Chess

117 pages with diagrams and index. Small Octavo (7 1/2" x 5") bound in original publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to spine and front cover. Christmas series volume XLIII for the 31st year. Edited by George Hume. (Betts: 39-14) First edition.Contains a short introduction to this genre and 100 compositions by various composers, in 2, 3, 4 movers, with adjacent solutions. Includes index of composers.Help mate chess is a form of problem chess in which the two sides, White and Black, collaborate to demonstrate a result, such as mate or stalemate. In one respect it is the most nearly mathematical form of the chess moves, for its essence is always the pure demonstration of a possibility. All idea of combat is eliminated and combat has nothing whatever to do with mathematics. Imagine a demonstration in Euclid in which every second step of the reasoning was in endeavor to thwart the step preceding! From another angle it may be argued that the Helpmate is a logical form of problem. For any chess problem… Read More

Wien: Verlag der Wiener Schachzeitung, 1916 iv+184 pages with diagrams, plates and tables. Royal octavo (9 1/4" x 6 1/4") bound in original wrappers with black lettering to spine and cover. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana:5318) 1st edition. The luxuriously appointed "Kasino Club", a newly launched enterprise in the fashionable Austrian resort, celebrated its gala opening by sponsoring an international gambit tournament. Unfortunately the Baden event over-lapped the great St Petersburg tournament, which attracted many of the world's best foreign masters. Nevertheless a good gield entered the double-round tournament which permitted any gambit except the universally popular Queen's Gambit! The ten-player field was headed by the strong Danube contigent of Schlechter, Spielmann, Tartakower and Reti - complemented by Breyer (Budapest), Johner (Berlin), Fahrni (Munich), Opocensky and Hromadka (Prauge), and Nyhlm (Stockholm). The gambit warrior Spielmann repeated his Abbazia triumph by posting (+ -2… Read More

[8]+254+[2 pages publisher's advertisements] lacks frontispiece. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 4 3/4") rebound in 3/4 leather with paisley boards. Contains Sir William Jones' poem "Cassia: or The Game of Chess, A Poem"; based upon Pratt's "Studies of Chess". (Van der Linde: 613) 5th English edition.This was first published in London by Ogilvie in 1802 (2 volumes). First published in America in 1817 and reprinted in 1824. The name of the compiler has never been established. The miscellaneous collection of anecdotes, essays and poems at the end is not without interest. The openings and games are all in the numerical notation and no diagrams are given. (Hagedorn: 55p)Condition:Rebound in decorative half leather with red spine label with gilt lettering, new end papers and paste downs, lacks frontispiece fold out chess board, else about very good.

x+408 pages with plates, diagrams, tables and index. Octavo (9" x 6 1/4") bound in half black leather with marbled boards and spine label. Volume 87 (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 6047) First edition.Deutsche Schachzeitung was the first German chess magazine. Founded in 1846 by Ludwig Bledow under the title Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft, it took the name Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1872. (Another magazine used the title Deutsche Schachzeitung from 1846 to 1848.) When it ceased publication in December 1988 it was the oldest existing magazine in the world, having been published regularly since its founding in 1846 except for a five-year break (1945-1949) during World War II. Since January 1989, the Deutsche Schachzeitung was merged in the Deutsche-Schachblatter - Schach-Report which was edited in Hollfeld. The resulting magazine appeared with the names of both former magazines on its cover till December 1996. Since January 1997, this magazine again was merged in the Berlin… Read More

vii+158 pages with diagrams and tables. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5") rebound in yellow cloth with spine label. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana:2462) First edition.A selection of 118 of the most beautiful problemsCondition:Rebound else a very good copy.

665-942 pages with fifty plates, tables, figures, illustrations and maps. Royal octavo (9 3/4" x 6 1/4") bound in half leather with marbled boards. Original wrappers bound in. Inscribed by the author on the bound in front wrapper. Contained in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 1896, part 2. (Betts:5-5) First edition.The object of the collection on exhibition was to illustrate the probable origin, significance, and development of the games of chess and playing cards. Both games are regarded as being derived from the divinatory use of the arrow, and as representing the two main methods of arrow divination. The catalog gives illustrations and descriptions of a wide variety of ancient games. Chess and its variations are treated on pages 857-868; they a regarded as forming a stage in the development of divinatory games, a step forward from the various dice, knucklebones or staves games.Condition:Hinges and corners rubbed, pages slightly age darkened, inscribed "with… Read More

