The history of a book...

[Bob Murr]

Three cover pages in my Denvir's I have 3 pages with some great autographs. I obtained the book from Milo Valdez whom many of you might remember from tournaments in the 70s and 80s. After Milo's death, his widow Mary presented me with some of his books. This book was originally owned by Byron Bonner who was the Colorado champion 60 years ago.

[Jay H]

Greetings All,

"Jay it sounds to me like you are in the very early stages of being addicted to checker memorabilia. If not treated soon it may become a very serious addiction indeed--and at the present time there is no known cure for it. "Mr. Checkers"

Yes, it sure does seem that way ,
But, it was planned that way. I gave up my pursuance of memorabilia, and of the game itself, ( meaning studying and trying to improve as a player,mail play, and problem solving, etc.) a long time ago, as my children were growing, I was jumping around jobs alot, was playing in several different musical bands, was filling alot of the holes in my comic book collection,etc., etc...... but I also knew that some day, as I got a little older, I would return. I never really was "completely gone", as I kept my ear to the ground thru my friendship with Earl Hangen, and he would always keep me posted on things, and he always kept sending me his "Wood's Ladder Report", which he would mail out to mail players,
( and anyone else who asked for it)....Does anybody else remember his WLR's. Little gems.....usually 4 pages, packed with as much as he could put into it...!!!


Whitefork,
"My copy of Kear's Encyclopedia has Leonard G. Friel's signature, dated October 31, 1950 - "All corrections and improvements in supplement have been printed in text"
_________________
WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT !!!! Jump on board and post it !!!!


Mr. Murr,

"Three cover pages in my Denvir's I have 3 pages with some great autographs. I obtained the book from Milo Valdez whom many of you might remember from tournaments in the 70s and 80s. After Milo's death, his widow Mary presented me with some of his books. This book was originally owned by Byron Bonner who was the Colorado champion 60 years ago."


EXCELLENT POST !!!!! What a piece...!!!!! Thanx for posting.....
Seriously, I could look at this stuff all day.
THANX !!!!!

Jay H

[Jay H]

Bob,
Are all three pages from the same book ?...... I see Hunt's sig twice.
And...lol, T. d. Roach...does that say "crooked player"....hah!!


Probably from the 1970 27 th National in Houston, Texas, ( Tinsley's return) as most of the names were prize winners at that tourney, and the date would coincide also...
Thanx again ! Great post !! A treasure !!!



Regards,
Jay H

[Jay H]

Bob,
I double checked my old ACF bulletins, and yes, this book was definately passed around at the 1970 National Trny. All the sigs were by people that were there, or competed, Hunt was the "Guest of Honor"....but did not compete.
Excellent post, and a nice piece of checkers history....!!!!

Thanx again !!!
Regards,
Jay H

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Very interesting ! Anyone can tell me - what is London Draughts Association which is appeared in copyright message and as publisher - is that a subsidary of EDA, independent local organisation or something else ?

Is this Association active today or gone since 1984 ?

Respectfully,

Alex Moiseyev

[Bob Murr]

Yes, all 3 pages are in the same book "John T. Denvirs Traps and Shots" copyright 1905. Milo had the book rebound so the white page is a xerox copy of the original page glued on the inside front cover. This reduces the value of the page. Edwin Hunt did sign the book twice. You are right about the wording "crooked player", I think Milo probably printed that remark as he always called anyone who beat him a crooked checker player and said that you had to watch him because he would steal your checkers (as in a game). Milo was a very colorful personality.
I have other books with autographs and will have to find them and post scans. I have not yet received the new power supply for my scanner, after lightning fried the old one, but dug out an old CB radio power supply to run the scanner until my new power supply arrives. This seems to work fine.

I am glad you enjoyed the posting. I had some trouble figuring out how post the images. I looked at the properties on the images you posted and saw the photobucket.com website, the rest was easy. I also spoke to Pal Bucker for assistance.

[Jay H]

Greetings Alex.....
"Very interesting ! Anyone can tell me - what is London Draughts Association which is appeared in copyright message and as publisher - is that a subsidary of EDA, independent local organisation or something else ?

