A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Complete, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) : (full image Illustrated) MARK TWAIN (Samuel L. Clemens) (Author) B00C7AX0VM File Size: 12022 KB     BUY NOW Book Description :- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Complete, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) : (full image Illustrated) CONTENTS. CAMELOT KING ARTHUR'S CAMELOT KNIGHTS OF THE TABLE ROUND SIR DINADAN THE HUMORIST AN INSPIRATION THE ECLIPSE MERLIN'S TOWER THE BOSS THE TOURNAMENT BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION THE YANKEE IN SEARCH OF ADVENTURES SLOW TORTURE FREEMEN! DEFEND THEE, LORD! SANDY'S TALE MORGAN LE FAY A ROYAL BANQUET IN THE QUEEN'S DUNGEONS KNIGHT ERRANTRY AS A TRADE THE OGRE'S CASTLE THE PILGRIMS THE HOLY FOUNTAIN RESTORATION OF THE FOUNTAIN A RIVAL MAGICIAN A COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION THE FIRST NEWSPAPER THE YANKEE AND THE KING TRAVEL INCOGNITO DRILLING THE KING THE SMALL-POX HUT THE TRAGEDY OF THE MANOR-HOUSE MARCO DOWLEY'S HUMILIATION SIXTH CENTURY POLITICAL ECONOMY THE YANKEE AND THE KING SOLD AS SLAVES A PITIFUL INCIDENT AN ENCOUNTER IN THE DARK AN AWFUL PREDICAMENT SIR LAUNCELOT AND KNIGHTS TO THE RESCUE THE YANKEE'S FIGHT WITH THE KNIGHTS THREE YEARS LATER THE INTERDICT WAR! THE BATTLE OF THE SAND-BELT A POSTSCRIPT BY CLARENCE PREFACE The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale are historical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate them are also historical. It is not pretended that these laws and customs existed in England in the sixth century; no, it is only pretended that inasmuch as they existed in the English and other civilizations of far later times, it is safe to consider that it is no libel upon the sixth century to suppose them to have been in practice in that day also. One is quite justified in inferring that whatever one of these laws or customs was lacking in that remote time, its place was competently filled by a worse one. The question as to whether there is such a thing as divine right of kings is not settled in this book. It was found too difficult. That the executive head of a nation should be a person of lofty character and extraordinary ability, was manifest and indisputable; that none but the Deity could select that head unerringly, was also manifest and indisputable; that the Deity ought to make that selection, then, was likewise manifest and indisputable; consequently, that He does make it, as claimed, was an unavoidable deduction. I mean, until the author of this book encountered the Pompadour, and Lady Castlemaine, and some other executive heads of that kind; these were found so difficult to work into the scheme, that it was judged better to take the other tack in this book (which must be issued this fall), and then go into training and settle the question in another book. It is, of course, a thing which ought to be settled, and I am not going to have anything particular to do next winter anyway. MARK TWAIN HARTFORD, July 21, 1889   The Countess of Charny or, The Execution of King Louis XVI by Alexandre Dumas (pere) Alexandre Dumas (Author), HENRY LLEWELLYN WILLIAMS. (Illustrator) B00CXVT4JM File Size: 495 KB     BUY NOW Book Description :- The Countess of Charny or, The Execution of King Louis XVI by Alexandre Dumas (pere) CONTENTS. 1. THE NEW MEN AT THE WHEEL. 2. GILBERT'S CANDIDATE. 3. POWERFUL, PERHAPS; HAPPY, NEVER. 4. THE FOES FACE TO FACE. 5. THE UNINVITED VISITORS. 6. THE COUNTRY IS IN DANGER! 7. THE MEN FROM MARSEILLES. 8. THE FRIEND IN NEED. 9. CHARNY ON GUARD. 10. BILLET AND PITOU. 11. IN THE MORNING. 12. THE FIRST MASSACRE. 13. THE REPULSE. 14. THE LAST OF THE CHARNYS. 15. THE BLOOD-STAINS. 16. THE WIDOW. 17. WHAT ANDREA WANTED OF GILBERT. 18. THE ASSEMBLY AND THE COMMUNE. 19. CAPTAIN BEAUSIRE APPEARS AGAIN. 20. THE EMETIC. 21. BEAUSIRE'S BRAVADO. 22. SET UPON DYING. 23. THE DEATH OF THE COUNTESS. 24. THE ROYAL MARTYR. 25. MASTER GAMAIN TURNS UP. 26. THE TRIAL OF THE KING. 27. THE PARALLEL TO CHARLES I. 28. CAGLIOSTRO'S ADVICE. 29. THE CROWN OF ANGE'S LOVE. 30. THE EFFECT OF HAPPY NEWS. 31. THE EASY-CHAIR. 32. WHAT PITOU DID WITH THE FIND. CHAPTER I. THE NEW MEN AT THE WHEEL. It was on the first of October, 1791, that the new Legislative Assembly was to be inaugurated over France. King Louis XVI., captured with Queen Marie Antoinette and the royal family, while attempting to escape from the kingdom and join his brothers and the other princes abroad, was held in a kind of detention, like imprisonment without hard labor, in the Tuileries Palace in Paris. His fate hung on the members of the new House of Representatives. Let us hasten to see what they were. The Congress was composed of seven hundred and forty-five members: four hundred lawyers of one kind or another; some seventy literary men; seventy priests who had taken the oath to abide by the Constitution, not yet framed, but to which the king had subscribed on the sketch. The remaining two hundred odd were landholders, farming their own estates or hiring them out to others. Among these