Answers.Body: <p>Some good stuff about chess libraries but let's face it, the great libraries are hundreds of kilometres/miles away from where many of us live. I collect and have seen the M.V. Anderson Chess Library in Melbourne Australia 4 times over 30 years and examined the websites of Cleveland and The Hague. Trouble is many books are kept in storage offsite and one needs days notice to get to them. No random browsing works now, though still pleasant. Libraries are good to use but the pressure of time is always there. The SLNSW has a 1 hour time limit on computer research. Bit sad but life. It is good to write articles based on one's library and great when it can be uploaded onto Edward Winter's 'Chess Notes' or Karel Mokry's site. One feels that progress is being made.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael McKenzie
Answers.Body: <p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_libraries" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>:</p>
  
  <p><strong>Public</strong></p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>The three significant public chess libraries are:</p>
    
    <p>The John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection at Cleveland Public
    Library has the largest chess and draughts [chequers for those in the
    US] library in the world, with over 32,000 chess books and over 6,000
    bound volumes of chess periodicals. It was started with the donation
    of a quarter of a million dollars and 11,000 books from John G.
    White's private library upon his death.</p>
    
    <p>The Chess &amp; Draughts collection at the Bibliotheca Van der
    Linde-Niemeijeriana (part of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National
    Library of the Netherlands). The second largest public chess
    collection in the world is built on the donations of the private chess
    libraries of Antonius van der Linde, Meindert Niemeijer and G.L.
    Gortmans. <a href="https://www.kb.nl/en/resources-research-guides/kb-collections/collections-by-theme/chess-and-draughts-collection" rel="noreferrer">It contains about 30,000 books</a>.</p>
    
    <p>The M.V. Anderson Chess Collection held at <a href="https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/chess" rel="noreferrer">State Library Victoria</a>
    (Melbourne, Australia) is the largest public chess collection in the
    Southern hemisphere. This contains in excess of 12,000 books and many
    journal and newsletter titles. Additional titles are added each year.
    It is based around M.V. Anderson's personal collection of 6700 volumes
    donated between 1959 and 1966.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p><strong>Private</strong></p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Grandmaster Lothar Schmid of Bamberg, Germany reportedly owned the
    world's largest private collection of chess books and memorabilia. In
    1992, Hooper and Whyld stated that Schmid's chess library "is the
    largest and finest in private hands, with more than 15,000 items". In
    2008, Susan Polgar stated that Schmid "has over 20,000 chess books".
    Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam states that Schmid "boasts to have amassed
    50,000 chess books.</p>
    
    <p>David DeLucia's chess library contains 7,000 to 8,000 chess books, a
    similar number of autographs (letters, score sheets, manuscripts), and
    about 1,000 items of "ephemera". DeLucia's library contains such items
    as "a 15th-century Lucena manuscript, score-sheets ranging from
    Fischer's Game of the Century against Donald Byrne to all the games of
    the 1927 New York tournament, eight letters by Morphy, over a hundred
    Lasker manuscripts, Capablanca's gold pocket watch, [and] the contract
    of the 1886 Steinitz-Zukertort world championship match". Ten
    Geutzendam opines that DeLucia's collection "is arguably the finest
    chess collection in the world".</p>
    
    <p>Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov has a large chess stamp
    collection. He has a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov#Hobbies" rel="noreferrer">private chess library of over 9000 books</a>.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
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Answers.Text: Wow, I did not even know there was such a Wikipedia article. +1 for now, but I am likely to accept that answer soon.
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-24T15:46:12.957Z
Answers.Text: Thank you. That article, alone, was worth asking the question, and accepting your answer. I love chess books, and that led me to other reading about chess libraries that was enjoyable.
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-24T15:20:55.090Z
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Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-11-24T15:22:25.877Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Body: <p>I once had 1800 chess books before I sold off about 600 of the least-good ones and doubles (I used to buy entire collections from people, so you get some stuff you do not want).</p>
  
  <p>I know an IM friend of mine has thousands of books, and that Karpov is said to have a massive library (although I cannot find confirmation of this, or how many), but who has the largest library of chess books?</p>
  
  <p>Even the top few would be interesting to me.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-11-23T18:51:27.680Z
Comments.Text: I found an article from 2010: http://www.maxeuwe.nl/index.php/activiteit/columns/50-de-levensroeping-van-jurgen-stigter-een-complete-bibliografie-van-schaakboeken in which it is said that the largest _private Dutch_ chess book library has about 25,000 books (back then). So that's an opening bid.
Comments.UserDisplayName: RemcoGerlich
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-11-23T20:33:31.880Z
Comments.Text: @RemcoGerlich that is a good answer.  I am also interested in who has the biggest library in English since it is my native language, if you have any idea about that.
Comments.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-11-23T20:49:41.250Z
Comments.Text: The library likely contains English books as well; one of the photos shows one. I'm Dutch, but most of my chess books are in English as well.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Glorfindel
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-11-23T22:10:57.957Z
Comments.Text: The Cleveland Publid Library is said to have one of the largest collections of chess literature in the world in its John G. White Collection.
Comments.UserDisplayName: bof
Tags: <books>
Title: Who has the biggest chess library?
ThreadText: # Who has the biggest chess library?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-11-23)
  
  I once had 1800 chess books before I sold off about 600 of the least-good ones and doubles (I used to buy entire collections from people, so you get some stuff you do not want).
  
