In the News department we announced on 2016-11-08 (Busnardo Biography) the publication of a book on the Italian priest, chess master and adventurer from the Renaissance, Prè Lorenzo Busnardo, from the hand of our member Stefano Zulian. Its title was Prè Lorenzo Busnardo; La vita di un avventuriero campione di scacchi del Rinascimento (120 pages). On 15-02-2017 followed an addendum, which said that a revised version (January 2017) of the synoptical tables, referred to in the book, was available. Finally Stefano Zulian promised : “The author intends to publish a 2nd edition in due time.”.

Well, he kept his word, because recently the second and much enlarged edition of his book has been published under title: Prè Lorenzo Busnardo; La vita di un avventuriero campione di scacchi nel Rinascimento. Progetto “Prè Lorenzo Busnardo”. Ricerca e testo di Stefano Zulian. [2nd and much enlarged edition]. Editrice Artistica Bassanese: Bassano del Grappa 2018; 248 pages, 32cm x 23cm; price € 25,00 plus shipping costs. To avoid bibliographical confusion we draw attention on the difference between the title on the title page, which has (or became ?) “nel” and the title on the cover which has “del”, just as the cover of the first edition. The book can be ordered from Stefano Zulian, email address: gensiuliastoria@tiscali.it.

Our member Timothy Harding recently published British chess literature to 1914 (McFarland 2018), an impressive book that will interest many chess historians, especially those who are specialized in the 19th century. With his permission, we took away following summary of its content from the blog of our fellow member Michael Clapham who reviewed the book thoroughly. There the interested reader will find his complete review (https://chessbookchats.blogspot.com/2018/08/british-chess-literature-to-1914-by.html):

Dr. Timothy Harding, author of previous deeply researched works on chess history including Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1987, 2011, Eminent Victorian Chess Players, 2012, and Joseph Henry Blackburne, 2015, all published by McFarland, surveys British (and Irish) chess literature up to the First World War in this latest work.

The Preface sets out clearly the aims and content of the book which has a special emphasis on chess columns, and these are comprehensively examined in the first four chapters, plus the very detailed 45 page Appendix I. British and Irish Chess Columns to 1914: An Annotated List, describing nearly 600 columns. Chess Periodicals also receive extensive coverage, especially The Chess Player's Chronicle and its successors which are covered in a separate chapter of 54 pages.

The history and description of chess columns and periodicals take up six of the seven chapters, and 230 of the 274 pages which discuss chess literature, leaving just one chapter of 44 pages for the comparatively weak examination of chess books; and anyone hoping for a thorough review of the rich history of British chess books will be very disappointed. As early as page 10 Harding dismisses old chess books as having "little to offer the historian" and it is clear that the author is much more inclined towards chess columns and periodicals than general chess books.

In the wake of the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the Carrera's Treatise on Chess (1617), Santo Daniele Spina's writing presents in modern chess notation with many diagrams the odds theory exposed in the fifth book of Il gioco degli scacchi (The Game of Chess) in comparison with Ruy Lopez, Gianutio and Salvio and it is another step forward with regard to English translation by William Lewis (1822).

In the fifth book, divided into thirty-one chapters, Carrera examines the openings giving the first move to Black or to White according to the odds type offered weaker chess player.

More information:

• http://www.lulu.com/shop/santo-daniele-spina/i-giochi-di-vantaggio-del-libro-quinto-del-trattato-di-don-pietro-carrera/hardcover/product-23676554.html

Per Skjoldager has updated the database of the BoC-Project. Texts, pictures and hammer prices of the 74th Klittich auction are now available for members in Tobiblion.