2.142 Ergebnisse
1874Best.-Nr. 246686London: Chapman and Hall 1874. First edition secondary binding. vi 337. 1 vols. 8vo. Green cloth spine titled in gilt. Very good minor rubbing. First edition secondary binding. vi 337. 1 vols. 8vo. Tiger hunting in Central India with notes on leopard. The author "also relates numerous stories from other sportsmen focusing on hunting bear rogue elephant and the like" Czech. Czech Asia p. 2 Chapman and Hall unknown books
Best.-Nr. AQ30350London: Published by Edward Wallis 42 Skinner Street s.d. c. 1840 Elaborately lithographed aquatint folding sheet dissected into 16 and mounted on linen bound within original publisher's gilt-lettered blind-tooled cloth folding case. The case a trifle marked lacking ties with some cracking to hinges internally; very occasional marking to map-sheet itself. Without the rare instruction book or draw cards. A well-preserved example of an obscure early nineteenth-century educational map game - issued by Edward Wallis 42 Skinner Street - wherein the player is instructed through play and vignette illustrations in the notable towns and principal economic outputs of the different English and Welsh counties. Dorset for example features images of coopers i.e. making barrels and dairy maids; whilst the topography of Cornwall is dominated by an illustration of copper mining. Other counties feature cathedrals Such as Winchester and factories. The aim of the race was to progress through the counties which are numbered with Essex as 1 and Kent as 150 the moves determined by drawing cards; the answering of questions related to the county of landing would also allow players to progress more rapidly. Edward Wallis was one of two of the sons of John Wallis d. 1818 the prolific London board game book map and print seller to follow him into the publishing business. He operated on his own account from 42 Skinner Street between 1818 and 1847. . Dimensions 520 x 660mm unfolded 140x180mm folded. Published by Edward Wallis, 42 Skinner Street, [s.d., c. 1840] hardcover
1966Best.-Nr. 12447Paris - Bièvres, Pierre de Tartas, 1966 ; in-folio en feuilles sous couverture beige muette, coffret d'éditeur de tissu marron, titre lavande, intérieur de suédine grise ; (106) pp., (2) ff. blancs, 18 lithographies originales en couleurs, dont 7 à doubles pages et 3 en marge du livre par Jean Commère.
1892Folio, First Edition, with portrait frontispiece (of Bewick; original guard present), 16 fine coloured plates (all original guards present), 18 plates in autotype (all original guards present) and 30 wood-engraved illustrations (by the author and George Lodge) in the text, neat contemporary signature on front paste-down; original red straight-grained half morocco, red coarse-grain cloth sides blocked and lettered in gilt, gilt back, gilt top, blue-grey endpapers, uncut, joints and corners very faintly rubbed else a near fine, crisp copy. Lovely copy of Millais' well-known monograph on the four primary species: Capercaillie, Blackgame, Grouse and Ptarmigan. A number of the text-illustrations are by George Lodge. Freeman 2583; Jackson p.25; Mullens & Swann, p.405; Tate p.247.
1906Best.-Nr. BIGGAMEH002055Privately printed by Marchant Singer & Co London. 1906. First edition. Royal octavo. pp xvi 415. 112 illustrations mostly from photographs by Mrs McMillan but also a number of full-page reproductions of drawings by the author. Large folding colour map in pocket at rear. Original red cloth gilt. Accounts of four hunting trips by Mr and Mrs McMillan in which the author participated. The McMillans originally from St Louis Missouri had relocated to London and also owned a farm in Kenya.Gift inscription from 1923 on front free endpaper. Front inner hinge starting to split. Endpapers a bit tanned and spotted. Very good indeed. Scarce. Privately printed by Marchant Singer & Co, London. hardcover
1890Best.-Nr. 20151France 1890. 48 playing cards on thick stock. 86 x 56 mm. Wood engraved designed with stencil color versos alike with wood engraved grid fields. Excellent condition. A fine deck of cards for the game of Aluette a trick-taking game commonly played in France. Made up of four suits—batons coins swords and cups—the deck is dealt to players clockwise and played in “tricks”; the highest card wins and the player who threw it take the rest of the pile. Although it is a French game Aluette uses Spanish suits indicating that the game may be older than the creation of French playing cards. It is also called “La Vache” in some circles because one of the cups cards features a cow. B.P. Grimaud was the primary producer of Aluette decks but not that offered here. However the basic imagery on the cards closely follows Grimaud’s of the mid-late 19th century. unknown
1890Best.-Nr. 20151France 1890. 48 playing cards on thick stock. 86 x 56 mm. Wood engraved designed with stencil color versos alike with wood engraved grid fields. Excellent condition. A fine deck of cards for the game of Aluette a trick-taking game commonly played in France. Made up of four suits—batons coins swords and cups—the deck is dealt to players clockwise and played in “tricks”; the highest card wins and the player who threw it take the rest of the pile. Although it is a French game Aluette uses Spanish suits indicating that the game may be older than the creation of French playing cards. It is also called “La Vache” in some circles because one of the cups cards features a cow. B.P. Grimaud was the primary producer of Aluette decks but not that offered here. However the basic imagery on the cards closely follows Grimaud’s of the mid-late 19th century. unknown books
1884Best.-Nr. 6396Cambrai: Renaut, 1884. 1884 1 vol in-8° (210 x 140 mm) de : 139 pp. (dont faux titre, titre) ; nombreux schémas et tableaux dans le texte ; cachet de libraire et signature manuscrite de l'auteur et concepteur du jeu au dos de la page de titre. Demi-basane verte d'époque, dos lisse orné et titré, plats recouverts de papier marbré, tranches marbrées. (Reliure frottée).
