Author: Murray, Harold James Ruthven (1868-1955)
Year: 1913
Publisher: University of Oxford Press
Place: Oxford
Description:
900 pages with frontispiece, illustrations, plates, tables, diagrams and index. Small quarto (10 1/2" x6 3/4") issued in blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine and front cover blind stamped with pictorial chess piece. (Betts: 5-6). 1st edition.
The author's aim: "to present as complete a record as possible of the varieties of chess which exist, or have existed, in different parts of the world; to investigate the ultimate origin of these games and the circumstances of the invention of chess; and to trace the development of the modern European game from the first appearance of its ancestor, the Indian Chaturanga". The result is a comprehensive history, based on original sources, from the earliest game to the 19th century. Earlier histories had relied chiefly on the written documents, but here considerable weight is also attached to the philological evidence (i.e. the significance of chess terms in the various languages). Since 1913, Murray's history has been recognized as the standard work of its kind.
Condition:
Light rubbing to extremities and hinges, inner gutter cracked at title, corners bumped, some sunning to spine else a very good copy issued without jacket.
SOLD 2021