Human Action now has a new cover, 3.0 one might say. In any case, it is very sleek and good looking, with an astonishing price of $35. The associated products such as the Study Guide and Audio will conform in time.
Meanwhile, the two volume set of Libertarian Forum has undergone upheaval. We are now able to distribute the hardback of these volumes at half the price of what the softcover once was. I recall all too well what it was like to bring these volumes out only a few years ago. It was expensive and the print runs were small, because the demand was low. But with demand on the increase and technology marching foward, we were able to negotiate this special release, which, to my mind, is a huge improvement. These are large books and better in hard back in any case. The image that you see on the site is not the hardcover. We haven’t had time to set up the big art shot yet.
In any case, one can hardly believe that these two large volumes of Murray’s own publication are now in wide distribution in hardcover. Murray would be completely thrilled to know this! It is an exciting publication of commentary and analysis and some good dose of gossip – a real time capsule of the development of libertarian ideas. They also contain a strong element of lost knowledge waiting to be recovered.
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Very tempted to get the Libertarian Forum collection, at £20 GBP- but, the great beast that is the atlantic ocean strikes again- £40 shipping. Ah, well.
Martin,
I know just what you mean
. Oceans are a bitch.
That’s too bad. We have expanded shipping options but it is possible that this item has a strange weight that didn’t trigger this option.
$35 or $25 for HA?
Jeffrey, what happened to Human Action 2.0? It was quite a cover…
Random Thoughts:
(1) How expensive would it be to offer a book in more than one cover? If you’re switching to a third cover for Human Action, then it seems my only luck in someday acquiring the second cover (should I ever have the money to afford it, which at this time I unfortunately do not) is to wait until LvMI happens to come across 87-or-so copies of cover #2 in some warehouse.
I thought about this before, when you released “Anatomy of the State.” Some people, including me, liked the cover; some did not. It struck me that if you could offer a few choices in covers for certain books, consumers may enjoy this. For example, the customer could choose to buy “Anatomy of the State” with the current cover, or choose to buy it with a generic black-coloured cover if they find themselves disgusted by the depiction on the current cover.
But then, I don’t know how much it would cost to produce two distinct covers for the same book, and depending upon said cost, the LvMI may wish to confine such offers to its most important books (e.g. Human Action), or simply not adopt the idea at all.
(2) In any event, cover #3 of Human Action looks excellent–even better than cover #1 and especially better than #2. Maybe someday I’ll be able to afford a second copy of Human Action to go along with my blue-covered edition. Although I likely won’t buy it until I can afford to buy it and the study guide simultaneously, since I would like them to match, naturally.
(3) Is the current $30 price on The Complete Libertarian Forum just a temporary sale price, or will the LvMI be offering the two volumes at that price permanently?
If it’s just a temporary price, then I’ll see if I can try to scrounge up the money. But if this price is going to last for a long time, then I’ll put off my purchase to an undetermined later date.
(4) It seems the two volumes of Libertarian Forum are now, combined, cheaper than the one volume of Left & Right. (There‘s one cover that I certainly hope does not change before I have a chance to purchase.)
(5) Are there any plans in the works to release any of the other journals in book form? I’m especially thinking about Journal of Libertarian Studies and Rampart Journal.
(6) I, too, prefer hardcovers to paperbacks. Although, again, I have to wonder, would the costs in producing both a hardcover and a paperback be prohibitive?
As always, keep up the great work. This is the most important website on the Internets.
Cheers,
Alex Peak
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