1820Best.-Nr. 103149No place no date but Leiden P.J. Trap c. 1820. Size: c. 6 x 8 cm. 27 cards the first one with two children reading and the other 26 contain the alphabet in various lettering types and the Roman and Arabic numbers. Each card also shows a word beginning with the letter on it and a handcoloured picture of the word. Each card with a decorative typographical border various types. card with publisher's name not present; the first card with browning and staining but all in all a lovely clean set held in a homemade green open box. Rare Dutch alphabet cards. The first card was used for the cover of 'Kinderen lazen kinderen lezen'. c.f. Van Veen Kinderen lazen kinderen lezen #17; Buijnsters Papertoys p. 142/143. P.J. Trap
1825Best.-Nr. 18320French: n.p. 1825. Very good. 11 engraved cut-out figures or objects including ferryman three couples wolf goat cabbage and boat to be slotted into boat original box with engraved pictorial label colored by hand A rare children's game possibly printed by the Parisian publisher Nepveau. Contained in the box measuring 14cm x 7cm x 1cm is a complete set of figures for the two river crossing puzzles known as the 'Jealous Husbands Problem' and 'Goat Wolf and Cabbage'. The earliest account of these puzzles is in the 9th century manuscript "Propositionnes ad Acuendos Juvenes" Problems to Sharpen the Young attributed to Alcuin. In both puzzles there are only two places in the boat. In the Jealous Husbands Problem no woman can be with another man unless also accompanied by her husband. In Goat Wolf and Cabbage the wolf will eat the goat and the goat will eat the cabbage unless they are guarded by the boatman. Originally accompanied by counters and an instruction sheet now lost. The box is lightly worn else in very good condition; the figures are in fine condition except the boat which has been repaired and the cabbage which lacks the lower part of its insertion tab and one female figure lacks a hand. Rare. n.p. unknown
1825Best.-Nr. 18320French: n.p. 1825. Very good. 11 engraved cut-out figures or objects including ferryman three couples wolf goat cabbage and boat to be slotted into boat original box with engraved pictorial label colored by hand A rare children's game possibly printed by the Parisian publisher Nepveau. Contained in the box measuring 14cm x 7cm x 1cm is a complete set of figures for the two river crossing puzzles known as the 'Jealous Husbands Problem' and 'Goat Wolf and Cabbage'. The earliest account of these puzzles is in the 9th century manuscript "Propositionnes ad Acuendos Juvenes" Problems to Sharpen the Young attributed to Alcuin. In both puzzles there are only two places in the boat. In the Jealous Husbands Problem no woman can be with another man unless also accompanied by her husband. In Goat Wolf and Cabbage the wolf will eat the goat and the goat will eat the cabbage unless they are guarded by the boatman. Originally accompanied by counters and an instruction sheet now lost. The box is lightly worn else in very good condition; the figures are in fine condition except the boat which has been repaired and the cabbage which lacks the lower part of its insertion tab and one female figure lacks a hand. Rare. n.p. unknown books
1723Best.-Nr. Debonnaire1723GAME OF THE GOOSE Essay du nouveau conte de ma Mère l'Oye ou les enluminures du jeu de la Constitution by Louis Debonnaire. No imprint 1723. 8vo xiii xviii 176pp; early leather boards with original spine laid down. Despite the claim that this is a new edition it is nonetheless an UNCOMMON IMITATION of the traditional "Game of the Goose" a rhymed pastiche as if spoken by Mother Goose written by a Jansenist priest Abbot wherein one must win the formation of a new Council here referred to as a Constitution. It introduced what became a familiar catchphrase "LIBERTY EQUALITY FRATERNITY" condemned in 1725 as anti-Rome. Barber III 880 No imprint hardcover
