Malcolm MacFarlane tells us in his notes to this issue that the Musical Autobiography set, when first released in the U.S., sold for $25, in 1954.

This reminded me that this was my first purchase of any Crosby records. But I didn't pay anything like $25, or it's British equivalent. I was just starting earning when I discovered it on a stall that sold a mixture of new and recently issued reviewers' copies. It was in an area of London where there were many music publishers. The records were always in perfect condition, presumably played once. The downside was that they were marked as 'Reviewer's sample- not for resale' or some such and sometimes they lacked sleeves. Obviously, despite the admonishment they leaked out onto the market. Several of us used to haunt the place in the hope of picking up bargains, as the big advantage was these reviewers' copies were cheap. I can't remember the price I paid, but it was something like the equivalent of two new LPs. For five LPs in a handsome box. A bargain that an impoverished teenager could not resist, even if it meant eking out the week's cash somewhere else.

I had heard so many of these songs over the preceding ten years or so, possibly without really taking them in. But from that purchase I was hooked. Now, some 55 years or so on, I still have that set in playable condition. Box a bit battered, and booklet definitely seen better days - it's been so thumbed over. And the reviewers' stamp proved very impermanent and susceptible to careful eradication. I wonder if I should have left it as it was?

Malcolm Macfarlane wrote:

Took me a while to warm to the tracks with Buddy Cole but now I think they are great. The discography in the booklet was a revelation to me too.

I too, on first playing the early tracks had doubts, and wondered if I had made a silly purchase. But patience was rewarded when the original tracks came up. And, as Malcolm says, the Buddy Cole tracks are great in themselves - they 'grew on me'.

The aim came to be to get all the recordings on that list in the booklet -(an objective only achieved in part on 78s, many very worn, by nagging second hand dealers, but eventually achieved on LP and CD reissues). It was some time before I fully realised that there were many other recordings apart from those listed!

The set came out in a box with a book. I didn't buy it then as my income wasn't all that clever.
Later on the set was released again but in a spiral covering and no book. I bought this set. Forget the price now.
I mean, that was last century!