Monday, August 8, 2016

Publishing Oddities

Through the years I've seen some oddities in the publishing world in general, and in chess publishing in particular. The best general example I know is Frank Herbert's Dune, which was initially published by Chilton Company, best know for their auto repair manuals and trade magazines. Venturing into science fiction to publish the most famous novel of the genre was unexpected!

Recently I discovered that Garry Day has a hard back 1st edition of my all time favorite chess book, Robert E. Burger's The Chess of Bobby Fischer - also published by Chilton!

But reading the U. S. Chess Federation's Official Rules of Chess, 6th edition, edited by Tim Just, I discovered something far more peculiar than an auto repair manual publisher putting out the most famous sci-fi novel and my favorite chess book. Page xxix mentions that Kenneth Harkness edited the Official Chess Rulebook for the USCF, published in 1972. This was presumably published McKay, per earlier references in the text. But this volume did not include the most recent revisions to FIDE & USCF rules. Thus the need for a pamphlet containing corrections. From the 6th edition:
These 1970-72 modifications to the FIDE laws plus USCF changes through early 1973 were distributed in a pamphlet edited by Martin Morrison, chair of the USCF Rules Committee, and published privately by Paul Masson Vineyards.
That's got to be the weirdest publisher for a volume I can recall seeing. Can anyone add any other examples?

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