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Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them
Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them | Nancy Marie Brown
8 posts | 5 read | 26 to read
A richly imagined journey to the Viking world that created the Lewis chessmen-"the most important chess pieces in history." -"New York Times"
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review
Sophronisba
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Mehso-so

I like the idea of this book a lot, and the chess pieces themselves are interesting, but I thought that Brown was really straining to connect the story of the chess pieces to the larger history, and the book often felt disjointed as a result.

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Texreader
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Ebook on sale. I definitely grabbed a copy!

GingerAntics I just got this as well. It looks so interesting. 4y
Lreads This is fascinating! Thanks for posting. 4y
45 likes4 stack adds2 comments
review
shanaqui
Mehso-so

This gets really, really unfocused at times. At least half the book is about stuff that might *maybe* have influenced the Lewis Chessmen, if the theory Brown likes about their origin is correct -- which would otherwise be irrelevant. There's some interesting stuff, but it's short on Lewis Chessmen-focused facts.

(And okay, perhaps there's little to tell, but I would like much closer examination of each INDIVIDUAL chess piece, at least!)

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shanaqui

Interesting enough so far, but it wanders quite a long way from the chessmen themselves. It's relevant, e.g. in discussing the material used, but... some of this doesn't feel so necessary.

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LeahBergen
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The rook figure from the 12th-century Lewis Chessmen is a little shield-biting #Berserker .

#NuYear

Cinfhen 🏆🥇#smartypants 🤓👖 7y
TrishB 😂😂 awesome 👏🏻 post! 7y
elkeOriginal Oh, my. I LOVE him 💕 7y
See All 9 Comments
batsy Oh, how cool! I didn't know this 💛 7y
Cathythoughts 😂excellent 7y
Bradleygirl I love this and bc I also love scruffy pedant Lindybeige, I must link to his berserker video- https://youtu.be/PBUGQkpk3RE 7y
LeahBergen @Bradleygirl Thanks for the link - I just watched it! 😂 7y
Bradleygirl 🤣👌 He's the bomb 7y
LeahBergen @Bradleygirl I hadn‘t heard of him before! 👏🏻 7y
106 likes2 stack adds9 comments
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LibrarianToujours
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I never loan my books out, but figured this one time would be ok. Apparently, this is how special collections librarians return things 😆😆

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LeahBergen
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#ATopicYoudLikeToKnowMoreAbout I have wanted to learn more about the Lewis chessmen ever since I first saw the little shield-biting, berserker rook figure. #ReadJanuary

CarolynOliver Cool! 8y
Libby1 I saw some of them at the British Museum! 8y
saresmoore I now have a "@LeahBergen recommends" sub-stack for totally obscure historical things that were never on my radar. Sounds fascinating! 8y
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Dragon They came to Victoria in an exhibition sponsored by the British Museum, I visited twice to see them and the other exhibits. I hadn't heard of them till then. 🐉 8y
LeahBergen @Libby1 Lucky you! I really want to see them. 😀 8y
LeahBergen @CarolynOliver Aren't they?! 8y
LeahBergen @saresmoore 😂😂 I love it. I never realized I was drawn to odd topics until I started doing Litsy challenges! 8y
LeahBergen @Dragon When was that? I'm sad I missed it! 🙁 8y
Dragon Back in 2009 and it was called Treasures, The World's Cultures From The British Museum 8y
elkeOriginal I love those little guys too! 8y
92 likes11 stack adds10 comments
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StaceGhost
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My friends in Oregon have a replica set of these. They have a ritual where, when someone in the household does something remarkable, they turn them to face in the direction of an incredible bakery down the street from their house. Once all of the pieces face towards the bakery, they walk down the street and buy sticky buns. Of course, this inspired me to read a history of the original set of Lewis chessmen and play a lot more chess with my fiancé.

SusanInTiburon Great story! 8y
StaceGhost Thanks! I left out the part where it also inspired me to buy a lot of sticky buns 😅🍴☕️ 8y
16 likes2 comments