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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ... THE LITERATURE OF CHECKERS. I W1ll1am Payne. An Introduction to the Game of Draughts. London, 1756. Last page number, 67.. Present value, $15. This is the first work on the game of checkers printed in the English language. It contains fifty games, fourteen critical situations, and twenty-four stroke problems. The dedication notice and preface were written by Dr. Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer; but his name does not appear. This book has held the respect of all succeeding checker authors and compilers. A reprint, bearing the same date as the original issue, was published in (perhaps) 1795. In the original the name of the author on the title page is followed by the line, "Teacher of the Mathematics." In the reprint the word "the" is omitted from the line. In the fortysixth game of the original the word "drawn" does not appear at the end of the play. In the reprint it does appear. The tailpiece ornamenting page 59 of the original may be roughly described as a crown resting on a three-cornered table. The tailpiece to the same page of the reprint may also be roughly described as a bouquet supported by two birds. The reprint is worth $10 a copy. 2 Hoyle's Games. The first edition of this perennial handbook, a treatise on the game of whist by Edmond Hoyle, was issued in 1742. The second and third editions were issued in the succeeding year, 1743. An article on chess appeared in the edition of 1761. In 1779 Hoyle's Games, revised and corrected by Charles Jones, opened its pages to the game of checkers for the first time, by reprinting a part of Payne's work, under headlines reading as follows: "By permission of Mr. Payne; an extract from his game of draughts. Containing twenty select games, together with many critical situations for drawn...

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