For those who like regimental histories

[Paul C]

I would apprecaite a little help with some questions on German army (Prussian, Saxon, Bayern, Wurttemberg) regimental histories. So here goes:

1. Which are the 5 hardest ones to find?

2. Which are the most desirable and sell the fastest on ebay?

3. What is the going price for these books?

Thanks for the help.

[Daniel Cole]

This is the one I have been trying to find:

Geschichte des F?silier-Regiments Generalfeldmarschall Prinz Albrecht von Preu?en (Hann.) Nr 73. Im Auftrag des F?silierbundes 73 nach amtlichen Unterlagen und unter Mitarbeit von Mitk?mpfern bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Hans Voigt. (Berlin: Bernard & Graefe, 1938) (Deutsche Tat im Weltkrieg, 70).

I've seen it but loose the bids. Maybe more than I want to spend i guess.

[David Gregory]

I would apprecaite a little help with some questions on German army (Prussian, Saxon, Bayern, Wurttemberg) regimental histories. So here goes:

1. Which are the 5 hardest ones to find?

2. Which are the most desirable and sell the fastest on ebay?

3. What is the going price for these books?

Thanks for the help.

Paul,

The hardest to find are probably those for some of the smaller and more obscure Reserve, Landwehr or Landsturm units. The J?ger formation histories also seem hard to find. This is probably due to the small unit size and, consequently, the low number of copies originally printed.

I have never been able to establish any correlation between desirability and "sell the fastest on eBay". Fairly common histories sometimes sell for silly (i.e. high) prices. Genuinely rare books sometimes sell for very little.

Some of the more luxurious examples for cavalry or guards units tend to command very high prices, presumably because book collectors want them for the high quality bindings.

Condition is of secondary importance for me, as I want the books for their contents when researching the circumstances relating to the documents I collect. However, this doesn't always work out as planned. For example, I have a Milit?rverdientstkreuz (a.k.a. enlisted man's PLM) award document to an Unteroffizier in RIR 262. The large and well written regimental history does not refer to him by name. He is merely the recipient of one of "a number of MVK awarded at the time" in late 1918.

This is the one I have been trying to find:

Geschichte des F?silier-Regiments Generalfeldmarschall Prinz Albrecht von Preu?en (Hann.) Nr 73. Im Auftrag des F?silierbundes 73 nach amtlichen Unterlagen und unter Mitarbeit von Mitk?mpfern bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Hans Voigt. (Berlin: Bernard & Graefe, 1938) (Deutsche Tat im Weltkrieg, 70).

I've seen it but loose the bids. Maybe more than I want to spend i guess.

Daniel,

There is also another FR 73 history I have with the title:

Erinnerungsbl?tter aus der Geschichte des F?silier-Regiments Generalfeldmarschall Prinz Albrecht von Preussen (Hannoversches) Nr. 73 w?hrend des Weltkrieges 1914-1918, bearbeitet von Dr. Max von Szczepanski, Berlin 1923

David

[Paul C]

Thanks

[Daniel Cole]

"There is also another FR 73 history I have with the title:

Erinnerungsbl?tter aus der Geschichte des F?silier-Regiments Generalfeldmarschall Prinz Albrecht von Preussen (Hannoversches) Nr. 73 w?hrend des Weltkrieges 1914-1918, bearbeitet von Dr. Max von Szczepanski, Berlin 1923"

David, I actually have that one all ready. It is a small paperback, but interesting.

Dan

[IR 134]

This is the one I have been trying to find:

Geschichte des F?silier-Regiments Generalfeldmarschall Prinz Albrecht von Preu?en (Hann.) Nr 73. Im Auftrag des F?silierbundes 73 nach amtlichen Unterlagen und unter Mitarbeit von Mitk?mpfern bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Hans Voigt. (Berlin: Bernard & Graefe, 1938) (Deutsche Tat im Weltkrieg, 70).

I've seen it but loose the bids. Maybe more than I want to spend i guess.

Here another one on german evil-bay

http://cgi.ebay.de/Regimentsgeschichte-Pri...1QQcmdZViewItem

Gru? Stefan

Edited February 27, 2008 by IR 134

[Daniel Cole]

Hopefully, I will win that auction. I have hesitated buying the book in the past because it can be very expensive. (even more so with the current dollar to Euro collapse!) Its expensive because of the Ernst Juenger connection to the 73rd Fusiliers.

Thanks for the heads up

Dan

[Paul H1]

I would apprecaite a little help with some questions on German army (Prussian, Saxon, Bayern, Wurttemberg) regimental histories. So here goes:

1. Which are the 5 hardest ones to find?

2. Which are the most desirable and sell the fastest on ebay?

3. What is the going price for these books?

Thanks for the help.

Paul,

A but late into this discussion, but it caught my eye. I guess the answer is a matter of perspective. Here in Germany, using the very effecient library system, no regimental history is very hard to find or obtain. For the price of a few euros you can order them through interlibrary loan.

A history that may seem "rare" in other parts could easily be sitting in a small town library, either through a connection with the garrison, or perhaps left to the libray by a local officer at some time.

The going price can vary a whole lot. Specifically on the online auction sites it depends--if you have a few guys who are interested then the price will skyrocket. I've seen a few regimental histories in local bookstores here, and they can be quite inexpensive--but there are always buyers on the prowl, so finding them is hard. I picked up a copy of IR 172 in a local shop just because I saw it there, for a very good price, only to be told by a guy who buys a lot of these that it is very "desirable." To whom exactly, I don't know!

Paul

[Guest Rick Research]

It comes down to the information contained in them. The rush-jobs churned out without so much as a single chart of officer assignments are while ones like Inf Rgt 75 which lists every single recipient of an EK1 up with their award dates is a valuable personal research tool.

Some are also just plain badly written. I had a Saxon one that never so much as mentioned a single home-state awarded to any member of the battalion... while blathering on and on about every inconsequential EK2. On the other hand, it had fascinating mentions of flowered dress material being used to make sandbags in the trenches, and the proliferation of cats and chickens (when's the last time an account of an attack mentioned surprise being spoiled by angry hens disturbed from shell hole nests?) in the front lines--while dogs disappeared entirely--and why this was so.

The mid-1930s on ones can be much more detailed and better quality than many from the 1920s.

So...

"it all depends."

[David M]

It comes down to the information contained in them. The rush-jobs churned out without so much as a single chart of officer assignments are while ones like Inf Rgt 75 which lists every single recipient of an EK1 up with their award dates is a valuable personal research tool.

So that's why it has 578 pages!!! Would anyone have a copy of this one?

Edited July 4, 2008 by David M