J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York, 1973, 1st edition, hardback, red cloth, without dustjacket, ISBN -0-397-01004-4, 317p., good condition, 795 grams.

The author of this book was a music critic for the New York Times for 20 years and the author of 7 other books. He was also an avid chess player, who covered the Fischer-Spassky match in 1972 in Reykjavik, Iceland. The book contains all kinds of facts and trivia about chess and chess grandmasters throughout history.

Harold Schonberg traces the history of modern chess through the lives of these great players from Philidor to Bobby Fisher. The book is illustrated with many extraordinary photographs and drawings. The writing is never dull. It covers the major movements and styles of chess play from the romantics to the hypermoderns and beyond.