GAMES
SPORTS PUZZLES
GAMES
SPORTS PUZZLES
With
a
JAUNTY Woodcut
Bull at Top
(Bullfight Program). [drop-title] Programma. Domingo 18 de fevereiro...em a nova bem construida praça no largo de Santo Antonio de Bomjardina.... [Porto: Imprensa Constitucional, 1838]. 4to (20.4 cm, 8"). [2] ff. 
This
is no “game” for the bull, of course.
Rare. No copies traced via the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal’s online catalogue, nor via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN.
• A little light spotting and soiling. Inked numeral on first page.
WHISTCavendish. The laws and principles of whist stated and explained and its practice illustrated on an original system by means of hands played completely through. American edition. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, & London: Thomas de la Rue & Co., 1895. 8vo. Frontis., x, 318 pp.; illus.
• Publisher's cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities lightly rubbed, spine darkened with gilt dimmed. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription dated [18]96. Pages clean, two with lower corners dog-eared. All edges gilt. (13988)
A “Period” Pleasure J., C.J. Otis Grey bachelor. Boston: Mutual Book Co., 1902. 8vo. Frontis., 95, [1] pp.; illus.
Scotch, champagne, and other beverages, attempts various sports and games — including
golf — with invariably disastrous results. The work is illustrated by E. Jep, and the cover signed “Bird.”
• Publisher's tan cloth, front cover stamped in black and white; binding a bit darkened overall, lacking dust wrapper. Top edges gilt. (16736)
The ESSAYS that Made Lamb's Reputation — 1st U.S. Edition Lamb, Charles. Elia. Essays which have appeared under that signature in the London Magazine. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Carey (pr. by Mifflin & Parry, and J.R.A. Skerrett), 1828. 12mo (I: 18.4 cm, 7.25", II: 16.8cm, 6.6"). 2 vols. I: 292 pp. II: 230 pp. (both vols. without ads.).
Click the images for enlargements. 
true
first edition of the unofficial second series, of Lamb's pseudonymously
published essays for the London Magazine. These eloquently written pieces
mingle humor and pathos as they describe the experiences of the author and his
acquaintances while attending boarding school,
playing
whist, listening to music, visiting Quaker meetings, etc.
Food is a recurring topic (“A Dissertation upon Roast Pig”); there
are two essays on Valentine's Day (one in each volume), and several on plays
and actors.
The first series made its first appearance in book form in London, 1823. The authorized second series was not published until 1833, under the title The Last Essays of Elia; the pieces selected for the unauthorized American second series offered here are different from those contained in that volume, and mistakenly include three essays written by other hands.
• Shoemaker 33813 & 33814; NCBEL, III, 1225; NSTC 2L2346. Vol. I: Uncut copy. Publisher's quarter once-red cloth and paper sides, covers printed with “Elia” within a simple frame, spine with printed paper label; binding rubbed and lightly soiled, spine sunned to yellow. Repaired tear to one leaf, touching text without loss; remarkably clean and sound. Vol. II: Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; rubbed, and head of spine chipped with old refurbishing. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number ticket on front pastedown, front free endpaper with inked numerals, title-page pressure-stamped. Author's name inked on title-page; front free endpaper and title-page reinforced at fore-edge (the latter from the back). Both volumes age-toned, with intermittent spots of staining; advertisements absent. The set now housed in a quarter blue morocco and blue cloth–covered clamshell case with marbled paper–covered sides and gilt-stamped spine. (26434)
CHESS — One of150 CopiesMansfield, Comins. Adventures in composition[:] The art of the two-move chess problem. Stamford: Printed at the Overbrook Press, 1944. Small quarto. [8 (2 blank)], iii–xi, [2 (blank)], 212, [8 (5 blank)] pp.
• Cahoon, 42. Quarter gilt cloth and pastepaper over boards, gilt label. Fine in tissue dust jacket, jacket with a chip and some spots of discoloration. (24502)
CHESS
— One
of
250
CopiesMansfield, Comins. Adventures in composition[:] The art of the two-move chess problem. Stamford: Printed at the Overbrook Press, 1944. Small quarto. [8 (2 blank)], iii–xi, [2 (blank)], 212, [8 (5 blank)] pp.
• Cahoon, 42. Quarter gilt cloth and boards, gilt label. Fine in tissue dust jacket. (24501)
A
First Edition
of the First
VolumeMartin, William, ed. Peter Parley’s annual: A Christmas and New Year’s present for young people. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., 1840 [i.e., 1839]. 12mo (15 cm, 5.9"). Engr. t.-p., vi, 378 pp.; 4 plts., illus.
Click
the interior images for enlargements.
the history and rules of
chess, are illustrated with a number of in-text steel engravings
and four engraved plates, one of which depicts a ship at sea in stormy weather.
