I have another contender for gaudiest cover:

https://kevinspraggettonchess.files...

As well as some old double-KP openings, the London System seems to be getting a renewed lease on life of late - as you can clearly see by the publication dates.

Perhaps players at the top are seeking positions less susceptible to the might engines?

I’ve never understood the London System – the QB sticks out like a sore thumb, IMHO. But there must be something to it; why argue with any of the Top-10 players who have essayed it the past year or two or three?

Holmes/de Prado – The Agile London System (2016)

Johnsen/Kovacevic – Win with the London System (2005) There was some excitement when this book was published, but the LS didn’t seem to catch at the higher ELO levels at the time.

Jones - London system: 20 Instructive Games (Kindle, 2016)

Lakdawala – First Steps: The Colle and London systems (2016)

Lakdawala – Play the London System (2010)

Lonsdale - Queen Pawn Game: The London System

Sedlak - Winning with the Modern London System (2016)

Soltis – The London System (1993)

My particular approach to studying openings is historically – working forward from the oldest books and games.

Harding - Colle, London and Blackmar-Diemer Systems (1979)

For completeness, we might also mention the two Trends publications, although they were little more than database dumps of course ...

Wade/Gkountintas - Trends In The London System, Colle And Stonewall Attack (1992)

Here's his website: http://www.schachcoach.com/publikat...

He said there he published an updated version in German last month with a well known German chess book publisher:

'Das Londoner System - richtig gespielt' (2016)

It concerns the book, "World Chessmasters in Battle Royal" by Horowitz and Kmoch.

Over the years I've handled perhaps a half-dozen copies of this book with dust jacket. I have never seen one with a clean or even relatively intact DJ. They are all chipped at the edges and the spine, typically with pieces missing, very much in the same manner.

Here is an example:https://www.google.com/search?newwi...

It appears that Horowitz died just 3 weeks before Kmoch. I stumbled on one obit while looking for the other. What sad times for the office workers at CL&R. Indeed, Horowitz may still have been in post (although in a non-exec capacity).

I myself have a very limited number of hard-copy chess books in total - most of my collection is PDF's of out-of-copyright material.

The question is broader than just chess books, concerning paper quality. I have a limited knowledge on this, and only a very few books from the past.

The quality of the dust jacket must be similar to the quality of the pages inside - and is generally a function of the cloth content and acid content.

The more acid, and the less cloth, the less durable the pages. The dust cover is very vulnerable to damage from the sun, if left exposed on the bookcase. Plus, it is stressed by bending far more than any given page, with the exception of the inner cover binding (if hardback).

Dustjackets are very important to collectors, that I do know:

<A Guide to Book Conditions When considering the purchase of a book for your collection, the condition and, if applicable, the dust jacket are the most important factors affecting the value. It pays to become familiar with the basic descriptive terms used by used and rare booksellers to communicate a particular book’s condition.>

https://www.abebooks.com/books/rare...

https://www.abebooks.com/books/feat...

A little more:

<2. Do your books have dust jackets? Let’s consider a typical wall of books collected in the post-Industrial Revolution era (after 1840). Look at your books. Do you see the existence of dust jackets around the covers? These are the eminently disposable paper wrappers that were universally found cladding books in the post-World War I era. This is the single most critical aspect (some would say ONLY aspect) of value that a 20th century book can possess.

When you consider the fragile nature of paper dust jackets, it is not difficult to see how quickly they can be lost or damaged over the course of a century. The presence of this paper wrapper can represent up to 95% of the value of a 20th century title. Collectors are also very conscious of the condition of these jackets. Edge chipping and small tears need to be protected from getting worse. Thus a secondary plastic sleeve may be necessary to protect the condition of a rare book going forward.>

https://www.skinnerinc.com/news/blo...

(Of course, your book is a little younger.)

Here's another link talking about restoration a little, might be of interest:

http://www.biblio.com/blog/2008/03/...

For repairs there's really only one tape I trust - 3M's 845.

More on repairing:

http://www.shopbrodart.com/book-care/

https://www.abebooks.com/books/rare...

(There's probably many, many better links).

I abuse some of the cheap old books I do pick up 2nd hand from the library by using Clorox when the outside exposed pages are really nasty. I'm not sure how nice this works long-term, but it allows me to feel comfortable reading my copy.

Beware - modern paper turns yellow when treated this way. It has to be older, say pre-1975 books with some cloth content.

Did I mention I love sewn-bindings? Ah...

BTW- It looks like you can find a brand new copy of <WCiB> here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-lis...

If you're feeling lucky and have $2,900 (beware- no mention of dj condition, that might be extra).

I'm a little curious about other publisher's from immediate post-WWII, and perhaps other books published by McKay that year to compare after hearing <PMD>'s (reasonable) suggestion.

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

Don't know how I missed that before. Maybe because I was only looking for the best chess books and not the the <very> best?!

(Has it been mentioned here in the book forum? I tried searching the kibitzing, to no avail.)

Interesting selection, of course. Urcan gets two Rowson recommendations in. Anybody second them?

Of course there's no opening book mentioned, like FCO, although FCE is there.

Also, what are we to make of the fact that there is but one solitary recommendation from the history department?

https://www.amazon.com/Aron-Nimzowi...

https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

My experience is that DJs are very important to chess book collectors. Most collectors I know will not even take a no-DJ volume even if very reasonably priced. (Assuming, of course, one was issued.)

Yet - I also collected books on philately - and the obsession for DJs seems much less. Perhaps because the books are more a means-to-an-end for stamp collectors. Perhaps why eBooks and such are OK if the end is not collecting but research.

When I visit, you might wanna have them all out!! We're gonna be busy.