Customer Reviews

Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values (Serial)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am a long time knife collector and was eager to get the 5th edition of "Levine's Guide Knives and Their Values". It's been nearly 5 years since the last edition was released and much has transpired in the world of knife collecting in that time. I ordered one as soon as I could. Upon its arrival I was really disappointed. Other than the addition of a couple of articles at the end of the existing text the book was almost the same as the 4th edition and the changes made were not welcome. The new publishers had deleted all of the information that is used to value a knife. While a number of books cover specific brands of knives "Levine's Guide Knives and Their Values" was the only one where a collector could determine an approximate value for nearly any knife he might come across. The publishers had decided that the information on the quality of manufacture and all the tables that were so useful to collectors were not needed and deleted them and replaced them with a few pictures to fill the empty spaces on the pages. The publishers have managed to destroy what had been a great resource for collectors. Save your money, donŐt buy the 5th edition, the added material is not worth the price. Find a copy of the 4th edition and treat it kindly. BTW, Bernard Levine was not involved in the preparation of the 5th edition.

First of all, Bernard Levine WAS NOT involved with this book even though it contains his name. Krause publication owns the rights to Levine and due to problems between the author and publisher Levine has publically stated that he does not support this book--thus, the unassuming buyer believes Levine wrote this book. This is simply not true. This is a huge warning sign. No one can write a book on Knives and their values like Levine. This book was edited by Bud Lang, the former editor of Knives Illustrated and though I highly respect Bud and miss him at the helm of KI, this wasn't his baby and it shows.

In my opinion there is not enough new material here to warrant a new book. Yeah, there are a few new pictures and an interesting article on William Scagel but there are some very confusing values in the book and according to Levine they were inflated and do not reflect the current market value of many collectable knives.

Levine wrote a very interesting editorial regarding "his" book that was published in Knife World last summer. ...

You be the judge.

Since Bernard Levine does not endorse this book I would buy the 4th edition from Amazon.com instead if you can.

Maybe calling this the "stripped down for racing version" would have been more appropriate. It certainly isn't the family station wagon, full of Knife Information, that it was before Krause slashed all the pertinent data out of it. The 5th Edition is a classic case of creating a new version just for the sake of sales. That may not have been so bad, except they removed much important data which knife collectors use to identify and collect knives. Then, to make it appear they had changed it, they added superflous "bloatware," in an effort to make it look different. If Levine's 4th Edition didn't exist, it would be better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but you can still get the 4th Edition so that option can be avoided. One of the major facinations of old knives is their level of handmade quality. The historical record tells us that newer is not always better.

This book is a true guide for a wide range of collectors, and would be collectors. I am impressed with its layout, which facilitates the very dense amount of knowledge being offered by Mr. Levine. Seldom have I seen a book of over 500 pages that actually seems to convey more information than its page count would suggest.

In other words, if you are really interested in knives at all you ought to own this well crafted book. Why not all 5 stars? My only real criticisms are that some of the graphics should be better and the paper used is poor, (perhaps these two items are related.

Anyway, great book, buy it, you will never regret it.

As a beginning knife collector/seller I purchased this book to be a reference/price guide for particular brands/makes of knives, i.e. Case XX USA R5347D 1996 should be worth $X.00. It does this for knife club knives only. HOWEVER, it is as EXCELLENT source for knife history.

I'm not a publisher, but I bet I could compile a better book than this. I feel like I've wasted my money. The book is incomplete, hard to index and the pictures are shoddy. What more needs to be said?

Publishing has sunk to a new low with this edition. Levine had nothing to do with it, and the publisher hired some dealer to give prices made from thin air. Save your money and buy the 4th edition again. The 4th edition remains the standard in the hobby.

Krause asked me to update specific articles in Levine's Guide #5 by employing the SAME WRITERS Bernard used. Krause removed some material from some of the other articles. They also added 16 or so pages to the book, and told me what they wanted. Again, I used some of Bernard's writers, and a couple noted collectors suggested by some manufacturers. If Bernard's writers are so bad, why did HE employ them? Bernard later bad-mouthed me in Knife World regarding this book. I contacted Mr. Houston Price, the publisher and friend of mine, noting this wasn't a very smart move (lawsuits?), and Price sent me a later copy of Knife World with a written retraction by Bernard. To this day, Bernard will not speak to me even though we see one another maybe 10 times a year, almost face-to-face. But, that's his right. Most who have savaged Book 5 have a right to do so. I do feel they should know what they are speaking about first. Bud

When researching knives and their values this is considered "THE" resource guide by most all collectors. I use it and highly recomend it. The amount of information is incredible and the in depth articals not only show you the values but also explain why they are worth what is shown.

Best Regards, Mike Turber Owner BladeForums.com

Well worth the investment for a serious collector, or even someone who is considering starting a collection, it is jam packed with everything you need to know
about different makers, their history, tang stamps and popular patterns, collecting trends and how to display your collection and more !! Don't Bother with the NEW
5th Edition, the format changed and is not as good as the earlier 3rd and 4th
editions. (I couldn't find a used 4th edition, so I got a 3rd) (The only difference
is in price valuations which have gone up and down as of lately.)
If you only have enough money to get one good knife book, this one will do nicely.