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"ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:17 am
by scsfello
ABC of Go is unusual to see on Ebay. There is one available now.
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:32 am
by tchan001
For the price they are asking (USD49,500) you could get yourself some very classy equipment and a nice go library to go along with it.
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:09 am
by DrStraw
It is not going to sell for that price, I am sure. But there are only a handful of copies around and this one looks to be in excellent condition. It seems to me that one of the members here said they had a copy, but I may be wrong. Maybe Brain McDonald or Keith Arnold?
I don't care much for the description on EBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-ABC-of-GO-W ... 51ba1d1769It is also interesting to note that based on the arrangment of stones on the boko cover, the author probably did not know much about the game.
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:24 am
by tchan001
DrStraw wrote:It is not going to sell for that price, I am sure. But there are only a handful of copies around and this one looks to be in excellent condition. It seems to me that one of the members here said they had a copy, but I may be wrong. Maybe Brain McDonald or Keith Arnold?
viewtopic.php?p=30573#p30573
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:25 am
by Bill Spight
DrStraw wrote:It is not going to sell for that price, I am sure. But there are only a handful of copies around and this one looks to be in excellent condition. It seems to me that one of the members here said they had a copy, but I may be wrong. Maybe Brain McDonald or Keith Arnold?
I don't care much for the description on EBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-ABC-of-GO-W ... 51ba1d1769It is also interesting to note that based on the arrangment of stones on the boko cover, the author probably did not know much about the game.
Maybe a better title would have been
The DUH of Go.

Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:00 am
by John Fairbairn
It is also interesting to note that based on the arrangment of stones on the boko cover, the author probably did not know much about the game.
A rash conjecture, methinks. Authors rarely have much to do with book design.
From the GoGoD Encyclopaedia:
QUOTE
Walter Augustus de Havilland was the father of two famous film stars: Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine. Both were born in Tokyo. He was born on 1872-08-31 in Lewisham, Kent, not far from where one member of the GoGoD teams lives, and attended school at Harrow (home of the other half of the GoGoD team). After studying theology and classical languages at Cambridge, he ended up as a patent attorney. He went to Japan to study patent law. Making a living initially by teaching English at a university in Hokkaido, he eventually became a professor of law at Waseda University in Tokyo.
While there he learnt go and wrote a slim primer in English: The ABC of Go: The National War-Game of Japan published by Kelly & Walsh of Yokohama and London in 1910.
He was taught go by Yoshida Toshio, who was ranked as of 1-dan status, and a 9-stone game with him was published in Vol. 1 No. 11 of the magazine Gokai Shinpo. It is game 1908-09-27a in the GoGoD database. In the magazine the game merited a brief commentary by Iwasa Kei 5-dan.
Go remained important to him, and he is shown playing the game in a photograph in the autobiography of Joan Fontaine (No Bed of Roses, William Morrow, 1978). It appears that obsession with go was detrimental to family life. He died in 1968.
UNQUOTE
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:01 am
by logan
Bill Spight wrote:DrStraw wrote:It is not going to sell for that price, I am sure. But there are only a handful of copies around and this one looks to be in excellent condition. It seems to me that one of the members here said they had a copy, but I may be wrong. Maybe Brain McDonald or Keith Arnold?
I don't care much for the description on EBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-ABC-of-GO-W ... 51ba1d1769It is also interesting to note that based on the arrangment of stones on the boko cover, the author probably did not know much about the game.
Maybe a better title would have been
The DUH of Go.

Bill,

John Fairbairn wrote:A rash conjecture, methinks. Authors rarely have much to do with book design.
[...]
Yes, John -- how could we forget your own famous book cover?
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:09 pm
by Bonobo
Aaah, this thread reminds me of a Go book where the cover showed a 19x19 board but the upper hoshi were moved up one intersection

I wish I had a link but can’t remember the name of the book …
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:19 pm
by skydyr
Bonobo wrote:Aaah, this thread reminds me of a Go book where the cover showed a 19x19 board but the upper hoshi were moved up one intersection

I wish I had a link but can’t remember the name of the book …
It's Patterns of the Sanrensei, by Michael Redmond, which shows a 3-4, 10-4 and 5-4 stone on the side, with all the star points moved to those lines.
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:31 pm
by Bonobo
skydyr wrote:Bonobo wrote:Aaah, this thread reminds me of a Go book where the cover showed a 19x19 board but the upper hoshi were moved up one intersection

I wish I had a link but can’t remember the name of the book …
It's Patterns of the Sanrensei, by Michael Redmond, which shows a 3-4, 10-4 and 5-4 stone on the side, with all the star points moved to those lines.
Yeah, thanks, just found it and wanted to post it here when I saw that you’ve already answered


and now I see that ALL hoshi are moved one up.
Greetz, Tom
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:45 pm
by DrStraw
John Fairbairn wrote:It is also interesting to note that based on the arrangment of stones on the boko cover, the author probably did not know much about the game.
A rash conjecture, methinks. Authors rarely have much to do with book design.
You are correct, of course. When I posted the image I had in my mind was of the cover artist but for some reason I said auther.
Re: "ABC of Go" by De Havilland
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:25 pm
by DrStraw
Well, the price was dropped to $295 and it still did not sell.