GDG- CDR - OR

[Alan D. Brunelle]

Pat Martinelli wrote:
> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
>  
>
> In recent postings, members provided suggestions for the purchase of OR's on
> CDR.  I can't find the messages so I would appreciate a restatement of the
> recommendations.  I do remember distinctly, the H_BAR was not recommended.
> Thanks!!
>
>  
Here's a review of the postings:

Bob Huddleston on 4/18 provided an in-depth overview:

> The OR's were published by the "War Records' Office" in the War Department
> from 1881 to 1901 in 128 volumes. Unfortunately they were printed on
> wood-pulp paper and disintegrate when handled.
>
> In the 1970s they were reprinted in two different versions, one with a blue
> cover and one with a gray :>) Sadly the publishers did not take enough care
> and the reprints have numerous mistakes in bindings, with pages missing and
> out of order.
>
> In the 80s, a consortium of Bob Younger of Morningside Books in Dayton,
> Ohio, Tom Broadfoot of Broadfoot Books in North Carolina and the National
> Historical Society in Pennsylvania combined to do a proper reprint - in
> black covers, as the originals. These are reprinted periodically and are
> priced at about $3,000 a set. I purchased mine for $1500 "used" and was
> offered the choice of color, deciding on the black - that was before Bob
> Younger told me about the differences! When my set arrived, they were still
> in the original boxes, all but four or five still in the shrink wrap
> bindings. I suspect some Civil War nut had purchased them and then died or
> got divorced and the spouse sold them! Probably for $7-800.
>
> Shortly after it was announced that they were being done in CD - and
> Broadfoot, a major supplier of Civil War reprints
> http://www.broadfootpublishing.com/, H-Bar, then an Alabama outfit and now
> located in Maryland http://www.hbar.com/, and Guild Press in Indiana all
> decided to do it at the same time. H-Bar sent a set of the hardbacks to
> Bangladesh to be re-typed. It turned out the Bangladeshis did not speak
> English and there are numerous errors. Broadfoot and Guild Press used
> advanced scanning technology. All three editions were initially priced at
> about $600-700 each.
>
> The law of supply and demand interfered and H-Bar and Guild Press lowered
> their prices to $70 each. Broadfoot held and still holds the line at the
> original price. Talk about obstinate!
>
> A comprehensive review of the three appeared in the August 1997 issue of the
> now defunct Civil War: The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society and
> said not to waste money on the H-Bar version. The reviewer reported, with
> examples that Guild Press and Broadfoot were roughly comparable - except for
> price! Anyway, Guild Press advertised sales of about 15,000 of their
> version. Broadfoot does not talk about their sales!
>
> Guild Press went gone on to publish the NOR, and the OR Atlas, as well as
> the Southern Historical Society papers, the old Scribner Campaigns of the
> Civil War, and the short version of the Confederate Medical History, each
> for $70. In addition they combine them along with the Medical and Surgical
> History into a fine DVD for $170. Civil War America
> http://www.civilwaramerica.com/ , owned by Phil Oliver, the web creator of
> the series, now sells them.
>
> Buy the DVD!
>
>   
Walter Wells replied on 4/18 with:

> I have the Guild and have nothing but good things to say about it. A review
> of the H-Bar years ago complained that its search engine was not very
> effective. The Guold has been MORE than worth the $70.00 I paid for it!
Carl Chatto replied on 4/18 with:

> I also have the Guild Press version and have found it very helpful. It 
> also comes bundled with some other texts, like Fox's Regimental Losses.
>
> Here's a link. Apparently it's not Guild Press anymore, but it's still 
> $70.  http://www.civilwaramerica.com/

Kerry Webb noted that this may not work on a MAC:

> Only one problem - I bought the Guild CD when I was a PC user.  Having
> sinced moved to the Mac world, I find that they don't offer a Mac version
> - for CD at least.  I don't know about the DVD.
>   

(Editorial note: Perhaps running something like vmware, with windows 
under that may be available on a MAC? That's what I do with Ubuntu 
Linux: I run vmware and Windows XP under that, as I don't like M$oft 
products in general, but have to use it for M$oft Money. Tom Townsend 
noted on 4/19 about this problem: "Buy Parallels for your Mac (not that 
I have, I try not to let any Microshaft products onto my Mac)...")

Robert Lawrence noted on 4/19:

> H-Bar sent Dennis and Complimentary copies some 10 years ago. I didn't
> like the interface much. My main concern, however, was that if someone
> is going to change the name of an Official Document to reflect their
> personal beliefs how do you know they haven't changed something  in the
> Document. They definitely are die hard Lost Causers The guy that sent us
> the Cds asked us if we were Yankees and said he hoped not as his Sister
> didn't like Yankees, 
Kerry Webb & Bob Huddleston then had an exchange around H-Bar on 4/19:

First, Kerry stated:
> Well, this review says H-Bar is not as reliable as the other two:
>
> http://www.broadfootpublishing.com/army_cd.htm
And Bob replied:

> Well, that review is a tad biased! :>)
>
> Still, the article in the 1997 Civil War magazine said that Broadfoot and
> Guild Press were about equal. Except for their price.
>
> As for mistakes: I use the Guild Press and the "mistakes" occur either when
> the scanner included the binding instruction printed on the bottom of some
> pages -- but obviously not a textual mistake -- or an occasional
> misprinting, which, when compared to the original, shows a word or letters
> that printed very lightly so the scanner failed to pick them up. I have
> never found an actual typo, where the printed text was screwed up in
> transitioning to the computer. Considering that the books were scanned
> fifteen years ago, this is all but miraculous!
>
> H-Bar, OTOH, I am told, has numerous typos caused by their version being
> retyped by non-English speaking folk, rather than scanned.
>
> There is no truth to the rumor that the H-Bar version has Lee winning the
> battle of Gettysburg and accepting Grant's surrender at Appomattox. :>)
>
>   
Hope this helps,
Alan