Does anybody have one? Bit of a random question I know. I know they're on-line and downloadable as PDF but I wondered if anyone has the actual 15 volumes hard copy? I always wanted them and time to time I see them come up for sale, I did notice a set on Ebay for about £300+ delivered from US. I am not in a rush to spend that right now but I think it would be a cool set of books to own/read/gather dust.
I only have the abridged one and the DVD set. You used to be able to get them through Mona books in Anglesey for less than £300. Mitch
in the royal lake club of selangor theres the whole set XD, if you ever come to Kuala Lumpur let me know , I can bring you in as a visitor but you can't borrow it though :/
I have the first ediion 15 Volume set as well as the 1972 and 1965 Books. (This provides an insight as to how explanations have become more detailed) Also have the CD ROM 4 disc set that was used before the DVD technology became plentiful. Also have the PDFs on my Hard drive. If you practice the Chang Hon system there is no better reference. It is meant to be a reference as opposed to instructional. In fact as references go, I do not know of any other system that has such a detailed reference source including Technical parameters for standard technique practice including photos, and diagrams, illustrations of applications as well as common examples of incorrect parameters and the fault with those as aopposed to correct parameters. Also explanations as to standard parameters and deviation from the standard as needed for combat and sparring. All of the above is not meant to indicate that reasonable minds can have different opinions as to what is an optimal way of executing a technique which of course may vary with the circumstances.
Tae Kwon Do Times are currently selling the latest (2008) version on their website for $225 plus shipping which is a great price. I originally bought a copy in the mid 80's and it cost me £250. It is a great resource to have.
I have the DVD's and unfortunately I sold my encyclopedia on ebay about a year ago for 80 quid and I regret it a bit as I am missing TKD. But Karate is ok for now.
Yes the 1st Edition is dated 1983, as that was when the writing was finished. However because of the pressure exerted by the SK dictatorships through the KCIA, etc. it took a couple of years to find someone willing to risk printing them. GM Jung Woo-Jin, present CEO & Publisher of TKD Times Magazine did it & he suffered for it, but he was willing to make the sacrifice as he was already a U.S. Citizen & believed in Gen. Choi. The digital images are all of the 1st edition, a bit outdated, but for free you can't go wrong. They tried using the 2nd edition, but the pages were of poorer quality & the images bled through during the scanning. So they were forced to use the older 1st edition.
I have all his books, the 1959, 1965, the 1966 ROK Army Manual, all editions of the 1972 textbook which was commonly referred to as the bible of TKD, several editions of the 15 Vols in hard copy, the CD Rom (which btw is the 1st edition) & several editions of the condensed version, including the latest 2004. As Master Weiss says they are a must for any serious student IMO.
Well, I don't know if you need every edition of every one! However, sometimes having multiple editions helps you figure out if something was a "Change", "Refinement" or "Correction" or perhaps even an error that still exists.
Witch edition would have Juche omitted? My old ITF school had a very old TKD encyclopedia that did not have all the BB forms that are currently used. We also had the brand new 2008 edition with DVD's, we just did not do sine wave in our forms.
The 1972 condensed version has Kodang instead of Juche. All the 15 volume editions have Juche The 1965 book which was the first one printed in English only has 20 patterns and the order is different
The 1972 edition has the original 24 including Ko Dang. Juche wasn't introduced until the 80's and it replaced Ko Dang. Just to complicate things a bit more there is one of the ITF's that still practises the pattern Juche but they renamed in Ko Dang.