viii+384 pages with plates, diagrams, tables and index. Octavo (9" x 6 1/4") bound in 1/2 cloth with marbled boards. Volume 50 (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 6047) First edition.Deutsche Schachzeitung was the first German chess magazine. Founded in 1846 by Ludwig Bledow under the title Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft, it took the name Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1872. (Another magazine used the title Deutsche Schachzeitung from 1846 to 1848.) When it ceased publication in December 1988 it was the oldest existing magazine in the world, having been published regularly since its founding in 1846 except for a five-year break (1945-1949) during World War II. Since January 1989, the Deutsche Schachzeitung was merged in the Deutsche-Schachblatter - Schach-Report which was edited in Hollfeld. The resulting magazine appeared with the names of both former magazines on its cover till December 1996. Since January 1997, this magazine again was merged in the Berlin magazine Schach. The… Read More

[384-369]+[1]-304 pages with plates, diagrams, tables and index. Octavo (8 3/4" x 6 1/4:) bound in half black cloth over marbled boards. Volume 7 number 45/46 November issue only and 8 numbers number 1 (January) through 34 (August). (Bibliotheca van der Linde-Niemeijeriana:6054). First edition. The Deutsches Wochenschach was a weekly German chess magazine devoted to current events around the world, but with a focus on happenings in Germany. It was first published in 1884 and had a continuous run through 1927. Occasionally some weekly issues were combined. It incorporated Berliner Schachzeitung in 1898, which started in 1896. Some what of a scarce publication, Bibliotheca van der Linde-Niemeijeriana collection lacked volumes 1-5. A Large and extensive amount of period information on chess.Condition:Volume 7 numbers 45/46 bound in at front, volume 8 runs consecutively from pages 1 through 304, numbers 1 through 34, lacks the succeeding numbers for the year (incomplete), some loose pages, corners bumped… Read More

xii+370+[32 ad] pages with frontispiece and 21 additional plates. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher maroon patterned cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Containing the authorized account of the 230 games played Aug.-Sept. 1895 with annotations by Pillsbury, Lasker, Tarrasch, Steinitz, Schiffers, Teichmann, Bardeleben, Blackburne, Gunsberg, Tinsley, Mason, and Albin and biographical sketches of the chess masters. Inscribed to George H Stout by Walter Penn Shipley (Betts: 25-28) First edition.The first Hastings tournament witnessed both the rise and fall of a number of brilliant careers. At the beginning of their eminence were Emanuel Lasker, the 26-year-old world champion who was playing in his first major event outside Germany; Richard Teichmann, Dawid Janowski, Carl Schlechter (at 21 the youngest entry), who had made their international debut at Leipzig 11 months earlier; and the surprise tournament winner, 22-year-old Harry Nelson Pillsbury of New York. At the opposite end… Read More

402 pages with diagrams and errata. Octavo (9" x 5 3/4") bound in original publisher's pictorial wrappers. Volume two in the series. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 1801) Second edition. This volume covers opening games, mostly gambits including Queen's Gambit, Center Counter Gambit, King's Gambit etc; as well as a brief history of the key writers of works of chess starting with Vincent et Lucena going to the present period of 1868.Philippe Ambroise Durand was a French abbé and chess writer. Born in Fresné-la-Mère, Calvados, he was professor of rhetoric at Falaise and later taught philosophy at Lisieux before retiring in 1860. Durand collaborated with Jean-Louis Preti to write three books on chess, including the two-volume Stratégie raisonnée des fins de partie (1871–73). These were the first books devoted to the practical endgame, and included concepts such as conjugate squares and the opposition. He is also said to have coined the chess term trébuchet. Condition:Spine cracked and… Read More

