DAMIANO DA ODEMIRA, Pedro.

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Libro da Imparare Giocare a Scachi, The only edition with the main text printed entirely in Gothic type of four rare editions published about the same time without date and printer. The first edition was published in Rome in 1512 and is now exceedingly rare, WorldCat locating only the British Library copy, and the copy sold in 1996 the only appearance at auction in modern times.Pedro Damiano (in Portuguese, Pedro Damião; Damiano is the Italian form, much like the Latin Damianus) was a Portuguese chess player who lived from 1480 to 1544. A native of Odemira, he was a pharmacist by profession. His book, written in Italian and Spanish, went through eight editions in the 16th century. Damiano describes the rules of the game, offers advice on strategy, presents a selection of chess problems, and analyses a few openings. It is the oldest book that definitely states that the square on the right of the row closest to each player must be white. He also offers advice regarding blindfold chess, principally focused on the need to master notation based on numbering the squares 1-64. Damiano here suggests that chess was invented by Xerxes, and for that reason it was known in Portuguese as xadrez and in Spanish as ajedrez. In fact, these words come from old Persian chaturanga via Arabic xaţrandj. This book also contains one of earliest representations of the modern form of the rook as a tower, at p. 2.This copy is from the library of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax (1661-1715), statema

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