Reference Books

Hello, I also have the books listed at the start of this thread, and as i had no PC at the time had to call Kevin King on the phone to get it!...however, the book was priced at £30 but during our conversation i bought a mint 17th/21st Lancer for £275 and he rounded it to £300.

It broke my heart to have to sell that Lancer!, it was beautiful.

My opinion on the Francis Baird book is like everyone else, ....for collectors it was truly awful and would have caused some confusion and heartache had it not been for the Allan Hall trio some time later. (which i bought for £20 each)...and worth every penny.

From memory, there is a carded British Para in there, with a black version frogman side card!!
Also there are the usual rear facing German Stormtrooper helmets...(that always amazed me how someone could make that mistake!)...but i will say, The Baird book is not the only book where this has happened...it also happened in the Allan Hall book with the Afrika korps vehicles i think.

I believe the Baird book was more of an admiration of the toy its self, because she explains about how her Sons loved playing with them, which inspired here to try and find more of them to photograph,..something like that anyway.
It does deserve a place in all our bookcases as one of the first (if if not THE first) Action man book to show most uniform sets.....so i try to give it its place.

I just remember seeing the metal frame stand towards the back of the book, crammed with Blues and Royals carded uniforms, Lifeguards, Deep S.D etc etc....i would have given my right arm for the stand alone.

If you do have this little book, please check out the HMS Raleigh sailor....its a bit of a quandary and was somewhat of a talking point at one time,....i know it certainly looks authentic.....food for thought.

I do ramble on a bit ..don't i?
Neil.

Great info Neil, more please

*Guardiola L. (2009) "La Enciclopedia Visual de Geyperman" (ISBN 978-84-9923-029-0)
Only available in spanish





* Rodvi (2019) "Las aventuras vividas (I)" (ISBN 978-84-17546-81-6)
778 pages - 5,5cm thick ! :p
Only available in spanish.

*DeSimone, J (1994) "The New Official Identification Guide To GI Joe 1964-1978" (ISBN 0-9635956-1-X)






* Michlig, J. (1998) "G.I. Joe; The Complete Story of America's Favorite Man of Action" (ISBN 0-8118-1822-5)






* Le Vexier, E.; Gavigniaux, H. ''trans''.(2004) "Action Joe - The Story of the French GI Joe" (ISBN 2-915239-21-5)






* Moody, C.; "GI JOE Value Guide 1964-1978 Dolls, Gear & Equipment" (ISBN 0-87588-330-3)

Wow Didier
This look really cool ..  I love the Geyper Man and Action Joe ones ...right I'm off to E-bay to see what I can find .

I have put the Carol Moody's book for reference, but my humble opinion is that it is not worth buying.

What an interesting collection! I did not know there were so many books about GI Joe and his international pals!

Some fantastic books there Didier

Didier wrote:

I have put the Carol Moody's book for reference, but my humble opinion is that it is not worth buying.

Didier,
Thanks for the tip..which is the best one from your perspective ?

That's a tough question because they are all different and what one is looking for will not be what another one wants to see.

My personnal opinion is that for Action Man, Alan Hall's trilogy is a must have. There are some mistakes, but only a few, some infos missing but the 3 books are the best.
Once you have Alan Hall's, the interest for the Keving King's book is lessened, but I appreciate it a lot for the pages 257-292 : MAM, Cherilea and Sharna vehicles and Tommy Gunn.
If you want infos about the history of the toy, you have to read Ian Harrison's.  Great book and a totaly different approach than Alan Hall's.
As far as quality of pictures is your thing, NG Taylor's is the best.  My only critic about it are the few mistakes.  Also it is not encyclopedic.
I wouldn't buy the Francis Blair's book for more than 1£, postage included.

For Action Joe, there is only one book (Le Vexier's) so I had to have it.  It is not written for the hardcore collector market.  I would call it a popular work.  Too many infos missing and there are inaccuracies.

For Geyperman, the Rodvi book seems to be The encyclopedia on the topic.  My knowledges in spanish and about Geyperman aren't good enough to allow me express an opinion.  Personally I would have prefered 4 books of 250 pages rather than 1 of 780 pages.

For GI Joe, my knowledge is not good enough either.  I have appreciated a lot Michlig's book.  Gives a lot of infos about the history of GI Joe, but you have to complete it with another one if you want to know what pieces are missing in a set.  I completed it with DeSimonne's identification guide, but it is not a good one.  Crap presentation, mistakes, 2 pages of collector's name in a book of 70 pages (!)...  I have seen better ones but can't comment as I don't have them.
As I said, the Carol Moody's one is not worth buying today : children style drawings of items instead of pictures is no longer an option today.

If you are into Tommy Gunn, you have to get the Simon Mole review.  The only one available as far as I know.

But these are personnal opinions and I accept others will have different points of view.