Chess Books at Auction

[Wayne Komer]

Chess Books at Auction

August 14, 2019

A curious item up for auction on eBay today.

Chess master BOBBY FISCHER probable Autograph on Card kept in 1965 Book by Brady

Bobby Fischer to Ray (printed)

Starting bid: US $350

Description

Hi - this is the first time on eBay for this item, so I'll only be considering offers at or above the opening bid price, thanks.

(Also, if you do make an offer, please make it good for at least 48 hours, as I sometimes miss ones that are only valid for 24 hours. Thx!)

This past weekend I bought about 2 dozen vintage books about chess at a local swap meet, and when I got them home and started going through them, I found this card inside the 1965 hardcover, "Profiles of a Prodigy: The Life and Games of Bobby Fischer" by Frank Brady.

The card measures approx. 3 in. by 5 in.

I have no idea if there's any connection, age-wise or otherwise, between the book and the autograph card, other than one having been the safekeeping place for the other, but I'm including the book in this lot, just in case I'm missing some connection between them.

It seems likely to me that the signature is genuine for a few reasons:

1 - It's singed to someone - it appears to say, "Ray"... possibly, "Kay" ... which implies that Ray (or Kay) was present when it was signed.

2 - If someone was going to bother faking such a signature, wouldn't it have made more sense to have done it in this, or some other, book?

3 - It compares favorably to one that's currently being offered for sale on eBay - item # 18370896708

Condition - light edge wear; some mild yellowing mostly on the RH side of the card; the book is in pretty good condition and its dust jacket in fair condition with some short tears, some corner wear, some wrinkles and some yellowing.

Thanks for bidding!

____________

I think this item is speculative at best. I would be surprised if anyone put out $350 for it.

[Wayne Komer]

Chess Books at Auction

October 18, 2019

Found in the “chess book” offers on eBay today:

Avon The Rook Chess Piece Wild Country Cologne After Shave Empty Bottle

Starting Bid: US $2.50
Shipping to Canada: $20.51

Avon The Rook chess piece cologne bottle. Was for Wild Country men's after shave.
Bottle is empty, comes with original box
Condition is used
Will ship USPS Priority mail

[Wayne Komer]

Chess Books at Auction

November 29, 2019


Today, on eBay, five books on Fairy Chess which are water damaged. The last sentence has a throwaway line but is deliciously quotable. All this with a starting bid of $5:

Five books largely about fairy chess (unorthodox chess problems) that got wet when a pipe broke in the floor above the bookcase. Well worth reading, particularly if you know German and Russian.

Dr. Karl Fabel - Am Rande des Schachbretts (at the edge of the chessboard) - published by the chess problem magazine Der Schwalbe in 1947 - in German. How long can a chess game last? Until White's 5899th move, Kg2:Rh1. Problems in Losing Chess (give away all your pieces). Helpmates, retroanalysis, the eight-queens problem, and much much more.

Dr. Karl Fabel and C.E. Kemp - Schach ohne Grenzen / Chess unlimited (Walter Rau Verlag, 1969) - bilingual German/English - an annotated collection of the great T.R. Dawson's fairy chess problems.

E. Ya. Gik - Shakhmatnye dosugi: Sbornik yumoristicheskikh i zanimatel'nykh rasskazov (Шахматные досуги) (Chess leisure(?): a collection of humorous and entertaining stories) (Moscow: "Fizkultura i sport", 1979) - in Russian - fairy and non-fairy chess games and problems. For example, in the six-square triangular board in photo #6 the king is to move to a1 without passing through b2. It takes 26 moves.

Karl Fabel - Rund um das Schachbrett: Amusantes und Interessantes vom Schach (around the chessboard: amusing and interesting chess stuff) (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1955) - in German - mate in 1 problems, problems with only the two kings on the board (e.g., 'White and Black each take back a move, then Black moves so that White can immediately checkmate'). And much much more.

Karl Fabel - Kurioses Schach: Amusante stellungen - Interessantes Geschehen - Seltsame Spielregeln auf den 64 Feldern (curious chess: amusing positions, interesting happenings, strange game rules on the 64 squares) (Walter Rau Verlag, 1960) - in German - photo 10, for example, shows chess problems with lots and lots of knights or bishops, but perfectly legal positions. Also symmetrical positions, underpromotions and Babsontasks, a mate in 21 by T. R. Dawson on a pistol-shaped board (also in photo #8, from the Gik book, uncredited), 'White played and didn't win', etc., etc.

The moose may be briefly described as a bifurcating grasshopper.

[Wayne Komer]

Chess Books at Auction

July 18, 2020

From June of 2009

From Bobby’s Storage Locker

In an auction held at Bonhams Auction House at 580 Madison Avenue in New York City today, the personal collection of Bobby Fischer was sold for $61,000.

Lot No: 3372 FISCHER, ROBERT JAMES “BOBBY.” 1943-2008. BOBBY FISCHER’S CHESS LIBRARY, INCLUDING NOTEBOOKS PREPARED FOR THE 1972 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP.

