Free Binder with Issue One!

[sf1378]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

Funny thing is a lot of these things dissappear after a while so you cannot buy them in shops as regularly.

[Richard1978]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

I remember Spitting Image spoofing them, saying that the writing team often get thrown out of their office around the time Issue 3 his the presses.

[staffslad]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

From 1983 to 1985 I collected the 'War in Peace' partwork. I remember seeing the TV advert for it. I still have all 120 issues and a binder for the first 12, which I think was free with issue 1 but not completely sure about that. There was a book remainder shop about 10 miles from us that used to sell issues of various partworks that the publisher couldn't shift, and I bought very cheaply a number of issues of various 80s partworks, but it was very haphazard what was in the shop.

A previous poster mentioned 'The Unexplained' partwork. Several years after it ended, paperback collections from the series were issued by Orbis, of which I have several.

[Richard1978]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

Some went subscription only if they had trouble selling them through newsagents, but could get enough people to sign up to have them delivered directly.

[darren]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

i collected quite a few things cant remember what they where now.
Where i got a free binder but after a while you could not get the issues in shops so that was a bit disappointing and i had no other way of getting them.

[staffslad]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

I think that many, perhaps most, partworks went the subscription route after a few issues of general availability in newsagents. That was certainly the case with 'War in Peace'. After a few issues I had to order it from a local newsagent and collect it each week. Also, in the final issue there was a card announcing that anyone interested in a follow-up covering wars over the next few years should send it back to the publisher. I did so but never heard anything about a follow-up so I suppose that there wasn't enough interest to justify it.

I have also recalled that W.H. Smith sometimes sold partwork issues at very cheap prices. I bought some issues of 'War Machine' from them--obviously they hadn't sold and W.H. Smith were trying to shift them.

[Richard1978]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

I remember picking up a single part of a series on sports cars very cheaply in the sales at W.H. Smiths in the sales. It was about 20p, down from over a pound.

[marc]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

Wasn't there a warning about these magazines some years ago? If memory serves correctly, it was about building the Titanic. If you collected all the issues with each part provided, it would be in the region of £500. You could actually buy a ready made and well detailed model for around £300. Has explained in earlier posts, there is also the problem of a missed issue or the series not being completed.

[staffslad]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

Marc, I can't remember specifically the Titanic example, but I recall seeing over the years various partworks where a single part of a model was included with each issue. I think there was one where you collected parts to build a racing car. Yes, a missed issue could be a severe problem when collecting partworks and it is interesting to speculate how many partworks fail to reach the full set due to poor sales or other reasons.

I don't know when partworks first began to be published but as a child in the late 60s/early 70s I had a set of children's encyclopedias called something like 'Children's Books of Knowledge' that were obviously originally published as partworks, probably in the late 50s/early 60s. They were collected into 4 hardback books on British history, science, wildlife and one being a mixture of bits and pieces. Also, fiction partworks were published at least as far back as the 1840s, when 'Varney the Vampire' and 'Sweeney Todd' were published as a chapter per week, and in these cases they managed to extend them out for years, 'Varney' managed in excess of 800 pages before its conclusion.

[Arran]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

Quest (Marshall Cavendish, 1988-90?) There was 60 parts in this. I managed to collect the full set and still have them. I was excited by this series at the start but my interest seemed to dwindle quickly as the general quality of the issues (both the material and projects) definitely declined as the run went on further.

I have a full set of Quest but it was bought secondhand.

I don't know when partworks first began to be published

Novels written by Charles Dickens were originally sold in parts back in the mid 19th century.

[staffslad]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

About a decade ago there was a partwork where every issue they gave you a watch--could have been pocket watches but I can't remember, but issue 1 was definitely a pocket watch. I bought issue 1 out of curiosity but I did wonder just how successful this partwork would be.

[George 1978]

Re: Free Binder with Issue One!

I used to have Marshall Cavendish's Quest from 1989 to 1991 - I believe it was issued again a couple of years after that.

A lot of these are advertised between Christmas and New Year, with the "free binder" thing offered. I can remember a couple of times going to WH Smith and trying to collect a series of it, but by the fourth or fifth issue, they had stopped selling it, ruining my chances of building a collection. Annoying.

[GolfDelta]

Hi, I'm trying to find out the correct name and publisher of a weekly partwork magazine that I collected in the UK in the late 70's or maybe early 80's. I think it was called Animal Life and it was an encyclopedic magazine, photo entries of each animal, covering mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and ran alphabetically from A-Z. I have found several of these but none relate to the time I collected it. I've found Purnell's Encyclopedia of Animal Life that was published in 1968 but that is too early for me, I was too young then. Although the covers of these seem very similar from memory, so I wonder if they re-published it again in the late 70's or early 80's. I've also seen the Marshall Cavendish publications, same name, same type of cover but these date from 1973, again, I think this is too early for me. If it helps, I also collected Wings, an aviation partworks at around the same time and this run started in 1977. Can anyone help me find the correct name and publisher of the magazine I collected please?

[Big Tim]

In the late 1980's, while I was still at Primary School I was insistent that I wanted to collect a series called "Country Companion". I actually made it all the way through and my mum dutifully bought the lot. Still have the entire collection, all in green leatherette covered binders (six in total, 100 copies of the magazine I think). Most of them have never even been read and are in pristine condition in the loft. There's also a complete set of a Marshal Cavendish "Road Bike" (a motorcycle part work) in eight black leatherette binders - they have been read, but are still like new - those were collected by my dad, but quite relevant as he was a motorcycle dealer and racer (he still does a bit of racing nowadays).

Moving onto 1997 - 2003, I was assistant manager (in between stints at University) at a large independent newsagents, and part works were an absolute nightmare, and could easily lose chunks of cash for us if we didn't regulate and monitor their sales. In the news trade, the majority of newspapers and magazines are sent from the wholesalers on a "sale or return" basis - so any that aren't sold to the public are refunded at cost. However, other than the launch week, part-works were in general non-returnable. Some were close to £10 each even back then (there were some quite complex ones - containing components to build something like a replica model of an iconic ship, a remote control car, collectible dolls etc). People would enthusiastically buy the launch product at the heavily discounted price, then place an order for the subsequent ones. We found many lost interest (or simply could not afford to keep up with the regular issues), and stopped turning up to buy them.

Obviously, this was not viable for business, and we ended up insisting that these were paid "up front" - i.e. an issue ahead, and a cancellation would be made if the next issue was due and the previous one had not been collected. I guess there are lots of incomplete models / recipe collections etc in the York area! I costed that some of these part works would have cost the best part of £1000 to make a static model boat, for example. Would have been far cheaper, faster and convenient to visit the local model shop and buy one there!