4 replies to this topic

[FlyingSaucer]

Does anyone know if there is a place to find old italian racing magazines (for FREE)?

 

I´m searching now for one called Auto Italiana Magazine - especially the ones from 59-60. I needed two specific volumes of this magazine for my text and I can only find them for sale in physical form - nothing scanned or in any PDF format.

Edited by FlyingSaucer, 03 October 2023 - 21:02.

[Vitesse2]

There's no online archive of Auto Italiana, which is still published and part of the Editoriale Domus stable. My Italian is just about non-existent, but a bit of digging suggests that the library at the Italian National Motor Museum - aka the Biscaretti - has copies of the years you're looking for. Between 1957 and 1960 the title was actually changed to 'Auto Italiana Sport'.

 

http://www.librinlin...1339#ancora_237

 

They do seem to provide a research service, but it isn't free.

 

It's possible the Italian National Library in Rome and/or the Revs Institute may have them as well.

[rudi]

the Revs Institute may have them as well.

Yes, Revs have all the 1950/1960 issues.

[FlyingSaucer]

Thank you - I'll try to see through the sources you guys recommended.

 

I just hoped that this kind of thing would be easier and more accessible to find - I wish of mine is that some day, all magazines would make their collection (free) available like MotorSport does. I understand that paying to see certain things is a way of contributing to maintaining these publications - but having articles from 50-60 years ago locked behind paywalls makes no sense at all. 

Edited by FlyingSaucer, 04 October 2023 - 15:08.

[Vitesse2]

 

Thank you - I'll try to see through the sources you guys recommended.

 

I just hoped that this kind of thing would be easier and more accessible to find - I wish of mine is that some day, all magazines would make their collection (free) available like MotorSport does. I understand that paying to see certain things is a way of contributing to maintaining these publications - but having articles from 50-60 years ago locked behind paywalls makes no sense at all. 

 

I'm sure we all would like that, but the variation in copyright laws and periods around the world and the cost of providing and maintaining online archives are probably the biggest factor. There was much controversy over the policies of the Google News and Google Books archives, with publishers unhappy that Google were scanning and making old publications available without asking - the Google News archive has essentially disappeared, as have many of the old magazines which used to be on Google Books. The archive of the aviation magazine Flight disappeared in 2019 when the main website was revamped and still hasn't returned.

 

The Motor Sport archives were originally scanned and sold as CD-ROMs. It was only after Haymarket sold the magazine to the current owners that the online archive was made available. Haymarket had done all the hard work, so it was probably quite simple to get it online.

 

To be fair, there are some excellent free online archives like the Austrian ANNO and Gallica in France, but they do adhere to the 70 year copyright rule ...