Spooner’s Zoological Map of The World
"A first edition of Spooner’s zoological round-the-world race game, which was reissued in 1845. A notice in the Naval & Military Gazette that year remarked: “Annually we look for some little instructive book or game from Mr Spooner, the well known caterer in the Strand, for the amusement of...
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William Spooner
1844
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| Online Access: | https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~329848~90098301 https://media.davidrumsey.com/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size4/RUMSEY~8~1/190/10653002.jpg |
| Summary: | "A first edition of Spooner’s zoological round-the-world race game, which was reissued in 1845. A notice in the Naval & Military Gazette that year remarked: “Annually we look for some little instructive book or game from Mr Spooner, the well known caterer in the Strand, for the amusement of youth. Here we have a topographical distribution of animals, illustrated in familiar verse, with descriptive notes, and accompanied by a zoological map of the world, by JH Newton. The intention – to induce in young people a taste for natural history – is well carried out: verse and pictorial representations impress facts on the young mind.” Players each pay three counters into a pool, then race from the glutton (wolverine) and reindeer of Alaska (1) to the kangaroo rat of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) (119), with forfeits (one token) for landing on a number ending in five, but rewards (one token) for landing on a number ending zero; players may not occupy the same space: the last to arrive moves back to his previous position. Published five years after Darwin’s account of the voyage of the Beagle, the map reflects the limits of contemporary exploration (the mapping of Antarctica was only just beginning) and politics (Japan was a closed world, and is blank on the map) but most of all it reflects contemporary attitudes towards the animal kingdom. Darwin himself was an adventurous eater, and one of the vignettes shows turtles being taken (‘a luxurious addition to the table… excellent food’ says Newton in the guide) and many others show hunting: bears, giraffes or tigers, depending on the continent, and the great northern and southern whale fisheries. Domesticated animals are also shown, such as llamas and camels, and cormorants are shown being used for fishing, on the coast of China. William Spooner (1796-1882) produced a number of maps and tablegames, and was well known as a maker of ‘protean’ or transformation prints; for example, a view of Vesuvius on a tranquil summer’s day which, when held up to the light, shows it ... |
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