hist-games: Historical games ebooks

[trevor.james]

Dear All,

Murrays's books "History of Chess" (ISBN 9 780198 274032); GBP 35, &
"History of Board Games other than Chess" (ISBN 9 780198 274018); GBP
15, are both available, as OUP facsimile reprints, from:
Oxbow Books
Park End Place
OXFORD.
UK
OX1 1HN

Tel: (+44)-1865-241249
Fax: (+44)-1865-794449
URL: http://www.oxbowbooks.com
Email: oxbow at oxbowbooks.com

They have email addresses & agents all over the world, too.
I got both for GBP 53-75, including postage_within_UK, in April 2002 -
"my plastic tells me so." And as a bonus, they are printed on acid-free
paper. Which is nice.

So, they're both likely to be well within copyright. There are no
copyright dates in the books, other than the original ones of 1913 &
1952, respectively. However, AFAIK, Murray was 'working' at Oxford
Univ., so it's entirely possible that copyright resides with the OUP -
and that's for as long as OUP 'lives'!

BTW, Michael, unless you search for "DUMMETT's" book, you won't have any
success <G>.

Cheers,
Trevor (York,UK)

Michael and Susan McKay wrote:
> 
> Perhaps I'm using the wrong bookstores, but I have had standing orders for
> the Murray's "Boardgames other than Chess" for over five years with no luck.
> I've known people looking for Dimmitt's "Game of Tarot" for over 3 years
> without any success.
> 
> I'm not contesting your point that these books are still in copyright, but
> if they were less expensive to produce (like in book form), there would be a
> much better chance that they would still be in print.
> 
> -mjm-
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: hist-games-admin at www.pbm.com
> Subject: RE: hist-games: Historical games ebooks
> 
> In response,
> 
> While it's true a good many useful books have lapsed copyrights. It is often
> not true of the better one's. Dover, for instance, holds a good many
> unexercised copyrights. Holding until the time they feel the demand for the
> text is enough to justify printing.
> 
> As to Murray the Oxford University Press currently holds the copyright and
> reprinted it in 1978. It is out of print but not out of copyright. Copied
> are readily available on the internet for a reasonable price.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Kurt Klappenbach