On Mar 20, 7:09 pm, Tim wrote:
On Mar 20, 7:35 pm, samsloan wrote:



On Mar 20, 6:10 pm, wrote:

On Feb 28, 6:58 am, Hank Youngerman wrote:

Regarding republishing of books, I don't know what the market is in
chess for them. Bridge has only been around for about 80 years, so
there are no "classic" books that predate that. Bidding has changed
tremendously, so older books on bidding are of almost no use.

************

While this is true, in the sense that older books on bidding have no
direct connection with modern bidding, there is a sense in which some
older books are still worth reading (or re-reading) because of their
historical value. I would include, amongst these:

1. Churchill's natural bidding system (oh, how I wish I had a copy of
this one!)
2. Stern's original book on Vienna (the first little club - big NT
system)
3. Squire's The Theory of Bidding
4. Roth-Stone's Bridge is a Partnership Game
5. Kaplan-Sheinwold System of Winning Bridge
6. Belladona-Avarelli, The Roman Club
7. Garozzo-Forquet, The Blue Team Club
8. Morehead's, On Bidding (1964 version)
9. Goldman's Aces Scientific
10. Karpin's Psychological Strategy in Contract Bridge

All of these are mid-1970s or older and I haven't included more recent
books on, e.g., 2/1 or Ultimate Club or Symmetric Relay because they
don't meet the criterion of being older.

I would imagine that any experienced tournament player could read any
of these books and find something of value in each of them, even if no
one system is adopted in toto.

Henrysun909

What would you think about a reprinting of two 1934 books:

The Outline of Contract Bridge by Louis Watson

and

Watson on the Play of the Hand at Contract Bridge

Sam Sloan

Isn't Watson's Play of the Hand readily available?

There are two books. I am holding them in my hands right now.

They were both published in 1934. I cannot tell which one was printed
first since the both cite each other but is seems that they were
published virtually simultaneously.

The Outline of Contract Bridge by Louis Watson is a much shorter book.
It covers both bidding and the play of the hand. However, bidding has
changed so much that most readers will probably not be interested in
the bidding section. On the other hand, many readers will find the 147-
page Play of the Hand section to be preferable to wading through the
dense 492 page work, "Watson on the Play of the Hand at Contract
Bridge".

Only 8,000 copies of the original "Watson on the Play of the Hand at
Contract Bridge" were printed and they sold out quickly. Right after
that, Watson, aged only 29 and seemingly in good health, suddenly died
of no apparent cause on St. Valentine's Day, 1936. He was ranked
fourth in the world at the time of his death.

His widow, Catharine Potter Watson, wasted no time getting married to
Albert Heymann one year later. I have not been able to find out
anything about either of them.

By "readily available", you are referring to the Sam Fry "Enlarged and
Modernized Version" published in 1958. It is out of print, and is
really just a carbon copy. I have been looking through it to try to
see what changes Sam Fry made. Basically, he deleted the introductions
by Oswald Jacoby and Louis Watson and substituted his own introduction
instead.

Sam Fry also added two chapters at the end: Chapter XII entitled "Some
Modern Innovations" which primarily deals with some defensive
signaling conventions and Chapter XIII entitled "Some Loose Ends"
which gives some examples of squeezes. The total of these two chapters
combined comes to 12 pages.

He also added or deleted a few footnotes but otherwise seems not to
have changed the text of the book.

I am considering reprinting the two 1934 books but NOT the 1958
update. If I do this they will appear at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/092389182X

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891749

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891943

If I do this, the printing will be better quality with the text blown
up, the fonts larger and easier to read.

What do you think?

Sam Sloan

On Mar 20, 6:18 pm, samsloan wrote:

If I do this, the printing will be better quality with the text blown
up, the fonts larger and easier to read.

What do you think?

**************

Well, if the 1958 edition contains everything in the 1934 edition
except for the introduction, plus adds two chapters of material, and
is available in used format for around a dollar, why would I purchase
a reprint of the 1934 edition for $10, or whatever it sells for?

So in my opinion, redoing the 1934 edition when the 1958 edition is
available is not a good choice.

Henrysun909

PS: Has anyone bothered to see if either edition is available for
free download online?

On Mar 20, 8:38 pm, Bob Lipton wrote:

Amazon.com lists new copies for sale. The cover makes it appear to be a
printing of the same edition I bought about 20 years ao and which I
reread every few years.

The addenda on squeezes is useful. The market for a reprint of the
first edition would be limited and for those who wanted it, a copy of
the actual first edition would be what is wanted -- abe.com lists none,
although copies of the Fry edition are available for less than $5. But
I am confident that if I wanted to read Jacoby's introduction, it would
be readily available from the New York Public Library or some other
Interlibrary loan service.

As for the legibility issue, I find the Fry ediion quite easy to read.

So I think it's a crumby idea, even if the first edition is not under
some copyright protection,

Bob

Don't try the New York Public Library. I was there yesterday, and the
only copy they have was crumbling in my hands, probably from two much
use.

The reason that ABE Books does not have any is I bought them all. I
seem to have bought the last two copies they had.

I have two copies of the 1934 hard cover book in mint condition. I
also have two copies of the 1958 Sam Fry updated soft cover edition. I
agree with you that all of the copies shown on Amazon are copies of
the 1958 update, and that they do not have any of the 1934 original
hard cover edition.

Sam Sloan