Are these books of any use?

[SOT(D)]

Fellows....I was checking out some reference books, and thought I might put them up for criticism or compliment.

Collecting World War II German Military Pay & Service Books – Nigel Allison / Ulric of England

....worth getting?

Papers Please! Identify Documents, Permits & Authorizations of the 3rd Reich-Cowdery

...worth getting?

I want to get some good reference books on Soldbuchs and other IDs, and ID tags. I have been referred to some good ID tag books, but can keep searching.

Thanks for the help,
Mike

[Hofstetter]

Fellows....I was checking out some reference books, and thought I might put them up for criticism or compliment.

Collecting World War II German Military Pay & Service Books – Nigel Allison / Ulric of England

....worth getting?

Papers Please! Identify Documents, Permits & Authorizations of the 3rd Reich-Cowdery

...worth getting?

I want to get some good reference books on Soldbuchs and other IDs, and ID tags. I have been referred to some good ID tag books, but can keep searching.

Thanks for the help,
Mike

Try "The Wehrpass and Soldbuch of the Wehrmacht" by Scapini and Gorzanelli

[Ian Jewison]

Mike,

You might want to get this one:

http://s276159374.e-shop.info/shop/a...id%3DBB-001%26

/Ian

[RichardT]

Mike, like most reference books, there is not a single book that has everything. Both books you mentioned are worth having but certainly if you are going to only buy one book, "The Wehrpass and Soldbuch of the Wehrmacht" by Scapini and Gorzanelli, is probably the best. However, you can never have too many reference books.

Richard

[Michael Fay]

Try "The Wehrpass and Soldbuch of the Wehrmacht" by Scapini and Gorzanelli

Hofstetter , what makes this book you mentioned the best? I ask as I do not have it....yet


To original poster Sot(d),

I do have the Ulric book and the Crowderey book (very impressed with both, but more with the crowdery book with so much info on so many types of papers.

I also suggest for SS documents , Barger. "Personnel Documents of the SS."

[Jock Auld]

Mate,

If dabbling in this area of the hobby is going to be your thing I am going to suggest Emilie Caldwell Stewarts 'Wehrpass' and I understand she did some on docs and SB.

The reason being, it dates from before these were made popular and it offers a translation of each printed page in a accurate unbiased way, with a few examples.

Since every pass/book/doc you buy is unique, you can do without comparing it to all the sexy stuff and I think she does a good job of that.

Since these newer books are trying to sell you an idea or opinion by the artist, I personally prefer the blank canvas if you see what I mean?

Each is individual to an individual, smash it out yourself?

If you buy a newer book and that opinion, what about any errors?

Before crucifixion I am not saying there are lots of errors but since, probably a lot of folks here feature in the credits I would guess it leads to self fulfilment and may not always be correct?

Also people that write books may have started collecting here too and that may mean they have trod in the odd pooh here and there.

In short I am not a fan of all the new glossy books (basically a colour photo inventory of a collection) since often there is not a lot of supporting 'new' fact.

To summarise I haven't seen the books and I don't need to since it is a catalogue of unique objects and I am unlikely to encounter them, something similar but not them and what if there are errors? What becomes accepted as fact.

Crucifixion, 'one cross each, line on the left'!

Jock

[Hofstetter]

Hofstetter , what makes this book you mentioned the best? I ask as I do not have it....yet


To original poster Sot(d),

I do have the Ulric book and the Crowderey book (very impressed with both, but more with the crowdery book with so much info on so many types of papers.

I also suggest for SS documents , Barger. "Personnel Documents of the SS."

Hi Michael,
I didn't say it was the best, (I haven't the other similar publications to compare with)
I'm going by what others have said on this forum, I'm sure Ian or someone else familiar with the other books can give you an explanation of why they think this one may be better.

Regards
Greg

[Lee Luke]

Jeff Young's set of books are a good start also. Plus the author will answer questions you have via email.

[Simon O.]

Mate,

If dabbling in this area of the hobby is going to be your thing I am going to suggest Emilie Caldwell Stewarts 'Wehrpass' and I understand she did some on docs and SB.

The reason being, it dates from before these were made popular and it offers a translation of each printed page in a accurate unbiased way, with a few examples.

Since every pass/book/doc you buy is unique, you can do without comparing it to all the sexy stuff and I think she does a good job of that.

Since these newer books are trying to sell you an idea or opinion by the artist, I personally prefer the blank canvas if you see what I mean?

Each is individual to an individual, smash it out yourself?

If you buy a newer book and that opinion, what about any errors?

Before crucifixion I am not saying there are lots of errors but since, probably a lot of folks here feature in the credits I would guess it leads to self fulfilment and may not always be correct?

Also people that write books may have started collecting here too and that may mean they have trod in the odd pooh here and there.

In short I am not a fan of all the new glossy books (basically a colour photo inventory of a collection) since often there is not a lot of supporting 'new' fact.

To summarise I haven't seen the books and I don't need to since it is a catalogue of unique objects and I am unlikely to encounter them, something similar but not them and what if there are errors? What becomes accepted as fact.

Crucifixion, 'one cross each, line on the left'!

Jock

I have Caldwell-Stewarts book on award docs, it's just a collection of examples really, using often poor black and white photocopies of the originals. The accompanying text can simply be ignored for much of it, some of it is simply padding where the author didn't have anything meaningful to add and in quite a few cases outright errors.
For example, page 118 describing the Narvikschild "The Narvik shield was instituted in August 1940 and all members of the German military who participated in the Norwegian campaign between 9 April and 9 June 1940 were eligible to receive it" of the 3 examples shown Dietl's name is also misspelled on each occasion 'Dietel'.

