UBB.threads Forums Edged Weapons SA & NSKK Dagger Forum Brand new SA dagger reference book introduced

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Originally posted by lloyd:
Apologists not withstanding, the fact is the book is constructed in a cheap manner....compared to other books that I have!
This book is not the only "landscape" format book that I have and I note that ONLY this book has a cover/covers that are skewed in a "banana" profile. Though my copy is not as severe as that pictured, it is nonetheless NOT RIGHT!
I have a Reader's Digest book on how to repair stuff around the house which is at least 20 yrs old and it exibits no such cover buckling. I have "Titanic, an Illustrated History" with thin boards and it too is not buckled either.
The simple fact is this book is constructed cheaply and I advise, once again, that if you have been lucky enough to have not bought this book yet...well DON'T!
I will NOT buy any subsequent books produced by this seller!

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Originally posted by Aleksandr:
It is really funny reading this gossip (like a bunch old ladies or something)Not to offense anybody. I personally do not collect SA daggers but still interested in getting one copy for myself. The point i am trying to make is: from reading all the posts i can assume that this book is very informative and one of a kind as most collectors were looking for a good complete SA book. Now we coming to a point where such things as construction, paper quality and so forth brings the so informative book to the point of (No Buy). LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Aleksandr:
It is really funny reading this gossip (like a bunch old ladies or something)Not to offense anybody. I personally do not collect SA daggers but still interested in getting one copy for myself. The point i am trying to make is: from reading all the posts i can assume that this book is very informative and one of a kind as most collectors were looking for a good complete SA book. Now we coming to a point where such things as construction, paper quality and so forth brings the so informative book to the point of (No Buy). LOL

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Originally posted by Aleksandr:
I would personally appreciate any kind of work done regarding the hobby we are in. To me to write a book even like this (NOT COMPLETE) is like to go to the moon- almost.

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Originally posted by ROB B:
Dont worry about negative comments Ralf. its a great book , when people Retire from the workplace, they always look for things to complain about!

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Originally posted by ivbaust:
I have bought the printed German version of Ralf´s book for 59 Euro, which is approx. $85 (including shipping fees) and in my opinion the price performance ratio of this hardcover is excellent. I´ve spent in the past years several ten thousands dollars for SA daggers and related stuff and this book is a great source of information, which is very informative, helps to build up a collection and helps to avoid bad bargains. I have Tom Johnson´s dagger books as well and I´m not aware that - besides these 2 authors - more and/or better books on SA daggers do exist (or am I missing something?).

Alltogether, Ralf did a fantastic job and I congratulate him for doing this work and publishing the German version of his book! In my job I´m dealing from time to time with authors and book publishing. I think I can assess how much work it is to write and publish such a book and how much effort is behind these pages, which are later on read so easy. I also know how much it costs to take professional high-resolution pictures and/or photos of the items. For an "non-professional book publisher" like Ralf it was simply impossible. He had to ask other SA dagger collectors to send him photos of their daggers, since most of the times he was not able to meet them personally and to make photos of the illustrated daggers by himself. Therefore he had to rely on receiving best possible digital files of the items. And I think all in all most of the photos in Ralf´s book have an acceptable quality. Therefore a big congrats to Ralf!


Now to the English version. According to my information Ralf sold the rights to publish his book in English to someone. Obviously Ralf closed the contract without taking care that he as the author should keep the final rights for review and approval of the English version. He just sold the rights and did not think of this quite important clause in the contract and/or the deal. And obviously the buyer of the rights did not do the best job regarding translation. Additionally IMO the buyer of the rights priced it quite high.

I must admit I didn´t buy the English version (since I have already the German one and the price is in my opinion too high). Thus I can´t rate the English version.

However, I think one should keep in mind that Ralf should not be blamed for the Englih version. According to my information he more or less trusted the buyer to do the same good job in publishing the English version like he did on the German version. Obviously that was not the case. So I think it´s not fair to bash Ralf and his book in general. The one and only who should be blamed is then the buyer of the rights, since he did the bad job.

And one final thing to those who still continue to bash Ralf and his book ... I´m looking forward to seeing your book on SA daggers in the future. Bashing is easy, doing it better sometimes not

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Lloyd no offence mate , my comment about retirement was tongue in cheek i assure you .The fact of the matter is that collectors have been waiting far too long for TW sa book.Ralfs book fills the void

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Originally posted by Siegfried B:

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Lloyd no offence mate , my comment about retirement was tongue in cheek i assure you .The fact of the matter is that collectors have been waiting far too long for TW sa book.Ralfs book fills the void

I agree with Rob,it does fill in the void and (I will quote my own words), from Jan 15th when I said "So the 2 should work well together, as an overall reference on the subject". end quote What one lacks the other will pick up on. Not one of us out here has "Just one reference book" A diamond is multi faceted and shows many different views of light. So are more than one reference book. I am hopeful that Ralf does get an American printer I would like to have one of his SA books,, or even pick one up used somewhere.I would even take your book if you did not want it!! The info is the same no matter what the condition. Crap happens sometimes but it is unfortunate that it fell on you Lloyd. If it wasnt you then someone else. No one is immune to disappointments. I hope that you can get past this soon! I mean that in a positive sense with no disrespect intended. Dont let what had happened embitter you so that it takes your focus of of the hobby. No knowledge was gained in this hobby about the collecting field in these last few pages of this thread. I hope we can move on from this. Best Regards to all involved Larry

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Originally posted by Siegfried B:
Gentlemen , I too had just received Ralfs SA book.( English Version) I am very pleased with the content.
Thanks Ralf for your compilation of information and dissection of the SA/NSKK subject.
It brings understanding of information,, I myself have not yet seen.
Best Regards Larry