A Tommy Reck book would also be most welcome. …I was really disappointed that there were so few recordings of him.
Transcriptions of his playing have appeared in An Piobaire in the past, by Tommy Keane, Seán Donnelly and Robert van Dijk and myself, possibly others as well. Breandán Breathnach included some of his tunes in CRE, vol 1.
I think we’ve been over the recordings issue in previous threads, here, for example There’s a fair bit about, if you look for it. As far as I know NPU was working on a CD for future release.
I’ve been looking online, and the only copy I can find is being held hostage for $226 by an optimistic bugger in Germany.
There’s a copy for €71 on Bookfinder.com. It’s really a matter of keeping an eye out all the time and one will eventually come up at a reasonable-ish price.
I really don’t have any use for my old copy, bought new in the 1970s (it’s the 1977 reprint).
I’ve read through it so many times I pretty much have it memorised. (Sorry to say I discovered that no amount of reading about Willie Clancy will make one play like him!)
If you’re a book collector it’s not for you. It’s somewhat beat-up and has tunes transcribed in the blank music pages in the back.
But if you want it for the content it will suffice.
Anyone interested can PM me with an offer. I really don’t have any clue what it might be worth to somebody.
Due to the expense of posting things overseas, a US buyer would be best, perhaps.
The book does pop up on ebay every once in awhile. You can save a search & set it so that ebay will email you when anything comes up.
There was a topic here not too long ago about NPU reprinting a one off copy or two of the Patsy Touhy book on request, wasnt there? Try contacting them
Richard, I tried sending you a PM but it seems to be stuck in my “out” box. PM’s on this forum have some strange behaviors that I haven’t experienced on other on-line forums. Do you have an email address or some other way I could communicate with you? I will try sending you a PM over on The Session also.
Posted a query to NPU, and set a search-and-notify on evilBay.
There’s also an inter-library loan service over here. The closest copy I could find is 185 miles away, so I’ll have to see what the limits on lending are.
Thanks to everyone who contributed.
Post Script: Just received a kind note this morning from Emmett Gill at NPU. He said they can copy and bind a scan for €25. I don’t know in what quantity they are willing to do this, but I consider this yet another example of the great work they do. Guess I’ll have to renew my lapsed membership in appreciation of the offer.
I would take advantage of Emmitt’s offer if I hadn’t received a call last night from a local former piper who offered me his copy and a copy of the Patsy Touhey book.
“.. seek and ye shall find.” Matthew 7:7
