Chess.- Manuscript compilation of 18th century chess gambits, text in Italian, French and English bound dos-a-dos, c.160pp. on 126ff., several ff. loosely inserted, bookplate of Richard Penn along with ink inscription "Mr Rimington Wilson, Chess Library" to front pastedown, text block detached in original Italian calf, elaborately decorated in gilt, some slight wear to spine, rubbed, 8vo, [?Italy and England], [c. 1780].

⁂ A remarkable 18th century chess manuscript that provides a window into the social and intellectual world of the nascent London Chess Club and contains an early and detailed analysis of the main lines of the Bishop's Gambit opening, drawing on multiple sources.

The manuscript is written in a very unusual form of shorthand to record the games that is neither algebraic nor descriptive but has since been solved. An article discussing the manuscript as well as providing a descriptive key to the shorthand appeared in British Chess Magazine (vol.142, Dec. 2022, pp.708-714) and is available on request.

The London Chess Club employed the celebrated chess master François-André Philidor (1726-1795) as a teacher in 1774, he and his Analyse du jeu des échecs (1777) are referenced numerous times in the manuscript as are several of the subscribers to that same work. Elsewhere, works by Alessandro Salvio, Pietro Carrera, Giambattista Lolli and Philipp Stamma are used as comparative sources.

Provenance: Richard Penn (1735-1811, bookplate), lieutenant governor of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1771 to 1773 and later a member of the British Parliament. His son Richard Penn, FRS (1784-1863), published a volume (1833) that included Maxims and Hints for a Chess Player; James Wilson Rimington Wilson (1822-1877, ink inscription), noted chess-player and collector of playing-cards, his library sold at Sotheby's in 1928.