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To amuse and instruct youth

[PHILIDOR, André Danican].
Élémens théoriques et pratiques du jeu des échets, avec des réflexions morales, politiques, historiques et militaires, relatives a ce jeu.

With stipple-engraved frontispiece-portrait of Philidor, full-page engraved plate showing the chessmen, and two woodcut playing boards in text, one with the letters and numbers used for the game-notations, and the other showing all possible moves of the horse on the chess board, numbered on the fields from 1 tot 64.

With stipple-engraved frontispiece-portrait of Philidor, full-page engraved plate showing the chessmen, and two woodcut playing boards in text, one with the letters and numbers used for the game-notations, and the other showing all possible moves of the horse on the chess board, numbered on the fields from 1 tot 64.



Paris, Madame veuve Hocquart, 1810. Sm.8vo. Contemp. marbled calf, spine with orange title-label, orange painted edges. With stipple-engraved frontispiece-portrait of Philidor, full-page engraved plate showing the chessmen, and two woodcut playing boards in text, one with the letters and numbers used for the game-notations, and the other showing all possible moves of the horse on the chess board, numbered on the fields from 1 tot 64. XXIV, 266, (2) pp.

Very rare first edition of a chess manual especially intended to amuse and instruct youth, because as the anonymous editor explains in the preface, chess is better for youth than games of hazard. In the preface he quotes J.J. Rousseau on the impossibility to surpass a certain progress made in the game, and he also includes a long letter of a father to his son on the dangers of gambling. As further explained in the preface, the chess rules and exercises given in the book came from Philidor and Stamma, and where possible the editor added useful reflections on politics, moral, history and especially on military science. He added some lines of the poem on chess by Cerutti and verses from the Latin poem on chess by Vida, which were translated from in French by J.B. Levée, director of the Lyceum at Bruges. And the ten-line verses present in the book were taken from the work of Abbé Roman.
The book itself starts with an introduction on the game of chess, chess terminology, riddles, anecdotes and poetry on chess, and on page 85 the chess teaching seriously begins. In 607 numbered articles, the rules of the game of chess, advice in problem situations, exemplary games and exercises of the game of chess are given. An index and list of Errata is added at the end. The book was translated in Spanish and published at Barcelona in 1817.

Fine copy of a rare and interesting chess book.
Coll. Rimington-Wilson 1130; not in Bibl. Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana, or in Cat. Schaakboekerij Niemeyer; cf. Cat. Van Rijn 1214 (Dutch ed. of Stamma's chess manuel, ca. 1780).

Related Subjects: Chess  Education  French  Games & Pastimes 

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