Jack the Ripper A-Z

[sdreid]

My Case Closed is holding up much better than my A-Z which is now partially loose leaf.

Was there a hard cover A-Z?

[Mike Covell]

My pages have fallen out of my encyclopedia, so much so that Stephenson is in the suspects section!!

[The Grave Maurice]

Was there a hard cover A-Z?

I believe that the 1996 edition was issued only in paperback. There was a hardcover of the original 1991 edition (ISBN 0-7472-0424-1), but it's damn hard to find a copy.

[The Grave Maurice]

Errata

In post #21 (above) Tom Wescott says that there are "many errors" in the A-Z. I can't say that I've found a large number but, if a new edition is in preparation, perhaps we should draw those that we know about to the attention of the editors.

Flipping through my well-annotated copy of the 1996 edition, I spot these:

p. 26, last paragraph: both times should read 12:45 a.m., instead of 1:45 a.m.
p. 150: the actor who starred in The Green Hornet was Van Williams, not Van Johnson.
p. 417: Henry Smith must have begun “casting about for employment” in 1869, not 1879.
In the middle of the first set of plates, Martha Tabram is twice called Tabran.

Anyone find any others?

[Cap'n Jack]

I would imagine that the task of producing a completely accurate A-Z at the time it was published to be a complete and utter nightmare.
From my own research in the last few weeks I would throw up the following:
Littlechild was having a nervous breakdown and not on duty throughout the Whitechapel Murders.
Charles Henry Cutbush was in a more senior position at Scotland Yard than any detective, and that includes Swanson and Littlechild.
Inspector Andrews did not pursue Tumblety to New York.
Tumblety faced manslaughter charges in England a full ten years before the Whitechapel Murders.
Maybrick's brother was a club associate of the Prince royal.
Maybrick may have been poisoned by faulty alcohol, as many others were in the year of his death.
Is there more, oh yes.
I look forward to the publication, brave hearts they are.

[Doctor X]

Hey, looks like I started a debate with the AZ!!

I phoned the publishers of 1994 edition I have - Headline Book Publishing in London - they dont know anything about any new edition. But the person I spoke to I don't think knew what day it was.

I contacted the publishers of the second edition--I found a few available since my Google-Fu be strong!

They have no plans to reprint it.

So I got into a private conversation with a member HERE, and it seems it is coming out under another publisher. Lo and Behold! It is listed on Amazon.uk as out a few weeks ago . . . just not available!!

Fans of Blackadder may imagine the authors furiously correcting proofs reading these pages ala Robby Coltrane's Johnson.

Yours truly,

--J.D.

[Dan Norder]

So I got into a private conversation with a member HERE, and it seems it is coming out under another publisher. Lo and Behold! It is listed on Amazon.uk as out a few weeks ago . . . just not available!!

To be clear here, just in case it isn't, the Amazon listing was for a publisher who had planned to release it next month but then was bought out by another company and put the plans on hold. When I said the authors were looking for a new publisher I meant another one entirely.

So, again, no one should expect to see another edition of the A-Z anytime soon.

[Doctor X]

So, again, no one should expect to see another edition of the A-Z anytime soon.

--J.D.

[kensei]

For my own satisfaction:

I purchased a rare cheap copy of the A to Z last fall from Amazon, and promptly lost it when a bag containing it was stolen out of my car on the very day it arrived, thus I barely got to peruse it and only had it in my posession for a few hours. (Causing many dark thoughts of what would be a fittingly horrible fate for the person responsible.) Since then I've waited for another affordable copy to come available but have found that the book usually sells for anywhere from 40 to 75 dollars.

But I just managed to nab another copy from Amazon for only $10 and it just arrived yesterday. So-- TAKE THAT, THIEF!!!

[Monty]

I believe that the 1996 edition was issued only in paperback. There was a hardcover of the original 1991 edition (ISBN 0-7472-0424-1), but it's damn hard to find a copy.

I got three...but Im greedy that way.

Monty

[Mike Covell]

But I just managed to nab another copy from Amazon for only $10 and it just arrived yesterday. So-- TAKE THAT, THIEF!!!

Best $10 you will ever spend, I didn't pay for mine, someone left it unsupervised in their car

[The Grave Maurice]

I got three...but Im greedy that way.

Well, I've got a couple myself, he said modestly. (They're only difficult to find, not impossible.) One of them is a beaut: mint condition, signed by Begg, Fido, Skinner, and Rumbelow.

[Tom_Wescott]

Remind me to get Begg to sign my copy of Letters From Hell.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Monty]

Grave,

I took SYI to the conference for Don to sign, as Stewart had kindly signed it a few months before. Unfortunately Don couldnt make it so missed out.

To make up for it, I got Stewarts lovely wife Rosie to sign the conference pack infront of Stewart. You should have seen the look on Rosies face, total confusion. Not as confused as Stewarts mind.

Monty

[Natalie Severn]

Remind me to get Begg to sign my copy of Letters From Hell.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

What?