1723Best.-Nr. Debonnaire1723GAME OF THE GOOSE Essay du nouveau conte de ma Mère l'Oye ou les enluminures du jeu de la Constitution by Louis Debonnaire. No imprint 1723. 8vo xiii xviii 176pp; early leather boards with original spine laid down. Despite the claim that this is a new edition it is nonetheless an UNCOMMON IMITATION of the traditional "Game of the Goose" a rhymed pastiche as if spoken by Mother Goose written by a Jansenist priest Abbot wherein one must win the formation of a new Council here referred to as a Constitution. It introduced what became a familiar catchphrase "LIBERTY EQUALITY FRATERNITY" condemned in 1725 as anti-Rome. Barber III 880 No imprint hardcover books
1938Best.-Nr. 734G4576London: Robert Hale Limited 1938. Book. Good. Hardcover. First English Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 123 pages. Black and white photographic frontisplate of author. First published in German in the same year. Noteworthy for its call for a resurrection of the same two-front military alliance which was marshalled against Germany in the Great War. The following year 'Foreign Affairs Quarterly' published a review of this book endorsing this policy. - Mike King. "In July 1914 Dr. Ludwig expounded the causes and misunderstandings which led up to the Great War. The purpose of the present work is to provide a remedy for the present perilous impasse before it is too late to avert disaster." - from dust jacket. In preparing this work Ludwig confidentially sent the first 83 pages of his manuscript to Edward VIII for his corrections which were later provided by letter. Source available upon request. Bold dust jacket art depicts British/French/US spear piercing a Nazi swastika. Unmarked. Binding tight. Moderate wear to book. Somewhat above-average wear to dust jacket which is now preserved in mylar. Moderate age-toning near endpapers. Moderate foxing to edges and back half of dust jacket. A sound copy of this significant work. Robert Hale Limited Hardcover
2009Best.-Nr. DADAX1934857319Catalyst Game Labs 2009-08-19. Anniversary. hardcover. New. 8.63x1.00x11.13. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy. Catalyst Game Labs hardcover
1895Best.-Nr. 78554August 1895 - 1978. original padded leather. The album's spine is perished with light wear at edges; contents sound and fine. 8vo. Illustrated throughout. The first page is an amusing original hand-colored cartoon of a Victorian couple cowering in front of a pig initialled "A.T." Following are 175 pig drawings all signed and most dated and many with a location. Dozens are neatly filled in in black and one is flesh-colored. 117 drawings were made between 1895-1900; 26 from 1900-1910 . hardcover
1883Best.-Nr. 4269Vienna: Militär - Wissenschaftlichen Vereines 1883. First Edition. 19th century marbled boards and linen backstrip. Good; two institutional stamps of the Officiers Bibliothek of the Bosn.- Herceg. Infant. Bat. #4 on the title page and a text page; some age toning; wear to the linen backstrip. 8vo 4 130 pp 11 charts some with outline color and maps with a printed pocket holder at the rear. The author was a colonel on the Austro Hungarian general staff and an authority on military science. The text is a very detailed and critical assessment of the usefulness and limitations of military war games e.g. the limitations of the use of dice in games of this kind based on the mathematical outcomes allowed. A rigorous critique. There are also lengthy descriptions of the combinations of troops terrain and actions based on chance. No American locations in OCLC and the five locations in Europe show at least two defective copies; absent from von Hilgers War Games - A History of War on Paper. Militär - Wissenschaftlichen Vereines hardcover books
Lyon, chez les Fréres Bruyset, 1732. Dos volúmenes en gran folio; 6 hs., 1656 columnas de texto y 100 columnas de índices + 2 hs., 1570 columnas de texto y 85 columnas de índices. Con un total de 255 viñetas grabadas entre el texto, gran parte de ellas referidas a temas de caza, pesca, agricultura, jardinería y ganadería. Encuadernación uniforme en piel , de la época, con lomeras profusamente ornadas. Noël Chomel fue discípulo de Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinie, jardinero de Luis XIV. Párroco rural y ecónomo del Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon, reunió a lo largo de su vida sus experiencias campestres y domésticas, y publicó a los 76 años, en 1709, este monumental diccionario, traducido a numerosos idiomas, hasta el japonés, pero nunca en español.
