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Aug 25 12 7:05 PM
Jameson281 wrote:MonsterGuy95 wrote: Why do they cost so much? I really want to get one (vol 1) for my Birthday in December. But then they might have sold out and then I will have to play like £400 which is pretty crazy for a book.Again: These are limited editions from a small speciality press, not mass market releases. Hence a higher price.
MonsterGuy95 wrote: Why do they cost so much? I really want to get one (vol 1) for my Birthday in December. But then they might have sold out and then I will have to play like £400 which is pretty crazy for a book.
Nov 10 12 11:19 PM
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Jan 15 13 1:11 AM
MonsterGuy95 wrote:Why do they cost so much? I really want to get one (vol 1) for my Birthday in December. But then they might have sold out and then I will have to play like £400 which is pretty crazy for a book.When you see the book, you will understand why it costs so much. But get it quick! I hadn't heard of this series until well after Vols. 2 &3 had sold out, and had to pay $250.00 for them, more than I've ever spent on books before. But, you know, it was worth it!
Jan 23 13 4:25 PM
"That which does not kill me makes me vanish." - Jack Griffin
Mar 11 13 4:34 PM
Mar 24 13 8:10 PM
Ray Harryhausen - Master of the Majicks
Volume 1: Beginnings and Endings
by Mike Hankin
Foreword by Tom Hanks
Preface by Sir Christopher Frayling
Completed and off to the Printer!
Vol. 1 is now expected to ship in early Summer, 2013.
The printing process is finally getting underway. I will publish an update as soon as we have an exact delivery date.
First off, I want to thank all those who have already pre-ordered the book— not only for the orders themselves, but for everyone's great patience during the postponement of publication. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I can see that I opened the door to pre-orders a bit early. But rest assured that all orders are securely logged in to our database and everything is in place.
New material kept coming in and work on the book never let up. I wanted to make every effort to include everything (or, to put it another way, I didn’t want to leave anything out). I also fine-tuned the layouts and photos as much as possible while I had the chance. Author Mike Hankin, Consulting Editor (and FXRH magazine co-publisher) Sam Calvin (CHFB’s own “FXRH”), Visual Effects Cinematographer Jim Aupperle, Kong experts James Mansfield and Tim Smyth, and others, all worked diligently over the past few months to contribute, proofread and otherwise prepare the book. All of this effort has made for a better book, and I am confident that everyone will be pleased with the results.
I also had to make a significant computer upgrade (hardware and software). The resulting new-and-improved system has increased productivity and creativity across the board and, among other things, allowed me to create a new trailer for Vol. 1.
What...? A trailer you say…?
Go to our (newly updated!) website at:
archive-editions.com
and you will be able to view:
• The new 5-1/2 minute preview trailer of Majicks Vol. 1, a photo-montage of many of the actual images from the book;
• A new slide show featuring even more photos (different from those in the trailer);
• A new Sample Layouts Gallery with 24 double-page spreads from the book, all different from the layouts previous posted.
The new software upgrade also made it possible to design much nicer (and longer) slideshows and Layout Galleries than we had before.
Majicks Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 are long sold out, and now command prices of $350 to $500 to over $700 per copy on eBay and Amazon. Pre-sales of Volume 1 have been good, but we haven't yet completely covered the upfront cost of printing. So if you're interested in ordering, or know of anyone who might like the book, now would be a great time to place your order. The print run of our limited edition Vol. 1 (the final volume in the set) is getting closer and closer to selling out.
Pre-orders are still available and your support now will not only guarantee your copy (or copies), but will directly contribute to the considerable up-front costs of printing and production.
Written and produced over the past 10 years with Ray Harryhausen's cooperation and support, the complete 3-volume definitive 295,000-word career/biography Master of the Majicks features interviews with Ray and his colleagues. We published Volume 2 ("The American Films") first, then Volume 3 ("The British Films"), and are now wrapping up the set with Volume 1 (“Beginnings and Endings”).
