£150
EXPANDED EDITION, large 16mo, pp. viii, 717, 12 (ads) + frontispiece, additional engraved title-page, and 8 lithographed section titles, all printed in black and gilt. Frequent wood engravings within text. Original red cloth, boards blocked in blind, spine and front board blocked in gilt. A little minor spotting. Cloth soiled and rubbed, extremities a touch worn. Bookplate of Andrew Geddes Scott (additionally lettered in red ‘From J.B. Jany 1st 1872’).
An important edition of this long-running guide to sports, games, and other methods of occupying young boys. First published in 1828, it was revised and expanded numerous times thereafter well into the 20th century. This edition is significant for containing the first inclusion of three new pastimes 'of rising importance': 'The Velocipede, American Base Ball, and the Canadian Game of La Crosse' (Prelude). Present in an appendix here, by the next revision a decade later they were incorporated into the main sequence and the Velocipede section-title updated to 'Bicycling'.
Other new and updated sections include Sea Fishing, Drawing-Room Games (Charades, Tableaux Vivants, etc), Billiards, Dominoes, Solitaire, Dogs, the Microscope and Telescope, Cricket, Football, Croquet, Scientific Gymnastics, Legerdemain, and much more; the content about Riddles from earlier editions is removed to make room.
