Mrs W.J. The Twentieth Century Retractor, Chess Fantasies, and Letter Problems.

by BAIRD

£2,000 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

Chess Fantasies as published by Sotherans in 1907 BAIRD, Mrs W.J. The Twentieth Century Retractor, Chess Fantasies, and Letter Problems. London: Henry Sotheran Ltd. 1907. Large 8vo. Original red cloth, gilt triple fillets and motif to front, gilt lettering to spine, floral gold endpapers, all edges gilt; unpaginated, printed throughout in red and black, b w frontis portrait of author with tissue guard; evidence of library label removed from front board, occasional spotting mainly to fly-leaves, a little shelfwear, very good; presentation inscription to the Hastings Chess Club to half-title (see below), with the club's red inkstamps to prelims and title page, shelf mark "701" to half title, small stickers to spine and front paste-down. First edition. A presentation of three hundred previously unknown chess problems, each one prefaced with a Shakespearean quotation that apparently gives a clue to the solution. Published by Henry Sotheran in 1907. This is the work of a true chess pioneer and a rare female participant in a very masculine world. Edith Baird (1859-1924) composed chess problems from an early age and, especially after her marriage in 1880, became widely published. In 1893 she won a prestigious international award and saw her problems appearing in The Times , and in 1902, after fourteen years, produced her first book, Seven Hundred Chess Problems . By the time of her death in 1924 she had created over two thousand chess problems, a remarkably prolific achievement. The

• Binding: Hardcover

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