Chess Book Collections

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Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:19 pm

"Kevin - "amazed to hear" is going a bit strong."

Sorry - I was being ironic...

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John Upham
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by John Upham » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:38 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:19 pm
"Kevin - "amazed to hear" is going a bit strong."

Sorry - I was being ironic...
I'd say you would be justified in writing that if the Book Barn was close to Hampton Court.
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Stewart Reuben
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by Stewart Reuben » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:57 pm

I failed to mention, i probably also the largest collection of chess films in the English language on DVD in the world. What am I going to do with them?

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John Upham
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by John Upham » Fri Oct 02, 2020 9:26 pm

Stewart Reuben wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:57 pm
I failed to mention, i probably also the largest collection of chess films in the English language on DVD in the world. What am I going to do with them?
I suspect this depends on their commercial availability.

If they available "in the shops" either as a download or physical product then perhaps donation to the ECF Library would be best.

If they are recordings that have never been commercially available then perhaps the BFI could do something useful with them.

I'm sure you have some materials that the chess world would not want "lost".

Do you have DVDs that were written to from a VHS tape of a television recording?

I can get the DVDs and the VHS tapes digitised and uploaded to YouTube for you.

I did offer to digitise MJBs Audio Chess library but was told that computers were the spawn of the devil.
Last edited by John Upham on Sat Oct 03, 2020 2:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Geoff Chandler
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by Geoff Chandler » Sat Oct 03, 2020 1:32 pm

Hi Kevin,

Ref: buying used score books. In the late 70's and early 80's, The editorial team of Scottish Chess desperate for
games used to nick/borrow score books or score sheets and blackmail the owners with....

Dear 'name here', we have in our possession your 16 move loss v 'some lower rated player' unless you send us
an annotated game we will be forced to publish it. It worked!

Yes Dangerous book for Boys is a common sight, as is 'The Right Way to Play Chess' and 'Learn Chess' by Abrahams,
The latter is actually very good, the former I have never read. I expect it does it's job very well.

Other favourites in every charity shop, jumble or car boot sale are '50 Shades of Gray' and '
'Friends DVD's' these are everywhere.

Hi Stewart,

I had 100's of DVD's gave them to daughter who sold the lot to some company she saw on the net.
She made quite a few bob, There are a few companies who do this, just type in google 'we buy DIVD's'.

You could donate them them to a charity shop but some places have stopped taking them.
My local junk shop has 1,000's and sells then for 10p each. (had a call from them today...they have more chess books in!)
Hold back on the b/w ones, those that you might consider classics, check what they are going for on E-Bay.

I had 100's of VHS tapes and was on my 3rd trip to dump them in a bin when I had an idea.
These could be used to hold up bookshelves like you see sometimes in student flats where they use house bricks.
I now have three VHS book shelves.

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Stewart Reuben
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by Stewart Reuben » Sat Oct 03, 2020 2:36 pm

Many of my DVDs are of copyright material such as 'The Master Game'. I wouldn't give these away or sell them without an assurance that they would NOT be marketed. The ECF have most of them. But they won't put them on display or borrowing because of the copyright situation. The list is available on the ECF website. 'Chess Fever' is probably the only one out of copyright
The idea of putting the in t lot the rubbish bin is revolting.

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by Geoff Chandler » Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:23 pm

Hi Stewart,

No do not dump them (I was throwing my out old VHS tapes.) Surely the ECF can lend out 'The Master Game' DVD's without a charge to members only.

Simon Rogers
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by Simon Rogers » Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:12 pm

Stewart Reuben wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 5:18 pm
When I moved in 1998, albeit to a much larger home, I got rid of a number of chess books. Now I am contemplating down-sizing. The ECF won't want more copies of ones they already have, but no longer want. Any suggestions?
I am also in the process of dealing with my cds.
Don't bin them.
Perhaps you could advertise the ones you don't want on the For Sale Category on the Forum.
You might get some money for them or people might do some swapsies with you.

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John Upham
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by John Upham » Thu Nov 19, 2020 10:24 am

Simon Rogers wrote:
Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:12 pm

Don't bin them.
Perhaps you could advertise the ones you don't want on the For Sale Category on the Forum.
You might get some money for them or people might do some swapsies with you.
I doubt if Stewart has any intention of passing on his video collection to anyone. He merely wants to let everyone know that he owns it and that nobody else may have access to it.
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Stewart Reuben
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by Stewart Reuben » Thu Nov 19, 2020 4:48 pm

John Upham >I doubt if Stewart has any intention of passing on his video collection to anyone. He merely wants to let everyone know that he owns it and that nobody else may have access to it.

That is offensively incorrect. Just considering the chess in English collection on DVD that I have, which is listed on the ECF site. The ECF Library has most of the discs, but few people accessed the library even before the Covid took hold. The library never wanted people to be able to access the collection because many are copied from TV and thus subject to copyright. I don't see why people should not be able to access them at the library, without being allowed to copy them.
I have about 100 DVDs. If I move, then they will not take up an enormous amount of room (unlike my collection of 1500 CDs which have now been copied to a computer). Thus they could move with me, or go to a good home. I also have about 50 audio-cassettes and 100 lps, mostly jazz,
My chess books could also be culled.

Simon Rogers
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by Simon Rogers » Fri Nov 20, 2020 8:55 pm

There was a question tonight on the BBC programme House of Games Night:
How many physical books does the average British adult own? The answer was 86.
I'm sure the average British chess player owns a lot more.
I own 203 chess books and over 100 others.

Simon Rogers
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Re: Chess Book Collections

Post by Simon Rogers » Sat Mar 13, 2021 9:23 pm

The last chess book I acquired was published last year:
Chess Improvement: It's all in the mindset
By Barry Hymer and Peter Wells

It is 324 pages and is an excellent meaty book.
I'm really enjoying reading the book.
I would recommend it.
Great value for money.

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