The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland

Gomme, Alice Bertha, 1853-1938Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.0
Word count
970K words
Chapters
98

Tags

English Originals CultureSports Social ObservationHistorical CriticismFun EncyclopediaTraditional GamesEclectic ReadingColorful FolkloreCultural HeritageFolk CustomsFolk EntertainmentParent-Child Reading

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 2 of 2) by GommeAuthor: Gomme, Alice Bertha, 1853-1938,Language: English, Class: GR: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Folklore, Release Date: Dec 29, 2012

Editor's review

This is the second volume of Mrs. Gomme's compilation of traditional games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, a classic source collection in folklore and game studies. The book records, game by game, the rules, rhymes, songs, and regional variants, along with sources and lines of transmission, presenting the rich forms of children's and adults' games in the pre-industrial era. Its reading pleasure lies in the details: differences in the same rhyme across counties often reflect traces of migration, dialect, and community life. For folklore researchers, it is searchable primary material; for educators and parent-child readers, it offers a wealth of traditional games to try. Note that the original is in English and organized as a source compilation, better consulted as needed than read straight through.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Use it as a reference book: look at the table of contents and index first, and read entries by game type or region.
  2. For each game, try recording the steps and playing it with companions to test whether the record is clear and workable.
  3. Note variants of the same game in different regions, compare differences in rhyme wording and rules, and keep brief notes.
  4. Read an introductory folklore text to understand the compilation format and source value, rather than treating it merely as a game manual.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
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  11. 11
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  96. 96
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  98. 98

FAQ

This is the second volume; do I need to read the first volume first? Not necessarily. Each volume is organized by game entries, which are relatively independent, so you can consult games of interest directly in the second volume. For systematic research, add the first volume to cover more complete entries and format.
Can the games in the book still be played today? Most can. The book records mostly traditional games with simple rules and easily obtained equipment, suitable for outdoor or classroom recreation. Some rhymes and calls carry period flavor and can be appropriately adjusted and explained for the occasion.
Is it suitable for children to read directly? The original is intended for adult readers, and its English format is a source compilation, not suitable for children to read independently. Parents or teachers can first select entries, retell the rules and rhymes in Chinese, and then practice them with children.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Gomme, Alice Bertha, 1853-1938 Author · British · 1853–1938

Alice Bertha Gomme (1853–1938) was a British folklorist known for collecting and studying children's games and folk traditions. Her representative work, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, systematically gathered and recorded children's games and related customs from across the British Isles, and remains a frequently cited early compilation in folklore and game studies. Two of her works are held in this collection. Public information about her life is limited, and existing accounts focus mainly on her writings; her works show attention to field recording and classification, and an effort to preserve oral traditions in their original form. This work provided later folklorists with a usable textual foundation and helped keep many fading game forms from being lost.