2016Best.-Nr. 126133I.B.Tauris. New. Paperback. FREE UPGRADE to Courier/Priority Shipping Upon Request - IN STOCK AND IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE FOR SHIPMENT - Flawless copy brand new pristine never opened -- with a bonus offer-- . 2016. 178130047X . I.B.Tauris paperback
2006Best.-Nr. 76481NMS. New. Paperback. FREE UPGRADE to Courier/Priority Shipping Upon Request - IN STOCK AND IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE FOR SHIPMENT - Flawless copy brand new pristine never opened -- 108 pp. With 138 ills. 125 col. . 20 x 21 cm. -- with a bonus offer--; The msot exciting contemporary jewelery by designers around the world. Gallery of works with discussion of technology style philosophy and design ideas. Superb photographs. . 2006. 1901663035 . NMS paperback
1724Best.-Nr. BB_88102Game of the Goose Poesies sur la Constitution Unigenitus. Recueillies par le Chevalier de G. Officier de Regiment de Champagne. Villefranche i.e. Amsterdam: Chez Philalete Belhumeur 1724. Two volumes. Illustrated with duplicate frontispieces title-vignettes and many decorative woodcut head- and tail-pieces. 8vo. i i xxiv 317 pp. – i i 389 pp.; uniform polished tree-calf extra-gilt all edges gilt covers with armorial gilt stamp. First edition thus greatly revised and expanded from an earlier version with essays letters poems reviews and songs with political Constitution religious Pope Clement XI and literary interest. Most important this work includes an essay titled "Essai du Nouveau Conte de Ma Mere L'Oye" NewTales of Mother Goose showing the influence of Perrault's tales barely twenty years after his death AND a handsome folding-out engraved board game titled "Le Jeu de la Constitution" designed in a race-game format. As a notable compilation of pro-Jansenist writings of an often satirical nature with the aforementioned board game and its five pages of rules on a folding plate. Selections include: "Les 101 propositions de la constitution Unigenitus exprimées en cent et un couplets"; "Ode pindarique sur la destruction du monastère de Port-Royal-des-Champs"; "Adieu d'une dame janséniste qui se refugie en Hollande". Brunet 4: 755. Weller 2: 88. Willaert 2: 9370. For the game see Phillippa Plock & Adrian Seville "Rothschild Collection of Printed Board Games at Waddesdon Manor" in: Of Boards and Men: Board Games Investigated Proceedings of the XIIIth Board Game Studies Colloquium Paris 14-17 April 2010 pp. 101-103: "B3 2669.2.25 Le Jeu de la Constitution - 1721/22 or to give its the full title Le Jeu / De la Constitution / Sur l'air du branle de Mets sic is one of the most controversial games ever devised on the pattern of the game of Goose and perhaps may be regarded as the first polemical variant Girard and Quétel 1982: 58 and 73. It dates from about 1721 but is associated with a book that appeared a year later the Essay Essai du Nouveau Conte de ma Mère l'Oye ou Les Enluminures de la Constitution. This book contains a folding plate of the game in smaller format and with some omission of text. It also contains 18 enluminures in rhymed couplets which explain the game in detail. The claimed author is given in the subtitle: 'Poesies sur la Constitution Unigenitus recuellies par le Chevalier de G. Officier du Regiment de Champagne'. The publisher is given as Philalete Belhumeur "Good Humour" Villefranche. These publication details are of course wholly fictitious as is the claimed author who in reality was the Abbe é Louis de Bonnaire 1680-1752; the book was published in Amsterdam the full-sheet game probably in Paris. De Bonnaire was a supporter of the Jansenist heresy named for Cornelius Jansen 1585-1638: this theology emphasised a particular reading of Augustine's idea of efficacious grace which stressed that only a certain portion of humanity were predestined to be saved. Though the Jansenists were strongly Catholic Jesuits and the papacy were suspicious of their beliefs which seemed to limit free will and the ability to choose to do good or evil. Despite condemnation by Pope Innocent X in 1655 the movement gained strong support in the Church. The Jansenist position as included in 101 of the propositions of Pasquier Quesnel Jansenist theologian b1634 d1719 in his Épitomé des Morales des Évangélistes of 1671 was finally condemned by Pope Clement XI's Unigenitus bull of 1713 but even this condemnation did little to diminish the enthusiasm of adherents. Indeed in 1717 four French Bishops attempted to appeal Unigenitus to a General Council a move that received considerable support from other clergy and the parlements though the majority of clergy stood by the Pope: Clement responded in the next year by excommunicating all those who had called for a General Council. Even so it was not until 1728 that the death of Jansenism was marked by the submission to the Pope's authority of Cardinal Noailles Archbishop of Paris who