British Chess Problem Books published up to 1949, by John Beasley

British chess problem books published up to 1949, by John Beasley is a little known chess bibliography, first published in August 1996. A second edition (revised and enlarged) was issued in June 1997. John Beasley, the English problemist and author, was librarian and archivist of the British Chess Problem Society at the time these were published. 

 

The first edition had been very briefly reviewed in The Problemist for November 1996, page 311:

 

The 16 page second edition was briefly reviewed in The Problemist for July 1997, page 179: 

 

The present article reviews the second edition, a copy of which was kindly made available to me by Tony Peterson of chessbooks.co.uk.

John Beasley explains in his thoughtful Introduction that a substantial portion of the classic British school of chess problem composition, which filled many newspaper columns, has subsequently been collected and published in book form. His bibliography aims to bring together details of all chess problem books (including general chess books with a significant amount of problem content), periodicals devoted to chess problems, problem tourney reports and works on endgame studies, published in Britain up to 1949. The pre-1950 cut off date was arbitrary, but, as the author remarks, "one has to draw a line somewhere or the job is never done."

Sources included Betts' Bibliography, Cleveland Public Library, British Library and the library of the British Chess Problem Society; but there is no mention of the van der Linde-Niemeijeriana collection. Particular use was made of a notebook belonging to John Keeble, the renowned problemist, author and chronicler, in which he had noted all chess books printed in England that were in his collection in January 1911. Keeble's notebook is now in Cleveland but Beasley's bibliography has four additional pages of Notes on John Keeble's Chess Problem book list, with details of the works listed in the notebook.  Beasley also received considerable assistance from Ken Whyld and Michael McDowell in compiling this work.

Beasley's bibliography covers both chess problems and end-game studies; in 1939 J. Selman Jr. had proposed making a bibliography of end-game literature in a letter to the New York chess book collector and dealer A. J. Souweine, however this does not appear to have come to fruition.

A useful Bibliographie der Endspielbücher listing nearly 300 works on the end-game, in many languages, is included in the dual language book 365 Ausgewählte Endspiele / 365 Selected Endings by Norman Whitaker and Glenn Hartles, published in Heidelberg in 1960.  

Beasley's compilation, which includes works published in Britain only, has 179 entries listing around 200 books and periodicals, and each entry is accompanied by a useful commentary. Some of the many illuminating comments follow:

1846. Alexandre A. The Beauties of Chess - This massive collection of 2,000 problems was notoriously careless (Beasley), but a paper prepared by Oskar Korschelt and published in Deutsche Schachblatter in 1913, corrects many of the errors and gives the sources of most of the problems. This essential paper is included in the Olms reprint of Alexandre. 

1855. Miles J. A. A Collection of Chess Problems - This rare first collection of problems by John Miles escaped Betts; T. R. Dawson did not have a copy although it was in Keeble's collection. 

 

1882 Miles J. A. Poems and Chess Problems - Some copies have a corrected frontispiece problem pasted over the original.

1891 Reynolds B. How to solve a Chess Problem - This is book 9 in Morgan's Shilling Chess Library series (Betts 30-7), but was almost certainly never published. Books 8 and 10 in the series were published in 1891 and 1892 but in a list dated 1899 Morgan still described the Reynolds book as "in press". Betts says "not examined", this is not in Keeble's notebook, and the bound volume of Morgan's Shilling Chess Library, which was held by the British Museum but now destroyed, was catalogued as "wanting number 9".

1908 Bristow H. Chess Miniatures. According to the Cleveland catalogue about 20 copies had their titles altered in the author's hand to Chess Fancies. Beasley also records an edition dated 1899 from information in Keeble's Notebook, this is not listed in Betts. This book was briefly reviewed by Philip H. Williams on page 378 of The Chess Amateur, September 1908, without any mention of an earlier printing.

1910 Keeble J. H. The Caduceus - This book comes in two editions both published in 1910. The second edition has five additional pages with the judges remarks to the problems. Keeble's notebook states that 130 copies of the first edition were published and 120 copies of the second edition.  

