One of the things that I’ve been collecting for years, are the annual books published by first the ACBL, and later the WBF, reporting on that year’s World Championship. These books are printed in limited numbers and have become quite rare for the older years. The goal is (obviously) to get the series complete. For the full list, click here.
Since the previous update, I got the series complete after I found copies of the 1953 and 1958 editons. That makes the series complete, I remember ordering the first book (New Orleans, 1978) sometime in the early 1980’s, so it took me only some 35 to 40 years.
In case you wondered why the first Bermuda Bowl was played in 1950, but the books only start with the 1953 edition:
- 1950, 1951: While there was a Bermuda Bowl in those years, no official book about the event was ever published. That makes it obviously impossible to find one.
- 1952: No Bermuda Bowl was played this year due to scheduling problems, hence there is no book.
There is one thing that isn’t clear to me yet:
- 1962, 1970 and 1974: I have the book from the Bermuda Bowl but two events were played that year. The other one being the pairs olympiad. Was there ever a book published about that event as well? One source says yes, but he wasn’t completely certain either and his collection was currently in storage. Another source does not mention anything about those years. The 1966 book (which I have) is unclear whether this was something new (i.e. not done for the 1962 event) or not.
So, that leaves me with 3 years where it is unclear what exists (1962, 1970 and 1974). If you have any information about this, you know where to find me.