Comprising:

1. Approximately 320 volumes on chess including a few match results, various places and languages (including many Soviet imprints), 1889-1992, mostly 8vo, original bindings. Includes about a dozen presentation copies, inscribed by the authors for Fischer and two typed letters signed laid in. At least three volumes bear Fischer’s ownership signature and at least two with other notation by Fischer.

2. Approximately 400 issues of chess-related periodicals, including runs of The Chess Player, Sahovski Informator, Overboard, Revista SAH, “Shakhmaty”, and “Magyar Sakkelet” among others, mostly 1960s-1980s, various sizes, original wrappers.

3. Nine personal floppy disks (unexamined).

4. Three sets of proofs for Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games (published 1969), with the title in various stages (“My Memorable Games: 52 Tournament Games”, “My Life in Chess”) comprising a typescript with copious technical annotations, mostly printers notes, but also various changes to wording and corrections to the chess notation possibly made by Fischer, with a sketch of the title-page on drafting paper apparently in Fischer’s hand; a set of page proofs (loose, possibly in duplicate); and a partially annotated galley proof stamped June 1966.

5. Four volumes of bound typescript detailing the match history of Boris Spassky from the 1950s to 1971 (two vols as white, two as black), apparently prepared by “RGW” and with some manuscript commentary.

6. Fifteen volumes of ring- or string-bound manuscript notebooks with notation of the games of Mark Taimanov and Tigran Petrosian from the 1950s-1970, various hands.

Condition varies, generally a bit musty and a few volumes water- damaged but otherwise good or better. Library of books and documents derived from the Pasadena storage unit where Fischer’s belongings were held after 1992. Fischer had defied the U. N. embargo against travel to Yugoslavia for his re-match against Boris Spassky and never again returned to the U. S.

The manuscript material centers on Fischer’s preparation for his historic match with Boris Spassky in 1972, certainly the most exciting moment in the history of American chess. Fischer’s win in “The Match of the Century” ended 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Championship and was viewed with elation in the doldrums of the Cold War. A telling memo appears in one of the bound typescripts: “Spassky seems to adopt defences for Black after prolonged experience with the white pieces against a particular defence. I had a conversation with Korchnoi after Hastings (January) – he had not been informed that I was preparing files for you – in which he made some remark that a possible weakness of yours was the Bc4 lines as White against the Sicilian….”

Among the printed volumes there is an annotated German edition of the match record for the 1971 World Championship, many games bear Fischer’s own notes as to how the games could have been won (“31…RF4! Wins easily / 21gF Rg6 wins / 20. QFl! ” etc.)

Other highlights from the library include a copy of ANATOLY KARPOV'S Selected Chess Matches 1966-1977, Moscow, 1978 inscribed and signed by the author for Bobby Fischer, in Russian. Also an issue of Macedonian Checkmate (in Macedonian) which Fischer has signed in initials below a note, "Movies, television, tv, cassettes" from February 1972--Fischer apparently preparing for the world fame he was to attain a few months later. It is evident that Fischer’s thirst after chess knowledge knew no national boundaries. He possessed works in multiple languages, many published from behind the Iron Curtain. Several of the Soviet and Eastern European periodicals bear Fischer’s name in manuscript on the upper cover, but were first mailed to East Berlin.

Present also is a copy of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess with a note laid in seeming to indicate that Fischer planned on suing the publishers. The proofs of Fischer’s chess autobiography are heavily annotated and an interesting reminder of the amazing technical difficulty of publishing a work that can only be proofed by the author himself or a very few specialists. Every book in the library relates to the game of chess, with the exception of Fischer’s own ”I Was Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse!” of 1982.

A fascinating look into Fischer’s absolute single-mindedness in becoming the world’s greatest chess player and more specifically in attaining victory over Boris Spassky. See illustration. Sold for $61,000 inclusive of Buyer's Premium

Missing from the auction was Bobby Fischer's collection of Mexican Comic Books, which was the most prized possession of Bobby Fischer. The winning bidder was undisclosed telephone bidder 7085.

Sam Sloan

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...sc/5zRPdvWmtxQ

________

Mo. couple buys Bobby Fischer's chess library

The Associated Press Thursday, Jun. 11, 2009

ST. LOUIS -- A Missouri couple with a strong interest in chess says they've bought the chess library of legendary player Bobby Fischer.
Retired investment company executives, Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield (SINK' field), say the collection includes hundreds of chess books. It also has bound volumes outlining the match histories of several masters, including Fischer's rival Boris Spassky. Fischer beat Spassky in 1972, ending years of Soviet domination in the World Championship.
The Sinquefields acquired the collection Wednesday through a San Francisco-based auction house for $50,000. They are deciding on a secure location to display the collection. They were instrumental in starting the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, where this year's U. S. championship was played.

Source: http://www.bnd.com/