La fabuleuse histoire de l'athlétisme

[catson52]

Does anyone else here have a copy of this book by Robert Pariente? I got my copy in the late 1970s, and have not been through its ~1200 pages, since my French is not so good. I like many of the pictures in it, and one of my favorites is on the cover. The finish of the Christchurch 1974 1500 m race. Another is of Bikila, wearing a green vest with the number 11 on it, running barefoot against the backdrop of a lonely, deserted, landscape (Ethiopia?). Comments anyone?

[gh]

Fabulous book. The detail is stunning.

[tandfman]

Oui! Une ouevre merveilleuse!

[catson52]

Oui! Une ouevre merveilleuse!

Thanks to you and gh. I will now have to make a more concerted attempt to at least "skim" through the tome.

[gh]

i think if you have an elemental working knowledge of French that you might find you can get a fair amount out of it, especially if you cheat with a dictionary now and then. As I recall it's written in a nice clean style.

[catson52]

i think if you have an elemental working knowledge of French that you might find you can get a fair amount out of it, especially if you cheat with a dictionary now and then. As I recall it's written in a nice clean style.

Doubt that my French is that good. Though I have a superlative memory on most matters, I last studied French (at school) in about July 1956. Thanks for the suggestion.

[bambam1729]

I'll second Garry and catson52's praise of the book. I have it and I do read French (speak it only poorly) so its pretty easy for me. My only foreign language, sadly.

[AFTERBURNER]

Does anyone else here have a copy of this book by Robert Pariente? I got my copy in the late 1970s, and have not been through its ~1200 pages, since my French is not so good. I like many of the pictures in it, and one of my favorites is on the cover. The finish of the Christchurch 1974 1500 m race. Another is of Bikila, wearing a green vest with the number 11 on it, running barefoot against the backdrop of a lonely, deserted, landscape (Ethiopia?). Comments anyone?

How many editions of this book?

[bambam1729]

How many editions of this book?

Don't know but just saw that its available on Amazon for $989.90. Good grief.

[dj]

I found the Histoire and its companion book, "Jeux Olympique," in a Brussels used book store almost 30 years ago. Beautifully bound in red leather, gilt-edged pages. About $15 for the pair. Couldn't pass them up, even though though they added quite a bit of weight while I was following the Euro circuit via Eurail.

[catson52]

To answer some of the points raised. I have the 1978 edition of the book, don't know if there were any more after that. I do not buy books from Amazon, preferring to try bay and better still bookbinder. com - a site introduced to me by my wife, a librarian, about 20 years back. For example I see two sites on the latter, offering used copies for $25-45 - not leather bound I am sure. I find amazon.com useful for reviews of books; though many postings are near trash, some very well-thought ones are also there. I think I paid something like $50 or less for both the books mentioned by dj, and I have never regretted carrying these books in my travels (some trans continental).

[bambam1729]

I found the Histoire and its companion book, "Jeux Olympique," in a Brussels used book store almost 30 years ago. Beautifully bound in red leather, gilt-edged pages. About $15 for the pair. Couldn't pass them up, even though though they added quite a bit of weight while I was following the Euro circuit via Eurail.

My wife used to be an international flight attendant for TWA (tells you how long ago that was), and her monthly routes usually took her to Paris 2-3 times/month. She loved Paris. But she also knew to check out bookstores and get me Olympic and track & field books, and that where I got both of Pariente's books - one on athletics and one on the Olympics.

[richh]

Parienté passed away in 2006 [aged 75] and the most recent edition of hi book [available as a 1020 page paperback was co-edited by the excellent Alain Billouin, and covered the period up to 2002. If you check on Amazon.Fr you might be able to get hold of a cheap copy.

[bambam1729]

Parienté passed away in 2006 [aged 75] and the most recent edition of hi book [available as a 1020 page paperback was co-edited by the excellent Alain Billouin, and covered the period up to 2002. If you check on Amazon.Fr you might be able to get hold of a cheap copy.

Suspect that would be Alain Bouillé, a top French athletics statistician

[gh]

no, it's Pariente's successor at L'Equipe, Alain Billouin