Is this Association active today or gone since 1984 ?"



I think it may have been the name of their club......but,
Good question....CALLING LIAM STEPHENS....!!!

Bob,
"You are right about the wording "crooked player", I think Milo probably printed that remark as he always called anyone who beat him a crooked checker player and said that you had to watch him because he would steal your checkers (as in a game). Milo was a very colorful personality. "

That is just toooo much !!!! LOL


"I have other books with autographs and will have to find them and post scans. "

"I am glad you enjoyed the posting. I had some trouble figuring out how post the images. I looked at the properties on the images you posted and saw the photobucket.com website, the rest was easy. I also spoke to Pal Bucker for assistance. "


Enjoy them very much.....and for ANYONE ELSE that wants to start posting some images, but is not quite sure how, PM me and I will help you out. There are many more books out there , "little pieces of checkers history", that we would all love to see...!! Thanx all for helping this thread to take off !!!!

Regards,
Jay H

[Mr. Checkers]

Go to Google.com--type in London Draughts Association and you will find a lot of information there about it. "Mr. Checkers"

[Bob Murr]

From the inside front cover of my "Second American Tournament 1912". You will also see many famous Checker names here, fortunately some are still with us. One that I first had a hard time reading is Ken M. Grover.

Apparently, MIlo found game 144 (A. Jordan vs. H. Henderson a Cross game) and game 271 (Angus Crawford vs. S. S. Bell a Souter game) to be of special interest.

[Bob Murr]

This is one of my favorites for obvious reasons. From the inside cover of my "World Class Checkers" book detailing the Tinsley vs Long match of 1985 and the Tinsley vs Lafferty match of 1987.

[Jay H]

Bob,
" From the inside front cover of my "Second American Tournament 1912". You will also see many famous Checker names here, fortunately some are still with us. One that I first had a hard time reading is Ken M. Grover.

Apparently, MIlo found game 144 (A. Jordan vs. H. Henderson a Cross game) and game 271 (Angus Crawford vs. S. S. Bell a Souter game) to be of special interest."

It appears Milo himself was very fond of this one, as it appears it was given to him in 1964, and then he himself had it signed at, possibly, the 1974 National in Philadelphia, PA (?)......Another awesome piece of Checkers history !! Great book,Great Post !!!!!!

"This is one of my favorites for obvious reasons. From the inside cover of my "World Class Checkers" book detailing the Tinsley vs Long match of 1985 and the Tinsley vs Lafferty match of 1987."

Now, that's what I'm talking about...!!! A nice personalized touch!!!
Did you get this one signed face to face, person to person...? If so, what was the event.....?

Excellent Posts Mr. Murr. THANX for sharing !!!!!




Regards,
Jay H

[Bob Murr]

This book was signed while I was visiting with Don and Asa at the National tournament in Tupelo, MS, 1990. Dr. Schaeffer and Gil Dodgen were there with their computer programs, Chinook and Cornell Checkers (later WCC) respectively. This was one of the most interesting tournaments in recent history.

[Jay H]

Bob,
Thanx for the history on this book !!!!
A fine example of a personalized signature........and a first hand history.
I will have a few more interesting books to post this weekend .......

Regards,
Jay H

[Alex_Moiseyev]

When I brought some copies of Sixth to US National 2006 in Medina, one player asked me if he can buy it for $40 only. The price was $45 and many people already paid this amount and I told him this.

He replied: "$40!". I said - "$45!" We continue conversation like this couple times, and finally he provided a brilliant argument: "I am from Kentucky !" I was unable to beat this argument and gave him a copy of Sixth for $40 and wrote in the book: "FOR KENTUCKY ONLY !"

I just don't remember the name of this fellow, but I hope he enjoyed Sixth, even if he is from Kentucky

[Jay H]

Greetings Alex,
Imagine when this book falls into the hands of some future generation checkerist, and they read "FOR KENTUCKY ONLY !" inscribed on the book.....I'd like to be there when they try to figure that one out. ( Especially if they are from Kentucky )lol



Regards,
Jay H