Interview subjects and contributors to Volume 1 include: archivist/editor and Ray’s lifelong friend Forrest J Ackerman, Darlyne (Mrs. Willis) O’Brien, Lost World star Bessie Love, King Kong producer Merian C. Cooper and star Fay Wray, screenwriters Beverley Cross and Kenneth Kolb, animator and visual effects artist Jim Danforth, visual effects cinematographer Jim Aupperle, director John Landis, producer Arnold Kunert, animator/filmmaker Randall William Cook, and many others, some of whom have since passed away.
Chapters in Volume 1 extensively cover:
• Ray's Early 16mm Experiments;
• The Influence of Willis O'Brien and King Kong (this chapter is 90 pages by itself!)
• George Pal's Puppetoons®
• Ray's Film Work During World War II
• The Fairy Tale Short Subjects
• Ray's Retirement Years (including tributes, awards, convention appearances, colorizing his films, unfinished projects, the King Kong 50th Anniversary celebration at Grauman's Chinese Theater in 1983, Ray's cameo appearances in other films, Ray's Lifetime Achievement Oscar® from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Ray's "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and much more).
As a special supplement to the Willis O'Brien chapter, we're including the complete first draft of the King Kong screenplay by British mystery writer Edgar Wallace in its original screenplay format.
While not a textbook or tutorial, a special supplement called "How To Make a Monster" will take you step-by-step through the process of constructing stop motion models using photos from other stop motion films (Caveman, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Willis O'Brien’s films, and more) — from blueprint to armature to clay sculpture to plaster mold to final foam rubber animation model. (Now you'll know the answer when someone asks, "How did they DO that...?")
Plus—
• Ray Harryhausen's Los Angeles: A multi-page map of key locations connected to Ray and his films in the 1940s and 50s;
• Advertising art & posters from different countries;
• Reviews and story synopses;
• Filmographies of key cast and crew.
—And a few surprises…!
• 370 pages, 125,000 word text (chapters, filmographies, reviews, and more).
• Over 1,500 rare photographs, posters, technical diagrams and other illustrations —in Spectacular Color, Nostalgic Sepia-Tone, and Glorious Black-and-White— from numerous private collections, including considerable material that has never been seen in print before (including Ray Harryhausen's own books).
• Hardcover: dark brown imitation leather with title stamped in gold foil;
• Full color dust jacket;
• Heavy 70 pound semi-gloss paper stock;
• Overall dimensions 9" x 11-1/2" (22.86cm x 29.21cm);
• Weight: 5 pounds (2.75kg).
From his Preface to Volume 3 —
"There is no way to overstate the importance of these books. [The Majicks books] are, simply, the most perfect books about Ray Harryhausen ever made. These are the books that you dreamt of having as a child and the only gateway, I guarantee you, to regain that long-gone thrill you had when you where eight years old and you cracked open the pages of the latest issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland. Perhaps more importantly, these books perform one true magic trick— one that we don’t experience often enough: they make you want to go out, immediately, and re-watch every single one of the the chronicled films and, if at all possible, go and shoot a film yourself. In summation: They make you fall in love with cinema all over again."
— Guillermo del Toro, Director of Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth
From his combined review of Volumes 2 and 3 of Majicks:
“…it would seem that everything needing to be said on the subject must have been said at least once. Yet all it takes is reading a few paragraphs of Mike Hankin’s Ray Harryhausen — Master of the Majicks to feel the spark that once so memorably leaped from his subject’s fingers to breathe life into a gallery of unforgettable armatured creatures. … Hankin’s in-progress overview of Harryhausen’s career is unlikely to be surpassed; other books may offer different pictures, different vantages and depths of specific information, but the totality of Harryhausen’s achievement is best represented here.”
— Tim Lucas, Video Watchdog #166
Mar 24 13 8:17 PM
Having focused my time and energies on completing Master of the Majicks Vol. 1 lately, I have neglected to keep up with the postings on this board. So here’s a bit of catching up with answers to a few questions posted above.
Any chance the first two volumes of Master of the Majicks will be reissued by Archive Editions? The prices vendors want to charge on Amazon or eBay is a bit too much.
Currently there are no plans for reprinting Vol. 2 or Vol. 3. Any reprint would be, in effect, starting over from the printing standpoint (although my original layout files are still intact, the factory has to strike all new films and plates). I simply don’t foresee that there would be enough sales to cover that cost, even if I order up a smaller print run (which would increase the per-copy price).
