The history of the modern forms of the game starts with _El Ingenio o juego de marro, de punto o damas_, published by Torquemada at Valencia in 1547. Another Spaniard, Juan Garcia Canalejas, is said to have published in 1610 the first edition of his work, a better-known edition of which appeared in 1650. The third Spanish classic, that of Joseph Carlos Garcez, was printed in Madrid in 1684. It is noteworthy that in an illustration in Garcez's book the pieces depicted resemble somewhat some of those used by the Egyptians, and are not unlike the pawns used in chess. In 1668 Pierre Mallet had published the first French work on the game, and elementary though his knowledge of the game seems to have been, even in comparison with that of Canalejas or Garcez, the historical notes, rules and instructions which he gave, served as a basis for many later works. Mallet wrote on _Le Jeu de dames à la française_, which was almost identical with the modern English game. The old French game is, however, no longer practised in France, having been superseded by _Le Jeu de dames à la polonaise_. Manoury gives reasons for believing that the latter game originated in Paris about 1727. About 1736 a famous player named Laclef published the first book on Polish draughts, but the first important book on the game is Manoury's _Jeu de dames à la polonaise_, in the production of which it is said that the author had the assistance of Diderot and other _encyclopédistes_. This book, which appeared in 1787, was to the new game all that Mallet's was to the old French game, and until the appearance of Poirson Prugneaux's _Encyclopédie du jeu de dames_ in 1855 it remained the standard authority on so-called Polish draughts. The Polish game early attained popularity in Holland, and in 1785 the standard Dutch work, Ephraim van Embden's _Verhandeling over het Damspel_, was produced. In German-speaking countries the progress of the new game was slower, and the works produced in the first half of the 19th century generally treat of the older game as well as the Polish game. This is also the case with Petroff's book published in St Petersburg in 1827; and similarly Zongono's, which dates from 1832, deals with the new game and with the older Italian game.