1910 Keeble J. H. Vive la Beauté - Keeble's 1911 notebook includes information on his secretive publication - a tinted version of The Caduceus, which was not to be revealed until after the author's death (in 1939) - see The British Chess Magazine 1939 pages 185 to 187. Keeble's notes differ slightly from the information later included in David DeLucia's A Few Old Friends, and British Chess Literature to 1914 by Timothy Harding. In particular, Keeble states that 11 pink and 12 lemon copies were printed, but 1 pink copy and 2 lemon copies were bound up with the title page from The Caduceus and in similar binding. 

 

The first book listed in Beasley's bibliography is Sarratt's A Treatise on the Game of Chess published in 1808. This, perhaps surprisingly late date for a first British book with a substantial number of chess problems, is in line with the findings reported in the Questions and Answers section of The Chess Amateur for July 1908, page 294, that no chess problems composed by an Englishman before 1800 could be traced.  

Chess problem books flourished in the second half of the nineteenth century and easily outnumbered other categories of chess books such as general treatises, tournament books or games collections. Beasley included general chess books in his bibliography "only if they contain a significant amount of problem material... usually at least 50 problem positions not derived from games".  

 

Beasley also includes a page of Supplementary notes, mostly from information supplied by Michael McDowell and Ken Whyld. Mr Blackburne's Games at Chess, 1899, with 28 problems, is added to the bibliography and a few minor corrections are made. Among these notes is a comment regarding F. R. Gittins' Chess Bouquet of 1897. "Also I recall seeing a reference to a supplement....Presumably this never saw the light of day". However, several parts of a supplementary Chess Bouquet did appear and I will write about these separately.

Several rare and obscure publications are listed in Beasley's bibliography including the following:

1880    Problem tourney award booklet, by the Ayrshire Argus and Express newspaper.

1893-94    The Chess Album, "cabinet photographs of leading amateurs, with games and problems" by David Hum, London.

1902     A selection from the original two-move problems of R. Forde, published by the author. This contains 75 blank pages, 18 diagrammed problems and solutions. 

1907    Notes on two-move chess problems, and how to solve them, by P. H. Williams, Stroud. A Braille edition was published by the National Institute for the Blind. 

1910     Twelve chess problems (composed within the last few years), by Thomas M. Eglington, W. W. Morgan, New Barnet.

1929    First international two-move chess problem composing tourney, issued by the West Sussex Gazette.

1945    Report on first problem solving contest for schools, by G. P. Bowell, published by British Chess Problem Society and Chess Education Society, London.

1939     When doctors disagree, by H. D'O. Bernard, Stroud.  This is the text of a lecture given to the British Chess Problem Society in February 1934.

The bibliography also contains a page detailing changes from the first edition and another page of notes on the Library of the British Chess Problem Society.

There are a number of British publications with significant chess problem content not listed in John Beasley's bibliography and I will list these in a later article.

Many thanks to John Beasley and his contributors for the information reproduced above and thanks to Owen Hindle for the image of A Collection of Problems in Chess, by J A Miles, 1855.

 

 

 

    

 

Particulars of a chess match, played in Cambridge, in March, 1831

 

 

BCM 1917 Page 265

Following on from my article dated 8th October 2018 regarding the rare chess pamphlet: Particulars of a chess match, played in Cambridge, in March 1831, John Townsend has carried out some further investigations into this historic chess match and the related pamphlet. His detailed research firstly corrects the publication details (I had erroneously stated that the pamphlet was published in Hatfield, but it was published by Weston Hatfield in Cambridge), and secondly provides extensive information regarding the identities of the two players.

John Townsend's essay follows and the frequent mentions of Goulding Brown refer to comments made in his article Early Oxford and Cambridge Chess: A Sequel, in the British Chess Magazine, October 1932, pages 434 and 435.

