R.A. Burt "trilogy"

donalyah00 · Post by **donalyah00** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:12 pm

Hello everyone,

I am just wondering what is the case with 3 books by R.A Burt you may already know:

- British Battleships 1889-1904 ISBN:0870210610
- British Battleships of World War One ISBN:0870218638
- British Battleships 1919-1939 ISBN:1854090682

They are nearly impossible to buy (sky-high aftermarket prices

). Is there any possibility of reprint?
Prices of those books on eBay or Abebooks are clearly showing high (shouldn't I say HIGH?

) market demand?

Maybe somebody knows more about it?

Regards,
donalyah00

mike mccabe · Post by **mike mccabe** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:20 pm

Seems they are unlikely to be reprinted so the demand is likely to continue to push the prices up. Try and borrow them from your library if possible.

Mike

donalyah00 · Post by **donalyah00** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:42 pm

But why cannot they be reprinted?

The situation is (correct me please if I got it wrong):

In US it have been printed once by USNI, and now we have to wait around 75 years for reprint because of the legal reasons.

In UK - Arms nad Armour Press is gone and the legal rights were transferred to Casell Publishing House and then to the author. R.A. Burt had some problems with his health and he quit from his involvement with RN history.

Is there any way we can contact the author about possible reprints?

Regards,
donalyah00

Caio Mario · Post by **Caio Mario** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:46 am

Hi,

I also create a few times one simple question about these great books :

Why they don't make reprints ????
These books are like a gold mining !!! If You look for prices which they reach on some auctions !!!!

If German Verlag can made reprint why any editor in UK can't make it ????

Brdgs

Laurence Batchelor · Post by **Laurence Batchelor** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:07 am

About 3 years ago I tracked down Ray A. Burt
He does not wish to reprint them and its just as simple as that.
It is his work and he can do what he likes.

They only had a relatively small print run when they were published between 1986-1993.
Your best bet is to bombard Cassell with letters demanding they reprint them or borrow them via inter library loan.

I am a student yet I managed to buy all 3 volumes for reasonable money in the late 1990s before eBay, abebooks, bookfinder et al. were around.

Jean-Paul Binot · Post by **Jean-Paul Binot** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:39 am

I asked a similar question to Alan Raven regarding a possible reprint of his British Cruisers best-seller. He told me in his own inimitable way to drop any hope of a reprint and buy a used one on eBay or Abebook while there were still a few copies in circulation. Which I did (and paid dearly for that).

Considering the sustained high value of Burt's books (and Raven&Roberts's too), I'd say that they are rather good investment.

Caio Mario · Post by **Caio Mario** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:59 pm

Hi,

Thank You for reply and advices.
I'm in better position then donalyah00 because I've got 4 of that 5 the most wanted books

So now I just looking for first story about british pre-drednoughts

My copies I bought in 2 sources :
First - Symmonds Bookstore with antiqaric section in London 15th June 2003 , I will remember that day forever

Second - mail auction provided by Navybooks 31st March 2005 , also a very good day

Prices where not a low but I bought those books.

Brdgs

Caio Mario

donalyah00 · Post by **donalyah00** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:01 pm

There are two copies of the British Battleships 1889-1904 on abebooks, but both are over 250USD...

I keep wondering how many people would buy Burt's books with the normal price? I think there should be quite big number...
Maybe if the number is big enough, there would be a shadow of a chance...

Anyway, I think that it would be nice for any author to know, that so many people appreciate his/her superb work.

Regards and happy hunting!
donalyah00

bengtsson · Post by **bengtsson** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:01 pm

Most likely there are copies around after previous owners pass away. Then the relatives have no idea of their value and know no one with an interest in Warships so the books may go out in the trash or be sold at a garage sale where no one buys them.
Reprints are to be hoped for and the USNI probably would if the author agreed. As Laurence said, this seems out of the question for personal reasons.
I'de say, pay the price, it looks like they aren't going to go down in value. 250 US with the dollar sinking, isn't so high a price for a reference book of lifetime value.

