Silver Ghosts by JWF Puett

[Thomas Day]

I have a copy of this that I have had since the 1970's. It is the publication that got me hooked on Scott radios and finally led me to buy my Allwave 23. It was mentioned in a copy of Audio Magazine, which is also no longer published. 

My copy is literally falling apart and I went looking to see if I could find another one. I did find a couple of them and was surprised to see what they went for. I am keeping my copy, but was curious to know if anyone else has or has seen a copy.  

Thanks

Thom

[Bill Liers]

Thom,

I have one from the third printing in '78. Fortunately, it's in excellent shape with just a bit of yellowing around the edges. The Philharmonic schematic is clear enough that I may have it blown up.

BTW, which edition of Audio was it mentioned in, if you know?

regards, Bill

[David C. Poland]

Puett seems to be the first to catalog Scott information, and also McMurdo Silver and a few other high end makes considered the 'Classics".

I also have a pristine early edition "Silver Ghosts" (green cover) and another in fair condition I carry with me to radio meets and auctions for reference (not for sale). I have also seen a blue cover version with equally nice print and photo quality.
However, Puett also eventually put out a lower quality version that looks like it was a photo copy of the early version and, so, having inferior print quality, but is better than nothing.
Finally, another worthwhile Puett publication to watch for is "The Classic Radio Collectors Handbook". about 20 two sided pages 8 x 11 of mediocre quality print (copy of a copy?) with a yellow construction paper cover artwork that includes an image of the Philharmonic and of the late McMurdo Silver dial. Content includes a 2 page history of Mr Scott, 4 pages of sketches of the various Scott chassis from 1920's kits to WWII, images of many of the cabinets and some original pricing information. Likewise, a few pages for McMurdo Silver: 2 page history, chassis sketches and cabinets. Finally, one page of images of the very upscale WLW, Lincoln & Fisher models. I recently picked up a 2 nd copy I don't need. Is a decent spotters guide.

[Thomas Day]

Bill Liers said:

Thom,

I have one from the third printing in '78. Fortunately, it's in excellent shape with just a bit of yellowing around the edges. The Philharmonic schematic is clear enough that I may have it blown up.

BTW, which edition of Audio was it mentioned in, if you know?

regards, Bill

[Thomas Day]

Bill:

I can find out which issue this was in, since I still have all of them from the 70's thru the end of publication. They are in storage and it will take me some time to go thru them, since they are about 100 miles from my current location.

Bill Liers said:

Thom,

I have one from the third printing in '78. Fortunately, it's in excellent shape with just a bit of yellowing around the edges. The Philharmonic schematic is clear enough that I may have it blown up.

BTW, which edition of Audio was it mentioned in, if you know?

regards, Bill

[Bill Liers]

Thom,

It's not a big deal. I subscribed to audio way back and didn't recall seeing a reference.

thanks, Bill

[Dave]

Old thread but curious if anyone has made reprints of Mr Puett’s work, PDFs ??

[Scott Seickel]

I have a 4th edition (1981) copy that is near mint.  I would be willing to have a high quality PDF copy made to give to fellow collectors, but I don't know how to tell if it is still has a valid copyright.

[Kent King]

I talked to June fairly often in the 90s. He has been gone a few years now, I do not know if the family or estate have maintained the copyright. I have most of his publications around Scott, he also did a book on "big radios", supposedly including every set with 20 or more tubes. I'll have to dig it out. One copy of Silver Ghosts I have is misprinted, the pages are assembled incorrectly. Given what was known at the time, they are good reference books. We have learned a lot more about Scott and the company since those publications, so take some of the speculative items with a grain of salt.

Kent

[Doug Smith]

Thom,

I have an almost perfect copy of the green cover July 1976 edition, second printing February 1977, that I can image to pdf, if it is helpful.   70 pages, with high quality schematics.   Did we determine if it is still under copyright?

Maybe a little off-topic.  Kent, please advise, and will start new thread.   Many years ago, I picked up a little book 'Friendly Chats' copyright 1933, 158 pages with signed picture of Scott opposite the copyright page.      It's a book of little stories, one to a page, on topics Scott found interesting or instructive.  Does anybody know how this came to be, and who received it?   Neat to see what was important to him.

regards,  Doug

[David C. Poland]

I have Jan 1933  edition. Looks like the contents were from some service. 5x7 inches.

The heavy weight cover (front and back ..  and middle pages 16 and 17) have the only references to E H Scott.

Inside front cover shows E H Scott copyright.

Kent may have an idea how many or how long Scott put this publication out.

The rest of the contents are bits of information, short stories, little thoughts, bits of wisdom.

[Doug Smith]

Thanks for the update.   There may be several editions out there.   I attached the first few pages - copyright, frontispiece, and forward.  I don't have any Scott references in pages 16 and 17, but do have a facsimile of Scott's signature on the cover.   The book is fragile, so I didn't press hard on the scanner.   Is it worth attempting a pdf scan?   Doug

[Thomas Day]

Bill: I would need to go thru my Audio collection to find the specific issue.  I have them thru the end of publication, but they are currently in storage about 100 miles from my current home.  I think it would have been from the late '70's or early '80's.  

Thom
Bill Liers said:

Thom,

I have one from the third printing in '78. Fortunately, it's in excellent shape with just a bit of yellowing around the edges. The Philharmonic schematic is clear enough that I may have it blown up.

BTW, which edition of Audio was it mentioned in, if you know?

regards, Bill