 

I found the blog article about the Cambridge 1831 match very interesting, and, as it is an early example of a match, I believe it would repay closer study of its circumstances, even though the standard of play was said to be low.  I would like to try to tie up at least some of the loose ends.

"Hatfield" was interpreted as the place of publication of the pamphlet, whereas the 1917 article in B.C.M. (footnote to page 265) said it was published "at Cambridge".  "Hatfield" is, indeed, part of the publication details, but I believe it is the name of the publisher, Weston Hatfield.  In the Cambridgeshire section of Pigot and Co.'s National Commercial Directory, 1830, his business at Sidney Street, Cambridge was listed twice: once, on page 26, under "Newspapers", regarding the Cambridge Independent Press, and once, on page 27, under "Printers".  He was best known as a local newspaper publisher, but he also handled some books.  For example, in 1830 he was the publisher of a local poll book, The Poll for two Knights of the Shire for the County of Cambridge ... August, 1830.  In 1820, in a notorious trial, he had been acquitted of rioting.  Weston Hatfield's death was noted on 18 August 1837 at the age of 43, on page 358 of Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, No. XXXIV, Cambridge, 1893.  The insertion also notes that he unsuspectingly became the "political representative" of Reformers and "courageously fought their battles".

Of the players, one, Henry Daniel Oppenheim, can be easily identified.  His entry in the same Pigot's is to be found, on page 27, under "Professors and Teachers"; his subjects were given as French, German and Hebrew, and his address was Market Hill, Cambridge.  "Professor" was used in a loose sense rather than as a university academic, and Bertram Goulding Brown correctly surmised that he was a private tutor and not employed by the University.  He had works on Hebrew published. Brown also noted that he was a subscriber to W. G. Walker's 1836 volume on Mcdonnell, and he could have added that his entry was listed under "Cambridge Chess Club".

Concerning the other player, the victor, Brown's findings should be challenged.  Firstly, he correctly states that "there were two Gordons in residence at Trinity".  However, there was only one Gordon who could be correctly referred to as "Mr. Gordon" or "Gordon, Esq.", and that was Francis Hastings Gordon.  The other, the Hon. Francis Arthur Gordon, was a member of the aristocracy, being the son of an earl and, though untitled, was styled "the Honourable".  His situation was similar to that of John Cochrane's father, the Honourable John Cochrane, as described in Edward Winter's Chess Notes (C.N. 11102).  It would have been wrong to apply "Mr." or "Esq." to the Hon. F.A.G. and, in an age that was conscious of social rank, it is not a mistake that was likely to be made.

Secondly, I believe Brown was right to assume that "Gordon, Z. H., Esq." contained an error (presumably, the initial, "Z"), but, surely, he ought to have allowed for the possibility that the middle initial "H" had some significance; at the least, he could have mentioned that the explanation might be the middle name "Hastings" of the candidate whom he did not favour.

Thirdly, part of Goulding Brown's argument was that "the greater age of the former [i.e. the Hon. F.A.G.] strengthens this identification".  However, in his previous paragraph he had just given data which suggested that F.H.G. was the elder!  John Venn's Alumni Cantabrigienses gives the date of birth of the Hon. F.A.G. as 20 January 1808, while the age of 20 given for F.H.G. on admission on 2 October 1826 confirms that F.H.G. was born first.  Therefore, insofar as their respective ages have any significance, as Brown evidently thought, his logic needs to be reversed in favour of the sizar.

Whereas, understandably, plenty has been written about the Hon. F.A.G., comparatively little is known about F.H.G.. Venn records that he was born at Westminster [by inference about 1806], and educated at Bristol School.  After his B.A. in 1831, he worked as a tutor, spending an undefined period in Scotland, where his daughter, Jane, was born about 1836-7.  (That much has been learned from her 1871 census entry in Chelsea (National Archives, RG 10 76, page 52) and the record of her marriage at St. George's Church, Battersea on 21 December 1868 to Job Mason, a labourer; this latter record described F.H.G. as "Tutor B.A.", without saying whether he was still alive then.)

