The royal gamsters, or, The old cards new shuffled, for a conquering game.

London : Printed by E.B. near Ludgate, [1706?]

1 item ; 22 cm

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Great Britain -- England -- London, -- publication place.

272981

From dealer's description: "80. THE ROYAL GAMSTERS; or the old cards new shuffled, for a conquering game. [colophon:] London: printed by E.B. near Ludgate. [1706?] 4to (214 x 155mm), pp. 4; drop-head title; cut close at foot, affecting the catchword (only) on p. 2; MS deletion of one word and insertion of a date on the same page; rather frail; disbound. Sole contemporary edition of this poem: very rare. This is a poetical satire on European politics in the years up to and including 1706: it pictures the various great powers deciding on their stakes at cards. Five games are played, one for each year of 1702-6, the last one being dubbed ‘The Conquering Game’: predictably, each year seems to end with England as the winner Holland dealt next; France the First Trick did get, But England by the Honours won the Set. Bavaria Ruin’d, threw the Cards away, And had not left another Cross to Play (p. 3) This very scarce poem is exceptionally poorly printed, with numerous errors: ‘Cahds’, ‘baulk,d’, and ‘Pornugal’ are only the most obvious of the mistakes. Foxon R308, locating only the British Library copy; ESTC adds one more, at the Clark. The same text, with the dates suppressed, was printed again in Dublin in the late 1740s, applying the same text to the political situation at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748." Ordered from Christopher Edwards, D9765, 2024-09-04, List 92 Ninety-nine books and manuscripts Mostly recent acquisitions, item #80

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