had originally approved Quesnel's book and was reluctant to support Unigenitus arguing that many of the 101 propositions were in fact orthodox. The point of the game and of De Bonnaire's book is to challenge and mock the authority of the Church and in particular that of the Pope and of his bull. For example the columns on either side are each headed by a cartoon depicting the Pope in council all present being represented by geese wearing mitres. Below the lefthand cartoon is the Latin phrase "Non ego cum Gruibus simul Anseribusque sedebo in Synodis - S. Greg. Nazianz Carm. 10" I shall not sit in Synod with cranes and geese. This refers to a dictum of Gregory of Nazianzus c329-390 Archbishop of Constantinople who compared the rowdy Council of Constantinople 381 AD to the loud cackling of a flock of geese. The 'good' spaces show the Apostles 'equal in number to that of the geese which they replace': there are thirteen including St Paul and they occupy the traditional spaces. The traditional hazards are likewise replaced or given special significance and others are added. The usual entry arch appears as Noah's Ark at space 1 symbolising the Church as it is tossed about on the waters of Unigenitus. The bridge of explanations at the expected space 6 shows bishops falling into the water marking their error in taking the wrong sense of the 101 propositions: it leads to space 12 acceptance where a young woman blindfolded is shown as accepting Unigenitus through ignorance. At space 15 there is the torn robe symbolising schism of the Church. The labyrinth here at space 16 symbolises error into which fall those who subscribe to the condemnation of the 101 propositions. The inn at space 19 is here the cabaret and represents the 'accommodation' accommodement or submission of the Jansenists to the bull. The Tower of Babel at space 24 represents the confusion of language into which the bull has fallen. At space 26 is the first appeal of 1717 represented by a notice on the Vatican door. At space 33 we find the avertissemens or pronouncements of the Archbishop of Soissons Jean-Joseph Languet de Gergy 1677-1753 a notorious anti-Jansenist and vehement defender of Unigenitus. He has an oboe a horn and a trumpet the three instruments symbolising 'his three avertissements and their different tones': a special rule refers to moving forward with the 'small dice' and with 'the other' when going back. Next is the prison at space 40 where the player must wait until a throw of 5 which multiplied by 3 will lead to Louis XV and deliverance. The well space 49 symbolises the body of doctrine in which the truth is hidden. At space 51 are the re-appealing Bishops the second appeal being at space 53. At space 55 is the portrait of Louis XV - enluminere XV in the book makes clear that he was seen as a force for change and re-unifying the Church. The death space at 58 shows the skeleton of Pope Clement XI sitting in an armchair wearing his papal tiara and raising his bony hand to bless an infant at his feet which represents the Unigenitus bull. Cardinal Noailles appears at the penultimate space 62 from which point 'one may only go backward'. The explanatory text in the centre of the game claims that it 'presages the day that the constitution of the Church will no longer be nothing but un Conte de ma Mère l'Oye' - a Mother Goose tale here used as a figure of speech for something unbelievable and ridiculous. The winning space at 63 shows that this result is to be achieved by a General Council in reference to that called for in 1717. De Bonnaire's book was condemned at Arras in 1726. Although his anonymity as author seems to have been effective in protecting him the publishers father and son were thrown into the Bastille. Even today the game has the power to shock by the force of its imagery. Philalete Belhumeur hardcover books
Best.-Nr. 076544N: N 189-. Early English lotto game manufactured in Germany. Comprising: six coloured lithographed oblong card sheets 18.3 cm. x 23.5 cm. each incorporating eight removable pictorial disks representing the native animals of the different continents; contained within the original card box with decorative sides and pictorial title label on lid edges of box slightly rubbed and with a couple of neat repairs to corners the title label lightly soiled; a couple of small closed tears to the card beneath the Jaguar disk; n.d.c.1890s. The disks are all captioned with the name of the animal and feature a question about that animal on the verso which is answered by the brief text printed on the depression into which the disks are set on the card sheets. For example the Oceania sheet contains disks depicting a kangaroo which asks on the reverse: Who are these funny jumping creatures The answer printed below the disk is The kangaroo's with very clever features. This sheet also includes a black swan emu dingo and a Lyer-bird sic- Whose Lyer does not give one sound The lyer-birds in Australia it is found. N unknown
