HISTORY
A wonderful autobiography from Jeffrey. He was afflicted with congenital spina bifida since birth and in his "youthful years", he underwent a leg operation that proved to be a failure and this resulted in him being consigned forever to what he saw as a dreaded wheelchair. His professional career in the Australian music industry began in the mid-1960's and he continued to be active in the industry right up until close to the time of his passing away in 2018, his last live performance being at the Charles Hotel, North Perth in 2011.
The book moves through his life, trials and successes in chronological order since his birth accompanied by many high quality "personal" photographs (not Press releases). Towards the end of the 266 pages, there are his song lyrics and album and singles release information along with more photographs. There is so much learn from his own life experiences and if you wish to delve into his music and personal life more deeply, there are many references online to his music and personal life, just one window into the world of Jeff St John can be found HERE
This particular release is special, in fact very special. Why so Russ?
This particular release was made in 2016, after the original 2015 publication. The book is housed in a strong cardboard case which is plain Black with metallic Silver printing. This case was only used for this Deluxe Edition and is uniquely numbered, this is number 169 out of 200 ever made.
Inside the front pages of the book is a thick card "Certificate Of Ownership" which not only confirms the owner has copy number 169 but ALSO it is personally signed by Jeff in Black felt pen. I remember at the time when I purchased this book whether the signature was just one of those facsimile signatures but I checked then and again today, this is absolutely NOT a facsimile signature ... looking very closely at the print on the Certificate (under magnification), you can see the usual dot patterns as a result of the printing process but the signature is a solid Black and the texture is totally different to the rest of the print.
The book however does appear to be exactly the same as the original 2015 release, no references to a reprint and the same ISBN coding. It really looks as though the publishers decided to use the original book, repackage it as a "Limited Edition" by using the outer case and numbering it.
While I have seen some describe the book as a "coffee table" release, I never thought of it like that ... it is a very high quality product and with it's special features (described above), it has always been in the previous workplace "music library" - we kept extensive books and masses of tape and vinyl recordings, particularly Australian artists from over the years.
WORD OF WARNING: While doing some "updated research" on this particular release, I noticed that even the non-Deluxe release is very hard to come by and asking prices are "all over the shop" varying from $A25 right through to A$399! I can't image anyone paying that much for the book as it seems to be still available from HERE for A$95 although they seem to be the only people with just two copies left - most of the other suppliers have no stock at all (not much good have low prices if you don't have any stock!) Supply and Demand is a valid indicator of price but A$399 for a book that apparently remains available for A$95 at another supplier seems just a tad ludicrous.
In any case, I could find NO-ONE who is or has offered this Numbered Deluxe Edition. In fact the only reference to this edition is on an old Facebook post, announcing that the Deluxe Edition release is "still available in limited quantity" way back in 2016 - see the last photograph
I am not a book trader, Oh yes I did or do still have a number of books relating to the music industry and some dealing with "The Arts" but these are all from my previous audio post production business library. For this reason, I am only seeking to recover costs (barely) and the asking price for this book reflects this ...
After this rather long winded introduction, let's get down to some details ...
THE JEFF ST JOHN STORY - The Inside Outsider (Told By Jeffrey St John)
Publisher: Starman Books
ISBN: 978-0992275815
Published 2015
Deluxe Edition released early 2016
This high quality book is large & heavy and is housed in a custom made heavy cardboard case into which the book is inserted.
The case has no ISBN, Barcode or other publishing credits - just the book title, author, Publisher on the spine and the Deluxe Edition label identitying this as copy number 169 of 200
The case is Matt Black with metallic Silver printing
The book is hardcover with a standard dust jacket fitted
Large Format pages, high quality gloss paper - this would have been an expensive undertaking by Starman Books
Tucked inside the front page of the book is the Certificate Of Ownership which declares this is the Deluxe Edition copy number 169 AND the Certificate is signed (a real signature!) by Jeff St John in Black felt pen.
DIMENSIONS:
BOOK: 317mm x 238mm x 26mm
CASE: 325mm x 241mm x 34mm
WEIGHT (BOTH ITEMS TOGETHER): 2.2Kg
COSMETIC CONDITION:
I am not an expert in book appraisals, I just look after them and read them occasionally (less so these days I'm afraid) Here is my best effort to describe the condition
USED (barely at all)
The outer case shows very light handling wear on the front & rear in the centre area - this has been caused by being on the bookshelves next to other books and when the books are removed or inserted, they rubbed against the graphics of this case. This metallic Silver print is particularly susceptible to this type of physical wear. But that said, it is not severe wear but it is noticeable.
Other than this light wear, the case has no discolouration, no marks and certainly no seam failures.
The book, which has after all been sitting inside the case, is in very very good condition. All pages are unmarked, no corner curls and certainly no tearing.
NO personal writing on the case or book at all
NO retail stickers or other markings on either item
I have now sealed this book within a CELLOWRAP plastic (non-reactive with paper) and then inserted this into the case. I then sealed the case in the same manner, with cello-wrap and in addition to this, again sealed the case in clear plastic - the cello-wrap is quite delicate but with normal plastics there is a risk of chemical leeching from standard plastics into the paper - this is the reason I have packed the case and book in this manner.
In finishing, let me just remind folks that due to my website shipping policies, this book would be normally quite expensive to Post (it is all about the weight) HOWEVER because I ship all orders exceeding A$75 for no Postage cost to the client anywhere around Australia (only) there would normally be no shipping cost for this item (unless special services such as Express Post are requested)
