3847. -- HISTORY OF CHESS - Some Recommended Books: ***** THIS SECTION UPDATED 23 MARCH 2024 *****
RETURN TO HOME PAGE Tony Peterson, 15 Harbour View Park, Rope Walk, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 5DQ, UK. Tel: 01903 730371. email: tony@chessbooks.co.uk £0.00793. Bird (H.E.): Chess History and Reminiscences.
Dean & Son. n.d.(1893) 1st Edn. Original brown cloth, gilt, a very good copy. Portrait, pp xxiv, 138. LN 236. Includes sections on the origin of chess, the middle ages, the 19th century (chess clubs, chess masters), blindfold chess, habits and idiosyncracies of chess players. £70.006005. Cazaux (Jean-Louis) & Rick Knowlton: A World of Chess. Its Development and Variations through Centuries and Civilizations.
McFarland, USA 2017. Large p/b, first three pages slightly creased o/w VG. 398pp., many illustrations. A deeply researched account of the history of chess, including a broad spectrum of variants going back 1500 years. Many more recent chess variants are fully covered. Instructions for play are provided, with historical context, for every game presented. With a label on endpaper signed by both authors. £40.001876. Davidson (H.A.): A Short History of Chess.
Greenberg, NY 1949. 1st Edn. Small stain to edge of a few pages o/w G. 228pp., 4 plates. The author states that he knows of no other history of chess being published in the U.S. before this one. £18.00194. Eales (R.): Chess. The History of a Game.
Batsford 1985. 1st Edn. VG,d/w. 240pp. A seriously researched, but also readable, history. With a bookplate of the ECF, Golombek collection. £15.002950. Forbes (Duncan): The History of Chess, from the Time of the Early Invention of the Game in India, till the Period of its Establishment in Western and Central Europe.
Facsimile Reprint of the original 1860 edition, Moravian Chess, Czech Rep.2005. Hardback, purple cloth, VG. Frontispiece, pp viii, 312, lx (appendix), 3 plates at end. LN 211. £25.004214. Gizycki (J.): Schach zu Allen Zeiten.
Stauffacher Verlag, Zurich 1967. Large thick hardback, 21 x 27.5cm., VG,d/w (small tear top of spine), with card slipcase. 391pp., many illustrations, including colour plates. First published in Polish in 1960. This First German edition with new chapter on German chess history. Includes sections on chess and art, in poetry & prose, mathematics, famous people who played chess etc... £20.003989. Griffiths (M.J.): Chess in Wales.
Moravian Chess (2008.) Hardback, VG. 339pp, 68 illustrations, mainly from photos, 32 games, index of Welsh chess players. (A.) A history of Welsh chess up to 1970. Includes sections on Thomas Bowdler and Philidor, Captain Evans, early clubs, details of the associations, championships, congresses, correspondence chess, the clubs, their officials, matches etc.. £25.002685. Hagedorn (R.K.): Benjamin Franklin and Chess in Early America. A Review of the Literature.
University of Philadelphia Press, 1958. 1st Edn. Paper somewhat yellowed as usual o/w VG,d/w (jacket a bit creased). pp92, plates. Details 60 works printed in America from 1802 to 1859, Franklin's "Morals of Chess", with commentary and essay on Franklin. A scarce and useful reference work. £40.0012. Hartston (W.R.): The Kings of Chess. A History of Chess Traced through the Lives of its Greatest Players.
Pavilion, 1985. Large hardback, VG,d/w. 192pp., well illustrated with photos and old historical prints and pictures, a few famous games annotated. (A.) With a bookplate of the ECF collection. £15.004913. Klahre (A.C.): Early Chess in America.
The Whitlock Press, NY (1934.) 1st Edn. Original blue printed wrappers, slight corner crease to lower corner of pages o/w G. 20pp. LN 304. A scarce item. £40.002004. Lasa (T.von der): Zur Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels.
Leipzig 1897. (Facsimile Reprint 1976.) VG. pp viii,269. His most important book, still perhaps the clearest account of the game's development in Europe from medieval times. (Oxford Companion.) £30.001875. Massmann (H.F.): Geschichte des Mittelalterlichen, vorzugsweise des Deutschen Schachspieles. Mit einem Nachwort von B.Richter.
Facsimile reprint der Ausgabe 1839. Schachverlag Horst Helten 1980. Green cloth, VG. pp viii, 222 facsimile of original work, (4) nachwort, plus 15 folding illustrations of chesspieces at end. £18.004944. Monte (P.J.): The Classical Era of Modern Chess,
McFarland, USA 2014. Large hardback. 594pp., text-illustrations, appendices, bibliography, index. A valuable contribution to chess history covering the period from Lucena (1497) to Greco (early 1600's), including chapters on the Lucena MS, Gottingen MS, Damiano, Ruy Lopez, Polerio, Gianutio, Salvio, Carrera and Greco. Includes the rules of the game and their changes, and a major presentation of all opening variations and games as recorded by the classical authors. £55.00977. Muller (R.A.): Der Arzt im Schachspiel. The Physician in the Game of Chess in the Work of Jacobus de Cessolis.
Munchen 1981. 1st Edn. Large format, pictorial hardback, VG. 96pp. Many illustrations, some coloured, from old manuscripts and miniatures. Text in German, English, French and Spanish. £18.001324. Murray (H.J.R.): A History of Chess.
Oxford (University Press.) 1962. Reprinted from Corrected Sheets of the 1913 First Edition. Thick heavy Royal 8vo, original dark blue cloth, gilt. VG. 900pp., 19 plates. A MONUMENTAL WORK. £80.001934. Oefele (A. von): Das Schachspiel der Bataker. Ein Ethnographischer Beitrag zur Geschichte des Schach.
Leipzig, 1904. (A later facsimile reprint.) p/b, some foxing on covers as from original copy, VG. 63pp. (LN 249.) "A most patient and valuable study of the game as played in Sumatra by the Orang-Batak" (Murray, History). £14.005056. Wahl (S.F.Gunther): Der Geist und die Geschichte des Schachspiels bei Indern, Persern, Arabern ...Deutschen und andern Europaern.
Halle 1798. Facsimile reprint, Leipzig 1981. Small hardback, VG. 419pp, folding plate. £20.002000. Wilson (F.): A Picture History of Chess.
Dover, NY 1981. 1st Edn. Large p/b, small cover creases o/w G. 182pp. 295 illustrations with captions, from the earliest works on chess up to Fischer and Karpov, including many fine photographs. Scarce outside of the USA. £20.00