and white dove on front panel, black and white reproduction of The Great Lafayette poster on rear panel, buff endpapers. 7.50.

See illustrations EAD100TP, EAD100CVR, EAD100DJ, and index reproduced at pp 55-59. As the blurb aptly states, this book traces the history of conjuring and illusion through the lives and achievements of the finest practitioners of the art . This book was written over an astonishingly short period in 1978. As with The Book of Magic, Dawes was approached by the publisher on extremely short notice to write a book which had already been titled and in fact pre-sold at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1978. During the Christmas holidays of 1978, the author and his wife spent two intense weeks in their den, the author dictating the text and Mrs. Dawes typing it up. Profusely illustrated and one of the classics of conjuring histories, uniquely reflecting the authors training as a scientist and sciences relationship to magic through the ages.

[magicam]

Some of you still curious folks (and still evidently unsatisfied with a monumental and lengthy effort to describe what this book is all about!) dared ask (with a smile of course) if I might post some pictures of the cover and some sample pages, so here they are:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 14608&rd=1

And in the spirit of Ebay hype, careful readers will see that I have jacked up the description. Way up. As described, this book will now also cook and clean for you... ;)

...and that's the last you'll hear from me on this subject!

Thanks for reading.

Clay

[Kevin Connolly]

Just use spell check and you'll sell more on Ebay. :o Just kidding. Take a look at the subtitle line.

Please inscribe my copy, " To the nicest and most knowledgeable person I know." ;)

Good Luck with it,

Kevin

[magicam]

What? You didn't know that "Conjurig" was an esoteric aspect of magic history? Shame on you!

[Kevin Connolly]

Me? I'm still trying to figure out what 24/7 means! :o

[Bob Kentner]

After purchasing only on the quality of the 1st edition. Now I have read your lenthy discription and also seen the information you posted on e-bay.

I am no longer patiently waiting. You may now be described me as an impatient 3 year old waiting for his new toy. :)

This new edition appears to add a few minor things that I thought were missing from the first edition and much more. Looking at the sample pages on ebay, this is going to be an outstanding reference for magic historians and bibliophiles.

Bob

[magicam]

Bob: and you believed all that crap? The things people write when they fear they are about to lose a good chunk of $$.... :rolleyes:

Seriously, thanks for the kind words and your support.

Note: after you (and anyone else for that matter)read HGCR #1, if you think there is room for improvement, please give me your candid thoughts. I'm pretty pleased with the format and quality of the production, but there is no doubt that some of you will have some good thoughts on how it could be improved.

All the best, Clay

[Glenn Farrington]

Clay. Mailing out a payment to you tomorrow for a copy. Thanks for making this available.

[magicam]

You're welcome, Glenn, and thanks for your support. Hope it meets with approval from our group.

There has been a short delay in shipping due to the fact that the printer botched the color section and cover (again...).

As I've told a few friends privately, if I thought the research, writing and design was the hardest part, I was grossly misinformed. The publishing part has been much mroe difficult and stressful. Live and learn.

Clay

[magicam]

Update for you folks who have purchased my book: the printer couldn't get the color right after three weeks ( :mad: ), so instead of sending you copies where the white dust jackets are pink (among other creative uses of color), I fired the printer and have found another one. Color check and proofing scheduled for next Monday or Tuesday, and hope to ship by next Saturday or early the following week. Sorry for the delays. Just trying to get it right. Thanks for your patience. Clay

[magicam]

Hmmm, it's been one month now since my last update. Dare I say it? The book is at the bindery and will be shipped next week (unless of course, something else happens...).

To all of you who wondered what happened and wrote with kindly-worded inquiries, my thanks for your patience and tact.

Clay Shevlin

[magicam]

HGCR #1 has been received from the binder and copies are being shipped tomorrow and early next week (now laying to rest the Ponzi scheme rumors... :) ). To those of you who ordered, thank you for your patience. To those of you who haven't ordered, it looks like all 200 copies will be gone in the near future.

Now on to HGCR #2 featuring the works of Robert Albo, with a scheduled publication date of November of this year. You will be surprised with some of the bibliographical information on his Classic Magic series.

[Guest]

I just received my copy of The Historian's Guide to Conjuring (Redux).

Wow! What a great book! Very well done, well written and with a lot of "cachet"!

Many thanks Clay for this marvelous product.

[magicam]

Many thanks for the very kind words, Martin. After the difficulties experienced in getting HGCR #1 printed, your comments make it all worthwhile.

Those who ordered copies should be receiving them anytime now. Each copy should have a one page insert laid in. Please let me know if you didn't get it.

For those of you who ordered the leather-bound copies, delivery won't be for another three months. Sorry, but I have to wait along with the rest of you.

I'll be curious to hear what the rest of you think, good AND bad.

Clay

[Marco Pusterla]

Clay,
I received my copy HGCR #1 yesterday and I'm really impressed: it was worth the wait! A great quality, clear and faithfully reproduced images, and a great care to details in all the entries. And, yes, my copy had the inlay :)

Well done: as you know, my name is already down for the next instalments (sp?)

All the best, ciao!

[magicam]

Has anybody in the U.S. received his copy? Just curious to know if the U.S. mails are playing Jedi mind tricks on us. Clay

[Kevin Connolly]

Nothing yet here.

Harry

[Bob Kentner]

Got mine in the mail today. Doing the happy dance. Very nice job. Let me know when you are ready to take orders for volume 2.

Bob

[magicam]

Still got the happy feet, Bob? Glad you liked it. The rest of you should be getting your copies by now. Happy reading! Clay

[magicam]

Just a friendly reminder to get your orders in. I have not filled dealer orders yet, but if I did, the edition would be sold out. Ordering directly from me gets you an inscribed copy upon request - and even if I personally iscribe all two hundred copies of the edition, my signature will still be far more rare than Houdini's :D

A review of HGCR #1 will be in the November issue of Magicol, and in a near future issue of the The Magic Circular.

One more thing: if you want your copy sent by priority mail (instead if media mail), total cost with shipping is $52.00.

Clay Shevlin

[Guest]

Please read the first paragraph of my initial post! Clay

[Guest]

I have this book. It is well worth the money. I can't wait for the subsequent volumes to come out. Heck, I may have to write the fourth edition of my paddle book!

[Guest]

Thanks much for that, Bill. Just one favor to ask: when you do publish youre welcomed 4th edition, could you please do it before I list your works in an upcoming HGCR? :whack: :D CHS