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Double deal for Aurum

27.09.12 | Charlotte Williams

Aurum Press has won a five-way auction for a non-fiction title about the Golden Age of heavyweight boxing, as well as acquiring a guide to the 50 best swimming pools in London.

Senior commissioning editor and digital publisher Robin Harvie bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein, on behalf of the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency, in Bouts of Mania by Richard Hoffer. It will be published in the summer of 2014, ahead of the 40th anniversary of Muhammad Ali and George Foreman's "Rumble in the Jungle".

The book covers the five years from 1971 when Ali, Foreman and Joe Frazier fought each other repeatedly for the Heavyweight Championship of the World, including "The Fight of the Century", "The Rumble in the Jungle", and "The Thriller in Manilla". The book will cover the fights, the story of the men, and the pandemonium they caused across the world.

Harvie said: "This won't be like any other boxing book ever written, and a fantastic addition to Aurum's growing list. It is about the chaotic, glorious combustion of three of the greatest fighters to have ever lived-more theatre than sport."

Meanwhile, Harvie bought world rights from Nicola Barr at Greene & Heaton in Swimming London, with the book to be published in 2014.

Written by Jenny Landreth, author of Great Trees of London, the publisher described the swimming title as "part guide, part history but mostly an uncovering of the watering holes that have helped define London as one of the great outdoor cities of the world". It will cover pools including the Crystal Palace Pool, as well as swimming landmarks such as the Serpentine and the RAC Club, to the London Olympics Aquatic Centre.
 

• Aurum
• Charlotte Williams
• Rights deal