Okay some might find this sacreligious but when it comes to some of these texts, I wish I had copies with wide enough margins for notes.
Lilly for example, and I'd also like some with some good notes already in them by some of the more stable astrologers out there.... in other words the book would almost be in workbook format

right side of page would have a notes column, then an editors notes collumn and then the text, left page would be the reverse...

Or even right page has notes and editors notes and left page is text.

Especially for Lilly, but other works as well.

Okay just an off the wall thought, anyone else think that would be an enjoyable way to work with these texts?

Granny.

Interesting idea here....

Annotations of older astrological texts that help to explain language, concepts and references unfamiliar to some modern astrologers are always welcome!

I suppose that there is also no harm in reprints of such texts which are designed to be used as working copies being produced with sufficient space for notes. The commercial disadvantage would be, I imagine, a higher ratio of publication cost to text content provided because of the additional paper needed for the note space (and slightly increased shipping costs internationally because of the larger size too). And if ever you decide to part with your written-in copy it would have less resale value on the free market unless you are yourself a well-respected astrologer to the extent that your reputation gives the copy added value, which would certainly count me out for a start!

I've generally observed though that copies of used astrology books that have any ink notes, underlining or highlighting in them other than by the author or an otherwise very well-known astrologer or academic lose between half and four fifths of their value (depending on the extent of the additions). So if wanting to retain the value of any original, early or otherwise valuable editions, you would probably not be recommended to write notes in them. And even less valuable modern books that were issued deliberately in workbook format such as 'Synastry' by Robert Carl Jansky or 'Heaven Knows What' by Grant Lewi or 'Astrology For Yourself' by Demetra George have greatly reduced second-hand value (virtually none at all in the latter case) if the pages in them that were designed to be written in have been - presumably this is because most people want copies they can fill in themselves!

In all, I think it's a good idea of yours for someone to offer reprints of older texts with working space in them provided that the buyer is aware that they will not retain any resale value when filled in unless the original user is an astrologer of international repute (and of course there are plenty of those in this forum, but I imagine that most buyers of such a reprint would not fall into that category!). Otherwise, I imagine that most astrologers are happy to make their own notes on separate pads of paper, on in some cases in computer files, to refer to along with the original source text....

Just my personal thoughts there anyway!

Philip

After speaking with another astrologer, I'm thinking there might be a use for them as educational tools, there are so many universities now offfering astrological courses and degrees, that perhaps these texts would be better sold as text work books?

And it depends on who wrote in the margins, can you imagine what a copy of Newtons works, with Einsteins Notes in the Margin might go for?

well just a thought!

Granny

It's probably a good idea for reprints but I can't imagine writing in my copy of CA. I don't particularly like writing in my mass produced copies of books. But I do see your point about it being useful as a teaching tool.

Krown and Spellman had a copy of Newton's Principa (not annotated by Einstein as far as I am aware) for $250,000 US. At the current exchange rates (which are also good for Australia at the moment - a good time to buy from Amazon) this would make it about $285,000 Australian dollars, more than enough for me to buy a house. Still, given the choice, I'd probably lean more towards the book.

I was pleased to hear that copies of first edition Raphael had gone up so much. I bought one a couple of years ago for about $100.

Sue wrote:Krown and Spellman had a copy of Newton's Principa (not annotated by Einstein as far as I am aware) for $250,000 US, more than enough for me to buy a house. Still, given the choice, I'd probably lean more towards the book.

Given $250,000, I'd probably want to buy a house! Living as a family of three in a one-bedroomed rental apartment of 55 square metres total floor space including hallway becomes a little trying when trying to accommodate large numbers of astrology books in the hallway and closet! Having said that, if I already had a house, I'd probably buy a rental property and use the rental proceeds to fund a continuous stream of further astrology book purchases in order to build up a truly comprehensive collection over the years, then eventually open a European equivalent of Michael Erlewine's legendary 'Heart Centre'. Since $250,000 is not going to magically appear, I'd better just get back to the novel-writing with my wife as soon as she's well again and do what it takes to produce a best-seller....

Philip

I must agree with you Phillip, space for my books is very important to me. and I think your strategy would definitely promote more cash for the Buying of said books! Granny

Okay some might find this sacreligious but when it comes to some of these texts, I wish I had copies with wide enough margins for notes.
Lilly for example, and I'd also like some with some good notes already in them by some of the more stable astrologers out there.... in other words the book would almost be in workbook format - granny_skot

I took this idea to both Rob Hand & John Frawley a few years ago, in reference to my planned (and now completed) editions of Lilly's Christian Astrology. The idea was to print a special 8.5 x 11 (eg, A4) edition, with my reformatted text centered at the bottom, with the rest of the page for their comments, or those of the owner of the book.

Both John & Rob thought it a good idea, but, alas, it has come to naught.

There are few qualified to write such notes. Deb Houlding is one. She has her own edition of Books 1 & 2, but I would be glad to offer her space in mine.

And an apology to Deb: I did my editions when I simply could not get stock of yours.

I was glad to be able to recommend you as a source for the text Dave, because the distribution problems on the edition I worked on were a concern to me too. I had only retained the rights to reproduce it myself for my own students, and since I no longer have the electronic files, even making up a few copies is very laborious. A book of this importance needs to be kept in print.

BTW, I think it might help if you include a link to your book store at the end of your posts.

http://www.astroamerica.com

I was glad to be able to recommend you as a source for the text Dave, because the distribution problems on the edition I worked on were a concern to me too.

This is a great relief to me! Thank-you!

BTW, I think it might help if you include a link to your book store at the end of your posts.

http://www.astroamerica.com

I am an Aquarian nobody. I would never dare. With your permission, I am happy to do so.

PS. You seem to have run into certain problems while you were transcribing volumes 1 & 2. It was similar to the problems that Clive Kavan ran into a decade before, and which probably helped ruin the Wiggers transcription. I might know something about this. If you would like to hear a strange story, one not for the forum, I would be happy to email you privately.