Details
CESSOLIS, Jacobus de (fl. late 13th/early 14th century, O.P.). De Ludo Scachorum, in French. Transl. Jean de Vignay. [Northern France: ca. 1500].
Chancery 2° (262 x 198 mm.). MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER. Collation: 110 2-412 510 612 (lacking 6/9-10, 6/12 blank cancelled): 65 (of 68) leaves. A single paper stock from a north-eastern French mill (Piccard Lilie 1633-1711). Brown ink, rubricated in red, bâtarde script, 29-34 lines. (Fo. 6/11 defective with loss of most text, text of fos. 6/9-11 replaced with a modern copy of BN Ms. fr. 1172, several leaves detached, some staining). Contemporary French blind-tooled calf over pasteboard, a large rosette repeated in the border compartments, a floral roll in the centre compartment (binding defective). Provenance: Jean Blosset (inscrs., including one dated 1545); Dr. M. Niemeijer (bookplate).
In the mid-14th century two French translations of Cessolis' work on chess were composed, the first by Jean Ferron, the second and more popular version by Jean de Vignay. The latter was dedicated to John, Duke of Normandy, who succeeded his father Philip VI as King of France in 1350. It is Vignay's text that William Caxton translated into English and published in Bruges and Westminster (GW 6532-6533). Fo. 1r heading: Cy commence la moralite des nobles hommes et des gens de peuple selon le gieu des eschecs translate de latin en francois par religieuse personne et honneste frere Jehan duvignay de lordre de lospital Saint Jehan; fo. 6/11r explicit: Cy fine le geu des eschat que Dieu nous garde de debas. The French Cessolis, both in manuscript and in early editions, is of the greatest rarity on the market. Literature: A. Schmid, Literatur des Schachspiels (Vienna 1847) pp. 30-33.
Chancery 2° (262 x 198 mm.). MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER. Collation: 110 2-412 510 612 (lacking 6/9-10, 6/12 blank cancelled): 65 (of 68) leaves. A single paper stock from a north-eastern French mill (Piccard Lilie 1633-1711). Brown ink, rubricated in red, bâtarde script, 29-34 lines. (Fo. 6/11 defective with loss of most text, text of fos. 6/9-11 replaced with a modern copy of BN Ms. fr. 1172, several leaves detached, some staining). Contemporary French blind-tooled calf over pasteboard, a large rosette repeated in the border compartments, a floral roll in the centre compartment (binding defective). Provenance: Jean Blosset (inscrs., including one dated 1545); Dr. M. Niemeijer (bookplate).
In the mid-14th century two French translations of Cessolis' work on chess were composed, the first by Jean Ferron, the second and more popular version by Jean de Vignay. The latter was dedicated to John, Duke of Normandy, who succeeded his father Philip VI as King of France in 1350. It is Vignay's text that William Caxton translated into English and published in Bruges and Westminster (GW 6532-6533). Fo. 1r heading: Cy commence la moralite des nobles hommes et des gens de peuple selon le gieu des eschecs translate de latin en francois par religieuse personne et honneste frere Jehan duvignay de lordre de lospital Saint Jehan; fo. 6/11r explicit: Cy fine le geu des eschat que Dieu nous garde de debas. The French Cessolis, both in manuscript and in early editions, is of the greatest rarity on the market. Literature: A. Schmid, Literatur des Schachspiels (Vienna 1847) pp. 30-33.