Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

[Wayne Komer]

Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

Henricus (Harrie) Grondijs is a Dutch endgame study composer, historian, translator and writer, born 21 Feb. 1946). He is well-known for his small edition, unique, well-produced and signed publications, most of which deal with small well-researched topics. His books are almost always signed and numbered in small limited editions – about thirty copies on average.

The Royal Library at The Hague has 42 Grondijs titles in its catalogue. The publishing dates range from 1990 to 2013. I have been trying to get ‘No Rook Unturned; A Tour Around the Saavedra Study’ (2004) for years.

I have eleven of his publications in my collection and, therefore, was very interested when a number of his recent books came up for auction on eBay.

The three that I was most interested and bid on were:

Grondijs, H.: The Errors of the Calabrois (2012) 256 pgs

The book is a definitive work on the endgame King + 3 Pawns versus King + 3 Pawns when the Pawns are on both sides (abc versus fgh).
First part of the book presents the Chapais analysis of this endgame in his manuscript (ca 50 pages). The history of the endgame from the 17th century to the present is described in the second part of the book, with analysis of Carrera, Greco, Bertin, Lewis, Walker, von der Lasa, Mason, Speelman and other players (ca 180 pages).

Edition – 35 copies, signed and numbered
+++++++++

Grondijs, H.: Chess Endgames: Pawn against Queen (2013) 108 pgs

The book deals with the endgame King + Queen versus King + (Bishop- or Rook-) Pawn on the 7th rank. It consists of following parts:
• King and a Pawn against the King and the Queen, an essay by Mr. Chapais, from Chapais manuscript (ca 1780)
• Queen and Pawn Princess, an essay by Alexander Rueb, first time published in magazine Schaakmat, 1954
• The Queen against the Rook Pawn or Bishop Pawn on the seventh Rank, by A. Rueb, 1950s (first time published many years later by Jan van Reek in small edition)
with introduction, postaface, comments and detailed bibliographic index by Harrie Grondijs

Edition – 35 copies, signed and numbered
++++++++++

Grondijs, H.: King Rules by Chapais (2011) 270 pgs

The book consists of three parts:
• Introduction by Harrie Grondijs, pages 5-100, deals with the opposition in the 18th century
• Opposition and Pawn Endings by Chapais, pages 101-232
King's March on the Chessboard by Chapais, Durand and Grondijs, pages 233-266

Edition - 35 copies, signed and numbered
++++++++

The seller started the bids at $1. With six days to go, I bid $10 each.

If I were to get the books, I would keep them. Others might bid to resell and could get 3 to 5 times their present value almost immediately.
The auction is over (Feb.9, 2014). In the final half-hour I raised my bid to more than what I expected each book to go for. It is amazing how high your heart-rate goes in those last few moments. I did not get a single book.

The selling prices were:

Errors of the Calabrois $317.00 12 bidders Shipping $18.50

Pawn Against Queen - $302.95 8 bidders Shipping $11.50

King Rules - $239.50 9 bidders Shipping $30.80

Everything is U.S. Dollars
++++++++

I know all this must seem like madness to a non-collector but there are 200 to 300 collectors for whom such auctions are a dramatic part of every-day life!

[Gordon Taylor]

Re: Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

This thread deserves a longer life! First let me say that I feel your pain, but if these books are selling for the prices you quote, I will never feel it acutely. The first book you list, "The Errors of the Calabrois" brings to mind an earlier thread about this ending in which Walter Dobrich recounted the fun time he had tormenting Pal Benko. I later found this ending discussed in James Mason's "Principles of Chess", pages 80-85, after I had been gifted a copy of an old hard-cover edition (I think most of us know this book from the Dover reprint). I didn't read it closely enough to decide if he'd nailed it down but I did decide that it was, for a time, something of a Victorian parlor game (something to wile away a few hours on a winter's night).

In a similar vein I wonder if you collect the "FIDE Albums"? These are more accessible I think but still kind of rare. I almost never see them advertised but they contain the crčme de la crčme of chess composition for the past century or so. Getting a composition into an Album is a prerequisite for getting the title of FIDE Master or Grandmaster of Chess Composition.

In 1977 I played for Canada in a Student Chess Olympiad in Mexico City. One day the organizers arranged for the players to go on a day trip to the pyramids and I will always recall how on the bus out and back, John Nunn kept his nose buried in a FIDE Album. Dr Nunn has won a lot of gold medals in chess composition solving tournaments and he was well into it even back then.