1694, Oxford, Sheldonian Theatre. 3 parts in one volume: Part I. (De Ludis Orientalibus. Libri Duo ...) Mandragorias, seu Historia Shahiludii, viz. ejusdem Origo, Antiquitas, Ususque per totum Orientem ... De ludis Orientalium Libri primi ... 36 sheets (including two title pages)+184 pages with one folded copper plate, diagrams and facsimiles. Part II. Shahiludium. Traditum in tribus scriptis hebraicis, quae sunt Rabbi Abraham Abben - Ezrae elegans Poema ryhtmicum ... Omnia ex Chartis MSS jam primus deprompsit & Latinè vertit Thomas Hyde ... 2 sheets (including title), 71 pages. Part III. Historia nerdiludii, high est dicere, trunculorum; cum quibusdam aliis Arabum, Persarum, Indorum, Chinensium, & aliarum gentium ludis tam politicis quàm bellicis, plerumque Europae inauditis, multò minùs visis: additis omnium Nominibus in dictarum Gentium Linguis. Ubi etiam Classicorum Graecorum & Latinorum loca quaedam meliùs quàm hactenùs factum est explicantur. Item, Explicatio amplissimi Chinensium Ludi,… Read More

xvi+1079 pages with over 500 pictures, 1600 diagrams, 700 games and indexes. Thick quarto (11 1/4" x 8 1/4") bound in original publisher's grey cloth with silver lettering to spine and cover and two ribbon markers. Published for the Lasker Society. Introduction by Paul Werner Wagner. Signed by all the contestants, arbitrators, commentators and sponsors of the Second Sinquefield Cup as well by some of the editors and contributors. First edition in a planned trilogy.
Twenty five top level authors contribute in detail Lasker's multifaceted life inside and outside the chess world. His chess career has been analyzed by grand-masterly hands from the very beginning over the long time as a world champion to the surprising comeback in retirement. Six key chapters trace Lasker's life and work in Germany, England, the Netherlands, the United States, Cuba and Russia. For the first time Lasker's origin and childhood have been compiled in detail besides the volume offers and in-depth appreciation of the figure of… Read More

112 pages with 2 portraits and diagrams. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in half brown cloth over marbled boards. (Betts: 25-8, (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 5198) First edition.
The 2nd American Chess Congress was held at the Kennard House in Cleveland, 5-15 December 1871. Two decisive games (+2, -2, or +1 -1) were required against each opponent. There were 73 total games. No dates or round numbers are given in the tournament book. Players were responsible for playing from 9-12 am, 2-5 pm, and 7-10 pm each day, but may have been able to arrange their own time of play, and sequence of opponents. The Ohio newspapers have more details, including dates for most of the games.
The players: George Henry Mackenzie led an interesting life away from the chessboard. (2) After he resigned his commission in the British Army but before moving to the United States, he lost a match to George Alcock MacDonnell (+4 -7 =2) and won a second (+6 -3 =2). He moved to the United States in 1863 and joined… Read More

82 pages with frontispiece, diagrams and photographs. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5") bound in original publisher's grey cloth with lettering in black to cover and edges in black cross-hatch. Inscribed by Marshall. (Betts: 14-7) First edition. The author commences with some general remarks on the openings and goes on to analyse some of his favourite lines in answer to 1. P-K4. The basic defence recommended is the Petroff, with additional analysis of the lines by which white avoids the Petroff (Tree Knights' Game, Max Lange and others). Includes a few illustrative games played by Marshall.Frank James Marshall was the U.S. Chess Champion from 1909 to 1936, and one of the world's strongest chess players in the early part of the 20th century. He won the 1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress (scoring 13/15, ahead of World Champion Emanuel Lasker) and the U.S. congress in 1904, but did not get the national title because the U.S. champion at that time, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, did not compete. In… Read More

A Selection of Games at Chess Played at the Westminster Chess Club Between L. C. de la Bourdonnais and an English Amateur of First Rate Skill bound with Fifty Games at Chess, Which Have Actually Been Played, Most of Which Occurred Between the Author and Some of the Best Players in England, France and Germany; to Which is Added Some Account of the Village of Stroebeck, in Germany, With the Three Games132 pages; iv+108 lacking the 2 ad pages. Octavo (8 1/2" x 5 1/2") bound in half leather with decorative gilt to spine with red label in gilt lettering over marbled boards and marbled page ends. (Whyld and Ravillous 1835: 3 and 1832: 4) First editions.La Bourdonnais came to London and encountered the great Irishman Alexander McDonnell in 85 games lasting all through the Summer (La B. 46, McD. 26, Drawn 13). These games were unevenly split between six matches, but the conditions of play were very loose – there were no seconds, there was no time-limit, the stakes were "very small" and, amazing to relate,… Read More