Fair enough it was one of if not the first book specifically on german award docs (1991), but it's just a catalogue of examples really.

The world has moved on, a lot of new knowledge has come about the last 20 years or so, thanks to both the information superhighway and the opening up and increased accessibility of archives. It also means that errors and omissions are picked up and broadcast to the world almost before the first copy has hit the bookshelves. Prior to the advent of the internet and for a hobby like this, many of us lived in an information vacuum or at least within a very small circle, with limited opportunities to cross check and verify, the pool of reference works available was small and themselves contained errors which were then repeated.


I'll certainly be getting the Scapini and Gorzanelli book but I won't be getting the Caldwell Stewart one unless I find it cheap in a used book store as judging by the usual sites copies of it are 2-3 times the price of the new work.


Another one to look out for is 'German Third Reich era documents volume two: Military documents' by Young and Meinz

[jmark]

Mate,

If dabbling in this area of the hobby is going to be your thing I am going to suggest Emilie Caldwell Stewarts 'Wehrpass' and I understand she did some on docs and SB.

The reason being, it dates from before these were made popular and it offers a translation of each printed page in a accurate unbiased way, with a few examples.

Since every pass/book/doc you buy is unique, you can do without comparing it to all the sexy stuff and I think she does a good job of that.

Since these newer books are trying to sell you an idea or opinion by the artist, I personally prefer the blank canvas if you see what I mean?

Each is individual to an individual, smash it out yourself?

If you buy a newer book and that opinion, what about any errors?

Before crucifixion I am not saying there are lots of errors but since, probably a lot of folks here feature in the credits I would guess it leads to self fulfilment and may not always be correct?

Also people that write books may have started collecting here too and that may mean they have trod in the odd pooh here and there.

In short I am not a fan of all the new glossy books (basically a colour photo inventory of a collection) since often there is not a lot of supporting 'new' fact.

To summarise I haven't seen the books and I don't need to since it is a catalogue of unique objects and I am unlikely to encounter them, something similar but not them and what if there are errors? What becomes accepted as fact.

Crucifixion, 'one cross each, line on the left'!

Jock

So you're saying get the older book – which you haven't seen – instead of the new book – which you also haven't seen???

You say these books are a "catalogue of unique objects". WRONG! They help collectors, especially newcomers, to decode each page, show what information appears on each page, explain codes, etc.

I know you main purpose here is to provoke a response by citing contrary views.

Jason

[Dietrich Maerz]

The reason being, it dates from before these were made popular and it offers a translation of each printed page in a accurate unbiased way, with a few examples.

Since every pass/book/doc you buy is unique, you can do without comparing it to all the sexy stuff and I think she does a good job of that.

Jock

The book by Anthony was already praised in its Italian version. I as the publisher went trough a great deal of work to translate every page word by word of the Wehrpass and the Soldbuecher. In addition I have translated most of the entries of the equipment, deseases and such into proper English. In addition, we have avoided the usual misspellings of the German words, like the ever famous Kreigsmarine. Plus we have added the proper regulatiatory background!

I don't think you should or can judge the work of Anthony. It is lightyears ahead of the earlier publications.

Dietrich

[Gaspare]

'Papers Please' is a good book for the beginner collector. Shows a wide variety of buchs, passes, IDs etc. with explanation of each, also codes , glossary, abbreviations, and some interesting info..

[Antonio Scapini]

I'm not here to support my book, but only to quote Jason in his comment about Jock.

Jock, how you can judge a book without having it? I think no one can read you answer without laughing.

BTW, Dietrich made a hard work on this book, to make the english translation equal to the Italian version and adding some more translated pictures to make easier the understanding for all the world's readers.

So you're saying get the older book – which you haven't seen – instead of the new book – which you also haven't seen???

You say these books are a "catalogue of unique objects". WRONG! They help collectors, especially newcomers, to decode each page, show what information appears on each page, explain codes, etc.

I know you main purpose here is to provoke a response by citing contrary views, but this one was completely imbecilic.

Jason

[mufasa]

I started to collect (and know) the Wehrpass and Soldbuch 5-6 years ago thanks to Christophe Gregorie articles on Miliraria Magazine that I read in the Italian revue "Uniformi & Armi (that it ceased this year ), especially with some wonderful articles, page by page, published between 1999 and 2000...

The fine and documented book by Alberto and Antonio is arrived in my library last year, obviously in the Italian edition, and there are also inside some photos of my documents (including for example the photos on page 18 pages allocated to a printing error to Eric Jan Bakker)....

And then finally after reading more than you can read , here, on WAF, is the place decisive for any doubts ......

[Ironcrown]

I started to collect (and know) the Wehrpass and Soldbuch 5-6 years ago thanks to Christophe Gregorie articles on Miliraria Magazine that I read in the Italian revue "Uniformi & Armi (that it ceased this year ), especially with some wonderful articles, page by page, published between 1999 and 2000...

The fine and documented book by Alberto and Antonio is arrived in my library last year, obviously in the Italian edition, and there are also inside some photos of my documents (including for example the photos on page 18 pages allocated to a printing error to Eric Jan Bakker)....

And then finally after reading more than you can read , here, on WAF, is the place decisive for any doubts ......

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