On a separate topic I wonder why no-one has taken the time to scan these books and then distribute them in pdf format. I can't imagine that Mr Grondijs is in it for the money and it would bring his work to a wider audience. Of course it would violate any number of copyright laws but in today's environment many of these laws are simply daft. Information seeks to be free!

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

On a separate topic I wonder why no-one has taken the time to scan these books and then distribute them in pdf format. I can't imagine that Mr Grondijs is in it for the money and it would bring his work to a wider audience. Of course it would violate any number of copyright laws but in today's environment many of these laws are simply daft. Information seeks to be free!

If you hunt around web sites like the British Chess Problem Society, and investigate all the links, you can find a wealth of free stuff related to problem composition, problems, heterodox chess, etc.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

I think Harrie Grondijs is an historian who writes these books the way an artist might fashion a fine watch – with love and care and attention to detail. Few people bother with the history of an endgame, but he does. Then he gives away or sells 35 copies and goes on with the next project.

They are almost impossible to obtain. Those who have them are unlikely to make copies. It is possible that The Hague Library or Cleveland would make Xeroxes of a certain number of pages if a researcher gave them sufficient reason.

A press run of three-dozen copies is economical. They get into the hands of those libraries and collectors who really want them and the author is not faced with trying to market several hundred.

I believe that all books published before 1960 should be freely available on the Internet. Further there should be a national chess library, which is aggressive in its purchases of magazines and books from 1960 to present.

I have eleven of the FIDE Albums from 1914 to 1976 but have not kept up with their recent issuance.

There is always the question of the final destination of one’s books. Collectors seem to be split between donating them to a library or selling them en bloc and giving the money back to their families.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

Because of the interest here in the FIDE Albums, I have been contacted by a gentleman, who makes this offer:

For Sale: A hard cover run of the FIDE Albums from 1914 to 2000, including three ANNEXES, published as addendums in the later years for $500 – half of which will be donated as support for the Olympiad team. Many of the ~25 books sold for 50 Euros for later issues. Books to be picked up in Toronto.

Please contact Wayne Komer, who is handling these books for the owner, at macwdk@interlog.com

[Gordon Taylor]

Re: Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

Too rich for my blood, but thanks for the feedback and I hope someone picks them up and uses them as they are a wonderful resource. But my motto is "All things come to those who wait."

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

But my motto is "All things come to those who wait."

I particularly like opening a book I've purchased from an Estate Sale and find a fascinating bookmark that gives a little window into the history of the book. Like the time I opened a book and found what I thought was a Rookie card for Ken Griffey, Jr. . hah. Turns out it was his sophomore card, still worth $10, but not as valuable as the Rookie Card.

[Gordon Taylor]

Re: Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

This is getting way off topic but my favourite find (I think it's called a lay-in) was in a hard-cover copy of "The Father Brown Omnibus" by G.K. Chesterton which I bought at Schooner Books in Halifax maybe a decade ago. It was the original invoice from the Book of the Month Club dated 7/28/60. Price listed as $4.95; mailing expense 0.38 for a total of $5.33. But best of all, at the top of the invoice it reads "Please return this invoice with your remittance." :)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

April 11, 2016

The continuing story of unobtainable books on recondite endgame study topics!

The following two books went up on the auction block yesterday. From the seller:

Grondijs, Harrie: Chess Craze Bad, 1st Tome (volumes I + II). Maastricht, De Groene Loper (former RUEB), 2015. Orig. hardcover with a dust jacket. 108 + 148 pages. Colored text, all diagrams in color, color + b/w photos and illustrations. Limited edition of 35 numbered copies, signed by the author. This is copy no. 28. Size 25.5 cm. 740 grams. In English.

Fine condition: new book.

The author presents the biography and works of William Henry Russ, known also as William Russ Henry. He lived in New York and personally knew Morphy, Fiske, Loyd, George Allen and other well-known personalities of ca. 1860.

From the preface:

Russ was an expert collector of chess problems and books. He was the author of 3 chess tales and an article listing American chess columns, which all appeared in the Chess Monthly in 1860 and 1861. Furthermore, he contributed a series of chess columns to two weekly papers and wrote half a dozen biographical sketches, some of which were published in his lifetime, some others only many years later near the end of the nineteenth century…

For auction is the 1st Tome (of Two), which presents the life story of Russ and his literary chess works.