Brown asserted that the son of the earl was more likely than the "poor sizar" to have connections who might have such a pamphlet printed, but that also seems open to question.  According to Brown, it was "badly printed".  Insofar as Weston Hatfield's political leanings could be a consideration, they seem, if anything, to detract from the argument for the earl's son.  Besides, though a sizar, F.H.G. was not exactly from an impoverished family. His father, Anthony Gordon, went to Trinity College, Dublin, became a "Retired Captain of Invalids" and wrote books about military weapons, dying in 1831 shortly after the chess match.  F.H.G.'s elder brother, Rev. Anthony Gordon, went to St. Paul's School and graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he later served as Chaplain for a number of years, until his death at Trumpington, near Cambridge, on 25 December 1857.  Wills were proved for both Anthony Gordon senior and junior.  This family could afford the pamphlet if it had the inclination.

In summary, there is a good case for suspecting that F.H.G. was the winner of the match, rather than the Hon. F.A.G. whom Brown suggested, although, clearly, there is as yet no proof.

A truly rare chess book, by Donald B. Dyer

A Course of Instructions for Beginners in Chess; The Game of Kings, by Donald B. Dyer.

This little primer was probably published in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA in the 1940s or 1950s. I do not have a copy, all I have is an image taken from an auction sale where the book was sold alongside a chess set.

 

 

Despite extensive research I cannot find a single reference to this book anywhere; absolutely nothing. The book is not recorded in WorldCat, the online catalogue collating the holdings of nearly 18,000 libraries worldwide, so the book is not in the major chess collections in the Cleveland Public Library or in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague. It is not in any bibliography, and I have searched for this book in hundreds of book dealer's and auction catalogues without success.

Donald B. Dyer was a director of the United States Chess Federation and, at various times, supervisor of chess, department of municipal recreation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and assistant superintendent of schools, in charge of recreations and adult education in Milwaukee.

Dyer's career was in  education and recreation and he authored two other (recorded) books:

Liability in Public Recreation, Appleton, Wisconsin 1949

In-Service Education for Community Center Leadership; Prepared for the National Recreation Association, New York 1955.

Donald B. Dyer is briefly mentioned in The British Chess Magazine for October 1940 on page 355 together with a portrait.

Dyer had organised a children's chess tournament and extravaganza, held under floodlights in the stadium at Marquette University. The report by George Koltanowski tells of much razamataz and describes the novel introduction of the 900 children marching around the stadium holding hands with their first round opponents while over 5,000 spectators cheered loudly.

 

BCM October 1940, page 355

  

Back to the book, I would be very interested to hear about any copies of this book, or if any further light can be shed on this little publication. Perhaps it was mentioned in the Midwest Chess News and Nebraska Bulletin which ran from 1947 to 1959.

This is truly a rare chess book which deserves to be recorded for posterity. 

 

 

 

 

  

An Inquiry into the Antient Greek Game Supposed to have been invented by Palamedes... by James Christie

One of the books sold for a high price at the recent Klittich-Pfankuch auction was the following:

An Inquiry into the Antient Greek Game supposed to have been invented by Palamedes, antecedent to the siege of Troy, by James Christie, London 1801.

 

Antient is an obsolete spelling of ancient, although still apparently used in Freemasonry. 

I do not have this book but digital editions are freely available on the internet.

Very briefly, the unnamed author, but known to be the celebrated auctioneer James Christie, proposes that the game of chess evolved from the Antient Greek Game of Pebbles, invented by Palamedes around the 12th century B.C., i.e. around 1,800 years before the game is now generally thought to have originated in India. 

 

Duncan Forbes referred to Christie's conjectures in The History of Chess, London 1860 but declared "all this is sheer imagination" and that Christie's book was "more fanciful than sound".

In a long letter published in The Chess Player, by Kling and Horwitz, volume IV, Christie's book and ideas are discussed at length on pages 36 to 40, but again with much scepticism, the letter is signed B.S.* The book is also referred to on pages 12 to 18 of Amusements in Chess by Charles Tomlinson, London 1845. 

