Answers.Body: <p>The following is from Edward Winter's Chess Notes, and reprinted in his <em>Chess Explorations</em>, p.116. I haven't checked the works cited.</p>
  <p>(!) might be intended for &quot;[sic]&quot;. (!) is still used for that purpose in German.</p>
  <p>C.N.622</p>
  <p>From G.H. Diggle:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>The first &quot;exclamation mark&quot; I can discover is in <em>Chess Player's Chronicle</em> Volume 1 page 4 (Staunton v Popert) but it was put in brackets (!) and denoted not a good move but a blunder! Walker's <em>Chess Studies</em> occasionally does the same thing (see games 889 and 946). The earliest <em>modern</em> use of ! that I can find is in the BCM 1881, page 124 (Thorold v Wayte).</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>C.N. 647</p>
  <p>Rob Verhoeven supplies the following:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>Cook's <em>Synopsis of the Chess Openings</em>, 1874, gives on page 6 a list of abbreviations which includes =, !, ?.</p>
  <p>Lange's <em>Jahrbuch des Westdeutschen Schachbundes 1862</em> uses (!) and (?).</p>
  <p>How much further is it possible to go?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
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Answers.Body: <p>The earliest that I can find both &quot;?&quot; and &quot;!&quot; in a book is in James Mason's &quot;<em>Principles of Chess</em>&quot; published in 1900.</p>
  <p>Here is an example from page 242 from the second half of a game between Blackburn and McKenzie from London 1882.</p>
  <p>This is a scan from my copy of the book, bought over half a century ago from the 2nd hand bookshop opposite the Priestman Building of Sunderland Polytechnic for the princely sum of 4/6 (22.5p in today's money)</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/HdIQxNOy.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/HdIQxNOy.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  <p>White's move 18) P-KB4? and Black's 20)...Q-K4! are the examples here.</p>
  <p>Note that there are no &quot;?&quot; or &quot;!&quot; in my reproduction copy of Howard Staunton's 1889 book &quot;<em>The Chess-Players Companion: Comprising a New Treatise on Odds, and a Collection of Games Contested by the Author with Various Distinguished Players During the Last Ten Years; Including the Great French Match with Mons. St. Amant</em>&quot;</p>
  
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Answers.Text: Great reference, and an excellent use of these 4/6 ! Does the book has a page discribing the notation used (as most books of the time had) ? If so, are '!' and '?' rountinely shown, or does Mason say anything about these signs ?
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Body: <p>Who first started to annotate chess moves with “!” for good &amp; “?” for bad?!</p>
  <p>Two data points:</p>
  <p>(1) 1859 &quot;The Book of the First American Chess Congress.&quot; The annotated games have no exclamations or question marks, instead there are (generally critical) footnotes marked with asterisks, daggers etc, e.g.</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>13 B. to K. B. 4th.*</p>
  <p>* This was scarcely advisable.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>(2) 1895 Hastings Chess Tournament Book,</p>
  <p>Plenty of exclamation marks, modestly encased in brackets. There are no question marks (perhaps that would have been thought rude). But typically the exclam is the answer to an inferior move discussed in a footnote, for example in Schiffers' annotations of Alvin vs Bird (Aug 5th) p 23:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>34 R x Kt P[8] P x P (!)</p>
  <p>[8] He ought to have played P x P, Q x P ; 35. Q B to B sq, &amp;c.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>EDIT:
  The current record shown in the answers is that Lange's <em>&quot;Jahrbuch des Westdeutschen Schachbundes&quot;</em>, 1862 uses (!) and (?).</p>
  
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Comments.Text: FWIW, there are no ! and ? in Handbuch des Schachspiel (1843), although there are the proto +/-, =, and -/+. https://books.google.fr/books?id=BU8rAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA97&hl=fr&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false . I don't see any ! nor ? in Staunton either.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Evargalo
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Comments.Text: Looking in Google Books at C. Salvioli's 
  *Teoria E Pratica Del Giuoco Degli Scacchi* (1887)
  I see no "?", even for blunders, but liberal use of "!".
Comments.UserDisplayName: Noam D. Elkies
Tags: <analysis><history><terminology><annotation>
Title: What’s the origin of “!” & “?”
ThreadText: # What’s the origin of “!” & “?”
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2024-06-24)
  
  Who first started to annotate chess moves with “!” for good & “?” for bad?!
  