Best.-Nr. 17107Paris, Moutard, 1776. 2 parties en 1 vol. in-4, XII-208 pp. 39 pl., maroquin vert de Petit sccr de Simier, deux doubles filets à froid en encadrement sur les plats cantonnés de tête de cerfs dorées, dos à nerfs orné de caissons à froid ornés de têtes de cerf dorées, dentelle intérieure dorée, tranches dorées (petits frottements et taches)
Best.-Nr. 04338Paris: H. Duru 1840. A Remarkable Survival H. Duru's Apparently Unrecorded Le Jeu du Portier Complete with All Six Hand-Colored Standing Figures and the Original Pictorial Box FRENCH GAME. DURU H. publisher. Le Jeu du Portier. The Doorman's Game. Paris: H. Duru ca. 1840. An exceptionally rare early French hand-colored lithographed game complete with the original architectural playing board all six numbered standing figures and the original pictorial card box. Original hand-colored lithographed board depicting the façade of a Parisian multi-story house 8 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches; 222 x 172 mm. the upper right corner beveled as issued. Six original hand-colored lithographed cut-out figures each mounted on its original base average size 3 1/8 x 1 1/4 inches; 80 x 32 mm. Complete in the original card box the lid bearing a hand-colored lithograph depicting the same multi-story house and titled beneath "LE JEU DU PORTIER PAR H. DURU." The board and figures in near fine condition; the box somewhat soiled with the corners strengthened with cloth tape. A remarkable survival in substantially complete original condition. The architectural board represents a vertically organized Parisian apartment house its occupants and businesses identified floor by floor. It is lettered from top to bottom: "No. 6"; "No. 5 / Locart Fnt Lunetier au 3me"; "No. 4 / F. Sonnet M.de Dentelles"; "No. 3 / Clagmann et Cie. Banquiers"; "No. 2"; and "No. 1 / Loge du Portier." The six accompanying figures correspond to the numbered hierarchy of the building and are identified as: 1. Le Portier the doorman or concierge; 2. Propriétaire proprietor or landlord; 3. Banquier banker; 4. Marchand merchant; 5. Fabricant manufacturer; and 6. Ouvrier worker. The original printed numbers and occupational designations remain visible on the bases of the figures. The figures form a delightful miniature gallery of French social types: the prosperous Propriétaire in his vividly patterned blue coat; the top-hatted Banquier; the fashionably dressed Marchand carrying his hat; the Fabricant; the plainly dressed Ouvrier; and the Portier the indispensable guardian of the building. Their original hand-coloring remains remarkably fresh. More than simply a children's amusement Le Jeu du Portier presents in miniature a fascinating picture of nineteenth-century Parisian urban life and social hierarchy. Proprietor banker merchant manufacturer workman and concierge are transformed into movable characters associated with a single apartment house. The game belongs to the particularly appealing nineteenth-century tradition in which children's toys simultaneously entertained and introduced their young players to occupations social distinctions and the organization of contemporary life. The choice of the portier as the central character is especially evocative. Occupying the loge at street level the Parisian concierge stood literally at the entrance to the social world represented by the building controlling access and observing the comings and goings of its occupants. The numbered inhabitants ascending through the building consequently provide an engaging physical representation of the social structure of nineteenth-century Paris. H. Duru was a Parisian publisher active in the production of illustrated educational works children's books puzzles and games during the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Among Duru's publications were Nouvelle méthode de lecture progressive ou Lecture apprise en quarante jours Syllabaire universel en action Les homonymes illustrés Grammaire illustrée and Alphabet chantant. Duru's activity as a publisher of games is independently confirmed by another lithographed production Le Jeu du Touriste preserved in the collection of the Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée Mucem. The survival of the six separate standing figures together with their architectural board and original pictorial box is exceptional. The standing figures are of particularly delicate construction consisting of thin lithographed card cut-outs mounted upright on their original bases - ephemeral playthings never intended to survive nearly two centuries of use. We have been unable to locate another example of Le Jeu du Portier in OCLC or in the institutional collections and published references consulted. Apparently unrecorded and possibly unique in this complete state. A remarkable and highly evocative survival of an early French children's game combining hand-colored lithography three-dimensional play and a wonderfully detailed representation of nineteenth-century Parisian social life. Paris: H. Duru, 1840 unknown
