I got out the Jethro Tull 25th Anniversary "cigar box" set last night for the first time in years. The last page of the book announces another "unoffical" box set to be released during "the last months of 1993." It would include studio and live recordings from various stages of Tull's career.

I assume nothing ever came of this, because I would've bought it. Anybody have any further insights? Or maybe the grand plans got pared down to the 2-CD Nightcap?

I always took that as a joke. Kind of a beat the boots gag. I thought it was real at first but re-reading it I thought it was just a gag.

Quite a coincidence that I was just listening to "Nightcap" as I read this. Anyhow, as a Tull Addict, although not completely sure, I do believe that the "unofficial box" did get pared down to the 2-cd Nightcap release (released 1993). The contents would fit the bill. Even though it contained no live material, it was comprised of almost completely unreleased studio material at the time, including the full "Chateau D'Isater Tapes", the original try at what later morphed into "A Passion Play". Just the last 3 'edits' from that entire disc were previously released as part of the 20-year anniversary 3-cd box from 1988. (I always loved the quote from a concert T-shirt I got on their tour that year - the "Oh No, not another 20 years of Jethro Tull!" T-shirt. Well here we are -- almost!)

I don't for the life of me understand why when they put the Carnegie Hall set from 11/4/70 on that set, they didn't reinsert the 2 tracks from Living In the Past from that concert so the whole thing would be in one place. I put it all back together seamlessly using SoundForge, so surely it isn't that difficult. Was it some sort of copyright issue?

Funny, my 2 brothers were at that very show.
One of them jumped up on stage before the band came out and grabbed Ian's flute and was waving it around - no one did anything but cheer.
(I guess you could do things like that back then...)