Engraved map, hand-colored; letterpress text below the map. Map is 28.2x38.2 cm (11x15"); map and text together are 58.5x41 cm (23x16"), backed with linen & sectioned for folding into original thin boards slipcase with large printed labels on both sides, 21x15.2 cm (8¼x6").
Very rare geographic game, described as the "first American board game" in the July/July, 2000, issue of Civilization magazine, in an article by Nicholas von Hoffman (pp.38-42), "Gifts to a Grateful Nation," in which he gives examples of some items on the Library of Congress' "wish list." One is this map game - valued at $65,000. Warren Heckrotte points out that the label on the back of the slipcase describes another game published by Lockwood, "A Travellers' Tour Through Europe" (along with games performed with cards, and dissected maps, i.e. jigsaw puzzles), so that there "appears to be a tie for first place." Mr. Heckrotte also describes the game and how it is played: "The 139 stops on the map are not named, but are named in the text below the map. When the cast of dice or the roll of the teetotum takes one to a new stop, one has to name the stop or else be penalized. And if that isn't hard enough, state the population of the town. One was expected to learn geography in those days..." The teetotum (a spinning top marked with numbers) and the "travellers" tokens are not present. OCLC/WorldCat lists only three copies of this game, at the New York Public Library, Brigham Young University, and the University of Michigan. The first two apparently had the slipcase, the last seemingly not.
Provenance: Ginsburg, 3/81