Schachfiguren

Schachfiguren

Schachfiguren, A.E.J. Mackett-Beeson, 120 p.

Mackett-Beeson was closely connected to Alex Hammond, who was a collector and seller of decorative chess sets with his shop located in Burlington Arcade close to Bond Street, i.e. right in the very heart of London. Hammond was one of the first to write an extensive book on the history and origins of chessmen. Both, his shop and his literary heritage were taken over by Mackett-Beeson. His book "Chessmen", here in a translated version in German language reprinted by Mundus Verlag in 1987, was first published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1967. Mackett-Beeson provides a very readable history of the production of decorative chessmen mixed with some general chess history. Most of the illustrations show exhibits from the collections of some of the greates chess collectors in the world at that time, namely Bronstein, Solus-Chaiken, Harbison and Hafler. 

Interesting side issue: the Mongolian chess set shown on table XXII (p. 100, shown below on the picture no. 4, left side) was recently auctioned by Heritage Auctions. It sold for several thousand dollars to Dermot and Ciaran Rochford. Dermot Rochford later wrote an article about it in The Chess Collector Magazine Vol. XXVII No. 1 September 2018.
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