Marcel Duchamp and Vitaly Halberstadt. L'Opposition et Les Cases Conjugeés sont Réconcilées

and Le Monde des Echecs. (1) Opposition and Combined Cases. Paris and Brussels, Editions de L'Échiquier, 1932. Softcover, 28 x 24.5 cm, 224 pp. printed in red and black. Famous chess book by Marcel Duchamp with mathematically precise pawn endgame studies. Contains 246 coloured diagrams in the text and 8 coloured diagrams on tracing paper. Cover design by Duchamp. Text in French, German and English.

Duchamp, fervent chess player and member of the French Olympic team (1928-1933), co-wrote the book with Vitali Halberstadt, the Odessa-born chess master who lived in France since the 1920s. Very well-preserved copy incl. the two errata sheets. Extremely rare. (2) Le Monde des Echecs (The World of Chess). Série No.1. Brussels, L'Échiquier, 1933. Yellow portfolio, containing 16 photogravure plates,16 x 24 cm, and loose leaf index sheet. The plates depict famous chess players, including a double portrait of Duchamp and Halberstadt photographed by Man Ray. Mild crease to portfolio cover, else in mint condition. Provenance: collection K. Schippers. (total 2)