From: "World Chess Championship", INTERNET:newsletter@mark-weeks.com Date: 00/11/16, 10:33 Re: Chess History on the Web (2000 no.22) Site review - Online book catalogs (II) Two months ago, in 'Online book catalogs (I) : no.18', I described a technique to build a personal catalog of the volumes in the Van der Linde - Niemeijeriana collection. This collection is located at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Library; KNB below) in The Hague, Netherlands. The Web address of this wonderful resource is... http://www.konbib.nl/kb/vak/schaak/intro-en.html ...In that first article, I used the catalog to identify the most popular chess authors published before 1800. I discovered so much from this simple exercise that I decided to do the same for authors published in the 19th century. Using my catalog database of the KNB collection, I counted 1417 KNB entries published from 1800 to 1899. Counting entries by author and sorting the list by descending count produced 28 authors with more than 6 entries in the catalog. These authors collectively account for 330 of the 1417 titles. If we include their works published before & after the 19th century, they account for 405 of the 4924 titles in the KNB catalog. Two of these authors were discussed in 'Online book catalogs (I)':- 11 Hoyle (E.), Ch. Jones 9 Cessolis (J. de) so I won't discuss them again. The new authors in this article are:- 43 * Staunton (H.) 25 * Lewis (W.) 21 * Walker (G.) 19 * Dufresne (J.) 14 * Heydebrand und der Lasa (T. von) 14 * Franklin (B.) 13 Portius (K. J. S.) 12 * Lange (M.) 10 * Bird (H. E.) 10 * Linde (A. van der) 9 * Minckwitz (J.) 9 * Bilguer (P. R. von) 9 Breda (A. von) 9 * Gossip (G. H. D.) 8 * Allgaier (J.) 8 * Pratt (P.) 8 Montigny 8 Salvioli (C.) 8 * Neumann (G. R. L.) 8 Kenny (W. S.) 8 * Löwenthal (J.) 8 Pardon (G. F.) 8 Agnel (H. R.) 7 * Zukertort (J. H.) 7 Tegnér (E.) 7 Colombo, M. (transl.) Howard Staunton heads the list with 43 entries in the 19th century and a total of 52 entries in the entire catalog. The count is not perfect. I found five additional entries for A. van der Linde, where the author's name is listed as 'Linde, (A. van der)', with a comma (',') following the first word in the author's name. I decided that this discrepancy was not important for the present discussion. Once again, I used the search on author function at the Cleveland Public Library (CPL)... http://www-catalog.cpl.org/db/MARION/author.html ...to determine the full name of the authors, because most of their works are also in the CPL's John G. White collection. I discovered that I can narrow the CPL search by supplying the initial of the first name, e.g. 'lewis w'. I also encountered an issue with accented characters. A search on 'Tegnér' produced the error message 'TEGNR Not found or no more entries match key', while 'Tegner' returned entries for both Tegnér & Tegner. The same happened for a search on 'Löwenthal'. I again attempted to distinguish better known writers from lesser known writers. Writers marked with a '*' in my list have an entry in 'The Oxford Companion to Chess' by Hooper and Whyld. I'll look first at the nine names which have no OCC entry. For most of these writers, if there is any information on the Web, it is to a copy of the book, listed on the site of an antique book dealer. Heading the list of lesser known authors is Karl Julius Simon Portius (1797-1862) with 14 editions of 'Katechismus der Schachspielkunst', 11 of these published in the 1800s. The Go.com service at http://translator.go.com translates the title as '[Catechism] of the game of chess art', where I've corrected Go's suggestion of 'Katechismus'. Alphons von Breda has multiple editions for 'Praktisches Schachbüchlein' and 'Practisch schaakboekje'. Both the German & Dutch titles roughly translate to 'Practical little chess book'. A page at reference (01) [see the end of this article for the links corresponding to each reference] informs us that the book contains 24 rules of the game of chess, including 15 sample games of famous chess players. Montigny's 'Les stratagèmes des échecs' is first listed in the KNB catalog as published in Paris 1801-1802. It was later translated into German, Swedish, and English, the last as 'Stratagems of chess'. I could find no information on the Web about this author. Carlo Salvioli (d. 1930) was the author of a number of different books, including 'Il gambitto Evans'. Salvioli, like many of the names on my KNB list, is mentioned in Bill Wall's facts about chess history. See references (02), (03), and (04), which are also available on domains other than liveonthenet.com. Wall's entries for Salvioli are both in 1881 -- 'Cavalotti introduces the Albin Countergambit against Salvioli, Milan' & 'Salvioli wins 3rd Italian Ch in Milan'. Another page at (05) informs us that Salvioli was named an honorary president of the Italian Chess Federation at its founding in 1920. William Stopford Kenny (1788-1867) is listed in KNB for multiple editions of 'Practical Chess Grammar', first published in London, 1817. I found no other references. George Frederick Pardon (1824-1884) is listed as the author of 'A handbook of chess' and 'A handbook of draughts'. A page at (06) has two entries for this 19th century Hoyle, 'The card player : comprising concise directions for playing cribbage, ecarte, piquet, all-fours, quadrille, vingt-un, loo, speculation, pope joan, and all the best round games', as well as 'The handy book