The Turkish Automaton

First (and only) Edition. Publisher's pictorial cloth boards, rubbed at ends of spine and extremities, corners, etc. Lower egde of the spine starting to split in one place. Gift inscription dated 1916 from the Drew Rd School. pp viii, [3], 12-288, [16] pages catalogue for Blackie's Story Books for Boys in the rear. Uncommon. Novel set around a chess playing machine designed by a Hungarian mechanic called Wolfgang de Kempelen (1734-1804). It was of course a hoax, the machine consisted of a life-sized model of a human head and torso decked in Turkish robes and turban, seated behind a large cabinet on top of which was a chessboard. The machine appeared 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 crouched inside the cabinet manipulated the Turk from below using 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, apparently, Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin.