I have 3 shelves full of Magic magazines dating back 10 years and really need the extra shelf space.

I have considered selling them but the postage would be really expensive as they are really heavy.

I have also considered scanning them, but that would take forever and I think would break copyright law.

I might cut the tricks out and throw the rest away but that seems like a waste.

What would you do?

Hi Jamie.

Funny you should mention this. I recently 'purged' about three or four years worth of Genii and MAGIC... They'd been occupying boxes in a cupboard for years and I finally (in a somewhat reckless moment) decided that I would do something about them. So, I carefully went through every issue and extracted any pages with tricks on them, and threw away the rest... I now have a nice neat stack of tricks, which I plan to put into files and add to my bookshelves.

Now, here's the thing: having done all this I now greatly regret it. Reading each introduction to Talk About Tricks, or seeing the effects featured by a particular magician in Magicana (in Genii) have brought back memories of when I first read them, and have made me want to read the other articles and editorials to know what exactly was going on in the magic world back then...I must explain that for the last 6 years or so I completely left magic, and my love has recently been rekindled after moving into my own place and having room for my book collection (I have been a student in the interim, with no space for all my books)!

In all, I now feel a great nostalgia for all the information in those magazines: in particular I desire to re-read those reviews that made me go out and buy a book (which I subsequently either devoured in some cases, or neglected in others), and to relive the memories of the conventions I went to (though to be honest, few were covered in MAGIC or Genii since I'm in the UK).

Having said that, the reality is that if I had not done this purge, I probably never would have acted on those nostalgic impulses, and the magazines would be as unread as they have been for the last couple of years...

Best

Owen

PS. The one great thing of the purge is that I have rediscovered two effects I used to really enjoy performing ('Among The Discards' by the Chicago Sessions (Aronson, Bannon, Solomon), and 'Open Perception' (Mahdok)), as well as a gem that I had completely overlooked ('Time Is Money' (Wind)).

If you own them, you can scan them without any copyright issue as long as you are not distributing your scans or giving the original to someone else. But that would take a lot of time.

That's why I like magazine that let you download a pdf of the issues you have subscribed to. That's a great way to keep access to a good archive database without taking space on your shelves.

On the other hand, I don't like the electronic subscription only as I really want to read them on paper first. Digital format for me is more for archiving than first read. Also, the proprietary digital format are getting me worried about their long term access. Will the proprietary reader still be available in ten years on new operating system? What if the company or the publisher close... A good old fashion .pdf, while not offering all the fancy stuff, is still for me the must of archival.

I would be happy to receive them as a donation to my future!

I used to save all the back issues of magic magazines. Then I realized just how much stuff I had that I was never, ever going to go back to. With Genii it's easy, they have all their back issues online so you can give away the old ones. MAGIC may do something similar, but I made the decision that I was not going to end up like one of those hoarders on TV, so I've removed all the tricks I feel I might want to do and put them in binders. The rest of the magazines get recycled.

Besides, a lot of material is very very similar in magic magazine over the years. You can even look at issues from other ones like MUM from 20 years ago and there are convention reviews, profiles of someone who won a contest, tricks, ads...do you really need to personally archive all of that?

Just sell them! You can ship them (yep, fairly pricey), but just let the people who want them pay for it. There are plenty who will.

Send them free to a magic club, especially one with lots of young members. I did that. It's good Karma.

LOL! A little over 25 years ago, I trashed a roll-out trash can of magic publication. It made the next house move easier. Frankly, missing them was something that very rarely happened. Then, an older valued friend sent me his 50 year collection of magic publications. I still have them! Who gave them to me is certainly much of their value. I'm glad to have them.

Being from the home of America's true rocket scientists (Alabama), high tech storage is very available but strikes me like the guy who carries two house keys because he expects to lose one. I vote for keeping the real thing. Space is hopefully cheaper than your time. Scanning cheapens that time.

The real question is Are you through with the publications?

Bob

You can ship them very cheap with USPS Media Mail here in the US. I see you are in Scotland but maybe you have a similar option.

Give them away to a young magician.

MM

Re: Magic, I don't think they have all of their back issues available on digital en masse like Genii yet. I hope they will soon!

Actually, you cannot (rather should not) send magazines using the media mail designation through USPS. I realize many people do this, but it actually violates USPS rules. And they reserve the right to examine any media mail parcel to make sure it conforms to their regulations. I have never seen them examine any parcels I have sent, but the clerk told me very bluntly that they could. I happened to be sending some books to someone who owned some sort of sports memorabilia store, so the clerk thought the items in the box were probably items in that field rather than media. They were just books which was fine so I wasn't worried.

