Perfect Memory

[tom64ss]

Here's something I never got answered on the old boards.

Less than a year ago, I bought a Perfect Memory off eBay from a guy that said he bought it in the early 80's when he was overseas. His description of the book was very thorough and from what I can tell, he was selling it because Macross was something that he hadn't had any interest in since he was a kid, and he didn't have any idea that the copies usually floating around eBay were bootlegs. I checked through his other auctions and purchases, and he didn't really buy or sell much anime stuff. His e-mail replies were very good and everything about him seemed to be on the up and up, so I don't think he was lying to me. Plus at the BIN price he was selling it at, he had very little to gain by being dishonest, since it was cheaper than any of the bootlegs I saw on eBay.

It came with the poster, and the last or second to last page has a mail away card (attached) for some kind of Perfect Memory Project.

The only dicrepency between this and what people around here have said are the signs of a REAL copy is that the cover has an "8" instead of a "10". IIRC, "10" was the first pressing and had the poster, "8" was the second pressing and wasn't suppose to have a poster. Also, the "10" cover ones were the ones usually used for bootlegs. I've heard only one other person on MW mention owning a copy like this ("8", w/poster) and he said he bought his new when he was stationed in Japan during the 80's too.

So my questions are:

-How did I (and the other member here who's name I can't remember) end up with "8"s w/ posters?

-Could it be that we've been wrong all along about whether the "8"s came with posters?

-Is this just a really good bootleg? (if it's a bootleg, I'm DAMN impressed)

-Does anyone else here have a copy like this?

[nhyone]

Not an answer, but more questions. I asked in the Auction forum, but got no answers there.

Two questions spring to my mind.

1. Why is only this book bootlegged? Or am I mistaken?

2. Will the existence of the bootleg lower the price of the original? I know true collectors aren't detered, but there are fewer such people than casual ones.

Edited October 16, 2003 by nhyone

[briscojr84]

The other two books I've heard of being bootlegged are the gold book and Macross Design Works.

As for question two, I don't know but I'll probably wear all my Macross books out looking at the eye candy.

[tom64ss]

The other two books I've heard of being bootlegged are the gold book and Macross Design Works.

I have the bootleg for MDW, but I never knew they bootlegged the Gold Book too.

[BoBe-Patt]

First of all, all the bootlegs that I've ran into all had the "10" on the cover. It would make sense to bootleg a first edition rather than a second edition. And as for the "8" having a poster or not, if you read the fine print on the bottom of the perfect memory book review page, it states: "These are Graham and my personal evaluations of the item's collectibility and availability. By no means should they be considered as 'Officially Researched' data. You are more than welcome to disagree with them." So that means when they got "8" book, it didn't come with a poster, meaning they either bought the book from another person who kept the poster or lost it, or they bought it from the store where somebody took out the posters and sold them seperately. Anything could've happened. So I guess you lucked out and bought one that came with a poster. Hope this somewhat clears something up.

[wm cheng]

Well, I'm not sure if I qualify to clear this up, but here are my experiences,

I own a real non-bootleged Perfect Memory - I bought it in high-school in 1986 from a Japanese book store and it does indeed say OUT8 on the front cover. However, it does come with the poster, orange bookmark, mail in tear out and cover stripe exactly like the one as illustrated on the MW books section. I would tend to guess that the "second" printing with the "8" has all these things and you've gotten luck to get it all.

[tom64ss]

First of all, all the bootlegs that I've ran into all had the "10" on the cover. It would make sense to bootleg a first edition rather than a second edition. And as for the "8" having a poster or not, if you read the fine print on the bottom of the perfect memory book review page, it states: "These are Graham and my personal evaluations of the item's collectibility and availability. By no means should they be considered as 'Officially Researched' data. You are more than welcome to disagree with them." So that means when they got "8" book, it didn't come with a poster, meaning they either bought the book from another person who kept the poster or lost it, or they bought it from the store where somebody took out the posters and sold them seperately. Anything could've happened. So I guess you lucked out and bought one that came with a poster. Hope this somewhat clears something up.

I like that explaination. I think I'll stick with it. Thanks Pat.

[tom64ss]

Well, I'm not sure if I qualify to clear this up, but here are my experiences,

I own a real non-bootleged Perfect Memory - I bought it in high-school in 1986 from a Japanese book store and it does indeed say OUT8 on the front cover. However, it does come with the poster, orange bookmark, mail in tear out and cover stripe exactly like the one as illustrated on the MW books section. I would tend to guess that the "second" printing with the "8" has all these things and you've gotten luck to get it all.

I like your explaination too WM. It's always nice when people to tell you "you got lucky".

Thanks everyone for all your help. Now on to my next mystery.....