The 2nd Tome, which we offer in another auction (copy number 28 as well), presents more than 100 letters written by Russ as well as some letters from his chess friends.
_______

Harrie Grondijs wrote many books, his favourite themes are the endgame study and the history of chess. I like his books as both the content and form are of high quality. Most of his works are published in limited editions, often numbered and signed by the author - this is a reason why Grondijs' books almost do not appear in the market.

These signed editions are often sold out immediately when they are published. Some time ago, I sold some of his books in online auctions and they reached quite high prices.

All of his books are OUT OF PRINT - I assume that some of these books will be not available in the market for years.
________

Prices Obtained

1. William Henry Russ (Tome 1) by H. Grondijs 655 euro, $936.13 CAN 25 bids

2. William Henry Russ (Tome 2) by H. Grondijs, 657 euro, $938.98 CAN 23 bids

The same bidder won both books. It would be hard to get Tome 1 and lose out on Tome 2, with the prospect of never seeing it on the market again.

Again, the bidding was too rich for my blood and who knows what reserve bid the winner made – probably well over a thousand dollars!

[Louis Morin]

Re : Re: Harrie Grondijs’ Study Books

I do have "Works of Simkhovich (Revised Edition)" by Harrie Grondijs. Should I post it on eBay to get a high price, or is it quite common and inexpensive?

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Harrie Grondijs' Study Books

Harrie Grondijs' Study Books

April 13, 2016

Unfortunately, The Works of Simkhovitch book was printed in a large enough edition so that it is available to anyone who wants it.

The very expensive and, therefore sellable books, are impossible to obtain.

I mentioned earlier that Grondijs had published a book on the Saavedra position entitled "No Rook Unturned" by a Dutch company called Van Stockum.

This is the minor promotion of a pawn to a rook. The study led to a lively correspondence among Barbier, Horwitz, Emanuel Lasker, Meindert Niemeijer, Van Reek, Selman, Sergeant, Spinhoven, Voellmy, Weenink and Sofa Steyn.

Evidently Grondijs was able to capture this in full in his book. The first, very small edition, was snatched up by the cognoscenti.
Van Stockum publishers tried to tempt the author to reprint another 100 copies.

Grondijs had his doubts but agreed to a second edition of 30 copies, only if he could correct the mistakes of the 1st edition. He also wanted to undertake a trip to Ireland in connection with the book.

When it came out in 2004, it was selling for 64 euros and the price quickly climbed to 256 euros.

Today, I doubt if you could get a copy for $1500.

http://www.devriesboeken.nl/boeken/s...9789074827522/
_______

The World Catalogue of library holdings gives this:

Grondijs, Harrie 1946- 51 works in 72 publications in 3 languages and 121 library holdings.

________

The Saavedra position: White to move and win.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Harrie Grondijs' Study Books

Harrie Grondijs' Study Books

March 24, 2018

Recently (March 10, 2018), at an auction on the LSAK site, two Grondijs books went under the hammer:

http://www.chesslund.com/index.asp


1 - No Rook Unturned
Grondijs, H.

A tour around the Saavedra study. With articles by: O. Dehler, M. Karstedt, H. Weenink, H. Lommer, J. Selman Jr., J. Roycroft and H. Grondijs. Illustrations in text and many diagrams. 361 pages. Original green hardback with text on cover and spine. A postcard picturing Fernando Saavedra is laid in. s.l., R. van Zutphen, 2004.
This is copy no. 19/30 copies and signed by Grondijs.

There were 35 bids and the selling price was 657 euro, which is 1050 CAD

2 - London 1883
Grondijs, H.

This book focuses on a number of letters written by Steinitz and published in the sportsman's journal Turf, Field and Farm.
The letters to the editor covers the years 1882-1884 and contains details from the preparations for the tournament. It is followed by the aftermath and the ensuing first skirmishes on the match for the world championship between Steinitz and Zukertort.

Grondijs has provided Biographical Notes on the twelve competitors in the main tournament.
Written and comp. by Harrie Grondijs. ed. by Rieneke van Zutphen Publ.: Rijswijk. Grondijs, 2010 Edition of 40 numbered and signed copies 309 p.: ill., diagr., portr.; 26 cm Hardback with a dust jacket.

This is copy no. 27/40 copies and signed by Grondijs.

There were 19 bids and the selling price was 210 euro, which is 335 CAD