The Chess Montly

iv+380 pages with illustrations, diagrams, tables, and index. Royal octavo (9 3/4" x 6 1/4") bound in half brown leather with gilt lettering to spine and blue marbled boards. From the library of Dino Ruggieri. Volume VIII (8). (Betts: 7-25). First edition.

The Chess Monthly of Great Britain was one of the first to give properly annotated games. The principal editor, Leopold Hoffer, was helped enormously by having J H Zukertort as co-editor until his death in 1888. There were four regular sections: news, annotated games, problems and endgames. In addition, Hoffer carried on a profoundly bitter feud with his one-time benefactor, Steinitz. This publication should not be confused with The Chess Monthly published in the United States which was short lived from 1857-1862 and edited by Fiske and Morphy.

Dino Ruggieri was born in, Pigüé a small city in the Buenos Aires province, October 22, 1921. His parents were both Italians, natives of Porto D'Ascoli. In their early years in Argentina, the Ruggieri’s family lived in the country, located about 45 miles from Pigüé. The family was engaged in agriculture. When Ruggieri was 8, his father purchased a home in Pigüé, where he lived until 2008. In 1938 he was involved in an accident and he was transferred to Buenos Aires for recovery. This was the beginning of his hobby of chess, both as a player over the board and by correspondence, but as well as a major collector of chess materials. After his recovery he became a prominent local chess player and very good representative in postal chess, where he represented Argentina in matches against Italy, Yugoslavia, Holland and other countries. He was using the correspondence with his rivals to offer exchanges. Ruggieri was related to Mr Niemeijer and soon began exchanging materials and making important purchases. He also had frequent contacts with Gregorio Lastra, Normando Ivaldi, Gaspar Soria and Carlos De Veyga, all known collectors of chess. He died in 2009 at the age of 88.

Condition:

Corners bumped, Ruggieri's stamp to front end paper, some foxing else a very good copy of a scarce item.