Author: George Walker (1803-1879) from the library of J W Rimington Wilson and David DeLuicia
Publisher: Self published
Description:
90-page manuscript pages. Small octago (7 3/4" x 6 1/4") bound in half leather over marbled boards. In George Walker's hand.
George Walker was author of The Celebrated Analysis of A D Philidor (London, 1832), The Art of Chess-Play: A New Treatise on the Game of Chess (London, 1832), A Selection of Games at Chess played by Philidor (London, 1835), Chess Made Easy (London, 1836), and Chess Studies (London, 1844). His father was a publisher and novelist. Walker was a prominent 19th-century English chess player, author, and organizer who served as one of the game's greatest early popularizers. While he was a leading player in London during the 1830s, his lasting legacy rests on his foundational work in chess journalism, book collecting, and the establishment of major chess clubs. He organized and helped record the famous 1834 matches between Alexander McDonnell and Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, often considered the first unofficial world championship encounter. Later, he raised funds to save a broke, dying La Bourdonnais from squalor.
James Wilson Rimington-Wilson (1822–1877): A renowned 19th-century amateur chess player and Lord of the Manor of Bolsterstone. He was famous for amassing one of the world's most extensive historical chess libraries, which included rare books and manuscripts. On the board, he secured several notable victories, including a game against the first official world chess champion, Wilhelm Steinitz.
David DeLucia's chess library contained 7,000 to 8,000 chess books, a similar number of autographs (letters, score sheets, manuscripts), and about 1,000 items of "ephemera". DeLucia's library contains such items as "a 15th-century Lucena manuscript, score-sheets ranging from Fischer's Game of the Century against Donald Byrne to all the games of the 1927 New York tournament, eight letters by Morphy, over a hundred Lasker manuscripts, Capablanca's gold pocket watch, [and] the contract of the 1886 Steinitz-Zukertort world championship match". Ten Geutzendam opines that DeLucia's collection "is arguably the finest chess collection in the world".
David DeLucia's gift to the Cleveland Public Library includes approximately 2,400 books, 1,500 game scores, 916 letters and cards, 157 manuscripts, 160 photographs, 1,000 documents, and scores of ephemera related to the game of chess. Highlights of the collection include:
The Bobby Fischer Collection. Bobby Fischer (1943-2008), American chess grandmaster, was the eleventh World Chess Champion, winning his first championship at age 14. The collection includes Fischer's book collection, personal notebooks, manuscripts, photographs, ephemera, and video recordings of his televised games.
The Emanuel Lasker Manuscripts. Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941), German chess player and mathematician, was the second World Chess Champion, holding the title for 27 years, the longest of any champion. The Lasker manuscripts feature just over 1,000 manuscripts, documents, and letters dating from the 1890s to 1940.
Capablanca Collection. José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942), Cuban chess player, was the third World Chess Champion, from 1921 to 1927, consists of nearly 200 letters, documents, and photographs.
"This is one of the world's great private chess collections," states John Skrtic, Cleveland Public Library Chief of Special Projects and Collections. "The materials will be an invaluable addition to our John G. White Collection of Chess and Checkers."
Condition:
Spine chipped away, shaken, very fragile else a good copy of a unique chess item.