by Jim Weinheimer
Curator of the Chess Exhibition
Princeton University

[ed- edited to fit]

Eugene Beauharnais Cook was a well known American chess problemist. He composed his first problem while still at Princeton, and later published his problems in newspapers and magazines around the world. No less important were his contributions to chess history. Working closely with other important scholars and collectors, he amassed the third largest chess library in the world.

At his death in 1915, his collection came to Princeton University. It consists of early-printed works, a great number of chess magazines, and a wide range of correspondence with the most important chess figures of the 19th and early 20th century. He was also one of the earliest chess organizers, and his collection is particularly rich in source material for the early history of American chess.

William Spackman, class of 1927, was a novelist, essayist, teacher and chess editor. In the 1940s he edited the respected journal The Chess Correspondent and also compiled a major library. He left his chess collection to Princeton in 1955.

This collection primarily consists of tournament books and bulletins, along with many game collections. Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin Levene have collected chess sets from all over the world. They now have one of the largest collections in the United States.

The Exhibition
The exhibition itself is divided by several themes. There are several fine examples of incunabulae, including a manuscript by Jacobus de Cessolis Libellus de moribus hominum et de officiis nobilium super ludo scaccorum. Manuscript. France, 15th century, and Cook's most notable acquisition, Luis Ram¡rez de Lucena's Repetici¢n de amores & arte de axedrez. Salamanca, ca. 1497, the first chess book ever published.

All the major early treatises are displayed, Damiano's Libro da imparare giocare … scachi, et de bellissimi partiti. Rome? 1510?, Greco's The royall game of chesse-play. London, 1656, Ruy Lopez's Libro de la inuenci¢n liberal y arte del juego del axedrez. Alcal , 1561, Arthur Saul's The famous game of chesse-play. London, 1672, and many others.

Later works include Paul Rudolph von Bilguer's Handbuch des Schachspiels. Berlin, 1843, and the first American chess books: Chess made easy. Philadelphia, 1802 (with Benjamin Franklin's essay) and The Elements of chess. Boston, 1805.

There are a few books from the Spackmann collection, illustrating its strengths. Among others, the tournament books from San Sebastian 1911, and Zurich, 1935 are on display.

Cook attempted to collect problems exhaustively, and just a few examples from his vast collection are on display. Of printed books, there are Philip Stamma's Essai sur le jeu des ‚checs. Paris, 1737; William Lewis's Oriental chess. London, 1817. Aaron Alexandre's Collection des plus beaux problŠmes d'‚checs. Paris, 1846, Cook's own publication American Chess-Nuts. New York, 1868. is here, and Sam Loyd's Chess strategy. Elizabeth, 1878 (affectionately dedicated to Cook).

There are also a huge number of problems from Cook's papers. Framed on the walls are several original manuscripts of Cook's problems. Also of interest is a computer demonstration which animates six of Cook's problems, including his first problem, and his clever Atalanta, the Fleet-Footed Queen, which was performed with live pieces at the New York Academy of Music, in April, 1879.

History
Cook's deep interest in chess history is shown in several beautiful early printed books, such as the Gesta Romanorum. Strassburg, 1499; and Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Arabshah's Kitab ajaib al-maqdur fi akhbar Timur. Leyden, 1636.

Also displayed are copies of manuscripts made by John White and Tassilo Heydebrand und der Lasa. These include marginalia and annotations by Cook, White, and Heydebrand und der Lasa.

Automaton
The chess automaton is described and explained by several books on the subject. Among them, Observations on the automaton chess player. London, 1819 and Joseph Friedrich, Freiherr zu Racknitz's Ueber den Schachspieler des Herrn von Kempelen. Leipzig, 1789.

Sets
Finally, but certainly the most popular part of the exhibition are the wonderful chess sets on loan from the collection of Dr. Benjamin Levene. The center piece is the humorous set by Doug Anderson: Rock and roll vs. Classical musicians. The king of Rock and roll, Elvis Presley, is accompanied by his Queen, Tina Turner, while the classical side is led by Leonard Bernstein, with his Queen, Kirsten Flagsted, dressed as a Valkyrie. Other sets include a modern Italian puzzle set, a Waterford crystal set, and a rare Ivory set of mounted chessmen from Germany.