Antonius van der Linde mentions this work only in the Schachmythologie chapter of Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels, Berlin 1874 (Erste Band page 12).

In fairness, the author of An Inquiry into the Antient Greek Game... did expect his opinions to be controversial, but hoped that his book would encourage further investigations into the history of chess.

So the subject matter is as obsolete as the title, and the chief attraction of this book for collectors is its claimed rarity, which brings me to the main purpose of this article; to examine the claim that only 40 copies were printed. Booksellers, auctioneers and reference books have frequently stated that only 40 copies were printed, often citing early bibliographical works by Lowndes, Walker, Watt and Schmid for this information.

It seems that the limitation of 40 copies was first stated in The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature by William Lowndes, London 1834 which I have not seen. This claim was dropped for the 1858 edition of Lowndes as my copy does not mention the limited print run of Christie's book, but states that it is "held in much esteem by the learned", and gives the prices of four copies sold at auction.

 

George Walker mentions this matter in his Bibliographical Catalogue of Printed Books, and Writers, on Chess in the appendix to The Philidorian, London 1838, thus:

"This book is somewhat rare, having been printed exclusively for private circulation, and the edition not exceeding forty copies. (See Lowndes Catalogue of Scarce English Books)" This is repeated in the Bibliographical Catalogue appended to A New Treatise on Chess by George Walker, third edition, London 1841, but nothing about the rarity of Christie's book is mentioned in the fourth edition of this work published in 1846 as The Art of Chess-Play.

 

Literatur des Schachspiels by Anton Schmid, Wien 1847, follows Lowndes and Walker by stating that only 40 copies were printed. Schmid also suggests (on page 145) that Christie's book was reprinted in 1802. However, no copies with that date are known.

 

For a book that was published nearly 220 years ago it is highly likely that some copies have been lost over the years; and most of the surviving copies from such a small printing would, by now, have filtered down into the holdings of public and institutional libraries, or into the major private collections, leaving very few copies in general circulation. 

Schaakbibliotheken (A Book about Collectors and Collections) by Dr. Meindert Neimeijer, Wassenaar 1948, gives details of many private chess libraries from the 19th and 20th centuries, often listing some of the scarcer books held. Christie's book appears 16 times in 15 of these libraries (Walker had two copies):

 

George Allen, H. MacDonald, E.B. Cook, Edwin Dodds, R. Franz, George B. Fraser, J.H. Ellis, Sir Frederic Madden, Dr M. Niemeijer, Numa Preti, Rosenthal of Frankfurt, V. Salimbeni/C.B. Vansittart, George Walker, C.W. Whitman, and Charles Willing. Furthermore, it is known that other libraries mentioned in Schaakbibliotheken held copies; such as von der Lasa (no. 547 in his Sammlung von Schriften  über das Schachspiel), and you would expect J.W. Rimington Wilson to have had a copy; in fact he had three copies (probably the two from Walker and another copy). Here they are for sale on page 20 of Quaritch's catalogue for his sale of the Rimington Wilson collection, London 1929:

 

Other private collections not mentioned in Schaakbibliotheken also held copies, for example A.J. Souweine had a copy; item 152 in his 1938 catalogue.

WorldCat, the online union catalogue which itemizes the collections of nearly 18,000 libraries worldwide, locates 29 copies of An Inquiry into the Antient Greek Game... in university, institutional and public libraries. 11 of these are in USA, 9 in UK and 6 in the Netherlands. Even this list is not exhaustive, for example another copy is listed (twice) in Kieler Schachkatalog, the catalogue of the Wilhelm Massmann and Gerd Meyer collection in the Schleswig-Holsteinischen Landesbibliothek in Kiel.

The 11 copies in USA libraries together with further copies in private hands, such as David DeLucia, (see A Few Old Friends 1st edition page 62, 2nd edition page 92), and Jon Crumiller who has three copies! (see his website chessantique.com) indicates that more than a third of the original printing, and an even larger share of what survives of a book originally intended for private circulation in England, has ended up in America; this seems incredible.

