26 Volume set of the Warren Commission Report on Ebay

[Bill Miller]

I saw today where a complete set of the 26 Volumes of the Warren Commission Report is for auction on Ebay. I have seen where some sets have sold upwards between $2000 to $3000. This might be a good time to get a set for a resonable price.

The ad mentions that volume 15 had a damp rag laid on it briefly and it faded the cover. I had a similar situation like that occur once to a colored book I had and I was able to get a book repair shop to match the color where it was no longer visible. The link is below ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...p;rd=1&rd=1

One complete 26 Volume set of the Warren Commission Report. These rare books would make a nice "working set" for any researcher looking into the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. These books are in good condition and have solid bindings and hard covers.

** There is very little wear to the corners and pages. Volume 15 shows some slight moisture damage on the back cover. A damp cloth was laid on this volume for a brief period and it faded the ink on a portion of the back cover. This partial ink fading on the back cover is restorable. The front, side, and pages of this particular book are in good condition. No swelling or warping occurred on the cover. All pages of all books are in very good condition.

Payment Methods Accepted: Paypal ONLY! Shipping is $75 domestic, international bidders must email me for shipping price before bidding.

THE WARREN COMMISSION

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, commonly called the Warren Commission, by Executive Order (E.O. 11130) on November 29, 1963. Its purpose was to investigate the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 22, 1963, at Dallas, Texas. President Johnson directed the Commission to evaluate matters relating to the assassination and the subsequent killing of the alleged assassin, and to report its findings and conclusions to him.

The following members served on the Commission:

Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States, former Governor and attorney general of California, Chair;

Richard B. Russell, Democratic Senator from Georgia and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, former Governor of Georgia, and county attorney in that State;

John Sherman Cooper, Republican Senator from Kentucky, former county and circuit judge in Kentucky, and United States Ambassador to India;

Hale Boggs, Democratic Representative from Louisiana and majority whip in the House of Representatives;

Gerald R. Ford, Republican Representative from Michigan and chairman of the House Republican Conference;

Allen W. Dulles, lawyer and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency;

John J. McCloy, lawyer, former President of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and former United States High Commissioner for Germany;

On December 13, 1963, Congress passed Senate Joint Resolution 137 (Public Law 88-202) authorizing the Commission to subpoena witnesses and obtain evidence concerning any matter relating to the investigation. The resolution also gave the Commission the power to compel the testimony of witnesses by granting immunity from prosecution to witnesses testifying under compulsion. The Commission, however, did not grant immunity to any witness during the investigation.

The Commission acted promptly to obtain a staff to meet its needs. J. Lee Rankin, former Solicitor General of the United States, was sworn in as general council for the Commission on December 16, 1963. He was aided in his work by 14 assistant council who were divided into teams to deal with the various subject areas of the investigation. The Commission was also assisted by lawyers, Internal Revenue Service agents, a senior historian, an editor, and secretarial and administrative personnel who were assigned to the Commission by Federal agencies at its request. Officials and agencies of the state of Texas, as well as of the Federal Government, fully cooperated with the Commission on its work.

The Commission reviewed reports by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service, Department of State, and the Attorney General of Texas, and then requested additional information from federal agencies, Congressional committees, and state and local experts. The Commission held hearings and took the testimony of 552 witnesses. On several occasions, the Commission went to Dallas to visit the scene of the assassination and other places.

The Commission presented its Report, in which each member concurred, to the President on September 24, 1964. The publication of the Report was soon followed by the publication of the 26 volumes of the Commission's Hearings. The Commission then transferred its records to the National Archives to be permanently preserved under the rules and regulations of the National Archives and applicable federal law.

In the National Archives, the records of the Warren Commission comprise Record Group 272: Records of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. The record group contains about 363 cubic feet of records and related material. Approximately 99 percent of these records are currently open and available for research. The records consist of investigative reports submitted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, and the Central Intelligence Agency; various kinds of documents such as income tax returns, passport files, military and selective service records, and school records relating to Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby; transcripts of testimony, depositions, and affidavits of witnesses, correspondence; manuals of procedures of federal agencies; administrative memorandums; records relating to personnel; fiscal records; agenda, proceedings, and minutes of Commission meetings and minutes of staff meetings; exhibits; tape records, newspaper and press clippings, and films; indexes; drafts and printer's proofs of the Report and Hearings of the Commission; a chronology of events in the lives of Oswald, Ruby, and others, 1959-1963; records relating to the interrogation and trial of Jack Ruby and other records. Most of these records relate to the period of the investigation of President Kennedy's assassination, November 1963 to September 1964, but some records of earlier and a few later dates are included.

