The reason I keep and collect them is incase you ever have to determine if something is up to the code in effect at the time built, like I often do. They are also a fun aid for instructing.
The problem with that is you need to do a tremendous amount of research to determine what code cycle a home was even wired to. If a home built in, say, 1949, it may have been the 1947, 1945, 1942, 1940, a local code.... or no code at all.
Wow thats cool do you have all of them? It says the 2017 is the 54th edition, so what are the 1960, 1945, and the 1896 books? I dont think they published those years. I have also never seen a 1942 or 1943 book, just the supplements.
I'm missing 13 (1896, 1897, 1899, 1904, 1907, 1909, 1913, 1918, 1940 w/1945 insert, 1942, 1954 and 1958). A have two that are reproductions, and a couple that are part of a Hawkins Catechism of Electricity. I think Mike Holt is missing 8. And even the NFPA has 5 original issues that are AWOL. I know of no complete set, but I'm not the authority on the matter and there may be a complete collection of originals out there.
There's a seller on ebay that has a source for many old ones. We've corresponded about possibly getting together sometime and putting our collections together to create a complete original set just as a photo op. But there's about 1200 miles between us.
Some years aren't actual updates, they were merely the 'current' edition printed the following year. The standard 3-year cycle wasn't adopted until 1962.
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