Somewhere in the distant future I may come out with a limited edition boxed set of all three volumes, but there are no concrete plans for that yet. Such a re-issue would also provide the opportunity to update information, upgrade photo quality in some cases, and correct errors (from my most egregious error —that actor Hal Smith co-wrote It Came From Beneath the Sea, corrected thanks to smart detective work by Ted Newsom— all the way down to minor typos).
If I do a boxed set of all three volumes, I plan to investigate the costs involved so that I might put aside a small quantity of each volume to sell individually (I don't like the idea of "forcing" a customer to buy the whole boxed set if, for example, he only needs Vol. 2). An “errata” listing the above-mentioned corrections would also be made available as a downloadable document so those who own Vol. 2 and/or Vol. 3 can stay up-to-date without having to order the full box set.
The prices on the eBay auctions and the listings on Amazon, while amazing, are a bit deceptive. While the Sold Out status of Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 has no doubt escalated the markup, those prices don't indicate a broader demand.
Why do they cost so much?
These books are expensive to produce. Majicks was always intended to be a high-end deluxe “coffee-table”-style book series for the collector— hardcover, full color dust jacket, quality paper, sewn binding, and full color throughout. (Keep in mind, too, that Vol. 2 included over 1,000 photos and Vol. 3 included over 3,600 photos.) Vol. 2 sold for $74.95 at 370 pages, and yet with Vol. 3, at 670 pages (approaching twice the page count), we managed to hold down the price increase to only $10 more (to $84.95). We strive to keep the retail price as low as possible, but the production costs are what they are. We could have produced a series of print-on-demand trade paperback editions, but from the start we elected to produce a high-quality product.
Will Majicks be reissued in tablet format?
No. Considering the content and format as described above, converting the three volumes of Majicks to e-book format would be a formidable task. That process is improving all the time, as are all things in technology, and some day it might be a simple ”button push." But for the time being, it's not practical, especially for a small-press operation such as ours. (If the books had been designed for tablet from the start, or in some kind of cross-format setup, it might not be as much an issue. But the layouts are far too "deep" into print mode to allow for a practical conversion.)
Also, I can’t ignore the fact that most of the complaints I have received about Jim Danforth’s e-book concern that format. Surprisingly, there have been numerous comments from otherwise die-hard stop motion fans who flat out refuse to buy the book precisely because it's an eBook. Latest industry surveys and marketing data seems to indicate that the whole eBook phenomenon is settling into a particular market, which seems to be largely fiction or non-fiction (i.e., primarily text) and "disposable" reading material. This last has been identified as magazines and the kinds of escapist content "most often bought at airports by travelers to pass the time."
I don't have enough experience to comment on the above analysis, but I can confirm that virtually all of my customers have enthusiastically supported the fact that the Majicks books are actual printed-on-paper, high-end books. I think that has to do a lot with being able to easily browse the extensive visual material in a traditional way, as well as preserving Ray Harryhausen’s legacy in a tangible form.
Could the next volume of Jim Danforth's autobiography also be released on tablet format as well? [—and—] I would love to have Jim Danforth's book for my Kindle Fire.
The next volume of Jim’s book is planned to be a direct download in PDF format rather than a physical CD. Jim has not designed his Vol. 2 specifically for Kindle or iPad, but his page format is a tablet-friendly 3x4 ratio, and from what I understand from other customers, PDF files can be imported to and viewed on tablets without much —if any— trouble.
Mar 25 13 5:05 AM
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May 18 13 9:06 PM
ryanbrennan wrote: In that linked article Richard Edlund is quoted as saying, "Ray was used by Charles Schneer who produced these lame movies that were badly written and cut and that took advantage of Ray's incredible stop-motion talent." I've never heard anyone before imply that Schneer was an opportunist preying on a gifted artist. Other than Schneer being called tight with a dollar or being a bit slow to give Harryhausen screen credit as a co-producer, I've not seen much criticism of him. Or am I reading too much into "used" and "took advantage?'
May 19 13 1:55 AM
May 19 13 8:19 AM
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