was François Billet, a robust peasant of forty-five, distinguished by the people of Paris and France as a hero, from having been mainly instrumental in the taking of the Bastile, regarded as the embodiment of the ancient tyranny, now almost leveled with the dust. Billet had suffered two wrongs at the hands of the king's men and the nobles, which he had sworn to avenge as well on the classes as on the individuals. His farm-house had been pillaged by Paris policemen acting under a blank warrant signed by the king and issued at the request of Andrea de Taverney, Countess of Charny, the queen's favorite, as her husband the count was reckoned, too. She had a spite against Billet's friend, Dr. Honore Gilbert, a noted patriot and politician. In his youth, this afterward distinguished physician had taken advantage of her senses being steeped in a mesmeric swoon, to lower her pride. Thanks to this trance and from his overruling love, he was the progenitor of her son, Sebastian Emile Gilbert; but with all the pride of this paternity, he was haunted by unceasing remorse. Andrea could not forgive this crime, all the more as it was a thorn in her side since her marriage. It was a marriage enforced on her, as the Count of Charny had been caught by the king on his knees to the queen; and to prevent the stupid monarch being convinced by this scene that there was truth in the tattle at court that Count Charny was Marie Antoinette's paramour, she had explained that he merely was suing for the hand of her friend Andrea. The king's consent given, this marriage took place, but for six years the couple dwelt apart; not that mutual love did not prevail between them, but neither was aware of the affection each had inspired in the other at first sight. The new countess thought that Charny's affection for the queen was a guilty and durable one; while he, believing his wife, by compulsion, a saint on earth, dared not presume on the position which fate and devotion to their sovereign had imposed on them both. This devotion was confirmed on the count's part, cemented by blood; for his two brothers, Valence and Isidore, had lost their lives in   Jaufry the Knight and the Fair Brunissende / A Tale of the Times of King Arthur by Mary Lafon : (full image Illustrated) Author: Mary Lafon, Illustrator: Gustave Dor?, Translator: Alfred Elwes B00HCNBJ9E File Size: 1394 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- tale, adventure, Arthur, fiction, GIANT, KNIGHT, CASTLE Now of a tale of chivalry, of proper fashion, great allurement, full of-wise and courteous instances, and wherein abound acts of great prowess, strange adventures, assaults, encounters, and dread battles, you may list the telling. An it amuse you, I will relate thereof all that I do know, or that it please you to give ear unto. Let me know only that which ye desire, and if ye be inclined to listen in good sooth. When the minstrel doth indeed recite, neither should hearers buy nor sell, nor in low voice hold council; for thus the recital is lost to him who speaketh, and they methinks who listen cannot find therein great pleasure. I come, then, to recount to you tidings of the court of good King Arthur; he who was so worthy, so valiant, and so wise, that his name shall never die, but whereof shall eternally be spoken the mighty things he did; and the good knights, all for their prowess known, whom he did gather at his famed Round Table. In that court, the fairest and most loyal that ever shone beneath the stars, all men did find that counsel and that aid of which they stood in need. There triumphed right, and there were wrongs redressed. There dames and damsels, widows and orphans attacked unjustly, or disinherited by force, ne'er failed to meet with champions. The oppressed of all conditions there did find a refuge, and none e'er sought protection there in vain. Give, then, sweet welcome to a poem the fruit of such good place, and deign to listen unto it in peace. The troubadour who rhymed it never knew King Arthur; but he heard the entire story told at the court of the king of Aragon, the best of monarchs in this world. THE ADVENTURE OF THE FOREST. 'Twas on the day of Pentecost, a feast which to Carlisle had drawn a host of knights, that Arthur, King of Briton's isle, his crown placed on his brows, and to the old monastic church proceeded to hear mass. And with him went a brilliant train, the Knights of the Round Table. There were Sir Gawain, Lancelot du Lac, Tristrem, and Ivan bold, Eric frank of heart, and Quex the seneschal, Percival and Calogrant, Cliges the worthy, Coedis the handsome knight, and Caravis short i' the arm; the whole of his bright court, indeed, was there, and many more whose names I have forgot. When mass was done, they to the palace home returned 'mid laughter and loud noise, the thoughts of each on pleasure only bent. Each on arrival gave his humour play. Some spoke of love, and some of chivalry; and some of ventures they were going to seek. Quex at this moment came into the hall, holding a branch of apple in his hand. All made room for him; for there were few who did not fear his tongue