The Book of Chess
ISBN: 9781599100937
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Italica Press, Inc.
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Williams H. L. (Hester L.) 1942-;

Chess is like life. This metaphor comes down from the 13th century when Jacob de Cessolis, an Italian Dominican friar, delivered a sermon based on the game. The sermon was so well received that he wrote it down as the Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium (Book of the Manners of Men and the Offices of the Nobility), now simply called The Book of Chess. Famous throughout Europe, it was translated into numerous languages and presents a primer on the game and a look into the structure and ways of medieval society. From kings and queens, to farmers and gamblers, Jacob outlined the virtues and vices, obligations and inclinations of various members of medieval society: those who governed, those who fought and those who worked, playing out their qualities on the chess board. First English translation since Caxton's printing of 1474. Introduction, notes, bibliographic essay. 16 woodcuts from Caxton's 1474 edition.


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