Reference books

Standard reference works for chess bibliophiles

Betts

CHESS: An Annotated Bibliography of Works Published in the English Langauge 1850-1968 compiled by Douglas A. Betts, published by G.K.Hall & Co., Boston, Massachusetts, 1974.

Reprinted in smaller format by The Chess Player, Nottingham, 1988 and by Moravian Chess, Olomouc, Czech Republic, 2005. Only the Moravian edition is now readily available.

The standard bibliography of English language chess publications from 1850 to 1968.

Lusis

CHESS: An annotated bibliography 1969-1988 by Andy Lusis, published by Mansell Publishing Limited, London, 1991. Difficult to find and expensive.

This book continues the bibliography of English language chess publications from 1969 to 1988 and includes considerably more titles in its 20 year coverage than Betts records for the previous 120 years.

Chess Texts

Chess Texts in the English Language printed before 1850, An annotated bibliography compiled by Ken Whyld and Chris Ravilious, published by Moravian Chess, Olomouc, Czech Republic, 2003. Readily obtainable.

Comprehensive coverage of publications from 1475 to 1849 with a wider scope than Betts or Lusis, as various games compilations, e.g. Hoyle's Games, and many articles from non-chess publications have been included.

L/N

Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: A Catalogue of the Chess Collection in the Royal Library, published in The Hague, 1955. 

Reprinted by L'Esprit, Rosmalen, 1988. Only this reprint is easily obtainable. 

This book records the holdings in The Royal Library up to the early 1950's, however, the collection is growing continously and an up to date catalogue is available online at www.kb.nl

Chess book catalogues etc. occasionally state `not in L/N´. This usually means that the item referred to is not in the published Catalogue of the Royal Library, however, the item could very well be included in the up to date online catalogue.

Aucta

Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana aucta et de novo descripta, A catalogue of the collection in the Royal Library, The Hague, Volume I. Chess: Bibliography and History, compiled by K.W.Kruijswijk, published by Government Printing Office, The Hague, 1974.

Aucta has become the accepted abbreviation for this work which records, in much greater detail than in L/N, the holdings on chess bibliography and history up to 1972. There are 1,300 entries compared with only 336 on bibliography and history in L/N.  Unfortunately no further volumes have been published. Readily available.

van der Linde 

Geschichte und Litteratur des Schachspiels, by Antonius van der Linde, published by Julius Springer, Berlin, 1874. 2 Volumes.

Reprinted with the slightly amended title Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels, by Edition Olms, Zurich, 1981. 

Both of these editions are very hard to find, but print-on-demand copies are available.  

The best work on chess history and literature when first published in 1874 and still an essential aid today. Although I understand very little German I find this a valuable  reference source.

Murray 

A History of Chess by H.J.R.Murray, published by The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1913. 

Reprinted from corrected sheets by The Oxford University Press in 1962 and 1969, and later reprints by other publishers are readily available. 

The standard work in the English language on the early history of chess, with considerable information about chess writers and their works. Most later writers have borrowed heavily from Murray. 

Chess Personalia

Chess Personalia: A Biobibliography compiled and edited by Jeremy Gaige, published by McFarland & Company, Jefferson and London, 1987.

Published again by McFarland in 2005, readily obtainable but usually expensive, try chessbooks.co.uk.

Includes basic, but reliable, biographical details of around 14,000 chess personalia with references to further information sources about each subject, and an index of obituaries in The British Chess Magazine from 1881 to 1986.

This is an indispensable research aid.

Oxford Companion

The Oxford Companion to Chess by David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1984.

Paperback edition with corrections issued by Oxford University Press in 1987 and reprinted in 1988.

Second enlarged edition published by Oxford University Press in 1992 and an updated paperback edition published in 1996. All editions are easily obtainable.

Eales

Chess: The History of a Game by Richard Eales, published by Batsford Academic and Educational, London, 1985.

Reprinted by Hardinge Simpole in 2002, both editions easily obtainable.

Eales includes a substantial amount of information on chess writers and their works, especially on the early chess authors, and also has an eleven page essay on chess bibliography.  

Chess Periodicals

Chess Periodicals: An Annotated International Bibliography, 1836-2008 by Gino Di Felice, published by McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson and London, 2010.

Available but often expensive, try chessbooks.co.uk

This book is often referred to as Di Felice but I will refer to it as Chess Periodicals to distinguish this work from Di Gelice's series of Chess Results books.

Includes details of 3,163 chess periodical publications including magazines, newsletters, yearbooks, directories, handbooks etc. from around the world, listed alphabetically, with a General Index and Index by Country.