Well, I did some thinking, this year already saw two new books (T46 and the Dutch Register II), with a 3rd one (Steinhauser) coming. 3 in one month extrapolates to 36 in one year.
Also December was not bad, with Bellu and Op de Weegh's books.

Last year was different though, as I received several books NOT on Bugatti; two on Pic Pic, one on Graham Bradshaw...

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For uninsured shipment: Declare a value on the outside of the package, lower than the limit that you are allowed to import duty-free. (this limit is depending on country, so you will need to find that out at a customs dept)

For insured shipment: Basicly the same, only you cannot declare a low value on the outside, but insure for the real deal. Splitting it up in 2 packages can be beneficial, but usually it is not.

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Vive la Marque !!

Splitting the content of the parcel in several smaller parcels means losing the savings on postal charges for sending everything in a single parcel; but it has the advantage of avoiding the payment of customs taxes.

I prefer to pay more for postal charges because the postal fees can be known previously to the shipment. However, the customs taxes are unknown until the moment when the parcel arrives and besides the taxes are not paid at the post office, but at a customs office. That means going to two different offices and more bureaucratic submits.

Therefore, I advice asking for insurement, but not to surpass the limit in a single parcel to avoid the payment of customs taxes. Of course, if we are speaking on buying books inside the European Union, there are not custom taxes and this problem disappears.

Of the 7 new additions to my collection the one that has seen the least use so far is Divine Bugatti. And I suspect it will stay that way, so it is reasonable to conclude that it represents something of a disappointment. Far from it actually, you see it has great beauty. An exquisitely designed and printed Object d' Art, it's mere presence soothes me, from the satin cover to the brochures, photos and other printed paraphernalia carefully glued onto special pages it is simply a feast for the eye. As for the specially commissioned photographs in the middle section, well, even though not as good as those in Fantastique Bugatti, they do feature some unusual cars - the authors and editors certainly went to great lengths to avoid the obvious. A very expensive book that is of little use, yet I am delighted to have it. A bit weird, I agree, perhaps some-one can explain why I feel this way?

Speaking of Fantastique Bugatti, contributor LANOS said in a recent post he prefers the Conway/Greilshamer work. I have owned the latter for quite a few years now, and Fantastique Bugatti is new, so it is probably no surprise that, for the time being at least, Conway/Greilshamer is being somewhat neglected, but F.B. has one clear advantage over C/G ; the Coupe Napoleon! My Dear Friends, what awesome photography! I have fallen in love with Jean's greatest triumph all over again, as a matter of fact I like to keep it open on my desk so I can look at whenever I want. I'll tell you what, I'll report back on the F.B. v C/G preferences in a few months. I wonder if I will feel different then. That's the great thing about books, I can change my mind and my opinion whenever I like, and the books never feel insecure! Andy Warhol was right, there is more pleasure to be found between the pages of a book than between the sheets on a bed. I'm 46, why do you ask?

Het lot van de Slapende Schoonheden by father & son team, Ard & Arnoud op de Weegh and some other fellow whose name I can never remember is proving to be the dark horse, a wondrous surprise. My native Afrikaans is, of course a Dutch dialect, so I can read and understand Dutch, but I was afraid that I would miss out on the nuance, the subtleties. Not so, this is a deeply moving, almost tender story of an elderly and eccentric man, M. Dovaz, who collected a fabulous collection of cars and then made the mistake of trusting a photographer called Hesselman, who enjoyed M. Dovaz's hospitality, was given free reign to photograph the cars as he saw fit, and then promptly had a raft of articles written humiliating the owner, criticizing the manner in which he kept his cars, and suggesting that his home is unhygienic. It speaks volumes for the authors that they managed to restore this rather endearing gentleman's faith in mankind. Make no mistake Ard & Arnoud has done a wonderful job of restoring the tainted and ruined reputation of, not only M. Dovaz, but his cars as well. And the research is pretty damned impressive too, a certain Pierre-Yves Laugier (yes, Him) is quoted liberally about the Fontana T57. The authors carefully contrasting Laugier's opinion that is a Gangloff Coupe, against their own research which points to little known coachbuilder, Fontana. Like all great research there is an absence of dogma - just a reasoned and lucid setting out of the facts. Pure delight. Soon this book will be available in English, and I recommend it without any reservation. If you can, you must.

Finally, unfortunately I cannot give you any information about David Sewell's British Register just yet, it is filled with chassis numbers you see, just like Wiki you see. And I know myself, when it comes to comparing chassis numbers, the rest of the world simply ceases to exist. In other words, never on a weeknight - that is what weekends are for. And today is Friday! By Monday I will make Christian weep like a girl, just you wait and see .......

