"Magbooks"

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JamesPerrin
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"Magbooks"

Post by JamesPerrin »

It's one of those horrid words that seem to get banded about willy-nilly nowadays but at least most of you will know what I talking about. 'Book magazines' have by around for a few years I think starting out in the computer magazine market providing guides to the internet and 1001 Apps for you iPad but have now spread into most of the specialised magazine areas. As modellers you might have become first aware of them in the real aviation section and this year we get probably our first modelling specific one care of SAM publications.

Firstly I'll define what I think a Magbook is:

1. Often (not always) printed using magazine 'technology' eg thin paper
2. Perfect bound ie glued spine not stapled
3. Available is the magazine section of your newsagent, supermarket or even bookshop
4. Not regularly published, ie not a quarterly, there are exceptions
5. Cost 2-3 times that of a magazine ~8 GBP

Secondly I think the fall into two distinct categories:

1. Collated articles that have been previously published in a parent magazine
2. Original copy.

The first one I became aware of is Aviation Classics which is borderline 'magbook' as it describes itself as a bi-monthly aviation journal. Each issue focuses on single aircraft type and has several, I believe original, articles covering its inception, development and deployment. As the name suggests it has mainly focused on the usual suspects, Lanc, Hurri, Harrier, Vulcan, Tomcat etc but have diverged to do SAAB aircraft. The quality of the ones I've read has been very good with excellent photography and little advertising so you get a lot for you money. Though not modelling specific (no plans, very few profiles) they are very handy and a cost a lot less than the equivalent monograph.

Aeroplane Monthly has a similar format covering single aircraft types though I believe these are based on previous articles. They have also produced one-offs covering seaplanes for example. This week I picked up their Company Profile - Supermarine 1913-1963. This has one or two pages covering every type and major mark Supermarine produced. As you can imagine about half is dedicated to Spitfires and their naval cousins but for me the most interesting part is the first half which details their pre-war seaplanes including their Schneider Cup Racers.

We have heard this week that SAM are to publish Mike Grant's excellent Circuits and Bumps series in a single volume. I presume that like their earlier Airfix Military Models it will also hit the magazine shelves.
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Eric Mc
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Re: "Magbooks"

Post by Eric Mc »

The concept goes back to at least the late 1960s. I still have some soft bound semi-magazine type books from around 1972/73 - one is on prop driven civil airliners, another is on the Allied Bomber Offensive of World War 2 and another is on Jet Bombers. I think they were published by Purnell and they usually featured the (very good) artwork of John Batchelor.

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PaulBradley
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Re: "Magbooks"

Post by PaulBradley »

Magbooks, or bookazines (whatever) have been around for a while - World Air Power Journal and Wings of Fame are another example. My local "entertainment store" placed them with magazines but priced them like books (ie gave me a 10% discount as with all their new books)..... :roll:

The thing that distinguishes them for me is the lack of advertising. To me,i f there's advertising, it is still a magazine.
Paul

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AndrewR
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Re: "Magbooks"

Post by AndrewR »

Eric Mc wrote:The concept goes back to at least the late 1960s. I still have some soft bound semi-magazine type books from around 1972/73 - one is on prop driven civil airliners, another is on the Allied Bomber Offensive of World War 2 and another is on Jet Bombers. I think they were published by Purnell and they usually featured the (very good) artwork of John Batchelor.

Image
I have several of these. The artwork and text is taken out of "The History of the Second World War", which was published weekly to build up to an 8 volume set. I used to collect it when I was about 9.
They extended the idea with a series on modern weapons too.
John Batchelor's art work is first rate. I was able to pick up the Air War 1939-45 one for a dollar second-hand at a book fair last week. Cover price 45p

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Andrew
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JamesPerrin
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Re: "Magbooks"

Post by JamesPerrin »

Yes ditto Helicopters and Seaplanes, but like Classic Aircraft they were probably more of a periodical (cf Wings of Fame, Air Power Journal). I've also got two of the books that were from the same source, for military aircraft and warships.
Classic British Kits SIG Leader Better to fettle than to fill
(2024 A:B 5:1) (2023 13:8:7) (2022 21:11) (2021 15:8) (2020 8:4:4)
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