Jan:
You are missing the point. If you will do a one time only mass xerox of depleted back issues, there will be some disappointment coming from your readership, past present and future. Why not 'license' the out of print copies to a known and trusted archivist of vintage periodicals? Surely someone out there would honor your spirit and intent and be forthright with regards to sales and production figures. Would an annual set be any easier to store for long periods of time instead of individual issues?
Tom Martin Oakland CA
-----Original Message----- From: oroboyz@aol.com [mailto:oroboyz@aol.com] Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 4:19 PM To: khun.freek@gmail.com; ipmerkin@aol.com Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Jan Heine comments re: The Vintage Bicycle Quarterly.
Sent at Jan's request:
<< Can you please post this to the CR list for me?
A German friend pointed me to the CR list controversy on VBQ back issues. As you know, I am still digging out from a recent trip to France to do more research for VBQ and other projects, so I have not yet rejoined the various lists. I will do so as soon as I have taken care of the most urgent work here.
All VBQ back issues have been available until recently. Now the first ones are running out, almost three years after they have been printed. So far, I have turned away maybe 15 people who wanted the first issues and could not get them - it's not a big problem, and does not yet warrant reprinting these issues.
Several other issues are running low - I believe Jon got the last of one or two issues that now also are out of stock.
At some point in the next year or two, I probably will make all out-of-print issues available as xeroxes or printouts. Unfortunately, these will not match the production quality of the standard, printed VBQ issues. The reprints will be a one-time deal, because I don't want to stock these issues any longer. It's hard enough to keep boxes of the back issues around for three years!
The contents of VBQ indeed is copyrighted. Most of the old materials reprinted from other sources are in the public domain (but my translations of old articles are not!), or the authors have agreed to cede their rights to VBQ. Thus, xeroxing VBQ would violate copyright laws. More importantly, VBQ is only viable if those who read it contribute to the cost of producing it.
Most of all, I am committed to producing new, up-to-date material in future issues of VBQ. The next issue will appear in a few weeks. And then I'll be back on this list, too!
-- Jan Heine, Seattle Editor/Publisher Vintage Bicycle Quarterly c/o Il Vecchio Bicycles 140 Lakeside Ave, Ste. C Seattle WA 98122 http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com >>
Dale Brown
Greensboro, NC USA
http://www.classicrendezvous.com