and the hard words which it was wont to utter. This baron bold held nothing in respect. E'en of the best he ever said the worst. But this apart, he was a brave stout knight, in council sage, a valiant man of war, and lord of lineage high; but this, his humour and his biting words took from him much that was of right his due. He, going straightway to the king, thus said: "Sire, an it please you, it is time to dine." "Quex," replied Arthur, in an angry tone, "sure thou wast born but to awake my wrath, and out of season ever to discourse. Have I not told thee, ay, a thousand times, naught should induce me to partake of food, when thus my court had met, till some adventure had turned up, some knight were vanquished, or some maid set free. Go sit thee down at bottom of the hall." Quex went without a word among that joyous throng, where men of all conditions, knights and lords, minstrels and mountebanks, ceased not their tricks, their gay discourse, their laughter, till the hour of noon. At noon, King Arthur called Sir Gawain, and thus spoke: CONTENTS THE ADVENTURE OF THE FOREST. ESTOUT DE VERFEIL. THE DWARF AND THE LANCE. THE YEOMAN. THE CASTLE OF THE LEPER. THE ORCHARD OF BRUNISSENDE. THE BLACK KNIGHT. TAULAT DE RUGUMON. THE GIANT. THE COURT OF CARLISLE.   Toy-Making in School and Home by Ruby Kathleen Polkinghorne and Mabel Irene Rutherford Polkinghorne : (full image Illustrated) Ruby Kathleen Polkinghorne and Mabel Irene Rutherford Polkinghorne B00KO7MVRE File Size: 7569 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- toy, how-to, School, Toy-making, Railway, learning, AEROPLANES I. EXTERNAL EVIDENCE Women are often limited in their amusements and in their hobbies for lack of power or of knowledge to use the requisite implements. We may wield the needle, the brush, kitchen utensils, even the spade and the trowel, but what knowledge have we of the chisel, the plane, the saw, or even the friendly gimlet and the screw-driver? The scissors answer many purposes until the points are broken, but how helpless we are with a screw or a saw, how futile are our attempts to adjust a loose door-handle, or to set the knives of a mowing machine! It is humiliating to call for help in such simple jobs, and tantalising not to be able to enjoy the carpenter's bench as our men-folk do in their hours of leisure. A really active hobby, one entailing exercise of many muscles, otherwise resting, does help to keep a well-balanced mind and a healthy body. It saves one from fretfulness, from too great introspection; it keeps one cheerful and changes one's attitude of mind when change is needed. It is possible that the management of big things falls into men's hands because from babyhood they have dealt with larger things than women, and through handling manageable things from an early age have developed the constructive faculty more thoroughly. The little girl deals with 'wee' things: stitches are small, dolls are small; there is a fatal tendency sometimes to 'niggle,' to 'finick'--not that men-folk are immune from this--to love uniformity and tidiness for their own sakes, to seek regularity rather than utility. The little girl, however, must, unless she is too thoroughly supervised, exercise some ingenuity in planning a doll's dress out of a cutting from the rag-bag; but her amusements and hobbies tend to pin her down to small things, and she does not rise far enough from her immediate surroundings. The dress of her little doll will follow the prevailing fashion. Originality in dress is eccentricity. The girl takes pains to carry out her work (neatness is often the sole aim put before her), the boy finds methods. The girl hovers round the well-known place, the boy makes a bee-line to fresh fields. See how this affects reading: the girl still hankers after What Katy Did, What Katy Did Next, while the boy of her age is reading Jules Verne or Ballantyne or Henty, or if there is open access to shelves in the Free Library near him, you see him finding books on Airships, Submarines, Carpentry, or Engineering. We started our voluntary classes with these ideas in mind, and at first allowed girls to choose an indoor occupation in the two winter terms instead of outdoor games. Many girls preferred games,   Tracks and Tracking by Josef Brunner : (full image Illustrated) Josef Brunner B00K4IFG70 File Size: 3875 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- animal, Tracks, clue, hunt, Predatory, bird, Wolf TO derive the greatest pleasure from the pursuit of game, either large or small, it is necessary that the disciple of Nimrod be versed in the science of interpreting the meaning of tracks and trails. Nature is as an open book to the man who can read the signs of the woods and plains correctly; and where the uninitiated see only meaningless tracks, experienced hunters find them in many instances the guide to exhilarating sport and a desired trophy. To the tyro the finest tracking snow is useless and the marks he sees everywhere around him simply bewilder him. Were he able to read them as every hunter should, his day's sport would mean enjoyment and success, instead of