Traité Élémentaire du Jeu des Échecs ....

Paris: Allouard et Kaeppelin, [1852]. First Edition. Contemporary half calf with marbled boards.. Very Good; some wear to the binding; frontispiece reinforced at gutter.. 8vo, [2], vi, [7] - 372 pp. + frontispiece. AN ADDITIONAL 44 pp. MANUSCRIPT WITH MOUNTED ILLUSTRATIONS OF GAMES APPENDED TO THE TEXT BY ALFRED JUMELLE.

A superb association copy with an important narrative regarding chess and the social and artistic life at the Café de la Regence. The manuscript annotations and 'appendage' are by an habitué of the Café de la Regence - the chess players and social rendezvous during the 18th and 19th century at the Place du Palais-Royal and then, after 1852, at 161 rue Saint-Honoré - Alfred Jumelle, the Parisian aesthete and accomplished chess player. He was a member of numerous societies (e.g., Soc. de Géographie, Union centrale des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l'Industrie) and a frequent contributor to the journal La Stratégie and the Parisian press. The Café de la Regence played host to the greats of the game and society (Marx and Engels played there). Diderot makes note of it in his Neveu de Rameau; it was frequently cited by Philodor and Jean Jacques Rousseau. The decade of the fifties and sixties were its high point. It saw such notables as the great Paul Morphy - recorded here (alas, NOT the great "Opera" game that Morphy played on Oct. 21, 1858 at the Salle Le Peletier during the performance of Norma). On the front endpaper of this book is Jumelle's opening remark: "Le comte de Basterot m'avait fait l'honneur de m'entretenir de [son] ouvrage plusieurs fois à la Régence (...) [Il] eut la bonté de me faire parvenir cet exemplaire que j'ai fait relier en lui laissant toute marge". The 42 page manuscript appended to the text commences with a commentary of chess techniques and strategies in the game, chess problems offered in contemporary literature of the subject, interspersed with comments on the Café de la Regence and bickering skirmishes among its patrons (there is a list of the regular players at the Café between 1854 - 1858 including Alfred de Musset, Pierre Saint-Amant, future president Jules Grevy, Daniel Harrwitz the great German player, etc.). There is a substantial entry dated Sept. 27, 1858 recording the appearance and games of the American phenom Paul Morphy - who undertook 8 games. He records a game between Harrwitz and Morphy; another between Maczuski and Duclos (1869). Accompanying these entries and comments is a lengthy account of several pages of the "life" of the Café de la Regence: "Le corps incliné sur l'échiquier, le regard fixement attaché sur les pièces, la figure écarlate, le coude appuyé sur la traverse ou sur le mouchoir, les mains serrant convulsivement le tableau de marbre, les pièces roulées machinalement entre les doigts, ou martelées les unes contre les autres, l'oscillation de la tête, le tremblement des pieds, le pianotement des doigts, l’échec au Roi prononcé avec une espèce de fureur, la pièce posée avec force sur l'échiquier, l'interpellation aux membres de la galerie, tous ces signes démontrent une défaite certaine (…) Dans le seul temple ouvert au culte des échecs (...) a-ton dit, on joue avec des échecs, mais on ne joue pas aux échecs ... tel est l'aspect de certaines tables [et des] propos des joueurs au café de la Régence (…) nulle part aux yeux de l'observateur le caractère humain ne se dessine mieux que là". An important, detailed, unknown commentary.