Henry Bird Bücher

[...] PREFACE This little work is but a condensation and essence of a much larger one, containing the result of what can be discovered concerning the origin and history of chess, combined with some of my own reminiscences of 46 years past both of chess play and its exponents, dating back to the year 1846, the 18th of Simpson's, 9 years after the death of A. McDonnell, and 6 after that of L. de La Bourdonnais when chivalrous and first class chess had come into the highest estimation, and emulatory matches and tests of supremacy in chess skill were the order of the day. English chess was then in the ascendant, three years before Howard Staunton had vanquished St. Amant of France, and was the recognized world's chess champion, while H. T. Buckle the renowned author of the History of Civilization was the foremost in skill among chess amateurs, Mr. W. Lewis and Mr. George Walker the well known and prolific writers on chess, were among the ten or twelve strongest players, but were seldom seen in the public circle, Mr. Slous and Mr. Perigal were other first rate amateurs of about equal strength. Mr. Daniels who attended Simpson's had just departed. Captain Evans and Captain Kennedy were familiar figures, and most popular alike distinguished and esteemed for[...].

Kniha obsahuje 157 vybraných komentovaných partií, z nichž většina se hrála v období 1849-1875, tedy v letech prvních mezinárodních turnajů. Všechny partie obsahují krátké poznámky, autor představuje špičkové hráče té doby, nejčastěji jsou zastoupeni Anderssen, Bird, Harrwitz, Kolisch, Loewenthal, Morphy, Paulsen, Staunton, Steinitz, von der Lasa a další. Na konci indexy hráčů a zahájení. Jedná se o český překlad knihy Chess Masterpieces, která vyšla v Londýně 1875 a dnes se řadí k šachové klasice. Překladatel a editor Antonín Čížek knihu upravil a některé věci upřesnil, a hlavně doplnil diagramy (obvykle jeden na každou partii, takže jich v knize je více než 150), které v původním vydání nejsou.