Lot 40
Automaton Chess Player.- Mechanical Illusion.- Reynell (H.) The Famous Chess-Player, No. 14, St. James's-Street, next Brooks's, broadside advertisement with letterpress, [1784].
Hammer Price: £9,000
Description
Automaton Chess Player.- Mechanical Illusion.- Reynell (H. printers in Piccadilly) The Famous Chess-Player, No. 14, St. James's-Street, next Brooks's, broadside advertisement for "The famous Automaton", letterpress, on laid paper with large watermark of coat of arms, sheet 314 x 190 mm. (12 1/4 x 7 1/2 in), light folds and handling creases, unframed, [ESTC records two copies, BL and NY Public Library], 'Printed by H. Reynell, (No. 21) Piccadilly, near the Hay-Market', [1784].
⁂ "The Turk", also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player, was a fake chess-playing machine that was constructed in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen (Hungarian author and inventor, 1734-1804). It was initially constructed to impress the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and following a second exhibition of it to the Grand Duke Paul of Russia, Kempelen was reluctantly encouraged to begin a European tour in 1783. It stayed a year in London in 1784, where as the present advertisement notes, it could be viewed for 'five shillings'.
Description
Automaton Chess Player.- Mechanical Illusion.- Reynell (H. printers in Piccadilly) The Famous Chess-Player, No. 14, St. James's-Street, next Brooks's, broadside advertisement for "The famous Automaton", letterpress, on laid paper with large watermark of coat of arms, sheet 314 x 190 mm. (12 1/4 x 7 1/2 in), light folds and handling creases, unframed, [ESTC records two copies, BL and NY Public Library], 'Printed by H. Reynell, (No. 21) Piccadilly, near the Hay-Market', [1784].
⁂ "The Turk", also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player, was a fake chess-playing machine that was constructed in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen (Hungarian author and inventor, 1734-1804). It was initially constructed to impress the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and following a second exhibition of it to the Grand Duke Paul of Russia, Kempelen was reluctantly encouraged to begin a European tour in 1783. It stayed a year in London in 1784, where as the present advertisement notes, it could be viewed for 'five shillings'.
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