8 replies to this topic

[zencat]

Do any of my UK friends recall exactly when Gardner's Win Lose or Die was released in the UK? The book itself says 1989 and it was first announced for July of that year, but I was just going through some old 007 Extras and I saw an item in there that it was delayed until Jan 1990. Wondering if this happened? I recall it was a hard UK book for me to find.

Thanks.

[Dustin]

You may be on to something there. Most of my Gardner's (from NDMB onwards) are Coronet early export editions. Ordinarily the copyright reads:

Copyright © Glidrose Publications Ltd. 19XX
First published in Great Britain in 19XX by...

Coronet early export edition 19XX [same year for all three]




For WIN, LOSE OR DIE it reads:

Copyright © Glidrose Publications Ltd. 1989
First published in Great Britain in 1989 by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.

Coronet early export edition 1990

My impression always was the early export editions generally hit the shelves with the hardback copies in UK, so 1990 could be true here. That said I'm not sure if I picked up that book in January 1990. Can't really remember when I got it. It could have been January but...

[zencat]

Yeah, there could be something to this. I got my UK editions from The Mysterious Bookshop back then, but I/they didn't get WLD in the summer of '89 for some reason. In fact, I only found my UK hardcover in Canada in summer 1990.

[zencat]

I've thrown the question out on my blog..

http://www.thebookbo...ie-delayed.html

[glidrose]

My memory is hazy, but I seem to recall purchasing and reading the Hodder edition in the fall of 1989. No way it was January 1990. I would have ordered the Putnam edition instead.

Britain's Private Eye magazine reviewed it on 4 August 1989.

I asked a Canadian. He said he definitely got his Hodder edition copy in 1989 because he remembers he bought it at the bookstore around the corner from where he lived. He moved out in either October or November 1989. He still has the sales receipt but the date has faded. (roll eyes) Moreover he said that the US FSS hardcover and the ROH paperback snuck their way into Canada because of publishing lags. He doesn't remember seeing the US hardcover or he would have bought that instead.

He also forwarded me this:

1.Gardner, J. Win, Lose Or Die // Review
Winnipeg Free Press; Winnipeg, Man. (0828-1785)
Oct 7, 1989. p.26
Source: Canadian Newsstand

2.Gardner, J. Win, Lose Or Die // Review
The Globe and Mail (Index-only) (0319-0714)
1989-07-22.
Source: CBCA Complete (Canadian Business & Current Affairs)

[zencat]

Excellent. Thank you, Glidrose. Based on the fact that it was reviewed in The Globe and Mail, it looks like it did come out in the UK in July 89 as planned.

[glidrose]

Excellent. Thank you, Glidrose. Based on the fact that it was reviewed in The Globe and Mail, it looks like it did come out in the UK in July 89 as planned.

Glad to have been of assistance.

The Globe and Mail is Canadian. Unless somebody checks the GaM review then we don't know which edition they reviewed.

I think it's more telling that Private Eye reviewed it. No publisher would dare send them an advance copy. The reviewer would have had to purchase the book himself.

[glidrose]

Unless of course the review copies went out as normal but the general release date was put back.

By this stage I don't think the publishers bothered to issue review copies unless a publication specifically asked for one.

I trust Panos on this one. The book was in stores in July.

[zencat]

Thanks for the clarification, Glidrose.

I believe I've seen US review copies of WLD. Not sure I've ever seen a UK one. Of course the U.S. edition was out in July, so the book was available that way.

Yes, if Panos say he got the UK edition in July, then it came out in July. I was looking for someone with a specific memory of buying the book.