I'll have to go now, my boss thinks my work is more important than discussing Bugatti books. Women can be the strangest creatures.

Kind Regards
Johan Buchner

It is my pleasure and honour to announce that Norbert Steinhauser's work, Ettore Bugatti, L'artisan de Molsheim has been awarded the prestigious Académie Bellecour's award for the Best Motoring Book of 2008. Their decision was made after judging the content, the style, the quality of the pictures, the design (easy readable and modern but classic) and the quality of the paper and binding.

My sincerest congratulations to Mr Norbert Steinhauser, this recognition of his labour of love is well-earned indeed. When this book was announced I was not terribly keen, but Mr. Decrey assured me that I would not be disappointed, so I relented and ordered a copy. Turns out Mr. Decrey was absolutely correct, I am very much the opposite of disappointed.

Kind Regards
Johan Buchner

May I kindly refer you to items 26 ; 27 & 28. They arrived late this afternoon, so not such a bad Monday after all. Plus item 26 was a gift from the same gentleman who helped me in my quest to get hold of items 27 & 28. No, not a bad Monday at all.

Just in case you're wondering, yes I am gloating.

Kind Regards
Johan the Smug.

i'm not really following & i know that i'll regret to ask
but what 3 books?

Ouch........

Johan, be gentle to DJ Dirk.

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Octagon Fox, specialist in new and rare Bugatti books
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twitter: @octagonfox

D.J. Dirk, Sir, have a look at the first page of this thread, scroll down and have a look at the last three items. The Apetz work and two, I repeat, two, Dutch Bugatti Registers are now part of the Johan Buchner Bugatti Library.

If it wasn't for the death of Wiki, this would have been such a great day. Now even gloating isn't fun.

Johan.

"At the moment I have great difficulty reading any of the "general" books with history from start to end. I keep looking for things that I do not know yet, and can't seem to find any. Occasionally one finds a photo that is not in one of the other books, or a piece of information. This is also the reason why I doubt about buying the Kruta / Hucke book. How many new info will I find??"

The above is a quote from Jaap Horst in the thread on the Type 46 book, and he touches on something quite universal : Is there still a need for the general Bugatti History book?

I think perhaps not, I have Magnum, Wood, Borgeson, Steinhauser and soon Hucke/Kruta will arrive. The latter I bought simply because it is a beautiful book, I do not expect to find anything new, except perhaps a few photographs I have not seen. Steinhauser did provide some interesting insights into Bugatti's finances, which was a genuine first. And Steinhauser is such a lovely scholarly work, in-depth research and reasoned deductions, all beautifully translated. I am surprised how well Wood holds up in comparison. Jonathan Wood is not a Bugatti historian in the accepted manner, rather, he is an automotive historian who wrote a book on Bugatti. In spite of, or perhaps because of this, his work has a sort of freshness to it which I find very much to my liking.

Borgeson holds up less well, not because he tried so hard to prove that Ettore Bugatti was a disastrously flawed human being and his cars were overrated, but because he seemed to genuinely admire Roland Bugatti. There is nothing to admire about Roland, an uneducated, barely literate, glutinous buffoon, who must bear most of the responsibility for the death of Molsheim. For a researcher of Borgeson's supposed stature to be so taken in by Ettore's idiot child, and then to use this friendship to base his puerile hatchet-job on the legacy and character of Ettore Bugatti does not reflect well on Griffith Borgeson's objective sense of reason. I would say the Borgeson work had a good run, but it has now been exposed as a rather pathetic attempt at character assassination. History shall not judge it kindly.

And Magnum? Still the most comprehensive work on Ettore, his times, his people and his labour. Designs, prototypes, patents, cars, boats and planes, it's all there. And it's still the only book I have with a Bugatti chassis plate! Hugh Conway's Finest Hour. If you can you must.

I think I agree with the school of thought that holds the future lies with books on specific Types. But I have a feeling that within a decade each Type will have a book, and then what? Well, I suppose there are the planes, the trains and the boats, and once they have been exhaustively researched where does that leave Bugatti book collectors? Hopefully with enough books.

