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Ghostbusters PDF eBook Preservation Project - Ghostbusters: The Return, Real Ghostbusters Toy Booklets, And More!

 By Paul Rudoff on Feb. 24, 2012 at 8:13 PM , Categories: Ghostbusters 1, Ghostbusters 2, Real Ghostbusters, Books, Toys, Preservation
When I started the Ghostbusters PDF eBook Preservation Project, one of the books I most wanted to preserve was Sholly Fisch's novel Ghostbusters: The Return. Even though it isn't a very old book (it came out in 2004), the publisher, iBooks, went out of business two years after it hit the market, thus ensuring that the very limited supply of books that were printed would become instant collectibles. Copies on eBay and Amazon Marketplace currently go for $100 or more. I bought my copy back in 2004 and have never read it or cracked the spine, It is as 100% Mint as 100% Mint can be. I bet that I could get a nice amount of money for it, but as hard up for cash as I am, that will be one of the last things I will ever sell. I might sell a kidney before I sell that book. Hey, I have two kidneys, but only one copy of the book :-)

It gives me great joy to announce that Ghostbusters: The Return can now be downloaded in PDF format on the Ghostbusters Books page. It was a true group effort in getting the book to be part of the preservation project, so be sure to check out the notes/credits link under the book cover for all of the gory details. The Ghostbusters 2005 DVD Movie Scrapbook has also be added to the Ghostbusters Books page.

I scanned in a bunch of the Kenner The Real Ghostbusters toy advertisements and "Action Toy Guide" booklets (just The Real Ghostbusters pages), which can all be found on The Real Ghostbusters Merchandise page. Almost all are PDFs, though the poster at the end is a singular image. This is actually the smaller of the two Kenner posters that I have. I didn't scan in the large poster/calendar because it is WAY too large to do without some careful planning first. It's the source for some of my holiday images that appear throughout the year on the top side of this blog.

Over on the Ghostbusters II Books page you can now find the junior novel by B.B. Hiller and a coloring book. With the coloring book, I made an exception to my rule about not adding children's books to the project. Not because it is exceptionally well done, but rather quite the opposite. It is the "Troll 2" of Ghostbusters merchandise. It is truly "so bad, it's good". Just take a look at the book's depiction of the four guys:

Image

Yes, Ray has a mustache that would make Tom Selleck jealous, and Egon has lost his glasses (an essential element of the character) but gained poofy hair (for lack of a better description). I know that they can't draw the guys to look exactly like the actors, due to likeness rights, but they couldn't have drawn them to look more different if they tried. There's a way to make them somewhat resemble the actors without being exact likenesses. Just look at what the comics have done the past few years. Anyway, if there's one positive to the coloring book, it's that it was written up based on the script and not the final cut of the movie, so a lot of deleted scenes are represented in it. Also note that Kenner's The Real Ghostbusters toys are being used as the Ghostbusters' equipment (PDF page 50), and the Gigameter looks nothing like it does in the movie (PDF page 22). I can only guess that the artists were not shown a single photograph of the equipment from the movie set (and didn't think to look at photos or videos from the first movie), so they drew the equipment for the book based on what they could find from the animated series and their own ideas. And yet, the slime blower looks fairly accurate to its movie counterpart (PDF page 101).

Finally, I scanned in and made into a PDF ebook the Biltmore Hotel brochure I got back in 2004. You can find it on the Sedgewick/Biltmore Hotel page at the top of the Fun Facts section.

A big round of thanks to the tireless efforts of Matthew Jordan for helping to make a lot of these ebooks possible. Without your help, a lot of these books would have been forgotten decades ago. Richard Roy is also helping to preserve vintage Ghostbusters books. He just uploaded high-resolution scans of NOW's The Real Ghostbusters #1 and #2 comic books to the Ectocontainment's Comics section, and moved The Real Ghostbusters in Ghostbusters II trilogy from his old site to that page, too. You'll definitely want to check all of that out, and keep an eye on the Ectocontainment's Comics section for future updates.

[UPDATE - 2/25/2012]
I want to give a quick bit of thanks to the guys at the Ghostbusters Wiki for mentioning the eBook Preservation Project (and this update, specifically) on their site. Those guys understand exactly what the project is trying to accomplish.
The reason behind all this is because in most cases, the materials that are being covered are becoming harder to find and costly to get. This project is to help fans that don't have the funds or came along late in the game so to speak. The Preservation Project is just for that, to keep the history of ghostbusters available for future generations.
Although I'm the one to give the project a name, it is not my project, per se. It belongs to all Ghostbusters fans. Richard Roy is doing his part to preserve the past by scanning in the NOW comics. Matthew from the Ghostbusters Wiki has been helping with scanning, cleaning-up images, and providing materials that I don't have. I still have a LOT more work to do with my collection of items directly related to the movies and animated series. I'm hoping that other webmasters will put some out-of-print books and materials in high-quality formats on their sites as well. Maybe one of my fellow webmasters will want to start archiving all of the old West End Games RPG books. I may not be interested in them, but I'm sure that a lot of folks are, and would love to have the opportunity to read some of them.

3 comments

The Real Ghostbusters “starring” in Ghostbusters II comic books have been moved to Ectocontainment.™ As such the old files have been deleted. The three GB2 comics are in the Comics area.

It’s great to see the Kenner RGB “action toy guides” are available. I may or may not have that many. I was probably originally going to add it to Ectocontainment™ as well. Now I don’t have to. 8)

Do you have any of Kenner’s toy fair catalogs? I have one from 1989 and at some point will most likely put the RGB part on the site. If they’re still available for sale I know where I can get 1988, 1990, and 1991. Unfortunately the “gold” of 1987 catalogue alludes me.

Mar. 10, 2012 @ 10:05
Comment from: [Member]

I don’t have the Kenner toy fair catalogs. You now have me interested in seeing them. I assume these are the catalog given to retailers so they can order their supply to sell to customers, right?

Mar. 13, 2012 @ 22:30
Comment from: Richard Roy aka Spengs [Visitor]

Sure, why not answer this nearly about three years later.

Yes, as far as I’m aware from reading mostly auction descriptions, the catalogs were meant for toy retailers (I assume of the franchise kind) and were given out at “toy fairs” to retailers. Unlike today with the big toy fairs, cons, and other expos, the general public probably wouldn’t have been in attendance.

I have known where to get 1987, ‘88, (maybe ‘90) and ‘91 that wasn’t just eBay. As time has gone on, I don’t know if all those sites still have the catalogs. Of course I want the “Hot Toys” (if I’m remembering the theme) Kenner catalog as its the first year The Real Ghostbusters line was featured. When they come up on occasion, usually on eBay, the seller will want over a $100 for it.

I haven’t forgotten about the Kenner ‘89 “Hits” theme toy catalog. I don’t know when I’ll get to it. When I do, everyone who would care will know.

Jan. 15, 2014 @ 12:05

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