  I know an IM friend of mine has thousands of books, and that Karpov is said to have a massive library (although I cannot find confirmation of this, or how many), but who has the largest library of chess books?
  
  Even the top few would be interesting to me.
  
  **Tags:** books
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I found an article from 2010: http://www.maxeuwe.nl/index.php/activiteit/columns/50-de-levensroeping-van-jurgen-stigter-een-complete-bibliografie-van-schaakboeken in which it is said that the largest _private Dutch_ chess book library has about 25,000 books (back then). So that's an opening bid.  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 that is a good answer.  I am also interested in who has the biggest library in English since it is my native language, if you have any idea about that.  
  > **username_2**: The library likely contains English books as well; one of the photos shows one. I'm Dutch, but most of my chess books are in English as well.  
  > **username_3**: The Cleveland Publid Library is said to have one of the largest collections of chess literature in the world in its John G. White Collection.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2019-11-24. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
  
  According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_libraries):
  
  **Public**
  
  > The three significant public chess libraries are:
  >
  > The John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection at Cleveland Public
  > Library has the largest chess and draughts [chequers for those in the
  > US] library in the world, with over 32,000 chess books and over 6,000
  > bound volumes of chess periodicals. It was started with the donation
  > of a quarter of a million dollars and 11,000 books from John G.
  > White's private library upon his death.
  >
  > The Chess & Draughts collection at the Bibliotheca Van der
  > Linde-Niemeijeriana (part of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National
  > Library of the Netherlands). The second largest public chess
  > collection in the world is built on the donations of the private chess
  > libraries of Antonius van der Linde, Meindert Niemeijer and G.L.
  > Gortmans. [It contains about 30,000 books](https://www.kb.nl/en/resources-research-guides/kb-collections/collections-by-theme/chess-and-draughts-collection).
  >
  > The M.V. Anderson Chess Collection held at [State Library Victoria](https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/chess)
  > (Melbourne, Australia) is the largest public chess collection in the
  > Southern hemisphere. This contains in excess of 12,000 books and many
  > journal and newsletter titles. Additional titles are added each year.
  > It is based around M.V. Anderson's personal collection of 6700 volumes
  > donated between 1959 and 1966.
  
  **Private**
  
  > Grandmaster Lothar Schmid of Bamberg, Germany reportedly owned the
  > world's largest private collection of chess books and memorabilia. In
  > 1992, Hooper and Whyld stated that Schmid's chess library "is the
  > largest and finest in private hands, with more than 15,000 items". In
  > 2008, Susan Polgar stated that Schmid "has over 20,000 chess books".
  > Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam states that Schmid "boasts to have amassed
  > 50,000 chess books.
  >
  > David DeLucia's chess library contains 7,000 to 8,000 chess books, a
  > similar number of autographs (letters, score sheets, manuscripts), and
  > about 1,000 items of "ephemera". DeLucia's library contains such items
  > as "a 15th-century Lucena manuscript, score-sheets ranging from
  > Fischer's Game of the Century against Donald Byrne to all the games of
  > the 1927 New York tournament, eight letters by Morphy, over a hundred
  > Lasker manuscripts, Capablanca's gold pocket watch, [and] the contract
  > of the 1886 Steinitz-Zukertort world championship match". Ten
  > Geutzendam opines that DeLucia's collection "is arguably the finest
  > chess collection in the world".
  >
  > Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov has a large chess stamp
  > collection. He has a [private chess library of over 9000 books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov#Hobbies).
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Wow, I did not even know there was such a Wikipedia article. +1 for now, but I am likely to accept that answer soon.  
  > **username_0**: Thank you. That article, alone, was worth asking the question, and accepting your answer. I love chess books, and that led me to other reading about chess libraries that was enjoyable.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2020-01-02. Score: 1
  
  Some good stuff about chess libraries but let's face it, the great libraries are hundreds of kilometres/miles away from where many of us live. I collect and have seen the M.V. Anderson Chess Library in Melbourne Australia 4 times over 30 years and examined the websites of Cleveland and The Hague. Trouble is many books are kept in storage offsite and one needs days notice to get to them. No random browsing works now, though still pleasant. Libraries are good to use but the pressure of time is always there. The SLNSW has a 1 hour time limit on computer research. Bit sad but life. It is good to write articles based on one's library and great when it can be uploaded onto Edward Winter's 'Chess Notes' or Karel Mokry's site. One feels that progress is being made.
  
  
  ---
  
  