Released at the beginning of the year, ‘The Ultimate Collector Book – Volume V’ formed the first collectors reference for the HIStory Era (1995 – 2000) listing items from CDs to Books, toys and even Mystery Cans on over 500 pages. Compiled by Sebastian Mille & Fabrice Ancellet, the book took just over a year to put together, from the initial idea to the 2kg bible that’s been shipped to Michael Jackson fans around the world.
The book is now officially sold out after its second run and there are currently no plans to re-stock the book at this time.
But now, let’s look at how the book was put together.
Fans from all around the world were approached to share with Mille & Ancellet images and scans of items in their collection. From Brazil to Japan, collectors came forward submitting details of HIStory era collectables we never knew existed. The photos and scans came in all different formats, sizes, qualities and conditions and it was down to the authors to work with what they were given. It would have been great if someone out there could have provided the original artworks for every single item, but then they’d have already been a catalogue of some sort already…right?!
With thousands of images and scans, it was then a task to decide HOW this information was going to be displayed on the book’s pages. Some options were decided against such as including the number of quantities of each item. The publisher contacted Sony Music for assistance with how many copies of the albums and singles were produced in various formats, but they no longer had such information available. It was understood with out Sony’s help, there was no way to know exactly how many were made, and even if this was established what about all the other items?! Does any fan know how many cardboard cut outs were made? Ho
w many Mystery cans were produced? How many tour jackets were created?!…I think not. It was an ‘all’ or ‘nothing’ decision, with the latter being the obvious choice.
The idea of putting how much each item was worth was also considered, but without knowing exactly how many were produced, how could this valuation be made?! Aside from that, the authors agreed they were not valuators and it would be irresponsible of them to make suggestion on ‘worth’ without knowing how to do so. But ultimately, how much an item is worth is surely down to the collector. I know my Invincible vinyl is not worth a lot, but to me, it’s priceless because I have such a great memory of getting it for the first time. I also have no intention to sell it, so how much it’s worth is not relevant. I’d imagine the same is said for most collectors.
The system that was used was to display the items from different angles and include the country they were ‘released’ in. With all the European releases made in ‘Holland’ or ‘Austria’ the authors decided to look at WHERE you could buy it, if there were any differences in stickers, extra items, promotional gifts and other things that separated it from its release in a different country then it was included as a stand alone item. Different codes, different barcodes, different logos all made for inclusion in the book. Some items are identical in all but the code on the side, but inclusion was still important to show the differences.
What the book gives you is a starting point for something that had never been done for the HIStory era before. Volume V is by no means a complete catalogue as through out this project, more and more items came in that authors were unaware of which left them to believe that no one could truly know every single collectable item out there. Naturally, there will no doubt be a small group of fans who will see it as a challenge to look for what was ‘NOT’ included, but the majority of fans choose not to focus on the negatives, rather enjoy what HAS been included and commending the stellar efforts of the authors to bring together the most comprehensive guide for the HIStory era to date. Now THAT is something worth celebrating! And it’s always worth remembering that all collectors are free to contribute images and scans if they have something unique they think should be included.
So now the book is completely sold out, what’s next for the Ultimate Collector Book Series? Well hopefully, Volume V will go on to become a collectors item all by itself. There are currently no plans to reprint any time soon, which makes owning this book unique to those who managed to get there hands on a copy. The authors are now in the process of putting together another Volume from the series which will be focusing on….Well, i’m not going to ruin the surprise for you now am I.
Pez Greaves for MJVibe.com
Images courtesy of Sixteen11 Media Group
