The Works of Damiano, Ruy-Lopez, and Salvio, on the Game of Chess;

First edition. The first edition of Jacob Henry Sarratt's (d.1819) translation and arrangement of chess studies by the old masters Damiano, Ruy-Lopez and Salvio.

Sarratt 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).

First edition; 8vo (23.5 x 15 cm); 2 engravings, half-title, final leaf of ads., partially erased ownership inscription in pen to front pastedown, top-right title-page cropped to remove signature; contemporary cloth backed boards, red roan title-piece to spine, fore and bottom edges untrimmed, light spotting, margins toned, corners bumped, minor wear to extremities; [6], xviii, 382, [2]pp.

Simpson, p.14.