English Militaria Magazine- What happened?

[General Colt]

Hi there,

Not sure where to post this, but I guess ill try it here. A few years ago when i started collecting i found out about the french "Militaria Magazine". I did some research for a subscription, but i found out that it was only in french. After reading threads mentioning this magazine, i learned that it used to be printed in English. So, what exactly happened? Did it cost too much for publishers to print it in English too? Will they print it in English again?

Thanks, Coltie

[Der Finn]

I believe 25 issues were printed in English, the last being March 1996. It's been over 20 years now - I don't think they're going to publish in English again. I believe it was too expensive are possible sales weren't that good in the U.S.

[General Colt]

Thank you for the quick reply!

[David D]

I wish they still printed in English... sigh

[kammo-man]

Learn French.

Dont be lazy.

[General Apathy]

Hi there,

Not sure where to post this, but I guess ill try it here. A few years ago when i started collecting i found out about the french "Militaria Magazine". I did some research for a subscription, but i found out that it was only in french. After reading threads mentioning this magazine, i learned that it used to be printed in English. So, what exactly happened? Did it cost too much for publishers to print it in English too? Will they print it in English again?

Thanks, Coltie

.

Hi General, I was very active in collecting when the magazine was printed in English and knew the editor, publishers and a lot of contributors. Part of the reason for the demise were the poor sales numbers, in part caused by re-enactors, one member of a group would buy a copy and photo-copy it for all the other members of the unit, one copy sold rather than thirty or forty ???

 

Around the same time a similar thing occurred to a monthly collectors guide magazine started by Jonathan Gawne , that was also photo-copied and passed around group members resulting in poor sales and demise of the magazine,

 

In a similar way I recall another scam that a member of a re-enactor group would perform, he would buy one original example of say ' Barbasol ' shaving cream from a dealer, using the colour photo-copier in his office when the boss was out he would make multi-versions of the packaging. He then got friends in the carpentry department to chop him blocks of wood and glue the carton copy onto, all at no cost to him, the boss was paying the bill, and he made sales to all his re-enactment group, total profit for him.

 

so in part a person can kill the thing they love . . . . . . . . . . .

 

lewis.

 

.

 

[warguy]

Learn French.

Dont be lazy.

That would interrupt my learning Mandarin and Navajo at the moment. I loved these magazines and have every copy of the English version. Still today, I occasionally get them out and look them over. Wish they would come back or something like it but I know that is unlikely.

[David D]

Like other sellers and companies im sure if they got a big enough list if people who would actually subscribe to the magazine they would possibly try it out again. As I'm guessing the militaria collector population has grown a lot since 96. Just a thought.

[BEAST]

At one time, I thought they offered an English translation insert that was provided or could be purchased.

[General Colt]

.

Hi General, I was very active in collecting when the magazine was printed in English and knew the editor, publishers and a lot of contributors. Part of the reason for the demise were the poor sales numbers, in part caused by re-enactors, one member of a group would buy a copy and photo-copy it for all the other members of the unit, one copy sold rather than thirty or forty ???

 

Around the same time a similar thing occurred to a monthly collectors guide magazine started by Jonathan Gawne , that was also photo-copied and passed around group members resulting in poor sales and demise of the magazine,

 

In a similar way I recall another scam that a member of a re-enactor group would perform, he would buy one original example of say ' Barbasol ' shaving cream from a dealer, using the colour photo-copier in his office when the boss was out he would make multi-versions of the packaging. He then got friends in the carpentry department to chop him blocks of wood and glue the carton copy onto, all at no cost to him, the boss was paying the bill, and he made sales to all his re-enactment group, total profit for him.

 

so in part a person can kill the thing they love . . . . . . . . . . .

 

lewis.

 

.

 

Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for the reply.

[General Colt]

At one time, I thought they offered an English translation insert that was provided or could be purchased.

 

I haven't heard of it, but if it exists, i might be interested.

