How do you tell the different editions of the Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts apart? I don’t have a definitive answer for you as it’s just way too complicated. I will give you some information I’ve gleaned from the lovely people over at Partworks and from my observations as I’ve been listing various parts of a numbers of different editions.

John was very sympathetic when I emailed him with my confusion and wasn’t able to shed much light into the problem. He tells me that Marshall Cavendish would sometimes re-release popular partworks revamping the first few issues in subtle ways and make corrections. This can cause much confusion when trying to collect the whole set.

Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts was first published in 1975 and has 98 parts including an Index meaning that it will take almost two years to issue them. Out of 200 + magazines I have on hand there are several different publishing dates. Some of them mention 1975, others 1976, more still 1977 and 1978, or 1977 and 1979. They finished issuing the first edition in 1976 so I’m pretty sure I understand that one. I have some with the dates 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979 and I’m presuming the last date is the date of issue. I have some that mention 1978 and have the words ‘2nd edition’ printed on the front cover so I’ve taken the liberty of comparing the table of contents of one printed in 1975 (a first edition) and one with the words ‘2nd edition’ on the front. There were minor differences but really they were only cosmetic.

If you’ve already got some of the magazines and you’re wanting to make sure you get the right printing date to ensure you’ve got a complete set you’re more than welcome to email me about any of the ones I have listed. I’ve listed each magazine separately as I don’t have a full set of any edition. You can access them easily by clicking here. I’m also in the middle of listing some Show Me How magazines and binders, some Busy Needles magazines with their binders and also some patterns for Stitch by Stitch.