Hey folks. I'm new here, and new to Go in general.
I Picked up someone's unloved collection of Go books last weekend and there were a few Japanese and Chinese books mixed in.. One quite a bit older then the rest. Looks like something to do with handicap games?
Any idea's what it is?

http://imgur.com/a/JLzf9

We have an expert in that area.... paging tchan001.

This is Honinbo Shuho's Hoen Shinpo and I have just published a complete translation as a SmartGo e-book under the title New Ways in Go.

That's a neat coincident, I'll have to grab a copy. I've been puzzling over this book for the last few days.

I also notice in your photo a Honinbo game collection which is a wonderful book.

That's the thick green one right? It's got some cool photo's in it.
Honestly I don't know what to do with all these books...There's only a few beginner friendly ones in the lot. I guess I can be optimistic about it and say. "Maybe one day they will be useful to me."

Hang on to them for a while. I sold all my books about 4 years ago and had many of the ones in your pictures. Those alone fetch several hundred dollars. but whatever you do, don't ever sell Invincible. If you do you will regret it one day if you stick with the game.

_________________
Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Nice collection for someone who's new to Go:)

Under the joseki vol 2. seems to be the Chinese version of Gokyu Shumyo (AKA Weiqi Qijing Zhongmiao), the Yi Chang-ho Selected Life and Death Problems, the Japanese version of Sakata's 怒濤の時代 (炎の勝負師 坂田栄男) [Chinese version Vol 10 Master of Victory and Defeat - The Era of Angry Waves 胜负师 怒涛时代].

In the middle above the Davie's Tesuji book is Vol 7 from the Wu Qingyuan's Collected Games.

As noted by JF, the ancient Japanese book in the center is Honinbo Shuho's Hoen Shinpo.

On the right side under a stack of various ancient Japanese books from probably the Edo or Meiji era is a volume from the Honinbo Tournaments Complete Collection.

Hope this helps you understand your collection a bit more.

_________________
http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

Thanks for the info

I've had Go on the brain recently. Played a bunch of games over the weekend, and even stayed up to watch game 1 of the Gu Li vs Lee Sedol Jubango. Watching them spend 15 minutes on a move made me slow right down in my games too. As a result I won most of the games I played that night ... and timed out in another.

As for these book, I'm trying to sort them into piles of useful now and maybe later.
The 8 volumes of Wu Qingyuan games, all these old books in languages I don't know can go straight into the later pile.

So it's:
Elementary Go Series, Vol. 3 Tesuji
Elementary Go Series, Vol. 4 Life and Death
Graded Go Problems Vol. 1-4
Yi Chang-ho Life and Death Vol. 1-6
All About Life and Death Vol. 1-2
Basic Fuseki Problems
Dictionary of Basic Joseki Vol. 1-3
Elementary Go Series, Vol. 5 Attack and Defense
Elementary Go Series, Vol. 7 Handicap Go
All About Thickness
Positional Judgement
Killer of Go
Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go
Opening Theory Made Easy
Get Strong at the Opening
Direction of Play
The 3-3 Point
The Great Joseki Debates
Basic Techniques of Go
Lectures on Go Techniques Vol. 1-2
Invincible

Which of these should go into the now pile?

I'm thinking throw all the life and death, tesuji, and problem books into the useful pile. And then a couple of the rest.

Just at a quick glance, I'd say Graded Go Problems for Beginners, volumes 1 and 2. If you're just starting out, the other books may be of limited use, but Opening Theory Made Easy is a solid book that may be pretty approachable. I don't have the Chang-ho life and death books, but they may get more difficult as the volumes progress. If so, the later volumes will be really difficult, but volume 1 may (or may not) have some problems closer to your level. Lessons on the Fundamentals of Go has its detractors (I like it, but not as enthusiastically as some), but is a good read. I'd stay away from the Life & Death book in the Elementary series for awhile--it is pretty difficult, and I found it rather dry.

You can review the pro games whenever you think you'll enjoy doing so.