Author: Thomas Hyde (1636-1703) editor from the library of Lothar Schmid
Year: 1694
Publisher: Sheldonian Theatre
Place: Oxford
Description:
I+88 following pages A fragment containing the following parts: I. (De Ludis Orientalibus. Libri Duo .) Mandragorias, seu Historia Shahiludii, viz. ejusdem Origo, Antiquitas, Ususque per totum Orientem . De ludis Orientalium Libri primi . 36 leaves (incl. half-title and title page) (184 pages are missing). (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) . 71 pages (title page and 1 unnumbered leaf are missing). Duodecimo (6 1/2" x 3 1/4" bound in full leather with gilt lettering to spin and gilt decorative edges. From the library of Lothar Schmid. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 173; Geschichte I, 88 f; Schmid S. 200 ff) First edition incomplete.
De Ludis Orientalibus Libri Duo (Two Books on Oriental Games) is a groundbreaking 1694 Latin work by the English orientalist Thomas Hyde, published by the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. It stands as the first Western scholarly treatise dedicated entirely to Eastern board games. The publication is traditionally split into three core parts across two distinct books, frequently bound together into a single volume: Book 1, Part 1 (Historia Shahiludii): Focuses entirely on the history, origins, and cultural significance of Chess (Shahiludium) across Arabia, Persia, India, and China. Book 1, Part 2 (Shahiludium Hebraice): A collection of three historic Hebrew texts regarding chess translated into Latin. Book 2 (Historia Nerdiludii): Explores the history of backgammon (Nerdiludium, from the Persian game Nard). This volume also documents a broad array of alternative board, political, military, and physical games played throughout the East, including Chinese chess (Xiangqi) and even children's games like Blind Man's Buff (De Collabismo). Notably, the book contains a short section titled De Circumveniendi Ludo Chinensium ("On the Chinese Surrounding Game"), which provides the very first description of the game of Go in a Western language, astutely framing it as a game of encirclement rather than simple territory-building.
Hyde served as the chief librarian at the Bodleian Library and was proficient in Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Persian, Malay, and Turkish. Rather than relying on second-hand descriptions, Hyde utilized his immense language skills to translate primary source materials directly. The final text features an intricate mix of Latin analysis heavily interwoven with original scripts and terminology in Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Sanskrit, and Armenian.
Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid (10 May 1928 - 18 May 2013) was a German chess grandmaster. He was born in Radebeul near Dresden into a family who were the co-owners of the Karl May Press, which published the German Karl May adventure novels. He was best known as the chief arbiter at several World Chess Championship matches, in particular the 1972 encounter between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky at Reykjavic. He was also an avid collector of chess books and paraphernalia. It was reputed that he owned the largest known private chess library in the world, as well as a renowned collection of chess art, chess boards and chess pieces from around the globe.
Condition:
Lothar Schmid's bookplate to front end paper. Interior toned; in some places more heavily so, with occasional foxing. The binding is dusty, corners slightly bumped, and scuffed along the spine, old book plate to front pastedown else very good.