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"The Burns Book" by Paul Day

Can anyone give me a realistic valuation for a copy of this book in good condition, Please?

The zero response to your request would indicate you don't have a literary goldmine in your hands, although naturally I think it should be worth a fortune!

dusty fretz wrote:The zero response to your request would indicate you don't have a literary goldmine in your hands, although naturally I think it should be worth a fortune!

...especially with a handwritten dedication by the author?

JN

Defacing this priceless piece of work in such a cavalier manner is guaranteed to seriously undermine its intrinsic value! Besides, never believe what you read!

There was one (green cover) for sale at the Tyneside event this week-end for £25, it remained unsold up until I left.

dusty fretz wrote:The zero response to your request would indicate you don't have a literary goldmine in your hands, although naturally I think it should be worth a fortune!

I don't have a copy. The request was on behalf of a friend.
I don't have any books since my library completely burnt down - destroying my whole collection.
I wouldn't care - some of them weren't even coloured in.

AlanMcKillop wrote:There was one (green cover) for sale at the Tyneside event this week-end for £25, it remained unsold up until I left.

I have had a copy of this book for many years and I would not accept £25 for it,in fact, I just would not part with it. It is an excellent reference book on Burns guitars. Could this be a case of knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing ? I would recommend it to anyone.

Des.

I took an optimistic view of the book's value by having two copies, one for use (much thumbed) and one kept pristine in the original packaging. Maybe one day . . . . .

Although 'Pearls' has colour photographs, it leans heavily on The Burns Book for it's written information and The Burn Book also has much technical data (dimensions, etc) that is missing from 'Pearls'. Above all, Paul was a pioneer in producing an enthusiasts book about one particular make of guitars. Those for Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, etc all came later.

Paul also pioneered the concept of giving prominance to the designer of guitars. Jim Burns combined a wish to produce guitars for the masses with a glorious English eccentricity about what the masses might actually want. In fact, there are a lot of parallels with Joe Meek who achieved his greatest success during the same period and who also combined a wish for popular success with some very strange ideas about what might be popular but whose best efforts (like those of Jim Burns) have achieved lasting fame.

So good on yer, Paul!

Ray

I have never actually seen the book, but I'm almost convinced enough to buy it myself as a keeper.
Sounds like an excellent reference.

Thanks Des and Ray for your embarrassingly kind comments about by my earliest literary labour of love. I too have salted a few copies away, signed by Jim and myself, in the hope that some day their value might exceed the original £3.50 asking price and the kids can eat again.

I like to think most of the material still stands up after 30 years, although of course presentation was primitive to say the least - back then guitar books were thin on the ground and not accorded the deluxe production they've routinely received in more recent years. I've since accrued enough additional and more accurate information to write what would be the definitive work on Burns (for a start I'd spell your name correctly Mr. Liffen!), but I'm afraid this will never happen, as the specialist book publishing business is in decline, much like the music industry. I can't even get the original edition re-printed, even though the brand is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, which ought to offer some incentive to the publishers, but apparently not. Copies of the old 'green bible' (as Jim always called it) have gone for anything from £10 to £79 on eBay, which demonstrates the vagaries of this marketplace as much as wildly fluctuating interest in the item itself.