Lot Essay
PROVENANCE: G.C.A. (monogram stamped on title page); T. von Heydebrand und der Lasa (bookplate with shelf-marks and date, 1893, in manuscript)
Ercole del Rio, a lawyer, was the third member of the 'highly-gifted' group known as the Modenese masters. His work, written without any knowledge of 18th-century authors in England and France, included Damiano, Azzio, Lopez, Carrera, Piacenza, Severino, Greco and Salvio among its authorities. It contains openings and problems in a similar way to Salvio's treatise but in Murray's opinion "is far in advance of it, both in arrangement and in the accuracy and importance of the analysis. Here for the first time we meet with the Scotch game and the Ruy Lopez defended by 3 .., Pa6. As an introduction to the Openings del Rio's work was far superior to any work in existence in 1750, but it was admittedly written for advanced players, and even for these it was not an easy text-book, since del Rio was very sparing in notes and explanations" (p. 868). VERY RARE.
See frontispiece and illustration.
Ercole del Rio, a lawyer, was the third member of the 'highly-gifted' group known as the Modenese masters. His work, written without any knowledge of 18th-century authors in England and France, included Damiano, Azzio, Lopez, Carrera, Piacenza, Severino, Greco and Salvio among its authorities. It contains openings and problems in a similar way to Salvio's treatise but in Murray's opinion "is far in advance of it, both in arrangement and in the accuracy and importance of the analysis. Here for the first time we meet with the Scotch game and the Ruy Lopez defended by 3 .., Pa6. As an introduction to the Openings del Rio's work was far superior to any work in existence in 1750, but it was admittedly written for advanced players, and even for these it was not an easy text-book, since del Rio was very sparing in notes and explanations" (p. 868). VERY RARE.
See frontispiece and illustration.