Adam ... Status of Jeffries Book ???

[HE Grant]

Just checking ... very much looking forward to it !

[apollack]

It's written. I'm just finishing the editing process. Going over it again and again. Need to create a cover and take care of a few do dads. But it's coming.

[HE Grant]

Great ! Can't wait !

[PD99]

Adam - on a more superficial level, does the Jeffries book contain many photographs and might there be any us more die hard fans haven't seen?

[apollack]

Yup. Lots directly scanned from the newspapers.

[PD99]

Cheers!

[apollack]

The book will approach 700 pages. Lots on each fight up to the retirement, plus plenty on other fights as well, including the fights of Fitz, Corbett, and Sharkey. Brings together the series.

[greek1237]

So I suppose yuo going to do a round by round thing on the Sharkey fights and Corbett fights like you did on the Sullivan book right?

So your going to skip over the Jack Johnson match than?

[apollack]

As of right now, 688 pages, and yes, the book ends at his 1905 retirement.

Yes, round by round accounts of every one of his bouts up to his retirement.

LOTS of photos too, many unseen, taken directly from newspapers.

Most detailed account of Jeff's career ever written. If you have read my other books, you know what I mean.

Book includes daily training and sparring regimens. Also includes info on opponents. Chapters on non-Jeffries bouts too, such as Corbett-Sharkey II, Sharkey-Ruhlin, Fitzsimmons-Ruhlin, Fitzsimmons-Sharkey II, and Corbett-McCoy.

You will relive for the first time the era's boxing scene.

I am pretty much done editing. (Hope I didn't miss anything.) I've inserted index. I am having cover made now. Once that is done, I'm pretty much ready to publish. Shouldn't be too much longer now folks.

[doomeddisciple]

Woo!

[HE Grant]

Very much looking forward to it !

[timayres]

Adam,

I ordered the Sullivan book largely for the many rare photos which were to appear in it as described in the forum, but they did not appear in the book....was there a publishing reason for this? I was surprised is all.

Tim

[cmoyle]

My guess is that had everything to do with the fact that Adam used McFarland to publish the Sullivan book and they probably limited the number of photographs he could use in the book, and also would only use high quality resolution photos.

[apollack]

You hit the nail on the head Clay. I guarantee LOTS of rare photos in the upcoming Jeffries book. More photos than in any of my previous works.

That said, I just counted 41 photos/lithographs in the Sullivan book, which isn't too bad. I think I have put more in each successive book, close to 50 in Corbett, and over 60 in Fitzsimmons. Whatever was adverstised by me is exactly what was in the books.

Jeffries will have many photos directly scanned from the newspapers of the day, and with modern scanners, they don't look too bad at all.

In fact, my Jeffries book will have well OVER 100 photos!!! Actually close to 130. So I'd say it will be impossible to be disappointed. I highly doubt any other Jeffries book has that many.

[SigniferSanctusMichael]

Any photos of the fights with Corbett (other than the well-known one of them squaring off before the second)?

[apollack]

No. You will almost never find a live action shot of those fights back then, unless they were taken from the special cameras and film stock used for the filming process, which could handle the lighting and speed of movement.

[SigniferSanctusMichael]

Thanks. That photo of Corbett ko-ing Mitchell must be very unusual, then.

Perhaps you can answer a question no one else I've corresponded with seems able to: were those Corbett-Jeffries fights ever filmed, or rumored to have been filmed (I know no film of them is known to survive)?

Thanks again - I really love that era.

[apollack]

Post that Corbett-Mitchell photo, please.

No, those fights were not filmed.

[SigniferSanctusMichael]

I don't have it! But I can tell you where I found it: an old edition of The Roar of the Crowd. In fact, if you can get to Robarts Library, University of Toronto (or communicate with them), it should still be there (though I read it there when I was an undergraduate in the late 80s). I should imagine that old editions of the book have it, though the one I own doesn't - which was a real disappointment when I got it from Abebooks.

I can describe it for you, for what it's worth: faded image of the ring and some of the crowd, with Corbett standing pretty straight, legs slightly apart, I think, hands set, evidently having just landed the punch that put Mitchell down; Mitchell on the canvas, near the ropes, back to the camera, conscious (his upper body slightly raised) but clearly unable to rise. The photo was taken some distance from the ring. Corbett is easily recognisable. There may be some minor errors of detail as it's been years since I last saw it.

