Timeform Flat Annuals

[Crepello1957]

I write a racing/breeding blog & I have been trying to obtain Timeform Annuals on an interlibrary loan.

It appears only one library has any copies, one in Doncaster district, the library is currently closed & my local library is unsure if they are for reference only. Even the British Library doesn’t have copies.

Has anyone else tried to do research & come up with the same difficulties. I cannot afford to buy a full set.
Wonder why it’s only Doncaster? Halifax or Newmarket would have been my guesses.

[Eclipse First]

Newmarket Library had/has a racing section, although I cannot recall seeing any Timeform annuals in there. They had the Racing Calendar going back to about 1773 as I recall. However as they were not part of the Public library stock then I doubt they could by accessed by any other means than a trip down there. I am not sure if the collection is still held there as I seem to recall someone suggesting that it had been re-housed in the museum.

[graysonscolumn]

Even the British Library doesn’t have copies.

Very odd – it’s rank bad where availability of Chaseform or

Hunter Chasers and Point-to-Pointers

annuals are concerned, too.

I thought the BL’s collection policy pretty much boiled down to having at least one copy of everything ever, though whether the onus is on the publisher to provide them with the work or the BL to chase it down is something I’ve never been 100% certain on.

Wonder why it’s only Doncaster? Halifax or Newmarket would have been my guesses.

Does the absence of Timeform stuff at Calderdale Libraries extend to its local studies / archive? Definitely nothing doing in the public libraries (I’ve just enjoyed a nostalgic play on their Dynix Horizon OPAC, years after I stopped answering support calls on it for SirsiDynix!), but the local studies holdings don’t appear to be quantified anywhere I’ve looked on cyberspace.

If you haven’t already done so, it might be worth dropping another of my former workplaces, North Yorkshire County Libraries, a quick line to confirm what annuals they may still hold. As both the county library HQ and relatively centrally placed to a lot of the local racing establishments, the Northallerton reserve stock area always used to hold on to a lot of the last copies of specific years’ racing annuals once the others had been withdrawn and sold on.

Stuff like

Raceform Horses in Training

were subscribed to year on year as a matter of routine, plus a number of other titles besides; though whether any change of collection policy has seen even these last copies being eliminated in the eight years since I left NYCL is something I’m afraid I don’t know.

Can quite understand the reluctance to buy volumes

en bloc

, although if you do have to go down that route I find abebooks.com as good as anywhere – certainly helped plugged a few gaps in my Mackenzie & AN Other collection relatively inexpensively.

gc

Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.

[insomniac]

What part of the world are you from Crepello and are there any particular years you’re intersted in?
I haven’t got a full set but do have quite a few going back some years. If you’re local then maybe I could loan you them. (I’m in Cheshire.)

[Crepello1957]

I’m in Stockport Insomniac, don’t know how near that is to you.
Thank you very much for your kind offer. I am initially looking for 1959

For anyone interested this is a link to my blog:

http://crepello.tumblr.com/

[cormack15]

I thought the BL’s collection policy pretty much boiled down to having at least one copy of everything

I thought that too GC but, like you, not sure of the machinations.

[Eclipse First]

I think that the onus is on the publisher to provide them with a copy. Given the myriad quantities of privately published works then it would be impossible to keep track of everything.

Depending on what information you are looking for The British Racehorse is also a wonderful source of information, I recall seeing a small ad offering Rough Shod for sale and thought what an absolute bargain she would have been.

[insomniac]

Hi Crepello. Don’t have the 59 edition sadly.
(BTW I’m in Chester, not too far away should I ever have an annual you’d need to have a gander at but don’t have.)
I believe a copy of every book published with an ISBN number (which Timeform annuals will have) is kept at a small number of Libraries in the UK. Cambridge definitely has such a library – it might be worth following that up. (Although Cambridge is a long tedious drive from anywhere.)
I don’t think I’ve got ‘owt left in my collection of books that relates to 1959. I’ll have a gander though and if I find something I’ll pm you with the details.

[Crepello1957]

Thanks Insomniac. Could you pm me with which ones you do have?
I have a lot as well but my earliest is 1960 & I’ve lots of gaps of course!
What has struck me looking on Abe books is the difference in prices of the same volumes, even if they are in similar condition.
I imagine professionals just keep hold of them so they never much come onto the market.
I will await to hear from Doncaster once the branch thye are at reopens next month. they appear to have 2 copies of most of them, so one surely must be available for loan.

[reetlass]

Thank you very much for your kind offer. I am initially looking for 1959

For anyone interested this is a link to my blog:

http://crepello.tumblr.com/

There is a 1959 copy on Amazon priced at £22.50

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