{"title":"Parlour Games","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"sarratt-treatise-games-chess-1808-109214","title":"A Treatise on the Games of Chess;","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003efirst edition\u003c\/h4\u003eA handsome two-volume set of the first edition of Jacob Henry Sarratt's (d.1819) first chess manual, \u003cem\u003eA\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eTreatise on the Games of Chess\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSarratt learned much from Verdoni, a disciple of the great French master François-André Danican Philidor who spent his final years in exile in London before his death in 1795. After Verdoni's death in 1804, Sarratt became the leading chess player in England — assuming the title 'Professor of Chess'. Under his influence the London Chess Club adopted the continental rule that a game ending in a stalemate was a draw, rather than a win for the player stalemated as hitherto in England (ODNB).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book is dedicated to the Jewish merchant Abraham Samuda, with an important preface by the author giving a short history of the game from Damiano to the Dutch chess master Elias Stein.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition, 2 vols; 8vo (22 x 14 cm); with half-titles, final leaf of ads. to vol. 2; contemporary tree calf, gilt spine in compartments, contrasting black morocco title-pieces, joints cracked but holding, minor staining to top for-edge margin of vol. 1, occasional offsetting; xxxi, [1], 271, [1]; [4], 349, [3]pp.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSimpson p.36.","brand":"SARRATT, J. H.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45957995364657,"sku":"109214","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/109214_8ae06b0e-0a17-4e80-bdd5-00574c4ec792.jpg?v=1789881023"},{"product_id":"william-lewis-elements-game-chess-london-1822-119160","title":"Elements of the Game of Chess,","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eThe first edition of this introductory chess manual by English Grandmaster William Lewis (1787-1870), possibly the first chess player to be described as such.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLewis is remembered today for the eponymous Lewis Countergambit ('3.c3, d5') response to the Philidor variation, and as one of the chess players to operate the (fake) chess-playing automaton 'The Turk' built by Wolfgang von Kempelen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition; 8vo (18.5 x 11.5 cm); occasional light spotting; 20th-century half diced calf, marbled paper boards, spine lettered in gilt, marbled edges, small pen mark to lower cover, very good; xii, 240pp.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"LEWIS, William.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55643470758263,"sku":"119160","price":675.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/119160_331fa6c0-81a3-4253-8e8d-f542edbcacf2.jpg?v=1789881213"}],"url":"https:\/\/shapero.com\/collections\/parlour-games.oembed","provider":"Shapero Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}