disappointment and failure. Game is not so plentiful as it used to be, and for this reason it is generally a waste of time--from the standpoint of the game bag--merely to tramp through the woods and trust to luck. Moreover, the high-power, small-caliber rifles, which are so extensively used, very often lead to shots at distances at which it is not possible to place an immediately fatal bullet. This makes it the more necessary for the hunter to be able to read the signs correctly and to interpret aright the language of the trails. Every sportsman should consider it a sacred duty to bring to bay any animal he has wounded, and he should also regard it a matter of honor to acquire a working knowledge of tracks, trails, and signs. Then he will not, through ignorance, make carrion or wolf-bait of a noble creature which, in all reason, he should have secured. A sportsman who is unable to interpret the meaning of tracks he encounters, however much game he may have killed by chance, luck, or with the assistance of others, will be considered a tyro in woodcraft by companions who have learned their lessons in this art. Lack of opportunity on the part of the majority of sportsmen to become versed in tracking lore by actual experience, as well as the incompetence of a great number of guides, is the reason for this book. The contents represent the experience gained from twenty years of uninterrupted life in the great outdoors; and while only half of that time was spent in the pursuit and study of American game, the foreign experience was a considerable aid in arriving at definite conclusions, for the same species, with but few exceptions, show the same features in their trails the world over. No space has been given to microscopic intricacies, since in the woods plain tracking lore is intricate enough. In practice whoever looks for exaggerated, fine, distinctive features in tracks and trails soon sees things which a sober-minded expert recognizes as imaginative. GENERAL REMARKS About the Motive Features of Different Animals TAKING it for granted that the arrangement of the individual tracks in the trail is due to the general anatomic make-up of the animal which made them, we have to consider four groups in the treatise on mammals. The first, the members of which possess a length of body correctly proportional to their height, includes the deer, ox, bear, dog, and cat families. The second includes rabbits, squirrels, and animals whose hind legs are very long in proportion to their front legs. The third is made up of those animals whose legs, considering the length of their bodies, are very short--marten, mink, etc. The fourth group embraces the animals whose legs are very short in proportion to the length of the body, and whose bodies, in addition to this, are disproportionately thick--beaver, badger, etc.   Baseball Joe, Home Run King or, The Greatest Pitcher and Batter on Record by Lester Chadwick Lester Chadwick B00G1VGTY8 File Size: 660 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- sport, fiction, action, Baseball, Home Run, Champions, League CHAPTER I. A DANGEROUS PLUNGE "I'm going to tie you up in knots, old man," said Jim Barclay, with a smile, as he picked up the ball and stepped into the box in batting practice at the training camp. "I've heard that kind of talk before," retorted Joe Matson, known all over the country as "Baseball Joe," the king pitcher of the Giants. "But untying knots is the best thing I do. Give me the best you have in the shop." Jim wound up and put one over that just cut the corner of the plate. Joe made a mighty swing at it, but it was just beyond his reach. "Nearly broke your back reaching for that one, eh?" laughed Jim, as the ball was thrown back to him. "I was just kidding you that time," grinned Joe. "I'm going to kill the next one." Again the ball whizzed to the plate. It was a fast, straight ball with a slight hop to it. Joe caught it near the end of his bat and "leaned on it" heavily. The ball soared out between right and center, and the outfielders covering that position gave one look at it and then turned and ran with the ball. But it kept on and on until it cleared the fence, and the discomfited fielders threw up their hands and came slowly back to their positions. Jim looked sheepish, and Joe, who was his chum and best friend, laughed outright as he relinquished the bat to the next man in line. "A sweet home run, Jim," he remarked. "I should say so!" snorted Jim. "That hit was good for two home runs. The ball was ticketed for kingdom come." "Who was it said that pitchers couldn't hit?" laughed Mylert, the burly catcher of the Giant team, as he took Joe's place. "I'll tell the world that some of them can!" exclaimed Jim, as he prepared to try his luck again. "Gee, Joe, if that had happened to me in a regular game, it would have broken my heart." Two keen-eyed men in uniform had been standing near the side lines, watching intently every move of the players, as they tried out their batting eyes and arms. One was stocky and of medium height, with hair that had begun to grey at the temples. The other was stout and ruddy, with a twinkle in his eyes that bespoke good nature. Both were veterans of many hard-fought baseball campaigns, and both had played on the Baltimore Orioles when that great organization of stars was the sensation of the baseball world. "Did you see that hit, Robbie?" asked McRae, the manager of the Giants, of his stout companion. "Not all of it," replied Robson, the coach of the team. "But I followed it as far as the fence. That was a whale of a wallop. I'll bet the ball's going yet," and the man chuckled gleefully.   