The Turk, Chess Automaton [Hardcover]

Gerald M. Levitt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786407786 | ISBN-13: 978-0786407781 | Publication Date: October 2000

With all-new research and facts unknown for two centuries, this is a richly detailed and comprehensive account of "The Turk," Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen's amazing but fraudulent Chess Automaton that held the world spellbound more than fifty years beginning in 1770. In actuality, the Turk was manipulated by a man housed in a hot box, working by candlelight-but the secret was kept for decades. Besides playing a good game of chess within an hour's time, the manipulator had to keep track of the moves, work the pantograph arm apparatus, nod the head, roll the eyes, cover up sneezes and coughs, and work the sound mechanism. This work contains a detailed discussion of the literature surrounding the Turk along with an analysis of its hidden operation. The complete collection of published games played by the Turk, many, again, unknown for 200 years, is also included.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

It was an impressive showpiece: a fierce-looking, turbaned puppet seated at a cabinet bearing a chessboard. Its successive owners from 1770 to 1854 would open the cabinet to display to an audience an array of gears and springs and then would invite a spectator to play a game of chess with the Turk, as the turbaned figure came to be known. The Turk usually won. Audiences and chess players were impressed. But it was a grand hoax. Jammed uncomfortably into the cabinet, kept from the audience's view by legerdemain, was a "director," a human chess player who observed by candlelight the moves made by the opponent and operated the pantograph that executed the Turk's responses.

EDITORS OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Review

Fascinating --The Washington Post

Detailed and thoroughly documented history --C&RL News

Deeply researched...highly recommended --Blitz Chess --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 268 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786407786
• ISBN-13: 978-0786407781
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,015,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sensational Chess Playing Machine, March 31, 2001

By 

R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Turk, Chess Automaton (Hardcover)

Over two hundred years ago, good chess players were playing against a machine, and generally being defeated by it. The machine was the famous chess-playing automaton "The Turk," and although it has been extensively written about for centuries, much of what has been written is just wrong. No one has collected as much history about the Turk as Gerald M. Levitt, a chess player and writer who has written _The Turk, Chess Automaton_ (McFarland & Company). It is a fascinating history of the machine and what people made of it.

How it worked was a trick, but an exceedingly clever one that has been speculated upon in various ways ever since the Turk made its debut. It was an intricate mechanism, to be sure. That mechanical arm really was picking up the pieces and moving them, and somehow the machine could see what move its opponent had just made. But the main part of the machine was a human chess player concealed within the table. (Even if you know this, the way the Turk saw the board and moved the pieces will be a surprise.) The doors of the cabinets inside the table were opened one at a time and no player could be seen, but that is because the cabinet was a cleverly designed magical apparatus that allowed him to scoot around in it to remain concealed as the various doors were opened.

During its career, the Turk played the chess champion Philidor, Benjamin Franklin, and Napoleon. It was taken on tours of the world, and crowds were amazed by it. Eventually, it wound up in a museum in Philadelphia, and was burned up in a fire in 1854. _The Turk, Chess Automaton_ proves to be a grand history of the Turk's amazing career, but it is also a good deal more. For real chess freaks, all the moves of the known games played by the Turk or its various operators are given here. During the years of its operation, many different theories about how the machine worked were voiced and written about, and Levitt has included many of the original documents. By far the most famous writer about the Turk was Edgar Allen Poe, whose 1836 article is reproduced here. Among the useful appendices to this entertaining and well-illustrated book is the final one: the Turk has been resurrected. A maker of equipment for professional magicians has made a faithful copy of it. It has been shown in various seminars on the history of magic. And the Turk still fools people.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Must" reading for chess enthusiasts & hoax buffs., January 4, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Turk, Chess Automaton (Hardcover)

From 1770 to 1855, the European chess communities were held spellbound with Baron Wolfgang von Kemplene's amazing automaton popularly known as "The Turk". It was ostensibly an automatic chess playing machine, but was in reality one of the most successful hoaxes perpetrated on the public. The Turk was manipulated by a man housed in a hot box (working by candlelight). In addition to playing a good game of chess within an hour's time, the hidden director had to keep track of the position, move the pieces with the pantograph arm apparatus, nod the head, roll the eyes, cover up sneezes and coughs, and work the mechanism that spoke the word "Echeck!". Gerald Levitt's superbly researched, written, and presented history of this amazing hoax includes an extensive analysis of how it operated, a collection of published games played by the Turk (several unknown for 200 years), and numerous other games known to have been played by the Turk's hidden directors. The Turk, Chess Automaton is "must" reading for all chess history enthusiasts and students of 18th century hoaxes and popular culture.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The legendary Turk., June 6, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Turk, Chess Automaton (Hardcover)

Let the story of the Turk encourage to think in detail....Wolfgang Kempelen was a genius and so was Johann Maelzel, but once you find out how the Turk worked you then will be suprised, but then this machine persuaded many people that the Turk had life. Yes, that this machine was a thinking machine that could think and move. This story can encourage or inspire anyone to pick up a certain subject and to place passion in the things that you do. The Turk is a fascinating subject, and i encourage you to buy this book. 10 stars.