The Isle of Lewis Chessmen Unmasked - Book Review
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- Опубликовано: 21 апр 2011
- Review of The Lewis Chessmen Unmasked, by David H. Caldwell, Mark A. Hall and Caroline M. Wilkinson. A modern forensic study into the most specacular chessmen ever discovered. 80 pages, National Museums, Scotland, 2010.
Hey my Chess Friends!
I appear in this new 4-hour film series on the Culture of Chess!
INFO AND DOWNLOAD AT ideasroadshow.com/chess/
WATCH THE TRAILER AT ruclips.net/video/zLnOklDkTGQ/видео.html
DVD FOR PURCHASE ON AMAZON www.amazon.com//dp/B0C13M1B84/
I know these videos were done a few years ago - but thank you for posting them. I’ve been watching these with my son and really enjoying them - it’s fascinating learning about the history of the game etc. will have to put in an order for your book when it’s birthday time. Once again, thanks.
Thanks Michael for the great comment. I don't post many videos lately, but I'm still here and yes, the book is the big development at this point. Send your thoughts any time.
Living near Edinburgh I always like to visit the museum to see the pieces.
Thank you for the review. Well done.
Thanks for the great review of these wonderful pieces. Although I've been collecting chess sets for a number of yrs, I only added 'The Isle Of Lewis' (pronounced, "Lews") to my collection just recently. My 2 favorites are the I.O.L.'s (of course), and the exquisite pre-Staunton, 'Calvert 1810' pieces - Earlier today, I caught your vid of the (mini) I.O.L. pieces in pewter, and as soon as I post this comment I am going to your eBay store(another fav) to order these little guys. Thanks again.
Great review!
Thank you very much for this 👍 🇬🇧
I love the medieval German chess set from the 14th century I seen them being used in an early viking film on TV in the 1970s they are also known as the leipzig chess set. I think they are styled on the Isle of Lewis and they look great.
Yeah, the set you're talking about is reported to be originally found in the Leipzig museum, and dated to the 14th century. I haven't been able to verify if that account is true or not. The oldest version of the "Leipzig" chess set that I have found is in the collection of Jon Crumiller, dated (on the chess king) 1852. This chess design has a very interesting mixture of medieval chess forms, partly similar to the Isle of Lewis chessmen, and also similar to pieces from other sources. Most peculiar is the rook, who shows a human figure coming out of a castle turret. It would be very rare, perhaps unheard of, for the castle turret to represent a rook in the 14th century. I would very much like to see further research done as to the origin of the set, but I agree, it's a very enjoyable design and a pleasure to play with!
www.mournestudios.com/listing/1067333266/chess-medieval-chess-set-the-leipzig
Thanks very much for your comment. Please tell me more about this pronunciation. "Lews", like the word "loose?" Where is that pronunciation normally heard?
where is this set you have from?
Rick Knowlton is great to work with! He's got a website that has a great variety of quality chess sets and books about the history of chess. Definitely get Ivan's chess set through Rick. He helped me with all my questions about getting a custom chess set through Ivan. Thank you Rick. I hope the hurricane did not affect you too bad.
Thanks for the appreciative note, Chris! We evacuated for the hurricane, had a nice vacation week, then came back to our home, which was still in very good shape. The big thing for me now is the book, finally in print after 6 years of very intensive work, both me and the other coauthor, Jean-Louis Cazaux. The title is a mouthful, but we mean it --
A World of Chess: Its Development and Variations through Centuries and Civilizations.
I've gotta get busy making a website, aworldofchess.com., to showcase the new book. Anyway, thanks again for the comment, and do contact me any time
I love the information and expecially the photo's. But 80 pages is not much. Considered that the first 3 pages are (as good as) blank. While some other only have 25% of text on them.
Yeah but here's the thing: quality. There are dozens of books about the Lewis chessmen. This small book probably has more useful information than most if not all. Some books are like that. Some people too, by the way. Did I mention? Our book is also dense with good chess information, 400 pages.
aworldofchess.com
One of the reasons I haven't purchased a reproduction set is that my favorites are not in them.
Very interesting! Please -- tell us your favorites. If you have their ID numbers (as they are listed starting at 3:03 -- sorry, not really readable on the video) ... or if they're in this video you can call them out by the time stamp ... or you may find them on the internet and can give a link? Anyway, if you can show them, I'd like to know which would make the set you'd like.
Go online & you will find various sets available. I had a purple coloured set which I aged & toned down the purple set , originally thought to be a beetroot hue.
I just cannot imagine Kirk Douglas playing chess.
What a guy. Just died in February at 103 years old. Outplayed Time for quite a while
When researching the Lewis Chessmen, the museum states the King is more closer to 4 inches, then 3.5 inches.
Thanks for the good comment! Yes, my information was not so complete when I made this video. The Lewis kings range in height between 73 mm and 102 mm in height (about 2.9 to 4.0 inches). The specific kings represented by these reproductions are from the two largest, which are originally 4 inches tall. Sorry I got that wrong! I was going by some manufacturer's information which wasn't quite right. True that some Lewis kings were about 3 or 3.5 inches -- but not the ones that these particular pieces were designed after.