[cutiger83]

Unfortunately, with the internet today people now look everything up on-line rather than buying a newspaper, magazine, book, etc.

[kammo-man]

That would interrupt my learning Mandarin and Navajo at the moment. I loved these magazines and have every copy of the English version. Still today, I occasionally get them out and look them over. Wish they would come back or something like it but I know that is unlikely.

I bought them from English issue #1 till it stopped.

 

Ah the good old days of MOTOR books in Covent Garden !!

 

 

I still buy the French.

Pictures tell a thousand words and you can learn more than 2 tongues at once.

[hbtcoveralls]

I bought them from English issue #1 till it stopped.

 

Ah the good old days of MOTOR books in Covent Garden !!

 

 

I still buy the French.

Pictures tell a thousand words and you can learn more than 2 tongues at once.

I loved going to Motorbooks in Covent garden. They used to have all the "After the Battle" books and I was slowly getting them all, Sadly when last in London I found the shop is no more

 

I agree, you don't have to know much French to make sense of the articles, especially when they're about American militaria

 

Tom Bowers

[General Colt]

I bought them from English issue #1 till it stopped.

 

Ah the good old days of MOTOR books in Covent Garden !!

 

 

I still buy the French.

Pictures tell a thousand words and you can learn more than 2 tongues at once.

 

kammo-man, I must agree with you. The large amount of pictures tells a lot. I am also learning French after my recent trip to Normandy, so it might come in handy for something other than speaking!

[Charlie Flick]

That English language version of Militaria Magazine was excellent...I learned a lot. I was a subscriber and had every English issue, and a few French issues. The latter were difficult for me to deal with and I gave them up. I would re-up on an English language version in a heartbeat if it became available. I also subscribed to the J. Gawne publication until it died on the vine.

 

The special interest magazine field is a pretty dicey one these days. The internet has changed everything....some really good things like our Forum here, and some really bad.

 

Charlie

[kammo-man]

At every SOS I come home with a stack of French ones that I missed during the year.

Its an SOS guilty pleasure after the hunting has dried up.

[kammo-man]

As a side note I spent 3 days with Winston Ramsey who owns and started After the Battle in 1973.

I have every issue and book.

Hes a great man and was very kind to me.

He asked me what I was missing and I told him I had every issue.

That took him back.

He asked me if I had all the books and I said YUP i had.

 

He brought me Bonnie and Clyde as it was just coming out.

I was really happy.

He also replaced Ruckmarch as mine was falling apart.

All FOC.

 

owen

[norwegian blue]

Hello

If I may add a few words from the horses' mouth, as editor of Militaria Magazine.

The english version was a very motivating venture, as at the time there was no equivalent of the magazine anywhere else. We had to stop it when our partner, however nice, able and willing, owed us too much money to make the partnership worth it. We had some feedback that anglo-saxon readers were not used to "high end" publications that were more expensive, this is not to say than can't appreciate full colour magazines on thick paper but it was a kinf of product they're not used to... Anyway, the French version is still out there and we do have many subscribers abroad.

Most of our "militaria" related books however, are also printed in english.

Thank you all for all the nice comments, and if anybody out there is interested in publishing a new english version, all offers will be considered

Philippe Charbonnier

 

PS. Again thanks are due to Jonathan Gawne, who was editor of the US edition of the English edition, and I am just one of many who have mourned the demise of the GI Journal

[Nkomo]

That would interrupt my learning Mandarin and Navajo at the moment. I loved these magazines and have every copy of the English version. Still today, I occasionally get them out and look them over. Wish they would come back or something like it but I know that is unlikely.

My wife has been trying to teach me to speak Navajo for over 20 years now and I still struggle terribly. Very hard language to learn.

 

Most of the Navajo I learned, I picked up in Sheep Springs, NM and Shiprock, NM. My wife always makes fun of my pronunciation. She is from the Inscription House, AZ area and they pronounce some words differently there.

 

​ Whatever the case, good luck with your endeavors.