Obviously some copies of this book have passed from collector to collector, and from dispersed collections into institutional libraries, but the known location of so many copies implies that very few examples should come on to the open market. Yet this book regularly appears in book dealers catalogues and at auction sales.  

Copies have been sold at the following auctions in recent years:

Phillips Auction October 1985 - The Chess Library of R.J. Ford, sold for £200

Phillips Auction January 1988 - The Chess Library of J.E. Pattle, £130

 

Christies Auction, May 1992 - The Chess Library of Robert Blass, £280.

International Chess Auctions (Alexander Baburin) June 2001, £1,100.

Bloomsbury Auction, July 2003, £460.

Antiquariat Klittich-Pfankuch has sold three copies in the last 9 years (two were the same copy) for €890, €1,400 and €1,100.  

Two different copies have even appeared on ebay, selling for £790 in June 2008 and £2,018 in January 2009.

Chess book dealers Fred Wilson, Roger Treglown and others have also seen copies passing through their hands. Fred Wilson was also doubtful about the 40 copies claim; here is the Christie entry in his Chess Literature Catalogue Number Fourteen:

 

There are no doubt other sales that I am not aware of, and it is also possible that the same book turns up in different sales.

All in all, the known location of so many copies together with the frequency with which further copies come on to the market, make it very improbable that only 40 copies of this book were printed.

 

* These letters by B.S. from The Chess Player in 1853 were reprinted and distributed by Ken Whyld as part of his annual Christmas Gift series in 1989. Ken Whyld's collected Christmas Series was published in book form by Olomouc in 2006 with the cover title Chess Christmas. 

Chess Auction - Antiquariat A. Klittich-Pfankuch 21st November 2020

 

The auction house Antiquariat A. Klittich-Pfankuch held its bi-annual chess auction last week with many rare and important books, manuscripts and other collectable items going under the hammer. Recent auctions in Braunschweig have included many rare items from the library of the late Lothar Schmid and again, some of the choicest items came from this source.

Approximately 750 lots of books included the following Schachraritäten:      

An Inquiry into the Antient Greek Game, supposed to have been invented by Palamedes..., by James Christie, London 1801 which sold for €1,200; the first printing of the first edition of Philidor's L'Analyze des Echecs, London 1749 - €1,600; and a later printing in the same year - €950.  

 

A rare work by Allesandro Salvio: Il Giuoco degli Scacchi, published in 1723, around 80 years after his death, made €1,100; The first comprehensive chess treatise published in Germany - Das Schach-oder König-Spiel by Gustavus Selenus, Leipzig 1616, bound with another non-chess work dated 1624, realised €2,700. A very rare book by von der Lasa: Entwurf eines Vollständigen Reglements für das Schachspiel, Berlin 1854 made €950, and Lolli's Osservazioni Teorica-Pratiche Sopra il Giuucco degli Scacchi, Bologna 173 sold for €700.

 

Several modern books fetched high prices including one of the 20 vellum bound copies of David DeLucia's Chess Library, 2nd edition 2007 which sold for €900 and a two volume work by Rolf Roth: Schach in meinem Leben, Wetzikon circa 2010, described as an "Interesting contribution to Swiss chess history" sold for €1,000.

Harrie Grondijs's extremely limited edition books continue to be in great demand with several selling for between €200 and €460, but the highest price paid was €1,600 for his five volume series Chess Craze Bad, Maastricht 2015 - 2020.  

 

Several books on draughts were on offer in this auction and an 1811 work by Johann Koch: Das Damenspiel, auf feste Reguin gebracht... realised the top price of €400. A 1650 work by Canalejas Garcia: Libro del Juego de las Damas.. sold for €301.

The tournament books included Cleveland 1871 by Brownson which sold for €400; Kiev 1903 by Chigorin - €420; and New York 1889 by Steinitz - €480.

