I have no tie in with the sale or seller, but did want to mention the current E-bay auction for a first edition WMG on Ebay. I see that currently it is below reserve. It will be interesting to see what the reserve was and if its met after the auction is over
The market for these older guides have been interesting of late. For awhile they dropped out of sight from the market and then over the past few months there were some fairly high prices paid for older versions. I expect the release of the centennial book a few years back had encouraged some folks to start collecting which drove up the prices to unsustainable and the market dropped and is now trying to find its way back. Of course there are always the optimists on Abe books to set the high end of the market.
Considering there were reportedly only 600 1st editions printed, it always amazes me that any ever come to market as one wouldn't expect that a guide intended to be taken into the field would have a long life. Even more surprising is that many of the guides for sale have the removable maps that were included as I know my maps get quite worn out long before a new guide is published. I expect most of them on them market may have been collected long ago and are just being recycled to the current crop of hikers as others downsize their possessions. I tend to pick them up for the information contained within and therefore many of mine tend to be tad bit well worn.
It is great that Google has at least the 1922 version available for all to view for free. I was surprised awhile back when searching for references to "Alpine Cascade" to get a high ranked link on Google to the old guide.
Someday when I get access to a large format scanner, I would like to do a slide show showing the progression of the trails in the whites over the years, although many of the major trails would stay the same, the rise and fall of the lesser trails would be interesting (at least to me) as well as the "mass extinction" of trails due to the aftermath of the hurricane and WW2.
The market for these older guides have been interesting of late. For awhile they dropped out of sight from the market and then over the past few months there were some fairly high prices paid for older versions. I expect the release of the centennial book a few years back had encouraged some folks to start collecting which drove up the prices to unsustainable and the market dropped and is now trying to find its way back. Of course there are always the optimists on Abe books to set the high end of the market.
Considering there were reportedly only 600 1st editions printed, it always amazes me that any ever come to market as one wouldn't expect that a guide intended to be taken into the field would have a long life. Even more surprising is that many of the guides for sale have the removable maps that were included as I know my maps get quite worn out long before a new guide is published. I expect most of them on them market may have been collected long ago and are just being recycled to the current crop of hikers as others downsize their possessions. I tend to pick them up for the information contained within and therefore many of mine tend to be tad bit well worn.
It is great that Google has at least the 1922 version available for all to view for free. I was surprised awhile back when searching for references to "Alpine Cascade" to get a high ranked link on Google to the old guide.
Someday when I get access to a large format scanner, I would like to do a slide show showing the progression of the trails in the whites over the years, although many of the major trails would stay the same, the rise and fall of the lesser trails would be interesting (at least to me) as well as the "mass extinction" of trails due to the aftermath of the hurricane and WW2.
