What essential Go hardcover books were printed? Two of my favorites are:

Invincible by John Power
and Go Game Guru's Relentless

What others?

There are many many books in languages other than English. Go Proverbs Illustrated by Segoe, out of print for decades, is historically important and published in English translation.

Not too many really. This is what my bookshelf can tell:

Invisible by Antti Törmänen
The Go Player's Almanac 1st edition by Richard Bozulich

The Master of Go by Kawabata Yasunari (or Meijin auf Deutsch)
The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa
The Way of Go by Troy Anderson

Extra: Finnish version of Fundamental Principles of Go by Yang Yilun

All other hardcovers are Japanese, Chinese or Korean.

Cheers,
Vesa

Contemporary Go Terms by Chihyung Nam.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

Genjo-Chitoku by John Fairbairn

Meijin of Meijins by John Fairbairn (as long as the new Shuei book has not arrived)

Kamakura by John Fairbairn

Final Summit by Johna Fairbairn

9-dan Showdown by John Fairbairn

Old Fuseki vs new Fuseki by John Fairbairn

The Go Companion by T Mark Hall and John Fairbairn

The Treasure Chest Enigma by Nakayama Noriyuki

Invincible by John Power

Tesuji Dictionary (three volumes) by Segeo/Go

Weiqi Life and Death 1000 Problems

Graded Go Problems For Beginners (four volumes) by Kiseido

Yi Ch'ang-Ho Selected Tesuji Problems (six volumes)

Yi Ch'ang-Ho Selected Tsumego Problems (six volumes)

Get Strong at Tesuji by Kiseido

Tesuji by Kiseido

1001 Life-and-Death Problems by Kiseido

edit: Sorry did not read "hardcover".

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Ah, this one too!

Cheers,
Vesa

I had a lovely hardcover book a long time ago, printed by the pre-war Japanese Tourism and Cultural Commission or such: "Go, the National Game of Japan." (Not to be confused with Arthur Smith's still-in-print book of the same title.) The book contained basic information as well as fascinating historical black and white photographs of the famous players of the era. I do not recall what happened to it but it's long gone form my shelves.

I currently own a hardcover copy of Ishi Press's "The Middle Game of Go: Chubansen" by Sakata Eio, first impression, April, 1971, printed in Japan. Could be a library copy of the paperback that had been rebound. The title is embossed in black on the spine but there is no evidence of a library property stamp or a shelving label anywhere on the binding, so, who knows?

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David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

The question is about hardcover books, not sure all the answers are taking that into account.

Not at home but my list of Hardcover English books, in a approximate chronological order from an increasingly addled memory -

ABC of Go
GOH
Go and Go Moku
The Game of Go
Go Proverbs Illustrated
The World of Ki
Basic Techniques of Go
Strategic Concepts of Go
Modern Joseki and Fuseki I
Modern Josecki and Fuseki II
The Middle Game of Go
1971 Honinbo Tournament
Go for Beginners
Invincible
The Go Players Almanac
Treasure Chest's Enigma
Fundamental Principles of Go
Contemporary Go Terms
Relentless

I am/was not aware that you could get Invisible or the great Fairbairn books in hard cover.

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My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle

See https://www.go-spiele.de/en/invisible-the-games-of-alphago-hardcover.html.

Cheers,
Vesa

Very cool. I have Invisible in paperback, but grabbed the hardcover as well. Thanks for the link. Go Proverb Illustrated and Go: The National Game of Japan also intrigue me. I'll keep my eyes open for copies. It sounds like Ishi Press released a bunch of their first run books as hardcovers in the 70s. I wonder if Ishida's dictionary also got the hardcover treatment.

So far I see just lists of hardcover books. However, the subject asks which of them are essential? Maybe those some of us would like to reread lifelong; this is subjective. There are more softcover books without hardcover edition that I want to reread lifelong. Various reasons let a publisher offer or not offer hardcover versions. I see hardly any relation between my preference and what is offered. Besides, hardcover is also luxury to some extent - one must afford it.

Among the hardcover books I own, I consider e.g. this one essential: Kansufu (in a rather complete Chinese edition). Then there are some huge books that need to be hardcover, such as the Nihon Kiin Tesuji Dictionary.