Italy - Italy; Aboca Museum

A Franciscan friar and cultured 16th-century humanist, Luca Pacioli was a deep connoisseur of the art of chess. His famous treatise De Ludo Scachorum—preserved in Gorizia at the Archivio Coronini Cronberg (MS 7955)—gathers 114 refined chess demonstrations. This prestigious facsimile, published in a edition strictly limited to just 999 numbered copies worldwide, faithfully reproduces the unique game boards hand-drawn by Pacioli in red and black ink. These plates of rare elegance were born during the intense collaboration between the friar-mathematician and Leonardo da Vinci, bearing witness to the overwhelming cultural fervor of the Italian Renaissance. The work is completed by a comprehensive commentary volume in Italian titled “Gli scacchi di Luca Pacioli. Evoluzione rinascimentale di un gioco matematico”, authored by renowned scholars including Diego d’Elia, Serenella Ferrari Benedetti, Duilio Contin, Attilio Bartoli Langeli, Enzo Mattesini, and Alessandro Sanvito. The facsimile comes in a hand-made oak box immersed in a mixture of incense, myrrh, mastic, and biological alcohol in order to preserve it. Facsimile binding in leather and blind-stamped. The facsimile and its accompanying commentary volume are issued in a cloth clamshell with a window on the front allowing to see the facsimile in its oak box. Format 15.5 x 11.5 cm (clamshell 32.5 x 27.5 cm). Used, in excellent condition. Only the clamshell has a flaw: it is broken on the upper edge.

Estimate:$728.28

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