We are not told any nonsensical untruths about the figure, as were those who visited De Kempelen's "automaton'1 in 1769. What I particularly admire about Mephisto, or rather about the exhibition of this mechanical player, is its perfect honesty. What I purposed was chiefly to call attention to a very ingenious mechanical figure now exhibiting, a figure deserving far more attention than De Kempelen's received, whereas in reality it has received far less.
AJEEB CHESS AUTOMATON FULL
To say the truth, I had no intention of expounding Mephisto's mystery, while as regards De Kempelen's so-called automaton, there remains no mystery at all, seeing that a full and complete account of the manner in which the figure was worked was long since published by persons who had paid rather heavily for the right, and was also given by at least one of the players who had conducted the " automaton's " chess. The Echo reviewer more accurately points out in his very kindly criticism that I leave the mystery of Mephisto's play very much where I found it, and have said no more than anyone who had played half-a dozen times with Mephisto could readily ascertain for himself. In the Times notice of my paper especially, the remark is made that I profess to explain the way in which both these figures are worked. THE paper of mine which appeared in a recent number of the Gentleman's Magazine, in which I have instituted a comparison between the famous Automaton Chessplayer, so called, which was made by De Kempelen more than a century ago, and the Mechanical Chess-player now playing excellent chess at has been to some degree misunderstood by some reviewers. Below are some contemporary testimonials and newpaper articles -Įxhibited at the International Theatre Exposition Universelle, Paris. It's been said that Mephisto was never mated. In 1889, Jean Taubenhaus was the director. From 1879 to 1889, Isodor Gunsberg directed the automaton which he did from a distance using electro/magnetic devices (as opposed to the Turk and Ajeeb who concealed the director within). Using his skill for creating custom-made prostheses, he built the chess-playing automaton, Mephisto, over a 7 year period.
Charles Godfrey Gümpel, like the Turk director William Schlumberger, was from Alsace Lorraine.
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