Strange thing, this love of cars. I love Bugatti with conviction and with passion, yet I know I will never own one. Just this morning a contributor sent me a photo of his beautifully original T44, and I felt deep joy, not only for the lucky guy who owns it, but also joy that he loves his car so much he felt like sharing it with me. That is how I feel about books, owning them is one thing, but it is sharing and debating the knowledge they contain that gives me the greatest pleasure. But that does not explain why I love some books simply because of their beauty, Divine Bugatti, Fantastiques Bugatti and, I suspect, the Hucke/Kruta book. I tell you, with Divine Bugatti it is the opening of the box, and touching that satin cover that pleases me the most. But the 'pretty' books are a more private indulgence. Books like the Dutch Registers, Laugier, Conway and the T46 are for keeping open next to the keyboard while having the Mother of all debates on the Forum.

Soon(ish) Laugier's major new work on the T51 will be published, and no matter what it costs I will buy it. But kindly explain something to me ; why am I so looking forward to this work when the T51, like the T35, is far from being my favourite Bugatti? It is this lack of logic that intrigues me. Passion, glorious illogical passion, yep, I am most definitely a Buggatist.

Kind Regards
Johan Buchner

My copy of the Hucke/Kruta work arrived this morning (See list at the start of this thread - book no.30). Posted on the 18th, it got here within 7 days, and no custom's duty. I tell you, it's a miracle ; performed by Jeroen.

All Hail Octagonfox.

Now I shall work, tonight I shall look at the pictures and come the weekend I shall read. Forum? What Forum?

Regards
Johan

Your review on this book will be very welcome, as it is in my list of books to buy during this year.

Respectfully,

LANOS

Hi Lanos.

Herewith my thoughts on the Hucke/Kruta book as requested.

800 pages. 800 pages in a single volume. The book is simply too thick, too large and too heavy. I have paged through my copy only twice and already the inside of the cover has started to tear. I will say one thing for this work, it has many, many original photographs, some, well, a few, I haven't seen before. Way too many of them feature the racers, and the captions tend towards the banal : "A T35A racing at the Klausen hill-climb, virtually indistinguishable from the T37." Or words to that effect, I just don't have the energy to wrestle the damn thing out of it's box-cover again.

Each Type gets a chapter, but some, like the Royale one for instance, is too short, two full page spreads for the Esders Roaster, but none of the Berline de Voyage. And no, the prototype did not have a longer wheelbase, and no, neither did it have a bigger engine. The opening page of the T46 chapter features a photo of a lost car credited to Neuss - wrong, it's by Gangloff. T50? Seen them all. T54? No Bachelier, no Praha. T57? Seen them all. T57S? I have Laugier. T59? Boring. T50B? Ditto.

I am, as you can probably tell, massively disappointed, but at least it should make a good investment. They printed very few, and most of them will go to Veyron owners, most of whom have too much money and are illiterate, so their copies will get binned. Soon a few will be very few indeed. As I said a good investment. As a literary work however, it is a pile of steaming shit. The good news is I get to spend some more quality time with T46 and the Dutch Registers.

Kind Regards
Johan Buchner

As I still did not buy the book either, a question: Does it have good info on the airplane, or the autorails??

Well, I received a far simpler booklet in fact yesterday for a much lower price (in fact I swapped it for a copy of my own book); the number 0 of the Italian Bugatti "Magazine" series. A lot of info that is already well known. Just one very interesting photograph of the Type 69. This is a "square" engine, which I knew only through the patent which has been listed to the name of Roland! It is a 4-cylindre of 370 cc, with 2 crankshafts; thus the cylinders are arranged in a square. On top of this is a rotating head, rotating the inlet, spark plug and outlet in turn to each cylinder. I always thought that this engine was never build, but it is.

Does anybody have any further pictures of this engine?

Also arrived a much more interesting book, about Rene Dorand, son of Emile Dorand. Emile Dorand supported Ettore during WW1 (more about this in the latest issue of Pegasus, become a member of the BAA to see that!), and designed a few airplanes that would be fitted with the Bugatti engines.

His son René worked on the Breguet - Dorand Gyroplane Laboratoire, the worlds first real helicopter, which was powered by a Breguet - Bugatti engine (and even featured a Bugatti-style radiator). He went on until far after WW2, designing many very interesting helicopters and airplanes, some of those utterly fantastic. He even worked on making the Concorde more silent.

René Dorand , 50 ans de Giraviation by Pierre Boyer. Editions/Publisher : Le Trait d'Union

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DORAND, Génie Emile.

The Director of the “Section Technique de l’Aéronautique” based at les Invalides in Paris who was responsible, in 1915, for the Dorand-Bugatti bi-plane project, blighted, it is said, by the choice of engines; two eight cylinder Bugatti units.