An Illustrated History (the new one!)

[Peter Grace]

Some further thoughts.

1.) What is the aim of this book? Another scrapbook (like the Brooklands
book?), a comprehensive manual for restoration (updateable?), a collection
of essays?, a definitive bible on the marque?
2.) Is the book purely instructional/informational or is it entertaining as
well? If the latter, what provision for high quality photos or
illustrations, or even diagrams?
3.) Is there a legal entity that owns the IP of this book? What happens in
the event of profits or losses? If someone sues, who do they sue?
4.) Can we ask Mr Crook to contribute?

For some reason, probably because it suits me to remember this, it reminds
me of one of my favourite books 'The Cambridge Medieval History'. This eight
volume series took about thirty years to complete, was perhaps the first
truly international effort in compiling books of this kind, was held up by
(I think) both World Wars, and in the making saw a revolution in 'Applied
History' that made the earlier 'narrative' volumes seem out of date by the
time the later volumes were being written and sent to the publisher.

I think unless we define very closely what we are trying to achieve through
this book, the course could very easily be dictated to by the contributions
offered, and you would find we had an eight or ten volume bible on our
hands, something that could never be printed, never be kept up to date, and
like my beloved Cambridge Histories, become treasured purely as a magnum
opus, rather than for the information contained within it.

Of course, that is merely an argument for keeping the whole thing online.

Where is George Mowat Brown? Doesn't he know a thing or two about this?

P