A01=David Cram
A01=Jeffrey L. Forgeng
Animal Kingdom
Author_David Cram
Author_Jeffrey L. Forgeng
Board Games
Cards Bee
Category=JHBS
Category=NHTB
Category=W
Celio Calcagnini
children's traditional play
Compleat Gamester
early modern leisure
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Everie Day
Francis Willughby
Francis Willughby's Book
Francis Willughby’s Book
Games Literature
Hee Saies
Historia Piscium
historical game studies
Joint Undertaking
Lay Pin
Lord's Day
Lord’s Day
Middleton Hall
Nathaniel Bacon
natural history observation
Party Games
Philip Skippon
Pieter Bruegel's Painting
Pieter Bruegel’s Painting
Recreational Occupations
Royal Society science
Set Downe
seventeenth-century England culture
systematic classification of pastimes
Whiting's Head
Whiting’s Head
Willughby's Book
Willughby’s Book
Wollaton Hall
Young Men
Product details
- ISBN 9781859284605
- Weight: 750g
- Dimensions: 174 x 246mm
- Publication Date: 02 Oct 2003
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Francis Willughby's Book of Games, published here for the first time, is a remarkable work and an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in early modern social history. Dating from the 1660s, it was left unfinished when the writer died in 1672 at the age of 36. Nevertheless, Willughby's manuscript, even in its unpolished form is a goldmine of detail providing a snapshot of mid seventeenth century life, language and culture. The manuscript itself lists a wide variety of sports, games and pastimes, including football, hurling, card games, tennis and children's games. As well as providing rules and a description of the various games (often with accompanying sketches to explain particular points) there are numerous fascinating snippets of related information (such as the care of fighting cocks), that bring the subject to life, whilst the section on children's games is particularly poignant. Besides the intrinsic interest of the subject matter, the fact that Willughby embarked on the project from a scientific perspective adds to the value of the book. Willughby had been admitted to the Royal Society in 1661 and for a number of years prior to that had been collaborating with the naturalist John Ray. It is clear that Willughby's Book of Games was highly influenced by his scientific pursuits and was an extension of his natural history work, utilising the same skills of systematic observation, description and classification. Providing not only a word-for word transcription of the Book of Games, this volume also contains a host of interpretative material to complement the original data. As well as a biography of Willughby and a detailed description of his manuscript, a substantial glossary of games and obsolete terms is provided, together with a bibliography of Willughby's literary remains and more general reference works. Taken together, this publication provides an unparalleled resource for scholars of early modern England.
David Cram, University of Oxford, UK, Jeffrey L. Forgeng, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA and Dorothy Johnston, University of Nottingham, UK
