1878 Goodall booklet “The Game of Napoleon” by Captain Crawley

As you know, Goodall & Son produced numerous booklets of this type between 1868 and the 1920s when they were taken over by De La Rue. Booklets such as these were produced for just about any card game you could mention, and a number of others which nobody has ever heard of since which sank without trace! Some of the popular games such as Whist and Bezique went into multiple editions throughout this period. Bezique, for example, had 50 editions between 1870 and 1920. As far as I can tell, there was only one edition of Napoleon which, as this copy suggests, was produced in 1878. Unfortunately. I think this copy is missing its brightly coloured cover in what Michael Goodall describes as Design no. 4.

These booklets were on sale throughout their lifetime at the unwavering price of 6d (old money). They were sold separately, or in boxes of 14 assorted titles. The last decades of the 19th century were the peak years for playing cards in Britain (and the States) so there was much interest in finding new games or variants of old ones.

The most popular games (e.g. bezique, whist, piquet ) were sold in labelled boxes, containing two packs, scoring markers and the appropriate booklet. The boxes varied in style and therefore price from simple cardboard to beautiful woods with silver embellishments. However, there is no evidence that Napoleon was particularly popular and I would be amazed to find that it had ever been marketed as part of a boxed set. As the game was played with a standard pack of 52 cards, so anyone learning the game from the booklet would use a standard pack available at the time. Such booklets are not rare, and collectors will only buy copies in pristine condition, or as close to that as can be found for something of that age.

Hope this is helpful.

All good wishes,

Tony

Hi Tony,
Many thanks for such a detailed and helpful reply. The information about the Goodall booklets, the original price, and the apparent single 1878 edition of Napoleon is especially interesting.

I was wondering about the possible missing coloured cover. Looking closely at the booklet, the present outer leaf appears to me as though it may originally have been intended as the cover, rather than simply being an internal title page. I cannot see any obvious remains, stitching holes, detached edges or other clear evidence that a separate wrapper was once attached.

Would you be able to tell me what specifically suggests that this copy originally had the Design no. 4 coloured cover? Is there a surviving complete example, catalogue illustration, or description that shows this particular title with that wrapper?

I also have a Goodall booklet from 1900 with a somewhat similar simple construction. I realise that it is a later booklet and a different title, so it may not be directly comparable, but I can send photographs if they might be useful.

Many thanks again for taking the time to examine it.

All the best,

Mareks

Hi Mareks,

I attach a photograph of the original cover of the Napoleon booklet taken from what I regard as the definitive source information on Goodall booklets compiled by a descendent of the founder, Michael H. Goodall (Goodall Card Game Booklets, 1868 – 1922). As far as we can tell, there was only one edition of this booklet. (Incidentally. today, if we refer to a second or third “edition” of a book or pamphlet we would expect to see some change in the text from one “edition” and the next. It seems that for the late Victorians the term “edition” was used to describe second or subsequent printings of the same text. I can see no significant difference in Goodall booklets from one edition to the next or subsequent printings.)

I agree that the cover of your copy does look more like a front cover than an inside page, but it is not dissimilar to the inside page of another Goodall booklet (Bezique) shown below. (Sadly, I do not yet have a copy of the original Napoleon booklet with which to compare your copy directly.) The Bezique booklet is the 50th edition from 1920 – obviously a best seller - but the inside pages of these booklets appear to have varied little over the decades.





I would be very happy to see a photograph of your other booklet from 1900 if I can help in any way.

Best wishes,

Tony

Dear Tony,
Thank you very much for your detailed and helpful reply, and for sharing the photograph and information from Michael H. Goodall’s work. I really appreciate the time you have taken to explain the differences between editions and subsequent printings.

I would be very pleased to send you photographs of my other Goodall booklet, which dates from around 1900. Unfortunately, I do not currently have sufficiently clear and detailed photographs of it, but I will take some better ones as soon as possible and send them to you in a separate email.

Thank you again for your interest and for offering to help.

Best wishes,
Mareks

I have attached photographs of my 1900 edition of Patience Games by Professor Hoffmann, which may be useful for comparison. Please let me know if any additional pages or details would be helpful.

Hi Mareks,

Thank you for sending photographs of the Professor Hoffmann booklet. This first appeared in 1900, so you have one of the earliest copies. It is classified by Michael Goodall as Design No. 13, “red and black on yellow”. I have copies from 1911 and 1914, so production continued for at least 15 years and probably longer and, as far as I can see, the content was unchanged over these years.

Instead of updating the original booklet, in the following year Goodall published “Patience Games, Series 2” (red and black on pink), also by Professor Hoffmann.

Professor Hoffmann was an interesting chap. His real name was Angelo John Lewis (1839–1919), an English barrister whose principal hobby was magic and illusions, about which he wrote extensively and for which he was highly regarded. Towards the end of the 19th century he wrote a significant text on patience games, many of which were reproduced from games he had discovered while travelling across Europe, so he was an obvious person to be asked to write the booklet for Goodall.

His use of a pseudonym while writing treatises on magic (and patience) was commonplace throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. One possible reason in his case was the potential problem of conflict between his “hobby” and his profession. It is not difficult to imagine jury members and judges having problems believing a prosecutor or defence barrister best known for magic and illusions!

Hi Tony,

Many thanks for the very detailed and interesting information about the Professor Hoffmann booklet. It is especially helpful to know that it first appeared in 1900 and that my copy is one of the earlier examples, as well as its classification as Michael Goodall’s Design No. 13.

I really appreciate the time you have taken to help me with these old Goodall items.

Best wishes,
Mareks