A Book Well Worth a Dollar

[beamjockey]

I dropped by the Aurora Public Library today and, as is my wont, looked over the used-books display. Hardcovers may be purchased for a dollar.

This was a hardcover. This was a dollar.


I am only mildly interested in naval affairs, but I recognized the value of this reference book. Fred T. Jane published the first version of the annual book that would eventually become Jane's Fighting Ships in 1898. It's the book you consult for quick information about any naval vessel on Earth. A new edition will run you most of a thousand papooses.


In the pages of Jane's, Italian Subs are more than just a tasty sandwich.
More often, I have consulted Jane's All the World's Aircraft. Since my teenage years as a military aviation buff, I longed for my own copy. Some years ago, kind friends gave me the 1960 edition. Now, through a stroke of good fortune, I am also the owner of Jane's Fighting Ships 2000-2001.

Comments

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Whenever I see these it makes me think of "Jane's Book of Bombs" from The Big Bus.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...the TVTropes page on Wire Dilemma has a transcript of the whole glorious scene.

(The Big Bus was Airplane! before the fact, played a little more subtly and slyly. Aspects of the movie have probably dated badly, but based on YouTube clips, parts of it still work.)

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Smugly, I mention that a few months ago, I also found a copy of The Big Bus on DVD for three dollars.

[alicebentley]

I'm told it is also the go-to book if you have to name Yet Another Conan novel. (Not kidding!)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Conan the Ark Royal?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Jane was, of course, an SF author. illustrator, and naval wargamer (which is what gave him the idea for the ship books). See e.g. my icon

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Fred Jane. Fletcher Pratt. Tom Clancy.

Apparently, naval wargaming can lead you to great things. Are there other examples?

(H.G. Wells's thing was little tin soldiers, so I don't suppose he counts as a naval wargamer.)

[bigbumble.livejournal.com]

I now have serious book envy.

[asyouknow-bob.livejournal.com]

this.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Nice buy I have not seen one since they started using colour pictures. I have the WWI and WWII compilations for which I paid more than a $1.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Nice find. I stumbled into a 1969 Jane's All The World's Aircraft at a used bookstore for something on the order $10 once, and it's a lovely reference both for aircraft and for rockets and missiles.

[gypsy1969.livejournal.com]

Great find!

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Worth way more than $1. (I'd have paid $3, myself.)

[charlie-meadows.livejournal.com]

Omitting the year interval, is this reference book title yet another 'The Man Who Melted'?