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Abebooks.co.uk have two copies of 1947, one for £390 and one for £200. At the same bookshop, plus Ebay and Amazon, the other years fetch between £30 and £120. Or is there a very special year which fetches more than 1947?
I’d heard that the 1947 copy was simply the rarest. Mind, I’ll pay you a fortune now for ‘Best Horses of 2012’.
Mike
I’d heard that the 1947 copy was simply the rarest. Mind, I’ll pay you a fortune now for ‘Best Horses of 2012’.
Mike
Phil Bull hasn’t been around for a long time now, but I’ll give it go. I may not be as smart or hard working as he was, or indeed as prescient, but I think I could do it. As long as the Best Horses of 2012 is confined to just two pages: one for best male – Frankel, and one for best female – Black Caviar. You might want to consider whether that would be worth a fortune but, then again, I don’t know how large your fortune is. After all, you are Betlarge, not Fortunelarge!
Really wish I could afford to buy them. Does anyone know if I am likely to be able to get older Timeforms on an inter-library loan? The librarian said she thought racing town libraries might stock them? Does any one know? It costs a bit for a search so I would like to know if I am in with a chance to borrow for research.
‘Best Horses of 1942’ was the first in the series and the only one with no reference to Bull being the author: it being credited to William K Temple, the pseudonym he used in the preceding ‘Annual Reviews’ of 1939, ’40 and ’41 and his ‘Mathematics of Betting’ published in 1942
First in a series of annuals are normally the most valuable as print runs tend to be conservative, and having just done a quick Google of ‘Best Horses’ the only one that doesn’t appear on auction/bookseller sites is 1942 so that perhaps adds credence to it being the scarcest
It’s also worth bearing in mind that condition is paramount in the antiquarian book world so a high price may not necessarily equate to scarcity, more that a book may be in an unusually smart condition
As an aside, it’s of some note that Bull managed to get his books printed at all during WW2. Sporting ephemera in general from the war years is scarce and collectable. For example the cricketers’ bible Wisden continued to appear annually throughout, with both a much reduced print run and much reduced size (there was essentially only Public Schools’ Cricket to report during WW2) and these slim volumes command high prices today
Also the quality of paper especially from 1944 onwards is very poor indeed and does result in many books of that period disintegrating unless being well cared for.
Tindalls in Newmarket always used to have a good stock of Timeform Annuals at reasonable prices. I am not sure if Mr Tindall is still alive as I sold him volumes of the British Racehorse and the General Stud Book in years gone by.
Crepello, the library at Newmarket had a fine collection of racing volumes including the Calendar going back to 1774. I vaguely recall that it may have been relocated some time ago but if not then I can thoroughly recommend a trip there as you will find information there for free that you would struggle to find elsewhere even by investment.
Drone after I posted I did a bit of searching and found auction records showing a run of annuals sold by Graham Budd in 2005, the 43 sold for £130,the 44,45,46 sold for £120 each and the 47 for £320. The mathematics of Betting made £190; all prices have a 17.5% commission to be added VAT not applicable.I will have to look at the condition on my return home next week but betting at Cheltenham next week seems a futile exercise in comparison.
I saw some of the 1940s Best Horses at a book fair all over £100 & one of these was in poor condition & heavily annotates.
Even Timeform Annuals are very expensive now. My best buy was 3 from the early 1960s for a fiver a few years ago.
Thanks for the info about the library in Newmarket, it is too far to travel but I’ll see if I can get a library loan; if they are reference only, somewhere should have them.
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