Books On checkers

[william]

Good Evening

So as I said , i was back up in Scotland ,glasgow last week.

Every year I go back home to see the familly, but also to visit " THE MITCHEL LIBRARY" just off the junction of Charing cross.

In this Library , which incidentally had its first brick laid by the infamous Carnaigie , one can find a mine of treasure!!!

The collection is called the HILLHOUSE collection , which not only comprises Sturges originals , Kears , rare compilations etc. BUT also an original of "an introduction to draughts " by Payne 1756!!

I think that these books only see the light of day when I go to Glasgow every year ;

Payne's is a book that i sign out every time.

The smell , the feel and the history felt when one has this book in hand leaves one in a transe!!!

So if anyone has the good fortune to be able to visit Glasgow , then I recommend This address , along with "the pewter pot" , a pub where you can also have a cheap beer and enjoy a Scottish welcome!!

William

[kiwinurse]

I think im going to Glasgow as part of a wee tour after the qualifier William, ill note that address and see if i can get the time to visit,regards jan

[tommyc]

Im taking a trip to Inverary via Glasgow in the morning myself,might get a chance to drop in on Hillhouse too.

[william]

Nice 1 guys!

Give these old books a good airing , However due to staff shortages ( since last general election) , the books cannot be withdrawn from the strongroom on weekends

Just go to second floor and request the HILLHOUSE collection

William

[Palomino]

Tommy, if you do get to drop in on Hillhouse, compare their Payne's book to the title pages below.

I'm curious to know. Which title page does their book match up with, "A" or "B"?



William wrote:

original of "an introduction to draughts " by Payne 1756!!

I was told by my friend Gene Rader that several years ago there was quite a bit written in the ACF Bulletin on the subject of "which Payne's book is the original" and that a good bit of the evidence supported the idea that the rarer (so called) counterfeit version was in fact printed first and that the more common (so called) original version was printed at some unknown later date. (He may have been thinking about the BDJ article linked below.)We may never know for certain which is which.

I hope you get to read this before your visit tomorrow morning, which may be today for me ..."Pal"

BTW:

Here are links to a Mar./Apr. 1953, BDJ article covering this subject (supplied by Liam Stephens to OMCH)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c100/ ... EPART1.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c100/ ... EPART2.jpg

[william]

Thanks for your interest on this subject ,

Maybe 1 clue to this could be the way " they " used to write " sixpence" .If you look at the bottom of the page there is a difference. At what period of time did the " - " come into use in the english language for composed sums? ( If it ever did)?

William

[Palomino]

Greetings William,

I'm sure that it is too much to expect of you or anyone to remember if the Hillhouse Collection book is the hyphenated version "A".

Six-pence

We may have to wait until your next visit in 2011 to learn the answer to this question or place our hopes in Jan being able to include a visit to the Mitchell Library during her "wee tour" of Glasgow.

"Pal"

[Jay H]

Nice topic.....!!!

[william]

As I am living in France i don't immediately have access again to this book , but i will ask my brother who lives in glasgow to go and check it out for me . Reply within a month i would say

William

[tommyc]

Unfort i didnt get to the Mitchell Library.................but i can say for sure there is NO hyphen in sixpence.

[john reade]

Wilder's problem also appears in Sturges as Problem 55.

[john reade]

Sorry, this posting should have been on the Problems page!

[Palomino]

William wrote:

As I am living in France i don't immediately have access again to this book , but i will ask my brother who lives in glasgow to go and check it out for me . Reply within a month i would say

William,

I now know the answer to which copy the Mitchell Library has, so there is no need now for your brother to visit, unless he just wants to.

I will post what I've learned later tonight (hopefully) when I have more time.

I will tell you from an email I've learned that...

The book is now with our Conservation Officer for conservation work.

BTW:

Does your brother also play draughts?

"Pal" Bucker

[william]

Palomino

this is great work , and fantastic news ... let me hear all about it !!!!!

William

[Palomino]

William,

The following is quoted from the first email reply received from The Mitchell Library, after having inquired of them information about the "Title Page".

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your enquiry about William Payne's "Game of Draughts", 1756 and your interest in our collections.

I am afraid that, having checked the book which is housed in one of our special collections, I have found that the book requires specialist conservation work prior to any photography.

In addition, the original front cover is very dark and most text cannot be read - please note that there is no title page as such. I need to take advice on whether it would be possible for this item to be photographed so that any results are actually legible.

As this is a holiday weekend here in Glasgow, not all the staff members with this specialist knowledge are available and so I will not be able to contact you about this until next week at the earliest.

Please email me if I can help you any further with this enquiry at this point. I will contact you by email as soon as I have the information required.

With best wishes

Trish

Patricia Grant
Principal Librarian: Family History and Local History
Glasgow Life/Glasgow Libraries

Then (Using the A. Parlow article as referrence.) I constructed the following pages for the library's use in comparing their book to the two versions of Payne's "An Introduction to the Game of Draughts".











After Ms. Grant received the above pages she sent back the following email.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for these image clips as this has been helpful. The Conservation Officer and I have been able to identify our copy of William Payne's The Game of Draughts from 1756 as the B edition, based on the comparative images of diverse pages, including the title page, from each edition that you have sent.

The edition we hold has two pages that appear to be replacement pages, possibly of Victorian origin. One of these pages is the draught table page which has no lines or rosettes above and below the table itself. The other page is not one that I can compare.

I have confirmed with the Conservation Officer that the fragility of our copy means that it will not be possible to photograph the book at this time- making a photocopy on a photocopier was never an option for this type of material. The book is now with our Conservation Officer for conservation work.

I trust that you now have the information that you need about the edition of the book that we hold and thank you for sending the image clips as this has allowed me to compare them without compromising the integrity of the original material from our Special Collections.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Patricia Grant
Principal Librarian

BTW:
My friend Al Darrow tells me (and of course he is only speculating and says so.) that he believes the "A" edition may well have been printed first. He thinks, and I think he makes a good point of this, that with so many errors in the "A" edition that possibly Payne or one or more of the six book sellers were unhappy and had the book reprinted with errors corrected, all within the year of 1756.

On the other hand, Parlow makes a good argument for the idea that the "B" edition was first. I've also been told that the discussion of which edition was the original printing has been going on long before the 1953 Parlow article was printed in the BDJ.

Al also tells me that, at the time, the books were most likely printed and given to Wm. Payne in loose-leaf form, possibly in folders. They were then most likely taken to a book binder by Payne or the book sellers themselves. He noted than T. Payne was both a book binder and a book seller and may have done the binding of the books he sold himself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Payne

Al told me that he once inspected a copy of Payne's "An Introduction to the Game of Draughts" that had never been bound, it was in a folder. I don't remember where it was he said he saw this unbound book or what library it was in, it being a couple of weeks ago now that we talked.

I trust that you and hopefully others have found this interesting, I know that I have.

It's been fun..."Pal"