Down the Rabbit Hole

In yesterday's post on my World Chess Championship blog, 1851 London (the Tournament Books), I used Google Books as a reference for the first international tournament. While I was working on the post I discovered a pair of resources on Google Books that I had previously either overlooked or underestimated: 'Related books' and 'Other editions'.

The English edition of the 1851 London tournament book leads to other English language resources on Google Books and the German edition leads to German language resources. As you might expect, those other resources lead to further resources and on and on and on.

For example, on the English side I discovered the magazine The Chess World, Volume 1, March 1865. That title in itself is not particularly useful for locating additional information about the periodical, but Di Felice's wonderful reference work 'Chess Periodicals, 1836-2008' says,

656. Chess World (The) : A Magazine Devoted to the Cultivation of the Game of Chess, Containing Games and Problems by the First Masters (1865– 1869) Vol.1 no.1 (Mar 1865)–Vol.4, no.12 (Mar 1869). Monthly. Publisher Trübner & Co. London. England. 23 cm. Magazine. General. English. Note Editors’ names not given; preface signed by "The editors."

On the German side I discovered the magazine Schachzeitung, 'von der Berliner Schachgesellschaft', Volume 1, 1846 (starts in July). Of this periodical Di Felice says,

2321. Schachzeitung: In Monatl (1846–1871) Organization Berliner Schachgesellschaft. Vol.1 (1846)– Vol.26, no.12 (Dec 1871). Monthly. Editors Ludwig Bledow ( July/Aug 1846), Wilhelm Hanstein and Otto von Oppen (Sept 1846–1851), Otto von Oppen and N.D. Nathan (1851–52), Otto von Oppen (1852–58), Max Lange (Dec 1858– 1864), E. von Schmidt and Johannes Minckwitz (Jan 1865–1866), Johannes Minckwitz (1867–71). Publisher Veit und Co. Berlin, later Leipzig. Germany. Illus., 21–23 cm. Magazine. General. German. Note Vol.4 (1849)–Vol.26 (1871) with title Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft. Continued by Deutsche Schachzeitung: Organ für das Gesamte Schachleben.

All of this taken together promises to be a huge time waster. At least I'll get a few posts out of the time spent.