 

The Zeitschriften included a complete three volume run of American Chess Magazine, 1897 - 1899 which made €500; the first volume of The British Chess Magazine, 1881 - €300 (good value); Le Palamède two volumes 1838 and 1839 - €380; and  a scarce year of Wiener Schachzeitung for 1915 - €400.

 

However, the items most in demand were the autographed books, manuscript items and other pieces of memorabilia. Books signed or inscribed by famous players are very desirable and the following examples went under the hammer:

Das Grossmeister-Turnier New York 1924, inscribed by Alekhine - €450

Die Moderne Schachpartie, with a dedication from Tarrasch - €500

Die Praxis Meines Systems, with  a 9 line inscription by Nimzowitsch - €600

 

Grundzüge der Schachstrategie (the German edition of Chess Fundamentals), signed by Capablanca at Bad Kissingen 1928 - €1,200

 

 

The Community of the Future, signed by Emanuel Lasker - €1,300

Kampf von Emanuel Lasker , with a dedication from the author - €1,800 

The rare book on The Third American Chess Congress, Cleveland 1874, signed by the winner George Mackenzie, sold for €2,300

 

But the most highly prized items are original letters and manuscripts by the leading masters of the past, and many were put up for sale here:

A manuscript notebook with 23 pages written by Tal sold for €800.

A handwritten 5 page tournament report and two letters by Alekhine fetched €800, €950 and €1,900.

A letter from Richard Reti pasted into Modern Ideas in Chess sold for €1,100.

Moving up a gear; 3 letters written by Adolf Anderssen in the 1850s sold for €2,900, €3,000 and €3,700, Morphy is mentioned in the last of these.

 

A bound volume of Löwenthal's chess columns from the Era for the years 1854 to 1866 with an 18 page list of contents written in Lowenthal's hand made €4,000.

 

Siegbert Tarrasch's handwritten manuscript for his book Der Schachwettkampf Marshall - Tarrasch 1905, also sold for €4,000.

The auction (and the auctioneer) reached a crescendo with the sale of a notebook written by Rudolf Spielmann in which he had annotated 80 of his games played between 1900 and 1905, the hammer finally falling at €6,600; and a single page letter written by Paul Morphy to Miron Hazeltine regarding an invitation to the St. Louis Chess Club, dated May 1859, which also sold for €6,600.

 

 

Chess related photographs and postcards are always popular and the Schachmemorabilia section incuded a large number of these with many lots selling for between €300 and €700. A remarkable collection of cuttings and adverts on the theme of chess in films, with many photos of chess scenes in the movies sold for €1,100, and the next lot, which was also from the Couwenbergh Collection, on the theme of chess and music, sold for €1,200. This included many record sleeves featuring a chess motif. 

Charles Aznavour seems to be playing Fischerrandom chess.

Other lots selling for high prices included a postcard featuring caricatures of participants in the Candidates Tournament at Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade, 1959, with their signatures - €900;  two manuscripts on problems by William Bone - €850 and €2,100;  a beautifully executed manuscript from the J W Rimington Wilson library with games and positions from the works of Captain Bertin, Stamma, The Calabrois and others - €1,300;  a typescript containing 50 self-mates by Miroslav Soukup with a handwritten dedication to A C White - €1,600; and a collection of 16 autographed photo postcards featuring the participants at Podebrad 1936 - €2,400.

 

 

The 1,100 plus lots were  auctioned off in around seven hours with prices from €10 upwards, so there were plenty of items for all pockets. The following less expensive but still desirable books all sold for €50 or less:

The printed 266 page auction catalogue is a collector's item in itself and a very useful reference work, while every lot was meticulously described and illustrated in the online catalogue. 

The auction was admirably organised and conducted by Karl Klittich and his team, and they are fortunate indeed to enjoy so many rare and historical chess artefacts passing through their hands.

Many thanks to Karl Klittich for permission to use extracts and illustrations from the catalogue.

The hammer prices quoted above exclude the buyer's premium and other costs.