Bob B.

Laurence Batchelor · Post by **Laurence Batchelor** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:15 pm

I know for example that most of the top UK maritime book dealers have waiting lists from their subscribers for these 3 books.
I seem to remember there was one in Greenwich which had 10-12 people on a waiting list for the Battleships 1919-1939 1993 book.

Ship Model Gallery · Post by **MartinJQuinn** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:32 pm

Laurence Batchelor wrote:I seem to remember there was one in Greenwich which had 10-12 people on a waiting list for the Battleships 1919-1939 1993 book.

This is the only one I don't have, and seems the hardest to find.

Laurence Batchelor · Post by **Laurence Batchelor** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:41 pm

Lowest print run I was told plus combined with the period make it the most sought after volume of the three.

Werner · Post by **Werner** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:42 pm

I could sell you my copies....

bengtsson · Post by **bengtsson** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:29 pm

Werner wrote:I could sell you my copies....

"They can sell my copies when they pry them out of my cold dead hands"!

I have the three volume set. But never bought the 1919-1939 volume. It seemd to me the original WWII book covered this interwar period pretty well. Or at least enough for me, I'm less of a BB fan when it come to the WWII period. My treasures are the two volumes of Predreadnoughts and WWI BBs when that type of ship was truely the final arbiter of sea power.

How does the Cruiser book by Raven/Roberts stack up in price and availability compared to the BB books? The Cruiser volume is a real treasure for one like me who finds the RN Cruisers of WWII more interesting than the RN BBs of WWII.

Bob B.

donalyah00 · Post by **donalyah00** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:45 pm

I've got the R&R Cruisers from abebooks 3 months ago and it was 160 USD (w/o shipment).

Regards,
donalyah00

bengtsson · Post by **bengtsson** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 7:51 pm

donalyah00 wrote:I've got the R&R Cruisers from abebooks 3 months ago and it was 160 USD (w/o shipment).

Regards,
donalyah00

Well worth the price!

That's one trip to the grocery store, or two tanks of gas in today's dollars!

Bob B.

linux · Post by **linux** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:22 am

Laurence Batchelor wrote:About 3 years ago I tracked down Ray A. Burt
He does not wish to reprint them and its just as simple as that.
It is his work and he can do what he likes.

Jean-Paul Binot wrote:I asked a similar question to Alan Raven regarding a possible reprint of his British Cruisers best-seller. He told me in his own inimitable way to drop any hope of a reprint ...

Would these two gentlemen be interested in selling the copyrights? That way they would receive the money without any further responsibility for reprints. And, as an added bonus, people will stop asking them about reprints!

By the way, the 3 Burt books can still be found relatively cheaply if you just keep looking. I bought the following online within the past 16 months:

British Battleships 1889-1904 for 30.00 GBP, excluding postage.
British Battleships of World War One for 45.00 EUR (31.97 GBP), excluding postage.
British Battleships 1919-1939 for 70.00 GBP, excluding postage.

Laurence Batchelor · Post by **Laurence Batchelor** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:29 am

Those prices are not bad at all.
Those books were �40 RRP when new!
I don't think Mr Burt or Raven & Roberts would be willing to sell the copyrights for their best published work.

linux · Post by **linux** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:51 am

Laurence Batchelor wrote:I don't think Mr Burt or Raven & Roberts would be willing to sell the copyrights for their best published work.

That raises the question: what do these gentlemen intend to do with them? If they do nothing then the copyrights will ultimately become part of their estates, to be exploited by their beneficiaries. Thus the books may end up being reprinted anyway.

Unless of course a new author such as yourself supersedes them with even more thorough and authoritative works!

Laurence Batchelor · Post by **Laurence Batchelor** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 6:03 am

I think generally speaking these gentlemen are in their advanced years and they just don't care anymore about republishing old work, despite the demand.