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Looking for Book: World War II Ballistics: Armor and Gunnery by Lorrin Rexford Bird


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I'd be surprised if there was an editable PDF version floating around. The publishers or who ever laid the book out would have, if using modern practice, used Quark or similar for layout and then exported a PDF to print.

How did you draught/draft for publication? Word?

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The first author, Lorrin Bird, is evidently alive, but I have lost contact with him.

That would be great news if true. Word around these parts was that he died several years ago. I wonder why he disappeared.

I do happen to have a pdf of the second edition but it is not editable, it's just scanned images of the pages.

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We created the manuscript in Word Perfect, because that was what we had. I discarded the computer that may have had the files

No back up on a CD or zip disk anywhere?

I do happen to have a pdf of the second edition but it is not editable, it's just scanned images of the pages.

That's a start as Acrobat Pro can OCR the text in a scanned PDF - not sure what it would make of the tables. That would allow the bulk of the text to be copy pasted into an editable format for laying out.

Illustrations would need tidying up in Photoshop - and possibly rescanning from an original copy of the book.

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I located three paper copies that could be disassembled for re-copying, one of them the Second Edition (the only difference is 12 extra pages tacked on to the end). This would allow distribution of additional copies of the book, a second printing of the second edition.

I searched for Lorrin Bird on the internet, found he had last posted to a baseball forum only two months ago.

I've recently resumed war gaming again after a long hiatus; we use a placed shot system on scale models that allows platoon level games to be played shot-by-shot in a day. We play outdoors. Tank models are 1/35.

I think another printing could be on the way . . .

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Scribd.com is a file sharing archive that contains pdfs on various topics, including military. Assuming Rexford has passed, the title is long out of print and didn't provide a significant income stream to his heirs, and the copyright owners are unlikely to pursue their rights vigorously, then it should be fair game to upload there for private use (not for profit purposes).

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Scribd.com is a file sharing archive that contains pdfs on various topics, including military. Assuming Rexford has passed, the title is long out of print and didn't provide a significant income stream to his heirs, and the copyright owners are unlikely to pursue their rights vigorously, then it should be fair game to upload there for private use (not for profit purposes).

Lorrin (aka Rexford) has not passed. He and I are joint copyright holders. I think I'll go the standard paper book format. I'm preparing for a third printing.

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I advise everybody to tread carefully here.

Simply going ahead breaking the copyright isn't good practice. At the very least his window (if any) needs to be consulted and the rights acquired (hopefully for making it public domain) and according to my copy Robert Livingston shares the copyright.

And I would be the happiest person learning that Rexford has not passed. On the other hand I can't imagine that somebody doesn't correct announcements of his own death for 4 years.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Tdeuce82,

Welcome aboard!

I really do hope the book is republished. It's wonderful if you are into AFVs and armored warfare. There's nothing I know of like it. This, though, is a step in the right direction. I glanced through one a long time ago at a Washington, D.C. bookstore, and I was pretty impressed by what was said and how the author said it.

http://openlibrary.org/works/OL3293572W/Guns_mortars_and_rockets

Regards,

John Kettler

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  • 2 weeks later...
I think it is time to contact relatives of what was listed as copyright holders in the book and ask for permission to re-publish, either for money or maybe public domain, or (my favorite) cons up a one-time payment for release into the public domain.

From what I've found, Overmatch press lists to a personal residence in New York.

I did receive this Email from RLivingston yesterday though:

I've been unable to locate the other author (Lorrin R. Bird) but I think it is time to move ahead and reprint the book.

Thanks for your interest.

Robert L.

On Nov 21, 2012, at 7:02 AM, animosity242 @ Battlefront Forum wrote:

> This is a message from animosity242 at Battlefront Forum ( http://www.battlefront.com/community/index.php ). The Battlefront Forum owners cannot accept any responsibility for the contents of the email.

>

> To email animosity242, you can use this online form:

> http://www.battlefront.com/community/sendmessage.php?do=mailmember&u=34910

>

> OR, by email:

> mailto:animosity242@yahoo.com

>

> This is the message:

>

> Any word on the republishing? I'm itching for a copy...

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There's a pdf version online of a roughly scanned copy. I won't post a link but if you search you can find it.

I'm the co-author of the book. Any luck finding a copy? I have only a single copy of the second edition. Can anyone get me a pdf file? The idea is to republish the book, with some changes and additions.

The first author, Lorrin Bird, is evidently alive, but I have lost contact with him.

Thanks

RL

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