PASTIMES

9pp, 12mo. On twi bifoliums and a single leaf, only the first of the bifoliums carrying the letterhead. In good condition, on aged paper. Folded once and in an envelope with 'Whist for 2. | Rules by Miss Stanton.' on cover. The letterhead has the feel of the 1920s, but the handwriting is Victorian, and presumably that of an old spinster. The first bifolium carries a separate set of instructions over four pages, headed 'Whist for two', and concluding: 'Hope you can read it excuse blots for I cant see what I have written'.

8pp., 8vo. On two bifoliums, unstitched and unbound. Aged and worn. A spoof of an Act of Parliament, priced at threepence, with parody of the royal coat of arms at the head of the first page, with motto 'Throw Physic To The Dogs | The Mixture As Before'. Paragraph synopses in the margins, with around 40 caricature illustrations. A lighthearted satire on drunken seaside revelry ('The Popular Revolutionary Air of “We won't go Home till Morning” to be forthwith suppressed.' and 'Cheap Cigars and the Snobs who smoke them, to be put down.').

128pp., 12mo. In original wraps, with 11.5 x 7 cm label pasted on cover with coloured illustration of a man performing a magic trick for a group of ladies, beneath the title 'EVENING PASTIMES | OR AMUSEMENTS FOR | HEARTHS AND HOMES'. In fair condition, a tight copy on aged paper, in worn wraps. Ownership stamp of the Sussex ornithologist H. L. F. Guermonprez on front free endpaper.