of games for gentlemen; billiards, bagatelle, chess, draughts and backgammon, and all the round games' under the pseudonym of Captain Crawley. Hyacinth R. Agnel (1799-1871) of New York authored multiple editions of 'The book of chess'. A catalog entry for the 1858 edition at (07) describes the book as 'containing the rudiments of the game, and elementary analyses of the most popular openings. Exemplified in games actually played by the greatest masters; including Staunton's analysis of the king's and queen's gambits, numerous positions and problems on diagrams, both original and selected; also a series of chess tales, with illustrations engraved from original designs. The whole extracted and translated from the best sources, by H.R. Agnel.' The engravings are also mentioned at (08), a Bill Wall page titled 'Art and Chess', where three of the engravings are listed by name -- 'How a World Was Won', 'The Midnight Challenge', & 'The Monkey and the Gascon Chess Knight', all 1848. Was Agnel the first woman to write a popular volume about the game of chess? Esaias Tegnér (1782-1846) is listed for multiple copies of 'Frithjofs saga'. A page at (09) titled 'Viking Tales of the North by Rasmus B. Anderson' has an abridged preface by George Stephens. The same site has the full text of Canto VI, 'Fridthjof At Chess', an epic poem which starts 'Bjorn and Fridthjof, both contending, / O’er their splendid board were bending; / Now on silver squares thick gather, / Now on gold, the struggling foes.' All KNB entries for Michele Colombo (1747-1838) list the entry as 'Colombo, M. (transl.); Il giuoco degli scacchi (translation of: Chess made easy)'. A page at (10) offers a brief biography in Italian. --- Many of the authors listed in the OCC were also known for their skill as players, which may be the reason they are listed at all. Let's take a brief look at them. There are many Web pages for Howard Staunton (1810-1874), who is generally considered the unofficial world champion of the 1840s. I was curious to know if Staunton's reputation as a Shakespearean scholar matched his reputation as a chess player. A Google search for 'howard staunton chess' returned 'about 494' pages; a search for 'howard staunton shakespeare' returned 'about 410'. Because Staunton's career was so multifaceted, I'll cover him in more detail in a future article in this series. William Lewis (1787-1870), second on our list with 25 entries from the 19th century, was the author of many different titles. The first in the KNB collection is 'Oriental chess', London, 1817. An Italian language page at (11) says that Lewis, 'was one of greater [English teachers] of the first half of the century, contributing with [his] teaching and theoretical activity to disseminate the interest for the game and to form the taste and the style of an entire generation of players.' (translated by Go). The same site also offers a page dedicated to the next writer on the list, George Walker (1803-1879), who also authored many different titles. The first KNB entry is 'Chess. New variations on the Muzio gambit', London, 1831. The page at (12) says, 'Agent of change, carried out a most active work of spreading in the [chess] circles of London [as] theorist and writer.' (translated by Go). With Jean Dufresne (1829-1893), we are fortunate to have a free downloadable copy of one of his works at (13). This is the 'Chess Composition Books' site by Anders Thulin, subtitled 'Electronic editions of public domain works'. Go translates the German language title of the book as 'Sammlung leichterer Schachaufgaben' as 'Collection of easier chess [problems]'. Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa (1818-1899) was one of the most cosmopolitan of the 19th century personalities associated with chess. A two paragraph page at (14) says, 'Prussian diplomat and chess bibliographer. Edited the first four editions of Bilguers Handbuch and helped begin the magazine Deutsche Schachzeitung.' The first KNB entry is 'Leitfaden für Schachspieler' (Go : 'Manual for chess players'), Berlin, 1848. 'The Baron' by G.H. Diggle, a ChessCafe article at (15) says, 'Clearly, he was one of the great "undervalued" players of chess history, with his strength thrust into the background by his massive services to the game as author and antiquarian.' Elo's book 'The Rating of Chess Players past and present' gives Lasa a best five year average of 2600, which is equal to Anderssen's best average and ahead of Staunton's 2520. The KNB entries for Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) include volumes unrelated to chess, like his autobiography. Franklin's essay 'The Morals of Chess' is at (16). It starts, 'The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it.' Franklin's associations with chess are overviewed in a page (17) on the same site, which is the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame. Max Lange (1832-1899) is better known on the Web associated with the Max Lange Attack of the Two Knights Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.O-O Bc5). His first KNB entry is for 'Kritik der Eröffnungen' ('Critique of the Openings'), Berlin, 1855. Chess Masterpieces, the first KNB entry by Henry Edward Bird (1830-1906) is available on the Web at (18), where it is described as 'A Pickard & Son downloadable e-book!' for a price of $12.95. 