Continuing Albrecht run?

[Steve]

I after years and years of drooling over a 1908 - 1980 Albrecht series of bound nat geos finally acquired them. My old high school library needed shelf space and i gladly made some shelf space for them. The globe and plane bindings start in 1908 and end in i think 1975 or so without looking this date isnt 100%. But i would really like to continue the Albrecht binding, is that even possible? Do they still make the Albrecht? Would it be difficult to rebind the last few years that didnt get the Albrechts? I would love to get an entire complete 1888-2009 set bound in Albrechts, if that is even remotely possible. Any info or advice from the experts? Thanks.

[Paul Crist]

Albrechts were largely discontinued in 1960s, though some Midwest collector thought there was another printing in mid1970s that at least a few binderies bought into. Blanks (never previously used or dated) are next to impossible to come by, though I understand there was a Kansas City bindery that found a small supply for a customer in the late 1990s.

It will be easier (though more costly) to build the set backwards in Albrecht than to make the latter years uniform. If you choose to bind, economically not an "investment" since market is so small. My suggestion would be to find a comparable binding and do as large a single binding as you can afford. My past experience is it should be about $40 per volume ($800 per decade) and in fact the higher the press the bindery will likely marginally decrease the per unit cost as lettering and stitching set for 33 years (1975-2008) might be cheaper than to do two years. However, and here is where my advice gets pricier, would be to order at least another decade's blanks from the same material batch so that when you next go to bind, you do have a common volume with the recent binding. I gave this advice to a lady who I sold an Albrech 1906-1976, and to take the rest of what I gave her as singles and have "spare" volumes going to 2012 (when her kids were college bound), was going to be about $7000. That was for leather, and either three quarters leather or alll cloth would have been cheaper. As she paid me $2000 for the set and about ten years' singles (from where the collection left off to where the family had saved their subscriptions, plus another $500 for each supplement back to 1916. So she was confronting paying about three times as much to bind the latter quarter of the collection then she paid for the first three quarters. Our (and trust me, I lobbied for not wasting the decision) was that she'd order the Society's leatherette marron and simply store the post 1976 on another wall. I think I got her a deal on both shipping and maybe marginally on slipcases ($12.50 a year I think, rather than subscribing to them were with shipping it ends up being over $20 per year).

BOUND IS BETTER THAN SINGLES IN SLIPCASES IF THE COLLECTION IS GETTING HEAVY USE (AND TRUTH BE TOLD HER BOYS DO NOT USE THEM ALL THAT MUCH). BUT BINDING IS JUST A WASTE OF MONEY UNLESS YOU'RE WARREN BUFFETT OR BILL GATES.

[Maurice White]

I have found the Albrecht binding up thru 1993. I don't know where the original owner got the bindings, but apparently they were available until then. Possibly there was a bindery with them in stock. I have all of the volumes from 1909 thru 1975, then a few gaps until the 1980's. I keep a look out on eBay all the time.

[Scott T. Shier]

Thanks for the update Maurice !



~ Scott T. Shier

[wing nut]

I found a bindery in texas that produces them. But their minimum run of 1000 is about $3 a piece.
I would entertain the idea of asking the bindery if they would "split" the order.
(allowing several of us to come up with the minimum order, and getting shipment direct.)

[Maurice White]

I am interested. I could buy 60 - 70 for the years where I have the magazines unbound.

[Steve]

I would also be interested, although I lost a large portion of my unbound issues to water damage a while back but I could probably get them replaced if I looked around enough. Not too hard but keep us updated on what they say, I need to get from about 1970-now. -Steve

[Maurice White]

You can find most issues on Craigslist or eBay. Unbound years after WWII tend to go for about $10.

[Joshua Dylan]

I'd be intrested in getting some of mine bound. Keep me posted if this is possible.