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lauher New user Long Island, New York 51 Posts |
June 3, 2007
Dear Friends I wish to announce and solicit your contributions for the "The Handcuff Annual - 2008." This will be the third book in the series. The Handcuff Annual 2006 and the Handcuff Annual 2007 have been previously published. A link to the table contents of each volume can be found below: 2006 http://www.handcuffs.org/images/tc1.pdf 2007 http://www.handcuffs.org/images/tc2.pdf The first two books have been very successful. They have literally been world wide efforts with authors from Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United States. The Handcuff Annual 2008 will again be a bound book with a “magazine” format with contributions from people in the world wide restraint collecting/escape artist community. The 2007 volume contained 154 pages with about one third of them in color. The third volume should be similar. The annuals are not just encyclopedic books on handcuffs; instead they include a variety of features. But the exact nature of the 2008 annual will depend upon contributions from the community. I want this to be a "fun" project that everyone can participate in. Here are some ideas to get you started, but please feel free to suggest almost anything within the general theme. 1. Feature articles on specific handcuffs or lines of handcuffs form the past. For example, it has been suggested that one theme for this year should be Gill handcuffs. An article on mechanical nippers is also in the works. The key to a successful article is a good set of photos; they will be reproduced in high quality black and white on glossy paper with color readily available for special items. About one page in three can be in color. 2. Feature articles on specific escape artists of the present. One idea is to ask one escape artist (or fan) to write about one of his or her colleagues, perhaps using an interview format. The key would some nice color pictures, which could be publicity shots, but original pictures would be better. I can also do this in an "interview format." I can ask some questions and you can respond. 3. Articles on escape artists of the past. This would depend upon the availability of some good pictures. A collection of pictures of old brochures would be great. Houdini articles are always of high interest. The 2007 annual included some original Houdini research that was quite interesting. But it would also be nice to have some contributions devoted to lesser known performers. If you have some nice pictures of old time performers you might wish to consider a photo essay. 4. Public Collection Displays. Photographs of public collections from around the world. This is something where everyone could participate. Just send a photo or two or three of a public collection that you have visited. If you want to write a full article that would be even better. 5. Feature articles on specific private collectors or collections. These would be similar to the Fred Patella or Stan Willis articles on my web site. It would be very nice if one collector could write an article about a visit to another. If anyone has photos from the great collections of the past they could server as the basis of a really nice article. 6. Articles on the technical aspects of restraints. Perhaps someone might write an article similar to the ones that Dick Norman wrote for the Locksmith Ledger back in the 1950s. Maybe someone could write about the manufacturing process. 7. A gallery of pictures of “escape events” that have taken place in the last year. I will solicit contributions at the Magic Café web site. 8. Old ads and advertising brochures. Any 19th century or early 20th century advertising would really be welcome. 9. Personal stories. How did you acquire that special cuff? How did you get started in collecting? Do you have a particularly good eBay story? 10. A new products section, showing interesting new cuffs on the market as well as products intended for the escape artist community. 11. Anything else you care to suggest. So what should you do if you wish to participate? Send me your tentative ideas as soon as possible. If you do this I can make sure that I do not have two people doing the exactly same thing. What format do I need? Text can be in almost any format, although Microsoft Word would be ideal. Pictures need to be of high quality. We will print at 300 dpi so a picture that spans a full page needs to be at least 2000 pixels wide. Pictures than span a single column won't need so many pixels. Color pictures can be submitted, but I will have to ration color since it will be the most expensive part of printing the book. Scans of old brochures, ads or pictures should be done at the highest resolution you can. What will I do with your contribution once I receive it? I will edit and format it to fit into the style of the annual and I will then send it back to your for your final approval. I will also ask others to help me review and proofread the contributions. (Volunteers would be most welcome.) When should you submit? As soon as you can, but no later than October for a first draft. Sooner is much better than later. Who will own the copyright? The copyright to all submitted materials would be retained by the original author or photographer. I only ask that I be given permission to include your contributions in the Annual, including any possible reprint, and to post your contribution on the Handcuffs.Org web site sometime in the future. I will take particular care to give full credit and acknowledgement to each author. You should of course make sure that you own the copyright or have permission to use any materials that you submit. Don't take pictures off the web or out of other books without permission unless they are clearly in the public domain. What do you get for participation? Fame and glory will be the main compensation. Anyone making a major contribution will get a free copy of the annual. Having done this twice before I can assure you that this is not a profit making venture. When will the book be published? If I can get the first drafts by the end of the October, then the book should be available early in 2008. A mock up of the 2008 book should be available for viewing at the Cannon's Convention this fall. This will be the goal, but one never knows. So please send me your thoughts and comments. Would you like to participate? Thanks very much. Joseph W. Lauher |
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