THE GUESS BOOK by [RIDDLES.]

THE GUESS BOOK by [RIDDLES.] < >
  • Another image of THE GUESS BOOK by [RIDDLES.]
  • Another image of THE GUESS BOOK by [RIDDLES.]
  • Another image of THE GUESS BOOK by [RIDDLES.]

THE GUESS BOOK Alnwick: Printed by W. Davison. [n.d. but ca.

1840.]. 32mo, pp. [viii]; illustrated with woodcut to cover and fourteen within the text; minor staining to fore edge and lower corner; the original folded sheet, uncut and unsewn; a good copy. Seemingly a later issue of this charming Alnwick chapbook. According to Nigel Tattersfield, the images may have originally come from the Bewick stable, and that this may be a re-issue of the 1792 ‘Lilliputian Riddle Book’ printed by the Catnach Press in Alnwick. ‘Although no copy of the original title has been located, chemist William Davison, who succeeded to the Catnach’s business in Alnwick, reissued the small lozenge-shaped cuts as The Guess Book a Collection of Ingenious Puzzles about 1815’ (Tattersfield 2: p. 421). The present scarce issue has a slightly revised title and may be a little later.

Bibliography: Gumuchian 1589; Meriton & Dumontet, 6; OCLC locates copies at Yale, Chicago, Texas, Pennsylvania, Dublin, Cambridge, Newcastle, V&A, Manchester and Oxford (the Opie Collection); UCLA may have an earlier issue of pp. 16.

Print this page View basket Price: £225.00