DAMIANO DA ODEMIRA.

£27,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

.Extremely rare, beautifully illustrated early chess book in Spanish and Italian the first chess book published in Italy (Hooper, p.85). This is one of the earliest editions and the first to include depictions of the individual chess pieces in the initial list (cf. Van der Linde). In particular, the modern form of the Rook as tower first appears in this ed. (Murray, p.772). . . ..Pedro Damiano da Odemira was a Portuguese apothecary and chess player, of whom little is known. He first published his chess book in 1512. It is renowned for maxims such as If you have a good move, check if there is a better one , and an early mention that each player should have a light square on the right-hand side. Damiano s is only the third early chess book following Vicent s and Lucerna s - written after the change of rules in 1475, when the Queen and Bishop appeared instead of the Fers and Aufin. This also led to the study of openings, and generally most of the endgame knowledge garnered in the preceding 800 or 900 years [had become] obsolete (Hooper, p.145). .. . . ..The 10 chapters discuss the names of chess pieces and universal regulations; the following all illustrated, and bilingual - deal with playing techniques, focusing on the pawn and the knight, the last is devoted to playing blind-fold, with techniques to remember the location of each piece on the board. Damiano declares there are only two ways of commencing the game . Under the first method he includes variations of the Petroff, th

• Binding: Hardcover

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