Chess books in charity shops

[Simon Rogers]

Whilst shopping, I tend to have a look in a couple of charity shops.
I always enquire if they have any chess books out back.
One shop informed me they were just about to get rid of a few books that have recently been donated.
I bought the books for a pound each, some I will donate to the adult and junior clubs.
It is always worth bobbing into your local charity shops and enquiring if they have any chess books out back.

[John Upham]

Whilst shopping, I tend to have a look in a couple of charity shops.
I always enquire if they have any chess books out back.
One shop informed me they were just about to get rid of a few books that have recently been donated.
I bought the books for a pound each, some I will donate to the adult and junior clubs.
It is always worth bobbing into your local charity shops and enquiring if they have any chess books out back.

Do you ask if they have any chess books out front?

[Simon Rogers]

Whilst shopping, I tend to have a look in a couple of charity shops.
I always enquire if they have any chess books out back.
One shop informed me they were just about to get rid of a few books that have recently been donated.
I bought the books for a pound each, some I will donate to the adult and junior clubs.
It is always worth bobbing into your local charity shops and enquiring if they have any chess books out back.

Do you ask if they have any chess books out front?

I do first, John.
Some charity shops see chess books as not very sellable.

[John Upham]

See

https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/searchr ... &Ntt=chess

[Geoff Chandler]

It is always worth bobbing into your local charity shops and enquiring if they have any chess books out back.

Or get chatty and friendly with the staff. There are about 6 shops in the Edinburgh area who call me if they get a chess book(s) in.

I have stopped picking them up unless they are classics I can pass on or run a world wide competition at Red Hot Pawn which I'm about to do for Tal's 'Life and Games.' making no secret that of the fact I want it to be won by a UK player. The postage abroad is crippling but if the winner lives in China then so be it.

What is strange (or worrying) is the number of new/unsold copies of books appearing. I mentioned elsewhere Fischer's 60 in algebraic (brand new! for £3.00 or less) has popped up 4 times now in the last few months. Recently all the great Bells books appeared. This is picture of just some of my Bells collection. Most here will have a full Bells collection.



The books in the shop where in pristine condition. I fired out an email to all the Edinburgh Club secretaries about them.

It was the Bells books that first attracted me to the pub Sandy Bells. I thought it was where all the authors met and discussed chess books. I was expecting to see Peter Clarke and Harry Golombek (two great writers on the game) sitting in the corner nursing a half pint of milk stout whilst looking at a Capablanca game. ( )

More on Bells Books and the Tal competition here; https://www.redhotpawn.com/chess-blog/t ... s-blog.541

[Joey Stewart]

I can see the reason for distancing ones self from book collections - the internet is the new book and contains far more easily digestible chess material then 90% of what has been written down. Plus with the UK property markets being increasingly swallowed up by unscrupulous landowners most people can no longer afford the space in their houses to dedicate to large collections of ancient tomes which may be entirely illegible (certainly anything written in old notation or with excessive spaghetti junctions of engine sidelines would qualify for this)

Also , size wise, why can chess books not follow a consistent A5 paper size - it is like every author goes out of their way to ensure their book sticks out of the shelf at a funny attention grabbing angle instead fitting in nice and neatly?

[Matt Mackenzie]

I can see the reason for distancing ones self from book collections - the internet is the new book and contains far more easily digestible chess material then 90% of what has been written down. Plus with the UK property markets being increasingly swallowed up by unscrupulous landowners most people can no longer afford the space in their houses to dedicate to large collections of ancient tomes which may be entirely illegible (certainly anything written in old notation or with excessive spaghetti junctions of engine sidelines would qualify for this)

Also , size wise, why can chess books not follow a consistent A5 paper size - it is like every author goes out of their way to ensure their book sticks out of the shelf at a funny attention grabbing angle instead fitting in nice and neatly?

Quite apart from anything else, much of "the internet" will perish in a decade or two.

(most of it from the early days - say 1995-2005 - is already inaccessible)

[Nick Ivell]

I would hope that most of the mature members of this forum can easily follow, or even welcome, descriptive notation.

The internet can never replace an old-fashioned book.

[John Upham]

Quite apart from anything else, much of "the internet" will perish in a decade or two.

(most of it from the early days - say 1995-2005 - is already inaccessible)

It is a matter for regret that many ECF web site obituaries are removed never to return.

However, the good news is that I have restored them from

https://archive.org/web/

and saved them for the nation.

Let me know what is inaccessible and I will attempt to revive it.

[Matt Mackenzie]

I would hope that most of the mature members of this forum can easily follow, or even welcome, descriptive notation.

And the point is, it really isn't that hard to understand - even if *slightly* more so than algebraic.

Once you do, it "unlocks" a whole new chess world.

[Nick Ivell]

Descriptive is mainly a pain in the endgame, I find; especially when there are no pawns at all (a rarity).

[Geoff Chandler]

Also , size wise, why can chess books not follow a consistent A5 paper size - it is like every author goes out of their way to ensure their book sticks out of the shelf at a funny attention grabbing angle...

HI Joey

'The Best Games of C.H. O'D. Alexander' is an example. It is 8½ inches by 8 inches (approx) so it always juts out on a book shelf. (you can find it in the dark!) It also printed on light green pages (black ink) this actually makes it very readable.
My copy is ex-public library which is another place to visit. (I got it from a church jumble sale years ago.)
Some libraries sell off their surplus books/DVD's at very low prices. It was first taken out on the 7th June 1976 - the last time on 23rd June 1982.



A guy goes into a library and asks; 'Where are the chess books?'
The librarian replies; 'They used to be in the sports section but they have moved...'

[James Pratt]

A man goes into a factory, they make chess pieces.
"Oh! How are the hours working out?" enquires his mate.
Came the reply: 'I'm mostly working knights.'

[Joey Stewart]

A man goes into a factory, they make chess pieces.
"Oh! How are the hours working out?" enquires his mate.
Came the reply: 'I'm mostly working knights.'

I imagine that was a joke they told a lot at holloid plastics while they were busy not making the sets for the Ecf all those years ago.

[Anthony Ibbitson]

Whilst shopping, I tend to have a look in a couple of charity shops.
I always enquire if they have any chess books out back.
One shop informed me they were just about to get rid of a few books that have recently been donated.
I bought the books for a pound each, some I will donate to the adult and junior clubs.
It is always worth bobbing into your local charity shops and enquiring if they have any chess books out back.

Do you ask if they have any chess books out front?

He'd already be able to see those of there were any.