GAME AND PLAYE OF THE CHESSE.
JOHN LYDGATE
CAXTON'S
GAME AND PLAYE OF THE CHESSE.
1474.
A VERBATIM REPRINT OF THE FIRST EDITION.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
WILLIAM E.A. AXON, M.R.S.L.
"And ther was founde by clerkes full prudent Of the chesse the play most
glorious."
JOHN LYDGATE.
LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK,
62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1883.
[Transcribers Note: This is a reprint of Caxton's 1474 original.
"Englifh" long s's which look very similar to f's have been transposed
to s's for readability; yogh (looks like a mutated 3) has been rendered
as a 3; thorn, þ, has been left as such and macrons over letters are
given as e.g. [=o]. Otherwise the text has been left as is.
The original punctutation has been preseved. Virgula suspensiva, shown
here as / was in common use from the thirteenth to the seventeenth
century. Often used for short pauses (such as the cæsura in the middle
of a line of poetry), but sometimes was used as equivalent to the
punctus. "'9" represents a superscripted 9 and is an ancestor to the
modern apostrophe. It usually indicates the omission of a terminal -us.
A small amount of text in this edition is in Blackletter, which was used
in the Caxton original, and these sections have been marked up as such.
The book contains many attractive illustrations copied from the Caxton
original and an HTML version exists to give a better representation
of this.]
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.
Jonathon Oldbuck on the Game of Chess, 1474
The First Edition: copies in libraries and at sales
Where was it printed?
Caxton's account of the translation
The Second Edition: copies in libraries and at sales
Ferron and De Vignay's "Jeu d'Echecs"
Jacques de Cessoles: "Liber de Moribus hominum"
Sermons on Chess
Ægidius Romanus, his life and his book: "De Regimine Principum"
Occleve's imitation
William Caxton as a translator
Bibliography of the Chess Book:
Colonna
Cessoles
Ferron and De Vignay
Conrad van Ammenhaufen
Mennel
Heinrich von Beringen
Stephan
Caxton
Sloane
The scope and language of the Chess-book
Authors quoted and named
Biblical names and allusions
Xerxes the inventor of Chess!
Sidrac
John the monk
Truphes of the Philosophers
Helinand
Classical allusions
Mediæval allusions and stories
John of Ganazath
St. Bernard
The dishonest trader
The drunken hermit
A violent remedy
Murder of Nero
Theodorus Cyrenaicus
Democritus of Abdera
Socrates disguised
Didymus and raised letters for the blind
Shaksperean etymology
Caxton at Ghent
The history of Chess
The ethical aim of the writer of the Chess-book
THE GAME OF THE CHESSE.
Dedication to the Duke of Clarence
Prologue to second edition
BOOK I.
This booke conteyneth. iiii. traytees/ The first traytee is of the
Invencion of this playe of the chesse/ and conteyneth. iii.
chapitres.
The first chapitre is under what kynge this play was founden.
The .ii. chapitre/ who fonde this playe.
The .iii. chapitre/ treteth of. iii. causes why hit was made and
founden.
BOOK II.
The seconde traytee treteth of the chesse men/ and
conteyneth .v. chapitres.
The first chapitre treteth of the forme of a kynge and of suche
thinges as apperteyn to a kynge.
The .ii. chapitre treteth of y'e quene & her forme & maners.
The .iii. chapitre of the forme of the alphins and her offices and
maners.
The .iiii. chapitre is of the knygth and of his offices.
The .v. is of the rooks and of their maners and offices.
BOOK III.
The thirde traytee is of the offices of the comyn peple And hath
.viii. chapitres.
The first chapitre is of the labourers & tilinge of the erthe.
The .ii. of smythis and other werkes in yron & metall.
The .iii. is of drapers and makers of cloth & notaries.
The .iiii. is of marchantes and chaungers.
The .v. is of phisicyens and cirugiens and apotecaries.
The .vi. is of tauerners and hostelers.
The .vii. is of y'e gardes of the citees & tollers & customers.
The .viii. is of ribauldes disepleyars and currours.
BOOK IV.
The .iiii. traytee is of the meuyng and yssue of them And hath .viii.
chapitres.
The first is of the eschequer.
The seconde of the yssue and progression of the kynge.
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