I didn't realise it was a rarity!

Other than Corbett-Fitz and Corbett-Courtney are there ANY known photos of that old magician in action?

And does film of the ko over Courtney survive?

Sorry to pester you with questions, but it's a red letter day for me when I find someone who knows about this stuff.

All the best,

Robert Asch.

P.S. As an alumnus of U of T, I could try to contact the University for you if you don't get any joy with them, though it might take a little while as I live in Europe.

[apollack]

Okay, I figured it wasn't an action shot per se. That's probably why it turned out okay. There probably were some more photos taken back then, but they probably disintegrated over the years or were not properly preserved.

There's film of Corbett against Courtney (about 37 seconds - not the KO) and Fitzsimmons (many minutes). Also some short sparring footage.

[SigniferSanctusMichael]

There is what appears to be a longer than usual excerpt from the Courtney film up on Youtube. Pity the ko hasn't survived. Strange that the Smithsonian doesn't own complete versions of the Courtney or Fitzsimmons fights.

[PD99]

I also remember the pic of Mitchell down v Corbett from Roar Of The Crowd and here's that very pic:-.

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-1315948..._2062_83557338

Also, probably neither here nor for anyone outside of die hard followers, I found a square off pic of Jeffries v Corbett which I had never seen before. A slightly different perspective to the one that I thought was the only one in existence:-

http://http://www.heavyweightcollectibles.com/wp-content/themes/Ecommerce_201/Ecommerce-Blue/image.php?id=http://www.heavyweightcollectibles.com/public_html/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/photo1.jpg

[apollack]

Thanks for that. I have a sneaking suspicion that people inside the ring are actually drawn in by artists. I have a photo of the Sullivan-Ryan I fight that is clearly authentic as to the crowd, but I think the fighters were drawn in due to the fact that fast motion would just come out as a blur. But it is possible that it could be them if it was a slower moment with Corbett just standing there and giving the camera sufficient exposure time so it didn't come out as a blur.

[mrbig1]

Originally Posted by apollack

As of right now, 688 pages, and yes, the book ends at his 1905 retirement.

Yes, round by round accounts of every one of his bouts up to his retirement.

LOTS of photos too, many unseen, taken directly from newspapers.

Most detailed account of Jeff's career ever written. If you have read my other books, you know what I mean.

Book includes daily training and sparring regimens. Also includes info on opponents. Chapters on non-Jeffries bouts too, such as Corbett-Sharkey II, Sharkey-Ruhlin, Fitzsimmons-Ruhlin, Fitzsimmons-Sharkey II, and Corbett-McCoy.

You will relive for the first time the era's boxing scene.

I am pretty much done editing. (Hope I didn't miss anything.) I've inserted index. I am having cover made now. Once that is done, I'm pretty much ready to publish. Shouldn't be too much longer now folks.

can't wait, Please hurry.

[PeterD]

Two Jim Jeffries books in one year. Any reason for this or just a coincidence?

[apollack]

Pure coincidence. I had been working on mine for quite some time and had no idea someone else was doing one. I have a feeling that mine and his will be vastly different.

[timayres]

re the Corbett-Mitchell photos, I have a very large version of a prefight pose, plus the knockdown photo linked above, and they are clearly drawings based on a posed cabinet card photo credited to Corbett and Dan Creedon.

(not saying for sure that it is indeed Creedon, just that the photo I found was credited to him)

[Mike DeLisa]

My favorite quote re Jeffires -- Adam you gotta include this in your book!

"Fat; there is not any fat on him. Those soft mounds and ridges and rolls are the finest grade and quality of muscle a man can posses. ... That may best describe Jeff's muscular condition at the present moment -- a velvety softness, splendid and superb."

-- Jack London, Jeffries Johnson report, Reno, NV, in the New York Herald, June 25, 1910

[PD99]

Mike - that quote is a hoot.

I can almost visualise London swooning as he penned those words. Certainly sent shivers down my spine - and not the "good" type of shivers either.

[HE Grant]

Sounds like Chris Mathews talking about Obama ...