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Editor: Dr Tim Harding
  Dr. Tim Harding   J. H. Blackburne     Paul Morphy   Correspondence Chess history book   Captain W. D. Evans

Reviews of the book

book coverSeveral reviews of Tim Harding's new book, British Chess Literature to 1914: A Handbook for Historians, have come to hand.

A very detailed and largely favourable review was posted at Chess Book Chats, the blog conducted by English chess collector Michael Clapham.

Cultural historian Michael Sharples, writing in Victorian Periodicals Review, noted that the book "weaves material on chess-play with contextual knowledge of the larger landscape of publishing..." He concluded that:

This well-written and well-researched book will be valuable to those starting out in the field of ches shistory as well as more experienced researchers within sport and leisure history and periodical studies.

IM Craig Pritchett, in his review for the subscription-only Chess Scotland Magazine, calls the book: "a well-researched, highly informative and accessible work... for players... who take a keen interest in the game's history."

Review at Chess Cafe website

John Elburg's review includes the following:

"Seldom a chess book has impressed so much... A must for every chess historian!"

We have posted, in PDF, a lengthy review from Mind's Eye Press of 4 June 2018, which among other things says:

As a handbook, it strives to be not only a research tool, but also to serve as an example of how one historian works... The final chapter, "On Doing Chess History Today,"... might be the best chapter of the book. It's entertaining to read and has a wealth of information on the many tasks of a historian... Highly recommended for researchers across many chess history sub-fields."

ALSO in PDF: review (in Dutch) from the Nederlands Dagblad.

 

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