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This Whole World - The Complete Beach Boys Singles and EP Cover Collection by Manfred Schmidt and Christian Haschke.

I know this book has been mentioned in various threads before so Mods by all means move it elsewhere if you see fit.

I'm ashamed to admit I only recently laid my hands on it and am kicking myself I hadn't done so much earlier. Just love it and it's inspired me to collect as many of those covers as I can. It's renewed my interest in collecting.

Well done Manfred and Christian and a big hello Manfred from your old pen pal.

A first-class publication indeed.

Whilst on your 45s/EPs collectors quest, keep in mind that SMiLE Holland always welcomes contibutions to this site:

http://www.beachboys45.nl/

A very cool book indeed. Too bad about the sometimes pretty bad English translations, though.

That really comes across as a strike against you.  With ALL this book has to offer, to pick up on what  MIGHT be a few bad transalations, just seems wrong.  

The book that convinced me to stop collecting non-US 45/EPs  with the realization that I'd never have enough $$ to have  them all...

This is a great book, really well done, the proverbial labor of love.  This book, Brad's "Surf's Up," and Ian's and Jon's "In Concert" books are never far from reach.  Each has contributed enormously to our understanding and appreciation of the band.

Manfred is a friend and a very talented singer/songwriter/musician. He has recorded several CDs of original songs with a clear BW influence. This book grew out of his love of the Beach Boys' music and his appreciation for the beauty and diversity of 45 rpm picture sleeves.  And, like most books, one burning question -- "Gee, I wonder how many Beach Boys' picture sleeves there are?  Not just in Germany, but the entire world." A rather daunting task.  That he accomplished it so exceptionally and had it published so beautifully, and in full color, is quite an achievement. He changed a little niche of BBs collecting.  

Manfred would be the first to admit the book could have benefited from a German to English translator/editor. But those are minor points and they lend a certain earnest charm to the book. Besides, if I had to write a book in another language, it would be unintelligible. So, kudos to you, my friend, for fearlessly tackling the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the English language. Sehr gut!

Unfortunately, there will most likely never be a second edition as there are a few additions and corrections that Manfred and Christian kept track of over the years, most notably the world's only Carl Wilson picture sleeve -- "Hold Me" from the Netherlands . . .  or is it Holland?    

But, the best thing about the book? It persuaded that bgas guy to stop bidding on international sleeves!

Well said Jim. To counter the bgas development however the book has inspired me to start bidding on international sleeves!

AWK!!  Too Late, Jim has all but three from the book.... ( and I'm not selling them to him anytime soon)

No, I just think it's a pity that these guys invested so much time, love and research (no doubt about that) in this great book, and that it came out with a pretty large amount of spelling errors and bad sentences. This book deserved better, especially because these mistakes could easily have been avoided by just having a native speaker take a look at the English translations before the book went to the printers. That's all. I'm not saying that Schmidt and Haschke did a bad job, not at all, I just think they sold themselves a bit short.

It was really a fault of the publishers, not of the authors. The remaining copies were partly sold back to Manfred and Christian and Medium Books, a company that specializes in rock books - I think it's still available there.  But it's the pics that count, right? So hats off to Manfred and Christian. A must for collectors!! A labour of love indeed.

*Ahem* . . . that would be "disaster."  :-\   I hate to be picky, but we are talking about editing.

And that bgas guy just reminded me . . . he has an extremely rare EP from Columbia that eluded Manfred and Christian.  I've offered him two mint copies of "She Believes In Love Again" with the title sleeve, no less, but he flat-out turned it down.  Well, that offer won't soon come around again  ;)

Here'tis in all it's glory, before my rental period expired and I passed it on to a novice collector:   http://www.beachboys45.nl/Columbia.htm

We were in a hurry to release the book in 2004 on time for Brian´s concerts here. The book was my project and I am responsible for the
translation (Christian Haschke was the technical supporter). Sorry, we just had not enough time for a proofread (I really wish we had).
I wanted to have the book out not only in German language, so that people around the world can understand it and have their fun with it. And sorry, English is not my mother language; I tried to do my best but we were very pressed for time, because my publisher wanted to sell the first books at Brian´s concerts (she was there with a bus full of books), so do not overdo it.

Much more important is the fact that 3 covers have surfaced later:

The Carl Wilson single Hold me from the Netherlands, In my room from the Netherlands and California girls from Argentina.
Maybe there were even one or two more, I don´t remember.
But anyway, you can find them meanwhile also on the site mentioned before.

Manfred Schmidt                    Thanks to Jim for his defense!