THE STEINITZ PAPERS by Kurt Landsberger is much more entertaining than it might sound from the title. Just for fun, I've had it on my kitchen table for about a month and have been reading it every day at meals. One quickly realizes that the natural audience for this book, which consists mostly of scholarly research, will be collectors and those interested in chess history.

THE STEINITZ PAPERS is a high-quality hardback and priced above what most ordinary players would want to pay for such a specialized book with only limited playing content. Landsberger, a great-grandnephew of Steinitz, already wrote WILLIAM STEINITZ, CHESS CHAMPION; here he gathers together a remarkable number of letters, notes, match agreements, newspaper articles, and more by and related to Steinitz.

The good news is that much of this material is lively and entertaining. Steinitz himself was notoriously irascible, sarcastic, and owned a witty pen; whereas his critics and enemies (constituting a large company) can be quite competitive in those regards. For example, Zukertort writes of Steinitz as "an opponent who prides himself on the scurrility of his speech and writings." The critic Hoffer says of Steinitz: "since he has grown fat, unfair and over forty, he has thrown off the mask and gives full play to the floodgates of his accumulated venom." It is well known that Steinitz’ latter years were marked by terrible poverty and tragedy; reading the letters and accounts from that time is a touching reminder. The book has 24 pages of photographs, 8 of letters and samples of Steinitz’ writing. I think the book deserves high praise, and it should be enjoyed by anyone who reads chess history.

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