The Chess-Player's Handbook : A Popular and Scientific Introduction to the Game of Chess, Exemplified in Games Actually Played by the Greatest Master, and Illustrated by Numerous Diagrams of Original and Remarkable Positions

Author: Howard Staunton (1810-1874)Year: 1864Publisher: Henry G BohnPlace: London Description: viii+518+48 ad pages with frontispiece and diagrams. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5") bound in original publisher's red blind stamped cloth with gilt lettering to spine and gilt chess board to cover. (Betts: 10-3) First published in 1847. Reprints as follows: 1848, 1861, 1864. (These all have on the title page the statement "Second edition, revised; the revisions, if any, are of minor nature and the basic text remains unchanged) The work is six sections. Book 1is a 50 page introduction to the game, including the basic elements, notation, technical terms, relative values of the pieces, laws, maxims and a preliminary game. Books 2, 3, 4 and 5, the major part of the work, comprise analysis with illustrative games in some 35 openings. Book 6 "Endings of games" provides analyzed examples of the most common types of end games with 26 problems of various kinds appended. This work became the stat textbook