My Tangent – Genealogy Researcher Be Forewarned...

Morning,

I received notice the other day that there was a new publication available that would most definitely help in my family ancestry research. This was great news, and I am one that certainly appreciates any information and news specific to my work. The new publication is titled “The Grenada Handbook Directory and Almanac”.

I found the title on Amazon.com and decided to order the book. The Amazon price, for a new copy was $20.33. The only information provided was that the author was “Anonymous” and that “This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923…” The publisher is Nabu Press which is in some way affiliated with BiblioBazaar. I believe the location is from Charleston, South Carolina.

I received a pristine copy of this “new” book… I did wonder what the hell, did the snow covered mountain peaks on the front cover have to do with the tropical island of Grenada. I opened the book to the preface page and it reads:

“Nabu Public Domain Reprints:

You are holding a reproduction of an original work published before 1923 that is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other countries. You may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. This book may contain prior copyright references, and library stamps (as most of these works were scanned from library copies). These have been scanned and retained as part of the historical artifact.

This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.”

What a CROCK!

I quickly checked Google Books as I knew I had already seen this publication “The Grenada Handbook, Directory And Almanac For The Year 1897”, originally from the Harvard University Library online. I checked my files and folders, and I had previously, a couple of years back downloaded the file in its entirety. The same is available, online, via the Internet Archive.

Is Nabu Press a modern day equivalent of a carpetbagger? Are they in a twist a flim-flam? Is this Anonymous a deceptive and charlatanic entrepreneur? Do a Google search on Nabu Press… Be forewarned.

My point… Before you lay out your hard-earned money, in the pursuit of your genealogy research, first check to see if the same product is available on line at a much less cost or for free, and available to the subscribing public.

Enjoy,

Jim