History

Magnus Victor Anderson was born in Carlton on 16th September, 1884. He worked as a prominent Accountant in Melbourne up until his retirement in 1956. He was a founding member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 1929 and succeeded E.V. Nixon at the University of Melbourne as a lecturer in Cost Accounting. He also served on the Council of the Australian Institute of Cost Accountants, having been State President in 1928 and 1946.

Mr Anderson developed an interest in chess, and more particularly the collection of chess books, the first of which was bought in 1917 whilst on holidays in Perth. At the time of his retirement he had collected over 2,000 books which were subsequently donated to the State Library of Victoria. He worked at the State Library from 1956 until his death in 1966, during which time he increased the chess library to over 6,000 books. The collection today is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and the third largest in the World.