In the guidelines I post below, the advertising is the issue with magazines. Unfortunately, I haven't seen USPS allow exceptions for older magazines and such which realistically are more of an historical item and the advertising isn't truly selling items any longer.

The USPS info:
Features

Delivery in 2 to 8 business days1
Perfect for sending used books
Intended for educational materials
Commercial pricing available

The material sent must be educational media. It can’t contain advertising, video games, computer drives, or digital drives of any kind.

Get additional information about what is eligible for Media Mail in the Domestic Mail Manual ›
Media Mail® can be examined by postal staff to determine if the right price has been paid. If the package is wrapped in a way that makes it impossible to examine, it will be charged the First-Class™ rate.

Get additional information about Media Mail restrictions and pricing in the Domestic Mail Manual ›
Maximum weight is 70 lbs.
Maximum combined length and girth of 108". That means it can’t be larger than the combined measurement of the longest side and the distance around the thickest part.
There are restrictions for mailing restricted and hazardous materials.

4.0 Content Standards for Media Mail
4.1 Qualified Items

Only these items may be mailed at the Media Mail prices:

a. Books, including books issued to supplement other books, of at least eight printed pages, consisting wholly of reading matter or scholarly bibliography, or reading matter with incidental blank spaces for notations and containing no advertising matter other than incidental announcements of books. Advertising includes paid advertising and the publishers' own advertising in display, classified, or editorial style.

b. 16-millimeter or narrower width films, which must be positive prints in final form for viewing, and catalogs of such films of 24 pages or more (at least 22 of which are printed). Films and film catalogs sent to or from commercial theaters do not qualify for the Media Mail price.

c. Printed music, whether in bound or sheet form.

d. Printed objective test materials and their accessories used by or on behalf of educational institutions to test ability, aptitude, achievement, interests, and other mental and personal qualities with or without answers, test scores, or identifying information recorded thereon in writing or by mark.

e. Sound recordings, including incidental announcements of recordings and guides or scripts prepared solely for use with such recordings. Video recordings and player piano rolls are classified as sound recordings.

f. Playscripts and manuscripts for books, periodicals, and music.

g. Printed educational reference charts designed to instruct or train individuals for improving or developing their capabilities. Each chart must be a single printed sheet of information designed for educational reference. The information on the chart, which may be printed on one or both sides of the sheet, must be conveyed primarily by graphs, diagrams, tables, or other nonnarrative matter. An educational reference chart is normally but not necessarily devoted to one subject. A chart on which the information is conveyed primarily by textual matter in a narrative form does not qualify as a printed educational reference chart for mailing at the Media Mail prices even if it includes graphs, diagrams, or tables. Examples of qualifying charts include maps produced primarily for educational reference, tables of mathematical or scientific equations, noun declensions or verb conjugations used in the study of languages, periodic table of elements, botanical or zoological tables, and other tables used in the study of science.

h. Loose-leaf pages and their binders consisting of medical information for distribution to doctors, hospitals, medical schools, and medical students.

i. Computer-readable media containing prerecorded information and guides or scripts prepared solely for use with such media.

Magic Magazines are educational material, it qualifies for Media Mail with the USPS and deductions on taxes, being a professional publication pertaining to your business or hobby.

I say donate to a magic club or Children's Hospital maybe? Or orphanage?

Donating is a great feeling for you and those that receive it.

Good luck

Ma7ybe Stan can hold a contest at the next MAGIC Live for the most creative or innovative use of 10 Years of Back Issues.

After close to fifty years of collecting books and magazines, I now go up to the attic, down to the basement and over to the spare room and when I look at them all in boxes I say to my self... "remember when you used to say keep them - they will come in handy one day?" While at times that was true, for the most part (90%) it just never came to be. So this year I bit the bullet. Some I gave away to young people starting out. Some went to the auction block. Some got traded. Some went to clubs for their library. About 10% I kept. Sadly a ton of it got thrown away because no one had an interest in "old magic stuff". I would have rather used them for fire wood or lining the dove cages, instead of throwing them in the trash, but I don't have a fire place or doves anymore. JUST KIDDING... Throwing them away just felt bad. It is sad that younger magicians don't want anything to do with "old stuff" I tried to explain that workings, principles and methods are the same, that all the new stuff is just a shiny new way to do things. True there are some new stronger/lighter materials available and some new electronics , wrapped up in a pretty new presentation with modern language, but very few original methods really come to market. It was like I was talking to the wall. If I were young I would have scanned every page into the computer.

This is true and not at all expensive.
Rennie

Keep it for another 10 years and it'll worth a lot more!

I am looking for the last year of MAGIC mag....

They cannot be shipped Media Mail. Anything that contains advertising is NOT media mail. Shipping Priority Flat Rate is tghe most economical I have found.