Libro da Imparare Giocare a Scachi

Four rare editions of this book were published around the same time without indicating the date or printer. This edition is the only one with the main text printed entirely in Gothic type.Pedro Damiano was a Portuguese chess player who lived from 1480 to 1544. A native of Odemira, he was a pharmacist by profession. His book, written in Italian and Spanish, went through eight editions in the 16th century. Damiano describes the rules of the game, offers advice on strategy, presents a selection of chess problems, and analyses a few openings. It is the oldest book that definitely states that the square on the right of the row closest to each player must be white. He also offers advice regarding blindfold chess, principally focused on the need to master notation based on numbering the squares 1-64.Damiano here suggests that chess was invented by Xerxes, and for that reason it was known in Portuguese as xadrez and in Spanish as ajedrez. In fact, these words come from old Persian chaturanga via Arabic xaţrandj. This book also contains one of earliest representations of the modern form of the rook as a tower, at p. 2.