Jeu instructif des peuples et costumes des quatre parties du monde et des Terres Australes = [Informative game about the costumes of the peoples of the four parts of the world and of Terra Australia], [ca. 1815] / engraved by Paul-André Basset

V/337

fonds

[ca. 1815]

Graphic Materials, Prints

1382544

1 print - 49 x 65 cm. - engraving

The game is of a type derived from the traditional jeu de l'oie (= game of the goose), a dice game with penalties and bonuses similar in concept to Snakes and ladders. The Jeu de l’Oie (Game of Goose) is a spiral race game that has its roots in the Italy of Francesco de’ Medici (1574-87), who, as Carrera (1617, p. 25) reports, sent it as a present to King Philip II of Spain. The game took hold there and elsewhere in continental Europe, where it is still played. It is played with double dice and the usual tokens, the aim being to arrive exactly at the final space, numbered 63 in the standard form of the game. There are also unfavourable spaces, or hazards, which involve paying to the pool and other penalties. Most notable of these is death, on space 58: the unfortunate player who lands here must begin the game again.

In about 1815, the Paris firm of Basset produced the Jeu Instructif des Peuples et Costumes des Quatre Parties du Monde et des Terres Australes. This was a game strongly based on the Jeu de l’Oie in which each of the 63 spaces showed a nation of the world, with inhabitants in national dress.

Source:
Library correspondence file.

A board game, copper engraving on thick laid paper, in the form of a spiral track comprising 63 numbered cartouches with vignette illustrations of inhabitants of all regions of the globe, including representations of the native peoples of New Holland [Australia], Tahiti, New Guinea, the Moluccas, Sumatra, Java, and New Zealand, as well as of the Americas (Tierra del Fuego, Brazil, Chile, Guiana, Peru, Mexico, California, Iroquois, Nootka, Greenland ... ), Asia (Tibet, Siam, China, Japan ... ), Africa and Europe; the final space depicts a statue of Henry IV of France; the rules of the game are printed across the centre of the board in French; at the four corners are larger cartouches with motifs of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

Engraved by the Paris printmaker and publisher Paul-André Basset. Printed in lower left corner, "A. Paris chez Basset Md d'estampes rue St. Jacques au coin de celle des Mathurins No. 64". Printed in lower right corner "déposé à la direction de la librairie é de l'imprimerie".

French, English

Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Translation of the French text.

INSTRUCTIVE GAME OF THE PEOPLES AND COSTUMES OF THE FOUR PARTS OF THE WORLD AND THE SOUTHERN LANDS.

RULES OF THE GAME: First of all the stakes for which one wishes to play, and the fines to be paid, must be agreed upon. This game is made up of numbers, from 1 to 63, and he who arrives first at this final number, which is France, wins the game; but it is not easy to arrive there. To play this game two dice are needed, dice which each player throws once. He advances his counter on the board the number of points. Each player will have a different counter so as to be able to recognise it. It is a rule that one may not land on a European country, and if the number thrown leads the player there, he doubles his score.
He who at the first throw scores 9 with a 6 and a 3, will go to number 26 where Tibet is situated. He who with his first throw scores 9 with a 5 and a 4, will go to number 53 where is the island of Sumatra. He who with his first throw scores 6, where is the rope bridge, will pay the agreed fine and go and drown himself in the River of the Amazons at number 12. He who reaches number 19, where is the hospitable island of Tahiti, will pay the agreed fine and will remain there while the other players each play two turns. He who arrives at number 31, where is Siberia, place of exile, will pay the agreed price and will remain there until another player landing on the same spot, comes to release him; he will then go to the spot of he who freed him.
He who reaches number 42, which is Japan, country which travellers are forbidden to enter, will pay the agreed price and go to number 30, which is Abyssinia. He who reaches number 52, which is Barbary, a land of slavery, will pay the agreed price and remain there until another comes and releases him. He who reaches number 58, New Zealand, island inhabited by cannibals, will pay the agreed price and start the entire game again. He who is caught up with by another player will pay the agreed price and will take the place of he by whom he was met.

Reference:
Zealand Journal of Geography, October 1982, p. 13.

Date based on active date of engraver Paul-André Basset.