Osservazioni teorico-pratiche sopra il giuoco degli scacchi, ossia Il giuoco degli scacchi esposto nel suo miglior lume da Giambatista Lolli modonese. Opera novissima contenente le leggi fondamentali: i precetti più purgati: le migliori aperture: [...]

Two volumes, folio (282x204 mm). [4], 632 pp. Woodcut ornament on title page. Woodcut initial, head- and tailpieces. Volume two opens with a section title at p. [369]: Dimostrazioni pratiche che riguardano il finimento del giuoco degli scacchi, con in fine una centuria delle più scelte sottigliezze, e partiti pratici proposti da varj giuocatori antichi, e moderni. Contemporary stiff vellum, spine with four raised bands and inked title, red sprinkled edges (lacking small portion of the spine in volume two). Some foxing and staining, stronger towards the end of volume two, all in all a good copy.

First and only edition, dedicated by the author to Antonio Montecuccoli, of this treatise on chess, which expands with additions and changes a similar work published in 1750 by Ercole del Rio, a friend of Lolli and one of his favorite challengers. Lolli's treatise explains the theory of chess, contains analyses of chess openings, in particular the “Giuoco Piano”, and lists a hundred endgames.

Giovanni Battista Lolli, a native of Nonantola, was a chess player and a chess game theorist; he formed with his Modenese chess friends Ercole del Rio and Domenico L. Ponziani the trio known as the Modenese Masters.

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\PUVE\001171; Oettinger, 28; Van der Linde, I, 372; Chicco-Sanvito, 489.

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