Our evidence comes from the commonplace book that Franklin kept from 1730–38. However, we believe that the essay was originally formulated as early as 1732, and that Franklin in the spring of 1779 was once again recalling material from his earlier life for the amusement of his circle at Passy. Because he sent the essay to Barbeu-Dubourg in June, 1779, its composition has commonly been dated circa that time. No manuscript copy has survived, and although we know that Franklin printed the bagatelle on his Passy press, 1 not a single imprint has surfaced. “The Morals of Chess” poses certain infuriating problems for the textual editor. Le Ray de Chaumont’s grandson Vincent maintained that the Doctor’s tireless passion for late-night games was checked only by his supply of candles, and that once, at the home of a French minister, Franklin refused to receive an important dispatch from Congress until after a match had finished. 8 Tales of Franklin’s chess games became magnified over time. Brillon’s being detained in her tub while he, oblivious, played chess in her bathing room well into the night. The story has already been told in these volumes of Mme. 7įranklin played chess with a single-mindedness that threatened to exclude all else. Made public for the first time in 1786, it would be reprinted at least a dozen times by the end of the century, and translated into French, German, and Russian. Franklin and chess have long been associated in the popular mind largely because of this bagatelle, which was the most widely reprinted product of his Passy press.

Rules of the game text