GIANUTIO, Horatio. Libro nel quale si Tratta della Maniera di Giuocar' à Scacchi, con alcuni sottilissimi partiti, Turin, appresso Antonio de' Bianchi, 1597, sm. 4°, FIRST EDITION, woodcut armorial device of Count Francesco Martinengo, the dedicatee, on title, woodcut illustrations of the pieces, 13 board diagrams, woodcut initials and arabesques, woodcut borders throughout (title torn with partial loss of border and seven characters but restored with the border and characters replaced in manuscript facsimile, +2-3 similarly torn with some loss and restored, one arabesque design on +4r slightly damaged, preliminaries wormed and repaired at inner margins, also lightly dampstained, burnhole in A3 affecting one character on recto and two on verso), 19th-century cloth. [VDL Geschichte I, 368; Schachlitteratur 947; KB 374; Brunet III, 1374]

Details

GIANUTIO, Horatio. Libro nel quale si Tratta della Maniera di Giuocar' à Scacchi, con alcuni sottilissimi partiti, Turin, appresso Antonio de' Bianchi, 1597, sm. 4°, FIRST EDITION, woodcut armorial device of Count Francesco Martinengo, the dedicatee, on title, woodcut illustrations of the pieces, 13 board diagrams, woodcut initials and arabesques, woodcut borders throughout (title torn with partial loss of border and seven characters but restored with the border and characters replaced in manuscript facsimile, +2-3 similarly torn with some loss and restored, one arabesque design on +4^r slightly damaged, preliminaries wormed and repaired at inner margins, also lightly dampstained, burnhole in A3 affecting one character on recto and two on verso), 19th-century cloth. [VDL Geschichte I, 368; Schachlitteratur 947; KB 374; Brunet III, 1374]

Lot Essay

Gianutio's treatise deals largely with the two knight's defence then fashionable among Italian players. Although Gianutio was weaker than other leading Romans and Neapolitans, Gay describes his book as "un bon traité d' échecs renfermant plusieurs jolis coups" (p. 193), and it is one of the most visually attractive of chess books.

Illustrated.

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