The Golden Treasury Of Chess by I. A. Horowitz –

Introduction by FRANK J. MARSHALL, U.S. CHESS CHAMPION FOR 32 YEARS

There ore three remarkable things about this book; its title, its motivation and its contents.

The title at once brings to mind one of the most beloved books in the English language. As we all know, it was Palgrave's object, when he assembled the beautiful poems which comprise "The Golden Treasury," to gather into one convenient volume the choicest productions of our literature through several centuries. The editor has had in mind precisely the same goal with respect to chess, and the result has been a really magnificent compilation of fine games.

As for the book's motivation: it goes without saying that such a collection can only be made con amore; only a man deeply in love with the beauties of chess would be willing to devote a lifetime of labor, of research, of travel, of correspondence, of unsparing loyalty to a cherished ideal to produce such a monumental work. The painstaking examination of thousands of books, magazines and manuscripts in many libraries, museums and private collections has gone into "The Golden Treasury of Chess," and the results are apparent from the opening game.

The contents can only be described as unique. There are of course many collections of games, but each one has some kind of limitation. Some are devoted to a single tournament or match, others to a single player, some to a single epoch, while still others suffer from planlessness and haphazard arrangement. Not so "The Golden Treasury." There is no other collection of such scope, such all-inclusiveness and it may be added, with such a profusion of strikingly brilliant games. The book is therefore an encyclopedia of beautiful games and at the same time a delightful reminder of the grandest achievements of our finest masters.