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Hanzab (1 Viewer)

Andy Adcock

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Cyprus
Or to give it it's full name.

'Handbook of the birds of Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic'

I'm currently trying to amass the 7 volume set but it is ridiculously expensive, I so far have 1 to 4.

What I'd like to know is why is it so expensive, ok it's out of print but so is 'Birds of the Westerm Palearctic' by the same publisher but this costs peanuts by comparison?

There are relatively few offered for sale so is it simply rarity, were there so few printed? I just hope that after I've got them all that they don't do a cheap reprint!


Andy
 
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The series had been horribly expensive from the beginning. One reason why I never considered starting to get it when I still had money. I presume the publishers figured from the beginning that the non-library market would be very small so they would have to resort to higher prices to cover their costs from the public/university libraries. If anything, I would rather expect an electronic version at some point than a reprint. Real books are just not that much in demand any more, I'm afraid.
 
Hi Andy.

you could sign up to birdingoz listserve as occasionally someone is selling a few volumes.

There is no plan to release a digital version of HANZAB but I think its just a matter of time and I'm sure it would be very popular.

If I see any volumes advertised I'll let you know.

Cheers.

Rob
 
Hi Andy.

you could sign up to birdingoz listserve as occasionally someone is selling a few volumes.

There is no plan to release a digital version of HANZAB but I think its just a matter of time and I'm sure it would be very popular.

If I see any volumes advertised I'll let you know.

Cheers.

Rob

Cheers Rob,
the thing for me is that I don't want to pay silly money.

Andy
 
Or to give it it's full name.

'Handbook of the birds of Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic'

I'm currently trying to amass the 7 volume set but it is ridiculously expensive, I so far have 1 to 4.

What I'd like to know is why is it so expensive, ok it's out of print but so is 'Birds of the Westerm Palearctic' by the same publisher but this costs peanuts by comparison?

There are relatively few offered for sale so is it simply rarity, were there so few printed? I just hope that after I've got them all that they don't do a cheap reprint!

Andy

Andrew Isles in Melbourne has volumes 1 and 7 in stock currently,but they are both A$ 500 plus without postage, which will be horrendous as they will have to be sent airmail as there is no surface mail from Australia.I suspect that not many copies made their way to the UK when it was published as it was always extremely expensive even then without the additional burden of postage,and it probably wasn't high on most birder's lists of desirable books.There have been several books published in Australia recently at reasonable prices that I would like but the postage costs are just outrageous!
Tom Lawson.
 
Andrew Isles in Melbourne has volumes 1 and 7 in stock currently,but they are both A$ 500 plus without postage, which will be horrendous as they will have to be sent airmail as there is no surface mail from Australia.I suspect that not many copies made their way to the UK when it was published as it was always extremely expensive even then without the additional burden of postage,and it probably wasn't high on most birder's lists of desirable books.There have been several books published in Australia recently at reasonable prices that I would like but the postage costs are just outrageous!
Tom Lawson.

Yes Tom I know Andrew Isles site, as you say, postage is the killer.

If you find volumes in the UK, most will be £600, 1-2 and 4 are the most readily available and cheapest for some reason.

I've so far managed to get 1-to 4 and paid between £150-350 per volume. 5-6 and 7 are usually expensive, often around £1K per volume is asked.

I'll just keep looking, I'll have them all eventually and at a price I'm comfortable with.


Andy
 
Have you checked the bird specific institutes like Vogelwarte Radolfzell etc? Not sure whether the Swiss Vogelwarte has it.

I was confused by Andy's book title spelling. Because the correct title is Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic birds. The books (with the correct title) are actually available.
 
..............
I've so far managed to get 1-to 4 and paid between £150-350 per volume. 5-6 and 7 are usually expensive, often around £1K per volume is asked.

I'll just keep looking, I'll have them all eventually and at a price I'm comfortable with.


Andy

Not sure about postage, but vol 7 is currently on special at Andrew Isles: But it looks like they are only selling it as a package with the new Australian FG.
 
I have the two books of volume seven in unopened condition (as new) for sale in the U.K. They have been kept in closed cabinets and cannot be told from new.
 
Hi Ingrid,
you're a bit late, I managed to aquire the last three I needed, some while ago but thanks for thinking of me.

In post six I said 'I'll just keep looking, I'll have them all eventually and at a price I'm comfortable with', I paid £700 for what (3 Vols, 4 books) I needed, you'd expect to pay this for one volume usually.
 
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