• Faxon 108. Binding as above, paper scuffed and joints a touch
rubbed. Front free endpaper with owner’s name; front pastedown and fly-leaf
with pencilled notations. Frontispiece with small chip to outer margin, repaired.
Some instances of offsetting surrounding plates and illustrations, pages otherwise
clean. An attractive, engaging
little book.
“Wretched Flea Was a Dear, Round-Faced Chinese Baby Boy” Muller, Mary [pseud. of Lenore Elizabeth Mulets]. Wretched Flea or, the story of a Chinese boy. Chicago & New York: A. Flanagan Co., © 1901. 4to. Frontis., [2], 158 pp.; illus.
Click the images for enlargements. Prize copy: Front free endpaper with inked presentation inscription from a school principal, noting the recipient's perfect attendance in 1905–06.
• Publisher's orange cloth, front cover and spine with black-stamped title, front cover with black-stamped pictorial vignette; binding showing minor wear but overall very clean and attractive. Front free endpaper with inscription as above. Pages clean. (26697)
“Easy”
— Yeah, Right!Philidor,
F. A. D; William Jones; P. Pratt, &
others. An easy introduction to the game of chess; containing one
hundred examples of games, and a great variety of critical situations and conclusions,
including the whole of Philidor's analysis, with selections from Stamma, the Calabrois,
&c, to which are added, Caissa, a poem, by Sir William Jones, The morals of
chess, by Dr. Franklin, &c. London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, [etc.], 1820.
12mo (18.5 cm; 7.25"). viii, 254 pp., fold. diagr.
• Recent quarter calf, round spine, raised bands accented with gilt beading on each one, red leather title-piece; marbled paper sides. All edges with old marbling. Early ownership signature on title-page. A very good copy.
Long the Standard in its Field — Many Illustrations Potter, John. Archaeologia graeca or the antiquities of Greece. The fifth edition. London: Ja. & Jo. Knapton, R. Knaplock, J. & B. Sprint, et al., 1728. 8vo (19.8 cm, 7.75"). 2 vols. I: iv, [4], 464, [28 (index)] pp.; 2 fold. plts., 7 plts. II: [4], 420, [36 (34 index, 2 adv.)] pp.; 9 fold. plts., 13 plts.
Click the images for enlargements. illustrated with 31 copper-engraved plates (11 folding) depicting temples, theatres, wrestlers and other burly athletes, armor, military maneuvers, ships, and elephant- and horse-drawn war carriages; the title-pages are printed in red and black, and the text is ornamented with head- and tailpieces in addition to decorative capitals.
Present here under a handsome headpiece is a vigorous two-page note from "THE BOOKSELLERS TO THE READER," explaining why first editions are not always to be preferred and why some editions may not be among the trustworthy!
Magic MalletStandish, Burt L. Dick
Merriwell's polo team. Or, the magic mallet. New York:
Street & Smith, (1906). 8vo. [4], 311, [7 (adv.)] pp. 
• Publisher's printed paper wrappers, edges chipped and corners lost. Being a "pulp" novel, this is on pulp paper — pages therefore age-toned, brittle, and breaking off where the corners are sharply dog-eared. (12422)
Copiously & Usefully Illustrated Vindel, Francisco. Solaces bibliográficos. Madrid: Instituto
Nacional del Libro Español, 1942. 12mo. xi, 193 [1] pp., illus.
chess
and on women in the 15th through the 17th centuries, and the Ibarra press.
Click
the images for enlargements.
This copy with an authorial inscription to a recipient whose name has been gently, but entirely, obliterated!
• Good quality red cloth, original wrappers bound in; grey spine label. Very good copy. (21546)
Allay that Pheasant, Splat that Pyke, Border that Pasty! Wayland, Harold & Virginia, eds. Of carving, cards &
cookery or the mode of carving at the table as represented in a pack of playing cards originally
designed & sold by Joseph & James Moxon, London 1676–7. Arcadia, CA: Pr. for V. & H.
Wayland by Carol Allen Cockel at the Raccoon Press, 1962. 4to (21 cm, 8.25"). [6], 122, [2]
pp.; illus.
Click the images for enlargements. 53 (one-sided) facsimiles of the Moxons' original
instructional playing cards plus their wrapper.
• Publisher's vellum over boards, spine with raised bands and faux hand-inked title, in original red cloth slipcase. A beautiful, clean, unworn copy in a perfect slipcase. (26750)
Two-MoversWhite, Alain, et al. A century of two-movers.
Stamford, CT: The Overbrook Press, 1941. 8vo. [4], 213, [3] pp.; illus. 
• Publisher's maroon cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title, in original glassine dustwrapper; back cover with very faint, almost invisible scratch and dustwrapper with small edge chips and one larger chip to outer fold. A clean, solid copy. (14777)
See
also HUNTING & FISHING?
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