If you are interested in endgame studies, then John Beasley's British Endgame Study News is recommended.
Each issue normally consists of eight pages in A5 format (a large print version is available on request), and contains a selection of recently published original studies by British composers, an article on some study topic, a look at what is going on in the rest of the world, news items, book reviews as appropriate, and so on.
Each issue is normally accompanied by a “special number”, also of eight pages. Some of these are devoted to British studies of a particular period, with the intention of gradually building up a record of the best of British study composition; others are devoted to the studies of a particular composer, either British or foreign, or to some other topic of interest.
John offers a bookselling service for works on studies in English, with particular reference to books not readily available through other channels. His list goes out with BESN once a year, and additional books are announced in BESN as they become available.
The subscription to BESN is £10, but this is not tied to a specific period; John charges each reader with the actual cost of printing and despatching his personal copies, increased by not more than 50% to cover the central overheads, and asks for more money only when it becomes necessary. At present prices, he expects the charge to UK readers for 2002 to be around £6 (£7 to the rest of Europe, £9 elsewhere), but he currently has access to reasonably cheap copying facilities which may not be available indefinitely. New readers can have their subscriptions backdated to the start of the year; back numbers for previous years are available through the bookselling service.
He doesn't guarantee the production of the special numbers, though there has been one with every issue since June 1996. He does guarantee the appearance of the ordinary 8-page issues. These are normally dispatched so as to reach UK addresses by the first day of the month of publication (March, June, September, December), and failure to arrive within a few days thereof is reason to write and enquire what has happened; and if a reader does not receive his issue before the end of the month in which it should appear, he is entitled to cancel his subscription and reclaim the balance of his money.
To take out a subscription or to ask for a specimen copy, contact:-
John Beasley
7 St James Road
Harpenden
Herts.
AL5 4NX
England
e-mail johnbeasley@mail.com
Back to BDS Web Site homepage