'Here the reader will find gem after gem, the very essence of Romantic chess, with lucid and pithy comments by the "Grand Old Man" himself. This fine collection has unusual depth and variety for an assembly of just 157 games, yet all the leading players and forms of play are represented. Carefully organized, each game is a wonderful example of masterful chess, with perfectly-timed remarks by Mr. Bird - indeed a classic, and suitable for chess enthusiasts of any rank.' I haven't seen the Pickard text, so please note that this mention is not an endorsement. Antonius van der Linde (1833-1897) is the man behind the Van der Linde - Niemeijeriana collection, the starting point of this entire article. His first chess volumes listed in KNB are 'Geschichte und Litteratur des Schachspiels' (Go : 'History and Literature of the game of chess') and 'Das Schachspiel des XVI. Jahrhunderts' (Go : The game of chess of the XVI. of century) both published in Berlin, 1874. Johannnes Minckwitz (1843-1901) is represented in KNB by four editions of 'Das ABC des Schachspiels', 'Humor im Schachspiel', and books on various German chess congresses. On the Web, there are only scattered references to his participation in various tournaments and games. The KNB lists only one volume by Paul Rudolph von Bilguer (1815-1840) published in his lifetime, 'Zur Theorie des Schachspiels. Das Zweispringerspiel im Nachzuge' (Go : 'The theory of the game of chess. The [Two Knights Game] in the Nachzuge'), Berlin, 1839. Reference (19) tells us that 'In the same year, 1843, the German Tassilio Lasa and von Heydebrandt published the first edition of the famous "Handbuch des Schachspiel" begun by his deceased friend, Paul Bilguer', while (20) says, 'The first openings encyclopedia was the famous Handbuch better known as the chess Bilguer first printed in 1843 and had the last revision in 1930 from Hans Kmoch. This Handbuch was nearly for 100 years a great success the great success behind this all was first the table with opening variations but even more the explanations and evaluations and not at least the references to the games!' The last KNB entry for the Handbuch was published in Berlin, 1922-1923. George Hatfield Dingley Gossip (1841-1907) was the author of 'The chess-player's manual' (London, 1875), and 'Theory of the chess openings' (New Wortley, 1879), both of which went through two editions. He also wrote 'Modern chess brilliancies' (London, 1892), anticipating the title of Larry Evans' book by 78 years. Johann Allgaier (1763-1823) is represented on the Web by miscellaneous references to the Allgaier Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ng5). His 'Neue theoretisch-praktische Anweisung zum Schachspiel' (Go : 'New theoretical-practical statement for the game of chess'), first published in Vienna, 1795/1796, went through seven editions. Peter Pratt's first KNB work is 'The theory of chess', London, 1799. His 'Studies of chess', London, 1803, is represented by six editions. Gustav Richard Neumann (1838-1881) authored 'Leitfaden für Anfanger im Schachspiel' (Go : 'Manual for [beginners] in the game of chess'). The German version went through at least three editions, while the last KNB entry for the Dutch version was the 13th, published in 1940. Johann Löwenthal (1810-1876) presented me with another search problem. A Google search on 'Löwenthal chess' returned 'about 42' pages; 'Lowenthal chess' returned 'about 394'; and 'Loewenthal chess' returned about 109. KNB lists eight copies of his 'Morphy's games of chess', the first published in New York & London, 1860. This was a few years after he was whipped +3-9=2 in a match with Morphy (London, 1858). Johannes Hermann Zukertort (1842-1888) authored 'Sammlung der auserlesensten Schachaufgaben' (Go : 'Collection of the [selected] chess [problems]'), Berlin, 1869, as well as 'Neuester Leitfaden des Schachspiels' (Go :' Newest manual of the game of chess'), which went through at least five editions. Most of the writers I've discussed here lack a biography on the Web. The Johannes Zukertort homepage by Chess Mail at (21) is a notable exception. I'm afraid I've worn out my welcome with this article, so I'll sign off. There's a great deal of material here for future discussion, but it will have to wait until my next visit to The Hague! Bye for now, Mark Weeks References:- (01) http://www.antiquariat-schiffmann.de/Schachliteratur.htm (02) http://chess.liveonthenet.com/chess/history/0-1799.html (03) http://chess.liveonthenet.com/chess/history/1800-1899.html (04) http://chess.liveonthenet.com/chess/history/1900-1930.html (05) http://www.infcom.it/fsi/storia.html (06) http://library.nevada.edu/speccol/grc/taxecar.html (07) http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/garnett/a-d.html (08) http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/art.htm (09) http://www.midhnottsol.org/public/viking/t_preface.html (10) http://leoncini.freeservers.com/colombo_m.html (11) http://www.serve.com/nimrod/Corsico_Scacchi/edo/lewis.htm (12) http://www.serve.com/nimrod/Corsico_Scacchi/edo/walker.htm (13) http://www.algonet.se/~ath/ (14) http://www.princeton.edu/~jamesw/undlasbi.html (15) http://www.chesscafe.com/text/baron.txt (16) http://www.chesslinks.org/hof/misc/morals_of_chess.html (17) http://www.chesslinks.org/hof/franklin.html (18) http://www.chesscentral.com/Pickard/Chess_Masterpieces.htm (19) http://share.geocities.com/Colosseum/Midfield/1264/horsev1i2.txt (20) http://www.chessmail.com/books/elburg14.html (21) http://www.chessmail.com/zukertort/index.html