[Thicknesse, Philip] | Debunking The Turk

[Thicknesse, Philip]

The Speaking Figure and the Automaton Chess-Player [of M. de Kempelen] Exposed and Detected. London: John Stockdale, 1784

8vo (203 x 123 mm). Engraved frontispiece, publisher's 4-page advertisement at the end. Modern quarter green morocco over marbled boards, spine lettered gilt; spine faded to olive green.

Thicknesse was an author and eccentric who wrote for The Gentleman's Magazine and published several books, among them the present exposé of Wolfgang von Kempelen's chess-playing automaton, The Turk, presented to Maria Theresa in 1769.

The machine consisted of a life-sized model of a human head and torso, dressed in Turkish robes and a turban, seated behind a large cabinet on top of which a chessboard was placed. The machine appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent, but was in fact merely an elaborate simulation of mechanical automation: a human chess master concealed inside the cabinet puppeteered the Turk from below by means of a series of levers. With a skilled operator, the Turk won most of the games played during its demonstrations around Europe and the Americas for nearly 84 years, playing and defeating many challengers, including statesmen such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin.

REFERENCE:

ESTC N23931; Toole Stott 417

PROVENANCE:

? Fletcher of Saltoun (inscribed "Saltoun" on title-page and dated 178–)