Author: Daniel Willard Fiske (1831-1904)
Year: 1912
Publisher: Longman Green & Company
Place: New York, London, Bombay and Calcutta
Description:
xiv+428 pages with frontispiece, plates, diagrams and appendix. Octavo (8" x 5 1/2") bound in full leather with gilt lettering to spine and cover. (Betts 43-27; Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana:4375) First edition.
The first part consists of 8 chess tales. 7 of which first appeared in Chess Monthly (1857-1861) and the eighth in I Uppnami, the Icelandic magazine, which Fiske also edited. Three of the stories revolve around problems composed for the purpose by Sam Loyd. The tales are followed by 8 miscellaneous (miscellaneous articles, essays, anecdotes, stories, four of which contain problems by Sam Loyd). The Last article in this section is "Chess in English verse" which treats of English chess poems from Chaucer on. The third part, again of eight articles, contains Fiske's chess verses. The remainder is mainly historical with two articles on Paul Morphy and A sketch of the History of Chess, originally published in his book of the First American Chess Congress and mainly based on Forbes's works. Other articles include "Sketches of Chess Devotees" and "Notes on Chess Authors". An appendix gives Fiske's correspondence from the New York Nation, which includes his later views on the history of pre-Muslim chess. Includes several portraits of Morphy and Fiske.
Condition:
New marbled end papers, private stamp on title. Inside browned and slightly stained else better than very good.