Life In 19x19

freegame wrote:How about handing out autographs?
Anyone "famous enough" to have handed out autographs to people?

I play in a rock band and sometimes fans have asked me sign their CDs. It seems a little silly to me but it makes me feel important, so that's nice.

Also at work I sometimes sign our games and other equipment (as part of a group), often for charity auctions or something. That's not so much about me personally though.

How you feel is just a matter of feeling, so it's ok whether you care or not. However, I wonder how many people saying that a signature is meaningless also don't care if they own antiques, or feel no interest in seeing something centuries old in a museum.

I don't actually own any signed go books, and I might not own any signed books period, but I'd be enthused if I came across one from an author I admire.

Personally, I've never been much interested in autographed items for their own sake, although in every collecting field in which I have been active there have been enough autograph collectors to significantly increase the price on signed items over similar unsigned items. Back when I was participating in organizing committees for science fiction conventions, authors I met and for whom I had done favors were genuinely baffled when they offered to sign some books to or for me and I declined.

However, my collection of go publications contains many items whose collectible and archival interest is enhanced by the associations with previous owners, and inscriptions play a major part in that. For example, Kenneth Stubbs was a part of early go history in the US, and I treasure books inscribed to him by the likes of Edward Lasker and Gilbert Rosenthal because of that history. Arthur Smith's copy of the Hirose Treatise on Go is a valuable association items, although in effect all five copies of that book are equally interesting that way, since all were made specifically for five of the most esteemed individuals in the tiny go community of 1911. Ted Drange's library contained a number of abstracts and unpublished papers by other academics which are of interest primarily because they represent the communication process among those academics writing about go. Lastly, Roger Newlander's early (1959) translations of Japanese go books are of extra interest to me because I got them from Mr. Newlander himself and they had been in effect his personal copies for a long period of time. These kinds of associations are important to me.

chiwito

chiwito: I'd be curious about any facts you'd share on those individuals. Also, do you know of any kind of written history of Go in America, or do you get that information mostly by chance while collecting associated books and papers?

Unless of course if I signed something, then all ya'll would be adamant about getting hold of it.

If I paid more attentions to the pro world, I'd probably find it cool to get a signature in some manner, but I hardly know or keep up with these things.

hyperpape wrote:chiwito: I'd be curious about any facts you'd share on those individuals. Also, do you know of any kind of written history of Go in America, or do you get that information mostly by chance while collecting associated books and papers?

In between. I've been reading articles in places like Go World, Go Review, and the American Go Journal for nearly thirty years, along with books such as Go: More than a Game, by Peter Shotwell. While I have a very dodgy memory, I've run into a lot of material over the years and some of it stuck. Also, the history of go in America is only a century or so old; some of the older players who were aroud when I was a young one had been young players themselves when major individuals in that history were still around. The Berkeley, East Bay, and San Francisco go clubs were good places to encounter living history [probably still are]. People in those clubs were still making go history at the time, such as creating IGS.

As far as the specific folks I mentioned in my post, I met them or their heirs through book collecting. A dozen or so years ago, the American Go Journal did a nice article on my go book collection [along with a coolaceous picture of my wife's cat playing go]. Roger Newlander contacted me by email. He mentioned that back in the 1950s, when there were very few go books available in English, he had arranged to have three of them translated. He gave me the inpression that he had only done this for his own use, and that the two copies he had, the original in loose-leaf binders with pasted diagrams and one "printed" [mimeographed or something] bound copy, were all that existed. I later found out that he had presumably done a few more copies, as there was some kind of dispute and then settlement between him and the AGA over his selling them. That was briefly mentioned in one of the AGA spiral bound history books by Craig Hutchinson. If I had known any of that history at the time I met Mr. Newlander, I would have asked about it, as well as why he and J. L. Bauer, the only other person translating Japanese go books into English at the time, chose to make competing translations of the same books. Kenneth Stubb's daughter in law recently sold some of her in-law's old chess books and the like on ebay. While buying the two lots of go books [one English and one Japanese] I corresponded with her and got a little info about Mr. Stubbs and his relationship with people like Mr. Lasker. A book of Lasker's titled Chess Secrets I Learned from the Masters has little bits about go. Essentially, the book is a chatty memoir of Lasker's days on the international chess tournament scene and his relationships with other top players, especially his non-relative but good friend Emanuel Lasker. He tells a number of anecdotes related to their mutual love of go. Stubbs, as it happened, did the art for that book, a number of line drawings of various chess champions [unfortunately no go champs]. Ted Drange, a retired professor of philosophy who was known in go circles for teaching what may have been the first university academic class on go strategy as logic, sold his collection of go magazines through the AGA e-journal. I bought his Go Reviews and would have bought many other items if I hadn't been too late to submit my offer. He was kind enough to include a number of theoretical papers on the game that he had received from other academics while corresponding on go-related research.

chiwito

Hyperpape: If you are curious about the history of go, either in America or more generally, the best sources are online. I'd start with Senei's library and with the blog associated with GoGod. Also wandering semi-randomly through Wikipedia entries on go-related topics will give plenty of info, as will a similar random walk through the web generally via google. However, if you want paper histories, Kiseido's Handbook and Peter Shotwell's book Go: More than a Game come to mind. There are probably other sources of which I haven't thought yet.

chiwito

Some of them should really practise their calligraphy, at least their names.

Chiwito: thanks. I'm no John Fairbairn, but I'm familiar with those sources. They're great for the history of go in CJK, but things like the history of Go in Europe and the US are often covered in less depth (in part because they're less important).

hyperpape wrote:Chiwito: thanks. I'm no John Fairbairn, but I'm familiar with those sources. They're great for the history of go in CJK, but things like the history of Go in Europe and the US are often covered in less depth (in part because they're less important).

I'm no John F either, which is probably too bad. If either of us were he, then we could get together and write the book we both want to read. I don't know whether the 2 volume set EuroGo is still in print, but if it is it is a good source on the history of go in that continent. Nothing comparable exists for the US.

chiwito

chiwito wrote:I'm no John F either, which is probably too bad. If either of us were he, then we could get together and write the book we both want to read. I don't know whether the 2 volume set EuroGo is still in print, but if it is it is a good source on the history of go in that continent. Nothing comparable exists for the US.

chiwito

Actually, it's a set of three books, of which the first one is OOP

/Mats

I want the signature of Napoleon, Hitler, William the Conqueror, Isabel Castilian and Artem Kachanovsky


P.S - the signature is very important because it gives you the will that you are not such a loser.

Stefany93 wrote:I want the signature of Napoleon, Hitler, William the Conqueror, Isabel Castilian and Artem Kachanovsky


P.S - the signature is very important because it gives you the will that you are not such a loser.

Fortunately, I have a nice autographed photo of William the Conqueror which I would be willing to sell. No go-related items though. I don't sell those.

chiwito

chiwito wrote:

Stefany93 wrote:I want the signature of Napoleon, Hitler, William the Conqueror, Isabel Castilian and Artem Kachanovsky


P.S - the signature is very important because it gives you the will that you are not such a loser.

Fortunately, I have a nice autographed photo of William the Conqueror which I would be willing to sell No go-related items thoug. I don't sell those.

chiwito

Name the price!