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Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts |
So, who now owns the rights to ABRA and will we EVER see it distributed digitally? It seems criminal to me that one of magic's greatest periodicals is lying dormant.
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dyoung Special user 898 Posts |
Hello,
Davenport's owns the rights to them. We currently have no plan of digitising them, as it would be an enormous undertaking to make it decent. Rather than just scan the pages. And the amount of people interested in it would have to make up for the countless man hours spent putting it together. I was just chatting with the boss, and was discussing perhaps putting together some smaller ebooks pertaining to certain subjects, like "cards", "mentalism", "children's magic" etc. And then cherry pick the good stuff (because there's a lot of crap in there as well ) This would be an easier job on our end, but again, it's a question of demand for such a thing. All the best, Daniel |
Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
Daniel, we have digitized magic magazines for almost two decades. Recent jobs we did were Genii magazine with 55,000 pages and Magic Magazine with 31,500 pages. Feel free to ask Richard Kaufman and Stan Alan how they like our work. I think our digitizations do justice to these magazines. We do not just scan. We have developed a fine tuned process that achieves great results and involves several stages of processing. We have digitized dozens of magic magazines over the years, from the oldest on record, foreign ones, even non-magic ones like Juggling and Circus arts. And it wouldn't cost you a dime. There are several ways a deal can be structured. Feel free to PM me or email me at wasshuber at lybrary dot com.
I have demonstrated that we can do very large digitization projects. We have the logistics worked out. We have the machines, the know-how, and the experience. I would be honored to digitize Abra. Digitization helps to preserve the legacy of a magazine. Please contact me. We would love to help.
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts |
Quote:
On Sep 22, 2018, dyoung wrote: Hi Daniel, I too can attest to Chris's amazing work. I was one of the early adopters of The Sphinx and Chris's work is amazing - even the oldest issue of that foundational journal looks wonderful. I am also a journal junkie in general both in physical copy and digital. I won't bore you by listing them all but the list is substantial. I understand that ABRA would be a large undertaking but I also believe there would be a demand. Chris mentioned that he has recently done Genii and Magic. Imagine what a full print run of either periodical would cost. We can use The Sphinx as an example as well. Last I checked, a complete physical collection of The Sphinx would cost roughly 6000 USD. Moreover, there are few complete runs extant. Thanks to Lybrary.com there will never be a concern that The Sphinx will wind up only in the possession of a very few super collectors never to be studied. Books and journals are meant to be read and researched. The other and perhaps more important consideration would be for preservation. While I understand that Davenport are wary of risk, and what business isn't? - making this journal available and in a form that ensures it will be preserved for all time may mitigate that risk. There are quite a few of us that comb these great journals for "new" stuff as well as following references from other sources in the literature that reference journals - an ABRA is cited rather prominently. It seems a shame to me that while other important UK journals like Magigram, The Magic Wand (almost as large as The Sphinx), The Wizard, Ellis Stanyon's MAGIC, The Pentagram and New Pentagram, Val Andrew's journals, the journals of Will Goldston and more are digitized in their entirety and the only one NOT given the treatment it deserves being ABRA. As for subpar stuff, there's subpar stuff in MANY journals. While your idea of making smaller e-books would be sort of interesting, in the end, the effort you would put into these would be a case of diminishing returns. You'd still be putting in considerable work but for a woefully incomplete product that would rob researchers of deciding what is subpar and what is a gem. It's my wish that Davenport - a legendary name in the art would consult with Chris Wasshuber, you may well change your mind. |
dyoung Special user 898 Posts |
I have spoken briefly with Chris, I just need to chat to my boss, and we'll see what happens.
All the best, Dan |
Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts |
Quote:
On Oct 8, 2018, dyoung wrote: Thank you Dan! It's heartening that there is at least some discussion. |
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