The Kennedy family donated the autopsy X-rays and photographs to the National Archives under an agreement dated October 29, 1966. The agreement limits access to these materials to persons authorized to act for a Committee of Congress, a Presidential commission, or any other official agency of the federal government having authority to investigate matters relating to the assassination of President Kennedy or recognized experts in the field of pathology or related areas of science and technology whose applications are approved by the designated Kennedy family representative.

Edited January 19, 2007 by Bill Miller

[John Geraghty]

Currently no bids at $850. You can buy them straight up with no bidding for $1100.I would be interesting in getting the volumes, but I think that it will be a couple of years before I can afford to get them, which is a shame really.

My old University (I switched to another one a year and a half ago) had all 26 volumes, it had all of Nixon's and Kennedy's phone calls (well, nearly all in Nixon's case!) and many volumes of state papers. Surprisingly it also had many many assassination books, including double cross, which is quite an obscure book to have in a Dublin library, given the fact that it is not entirely verifiable.

If there are any generous and wealthy people reading, I would love these 26 volumes as an early/late christmas present.

John

[Guest Gary Loughran]

Hi John,

If you happeneed to go to Trinity then it contains one of 6 UK and Ireland libraries which receive every publication published in UK and Ireland.

This is a legal obligation on behalf of the publisher. If it was Trinity this may explain their excellent holdings.

FWIW (from my days as a librarian) the others are British Library, National Library Scotland, National Library Wales, Oxford and Cambridge.

[Bill Miller]

Currently no bids at $850. You can buy them straight up with no bidding for $1100.I would be interesting in getting the volumes, but I think that it will be a couple of years before I can afford to get them, which is a shame really.

John

I have bought two sets off of Ebay before and I notice that most always that the bidding seldom starts until the final days. For a couple of years I had always carried a volume from the set with me all the time so I could read from it as often as possible. As Mark Lane has said ... 'What is in the dondensed report isn't what is reflected in the 26 volumes.'

Bill

[John Geraghty]

Hi Gary,

A lot of my friends go to Trinity. I can get day admission passes as a student of another College, but unless I have a specific topic in mind there really isn't much point in searching the warehouses that they keep the books in.

I have often thought about printing the volumes from the internet and binding them myself, it would be costly, but less so than buying the original volumes.

John

[J. Raymond Carroll]

I have often thought about printing the volumes from the internet and binding them myself, it would be costly, but less so than buying the original volumes.

John

Rex Bradford is a member of this forum, and he has indicated an interest in reprinting the WC volumes in an inexpensive format. The last time I checked History-matters web site the 26 volumes were not mentioned, but you might want to send an email to Rex and see what his plans are in that regard.

[William Kelly]

I have often thought about printing the volumes from the internet and binding them myself, it would be costly, but less so than buying the original volumes.

John

Rex Bradford is a member of this forum, and he has indicated an interest in reprinting the WC volumes in an inexpensive format. The last time I checked History-matters web site the 26 volumes were not mentioned, but you might want to send an email to Rex and see what his plans are in that regard.

For a moment there I thought that ex-Irish Barrister JRC was going to buy the lot for John and give him his collection of law books and jfk volumes in exchange for a rabble rousing career..... I too had the fortune to attend a college - UDayton, Ohio, with a good library with WC and a subscription to Computers and Automation. There are more volumes out there on the market, but they should be pared with a good jfk ass collection. BK

[Bill Miller]

I checked to see what JFK m aterials are for sale on Ebay again today and I noticed that no one has bid on the 26 volumes of the Warren Commisssion with only 8 hours to go until the bidding closes. If I didn't already have two sets, then I would buy them myself for I don't think I ever got a set for less than $1350.00. I think Dave Curbow said that he paid $1800.00 for his set. $850.00 seems like a steal.

Edited January 24, 2007 by Bill Miller

[Duke Lane]

Hmmm ... I've been toying with selling the incomplete set that I've got - 22 of the 26, picked up at a garage sale in Virginia (apparently an old library set, still in good condition but for the covers) - but wonder at what the value of such an animal is, especially in light of the electronic versions being available. Anyone have any good guesses?

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Hmmm ... I've been toying with selling the incomplete set that I've got - 22 of the 26,

Hi Duke. You do not say which volumes are missing. I think a serious researcher might pay a few hundred dollars for the last (11?) volumes, ie the Exhibits, provided all volumes were there. THese are often hard to read in the online editions, whereas the first 15 volumes of testimony are easier to manage online than in print.