Best.-Nr. 04338Paris: H. Duru 1840. A Remarkable Survival H. Duru's Apparently Unrecorded Le Jeu du Portier Complete with All Six Hand-Colored Standing Figures and the Original Pictorial Box FRENCH GAME. DURU H. publisher. Le Jeu du Portier. The Doorman's Game. Paris: H. Duru ca. 1840. An exceptionally rare early French hand-colored lithographed game complete with the original architectural playing board all six numbered standing figures and the original pictorial card box. Original hand-colored lithographed board depicting the façade of a Parisian multi-story house 8 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches; 222 x 172 mm. the upper right corner beveled as issued. Six original hand-colored lithographed cut-out figures each mounted on its original base average size 3 1/8 x 1 1/4 inches; 80 x 32 mm. Complete in the original card box the lid bearing a hand-colored lithograph depicting the same multi-story house and titled beneath "LE JEU DU PORTIER PAR H. DURU." The board and figures in near fine condition; the box somewhat soiled with the corners strengthened with cloth tape. A remarkable survival in substantially complete original condition. The architectural board represents a vertically organized Parisian apartment house its occupants and businesses identified floor by floor. It is lettered from top to bottom: "No. 6"; "No. 5 / Locart Fnt Lunetier au 3me"; "No. 4 / F. Sonnet M.de Dentelles"; "No. 3 / Clagmann et Cie. Banquiers"; "No. 2"; and "No. 1 / Loge du Portier." The six accompanying figures correspond to the numbered hierarchy of the building and are identified as: 1. Le Portier the doorman or concierge; 2. Propriétaire proprietor or landlord; 3. Banquier banker; 4. Marchand merchant; 5. Fabricant manufacturer; and 6. Ouvrier worker. The original printed numbers and occupational designations remain visible on the bases of the figures. The figures form a delightful miniature gallery of French social types: the prosperous Propriétaire in his vividly patterned blue coat; the top-hatted Banquier; the fashionably dressed Marchand carrying his hat; the Fabricant; the plainly dressed Ouvrier; and the Portier the indispensable guardian of the building. Their original hand-coloring remains remarkably fresh. More than simply a children's amusement Le Jeu du Portier presents in miniature a fascinating picture of nineteenth-century Parisian urban life and social hierarchy. Proprietor banker merchant manufacturer workman and concierge are transformed into movable characters associated with a single apartment house. The game belongs to the particularly appealing nineteenth-century tradition in which children's toys simultaneously entertained and introduced their young players to occupations social distinctions and the organization of contemporary life. The choice of the portier as the central character is especially evocative. Occupying the loge at street level the Parisian concierge stood literally at the entrance to the social world represented by the building controlling access and observing the comings and goings of its occupants. The numbered inhabitants ascending through the building consequently provide an engaging physical representation of the social structure of nineteenth-century Paris. H. Duru was a Parisian publisher active in the production of illustrated educational works children's books puzzles and games during the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Among Duru's publications were Nouvelle méthode de lecture progressive ou Lecture apprise en quarante jours Syllabaire universel en action Les homonymes illustrés Grammaire illustrée and Alphabet chantant. Duru's activity as a publisher of games is independently confirmed by another lithographed production Le Jeu du Touriste preserved in the collection of the Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée Mucem. The survival of the six separate standing figures together with their architectural board and original pictorial box is exceptional. The standing figures are of particularly delicate construction consisting of thin lithographed card cut-outs mounted upright on their original bases - ephemeral playthings never intended to survive nearly two centuries of use. We have been unable to locate another example of Le Jeu du Portier in OCLC or in the institutional collections and published references consulted. Apparently unrecorded and possibly unique in this complete state. A remarkable and highly evocative survival of an early French children's game combining hand-colored lithography three-dimensional play and a wonderfully detailed representation of nineteenth-century Parisian social life. Paris: H. Duru, 1840 unknown books