  Two data points:
  
  (1) 1859 "The Book of the First American Chess Congress." The annotated games have no exclamations or question marks, instead there are (generally critical) footnotes marked with asterisks, daggers etc, e.g.
  
  > 13 B. to K. B. 4th.\*
  >
  > \* This was scarcely advisable.
  
  (2) 1895 Hastings Chess Tournament Book,
  
  Plenty of exclamation marks, modestly encased in brackets. There are no question marks (perhaps that would have been thought rude). But typically the exclam is the answer to an inferior move discussed in a footnote, for example in Schiffers' annotations of Alvin vs Bird (Aug 5th) p 23:
  
  > 34 R x Kt P[8] P x P (!)
  >
  > [8] He ought to have played P x P, Q x P ; 35. Q B to B sq, &c.
  
  EDIT:
  The current record shown in the answers is that Lange's *"Jahrbuch des Westdeutschen Schachbundes"*, 1862 uses (!) and (?).
  
  **Tags:** analysis, history, terminology, annotation
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: FWIW, there are no ! and ? in Handbuch des Schachspiel (1843), although there are the proto +/-, =, and -/+. https://books.google.fr/books?id=BU8rAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA97&hl=fr&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false . I don't see any ! nor ? in Staunton either.  
  > **username_2**: Looking in Google Books at C. Salvioli's  *Teoria E Pratica Del Giuoco Degli Scacchi* (1887) I see no "?", even for blunders, but liberal use of "!".  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2024-08-19. Score: 6
  
  The following is from Edward Winter's Chess Notes, and reprinted in his *Chess Explorations*, p.116. I haven't checked the works cited.
  
  (!) might be intended for "[sic]". (!) is still used for that purpose in German.
  
  C.N.622
  
  From G.H. Diggle:
  
  > The first "exclamation mark" I can discover is in *Chess Player's Chronicle* Volume 1 page 4 (Staunton v Popert) but it was put in brackets (!) and denoted not a good move but a blunder! Walker's *Chess Studies* occasionally does the same thing (see games 889 and 946). The earliest *modern* use of ! that I can find is in the BCM 1881, page 124 (Thorold v Wayte).
  
  C.N. 647
  
  Rob Verhoeven supplies the following:
  
  > Cook's *Synopsis of the Chess Openings*, 1874, gives on page 6 a list of abbreviations which includes =, !, ?.
  >
  > Lange's *Jahrbuch des Westdeutschen Schachbundes 1862* uses (!) and (?).
  >
  > How much further is it possible to go?
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2024-08-18. Score: 6
  
  The earliest that I can find both "?" and "!" in a book is in James Mason's "*Principles of Chess*" published in 1900.
  
  Here is an example from page 242 from the second half of a game between Blackburn and McKenzie from London 1882.
  
  This is a scan from my copy of the book, bought over half a century ago from the 2nd hand bookshop opposite the Priestman Building of Sunderland Polytechnic for the princely sum of 4/6 (22.5p in today's money)
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/HdIQxNOy.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/HdIQxNOy.jpg)
  
  White's move 18) P-KB4? and Black's 20)...Q-K4! are the examples here.
  
  Note that there are no "?" or "!" in my reproduction copy of Howard Staunton's 1889 book "*The Chess-Players Companion: Comprising a New Treatise on Odds, and a Collection of Games Contested by the Author with Various Distinguished Players During the Last Ten Years; Including the Great French Match with Mons. St. Amant*"
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Great reference, and an excellent use of these 4/6 ! Does the book has a page discribing the notation used (as most books of the time had) ? If so, are '!' and '?' rountinely shown, or does Mason say anything about these signs ?  
  
  ---
  
  