The excessively rare 1st edition of Whitman’s Fantastic 1804 Dollar book—who owns it and why did Whi

Longacre

I was taking a look at the most recent issue of Esylum, and there were a bunch of tributes to Eric Newman on his 97th birthday. On some days Longacre feels like he’s 97, even though Mr. Newman has 60 years on me.

One contributor to the article wrote the following:

“ ... When the book on the Fantastic 1804 Dollars was published in June 1961 authored by Eric and Ken Bressett, the splendid Siam set of 1834 was not known. The book was printed by Whitman, but when David Spink gave the lecture on the rediscovery of the Siam set at the 1961 ANA Convention, Whitman scraped the entire first printing and rushed to press a corrected edition which included the Siamese 1834 set. I had received a copy of the first printed edition of the 1804 book which was one of about six or so remaining copies from the first printing of the book.”


Questions:

(1) Does anyone here own a copy of the excessively rare first edition of the Fantastic 1804 Dollar book?

(2) What is the value of this book, particularly if it is only one of six copies in existence?

(3) Under what circumstances will a publisher scrap an entire first printing of a book? Is there a certain level of new material that becomes available which almost requires that a revised edition be printed?

(4) What was the financial impact to Whitman of the decision to destroy the first printing?

(5) Given the comparatively primitive communications in 1961, how exactly did Whitman contact the slow boat en route and order it to return to port in Shanghai and destroy its cargo?

Coinosaurus

Charles Davis in 1992 reported sales in the $200-$300 range for this book. I suspect they would be worth substantially more today, more like $2000-$3000 depending on who wanted it. Some of the big literature collectors like duplicates.

Dentuck

(6) Would it have been possible for the officers and crew to be transferred by lifeboat to a nearby shrimp trawler, and the cargo boat and its contents scuttled? If so, has an international consortium of recovery experts attempted to bring up the treasure, with the intent of certifying surviving books with "Shipwreck Effect" surfaces?

Broadstruck

Thanks Longacre, as I own a few copies of the book and wasn't aware of a rare 1st edition existing

Shamika

<< <i>(6) Would it have been possible for the officers and crew to be transferred by lifeboat to a nearby shrimp trawler, and the cargo boat and its contents scuttled? If so, has an international consortium of recovery experts attempted to bring up the treasure, with the intent of certifying surviving books with "Shipwreck Effect" surfaces? >>

DaveG

(6) Would it have been possible for the officers and crew to be transferred by lifeboat to a nearby shrimp trawler, and the cargo boat and its contents scuttled? If so, has an international consortium of recovery experts attempted to bring up the treasure, with the intent of certifying surviving books with "Shipwreck Effect" surfaces?

But, back in those days, didn't Whitman use covered wagons to ship its books?

firstmint

As a note of interest -

September 28, 1962 was the first day for the official release of the corrected second edition containing the "Diplomatic Gift Background" version.

AngryTurtle

<< <i>(6) Would it have been possible for the officers and crew to be transferred by lifeboat to a nearby shrimp trawler, and the cargo boat and its contents scuttled? If so, has an international consortium of recovery experts attempted to bring up the treasure, with the intent of certifying surviving books with "Shipwreck Effect" surfaces? >>



I thought i had heard that the USS Missouri sank the cargo ship with a few well placed 16" salvos?

CaptHenway

<< <i>I was taking a look at the most recent issue of Esylum, and there were a bunch of tributes to Eric Newman on his 97th birthday. On some days Longacre feels like he’s 97, even though Mr. Newman has 60 years on me.

One contributor to the article wrote the following:

“ ... When the book on the Fantastic 1804 Dollars was published in June 1961 authored by Eric and Ken Bressett, the splendid Siam set of 1834 was not known. The book was printed by Whitman, but when David Spink gave the lecture on the rediscovery of the Siam set at the 1961 ANA Convention, Whitman scraped the entire first printing and rushed to press a corrected edition which included the Siamese 1834 set. I had received a copy of the first printed edition of the 1804 book which was one of about six or so remaining copies from the first printing of the book.”


Questions:

(1) Does anyone here own a copy of the excessively rare first edition of the Fantastic 1804 Dollar book?

(2) What is the value of this book, particularly if it is only one of six copies in existence?

(3) Under what circumstances will a publisher scrap an entire first printing of a book? Is there a certain level of new material that becomes available which almost requires that a revised edition be printed?

(4) What was the financial impact to Whitman of the decision to destroy the first printing?

(5) Given the comparatively primitive communications in 1961, how exactly did Whitman contact the slow boat en route and order it to return to port in Shanghai and destroy its cargo? >>



this may come as a shock to you, but many things, including books, used to be made in the Newnited States Of America......
TD

firstmint

Why, if I recall correctly, there was even a telephone call made at the 1962 ANA convention.

CaptHenway

Considering the times and the subject matter, the first press run probably wasn't that large.
Because of the discovery of the King of Siam proof set, the second printing probably sold many times what the first printing would have sold had the KoS set not surfaced, so in the long run Whitman probably did OK.
TD

Coxe

Mine says copyright 1962 and has "The Diplomatic Gift Background" as chapter VIII. First edition of the official release then and I'll have to get richer from the coins and not my books.

Walmann

Back in 2001 a census of the remaining copies of the first edition was attemped:

Census attempt 1804 First Edition Whitman

Unable to locate any results, you may try contacting Wayne Homren via his link and email address in census post.

This post on census refers to Ken Bressert writing an article about the book , but haven't been able to locate any such Ayslum article by Bessert 2001 or prior.

Walmann

Appears at least 16 copies were printed:

To answer your question: The one book I would save because
it is irreplaceable is "The Fantastic 1804 Dollar? " one of the rare
first edition -- that was the only copy signed by both authors in
two different cities on the same day. Sixteen copies were
delivered to Ken Bressett at an ANA convention in Detroit. He
gave me a copy because I was flying back to Kansas City that
day with a stopover in St. Louis. If Eric Newman could meet
me at the airport I would deliver his first copy. Both authors
signed my copy. That's irreplaceable."

Link to abover cite

RWB

A similar, although less catastrophic, thing happened with my first numismatic book Renaissance of American Coinage 1916-1921. I was two days away from sending the completed manuscript to the publisher when I discovered a cache of documents and photos at NARA. The material changed most of the second half of the book. By the time I finished rewriting and proofing the changes, the publisher had backed out and all I had was a digital file. A few pre-publication reviewers got copies of the suppressed edition, and hopefully long ago consigned them to the shredder. I kept a copy to remind me to keep digging for information.

As for the Newman-Bressett landmark book, I have only the common 1.5 edition.

Coinosaurus

Actually, the surest way to find new information is to publish what you already have.

The corollary to this rule is that the more you have invested in the printing, the greater the chances that something will show up

firstmint

The cut-off point for any published works is a serious dilema for all authors.

No matter how well researched the subject matter has been, there will ALWAYS be additional information found after printing, that needs to be added.

Dentuck

That's what second editions are for!