Baseball Joe on the Giants Or Making Good as a Ball Twirler in the Metropolis by Lester Chadwick Lester Chadwick B00DLSTRO8 File Size: 607 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- sport, fiction, action, adventure, Heroes, Fighting, Slump CHAPTER I. PUTTING THEM OVER "Now then, Joe, send it over!" "Show us what you can do!" "Make the ball hum!" "Split the ozone!" These and a host of similar cries greeted Joe Matson as he carelessly caught the ball tossed to him by one of his friends and walked over to a corner of the gymnasium that was marked off as a pitcher's box. "All right, fellows," he answered, laughingly. "Anything to oblige my friends." "And that means all of us, Joe," cried one of the boys heartily. "You bet it does!" chorused the others, with a fervor that spoke volumes for the popularity of the young pitcher. It was a cold day in late winter and a large number of the village youth had gathered at the Riverside gymnasium. Riverside was Joe's home town where his people had lived for years, and where he always spent the months between the ending of one baseball season and the beginning of the next. Joe wound up, while the spectators stretched out in a long line and waited with interest for the first ball. "Not too hot at the start, Joe," cautioned Tom Davis, his old-time chum, who stood ready at the receiving end. "Remember I'm out of practice just now and I don't want you to lift me off my feet." "All right, old scout," returned Joe. "I'm not any too anxious myself to pitch my arm out at the start. I'll just float up a few teasers to begin with." He let the ball go without any conscious effort, and it sailed lazily across the sixty feet that represented the distance between himself and Tom, who stood directly behind the plate that had been improvised for the occasion. It was a drop that broke just before it reached the plate and shot downward into Tom's extended glove. "That was a pretty one," said Tom. "Now give us an upshoot." Joe complied, and then in response to requests from the crowd gave them specimens of his "knuckle" ball, his in-and-out curves, his "fadeaway," and in fact everything he had in stock. Then with a twinkle in his eyes, seeing that Tom by this time was pretty well warmed up, he cut loose a fast one that traveled so swiftly that the eye could scarcely follow it. It landed in Tom's glove with a report like the crack of a whip, and a roar of laughter went up from the crowd as Tom danced around rubbing his hands. "Wow!" he yelled. "That one had whiskers on it for fair. Have a heart, Joe. I'm too young to die." "Don't worry about dying, Tom," piped up Dick Little. "Only the good die young, and that makes you safe for a while." "Is that the kind you feed to old Wagner when he comes up to the plate and shakes his hat at you?" asked Ben Atkins. "It doesn't matter much what you serve to that tough old bird," answered Joe grimly. "He lams them all if they come within reach." "How fast do you suppose that last ball of yours was traveling anyway, Joe?" asked Ed Wilson.   The Siberian Overland Route from Peking to Petersburg, Through the Deserts and Steppes of Mongolia, Tartary, &c. by Alexander Michie Alexander Michie B00J8YA1F8 File Size: 1344 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- ASIA, Siberian, CHINA, EUROPE, Mongolia, Shanghai, paper money The following work has but moderate claims, I fear, to public attention; and it would probably not have seen the light at all but for the urgent request of friends, who think better of it than the author does. It has no pretensions to any higher merit than that of being a plain narrative of the journey, and an impartial record of my own impressions of the people among whom I travelled. Although some portions of the route have been eloquently described by Huc and others, I am not aware that any continuous account of the whole journey between the capitals of China and Russia has appeared in the English language for nearly a century and a half. Important changes have occurred in that period; and, if I may judge of others by myself, I suspect that many erroneous notions are afloat respecting the conditions of life in these far-off regions, and more especially in Siberia. Observation has modified my own pre-conceived opinions on many of the subjects touched on in the following pages, and I am not without a hope that they will be found to contain some information which may be new to many people in this country. If I have indulged in irrelevant digressions, I can only say that I have limited myself to those reflections which naturally suggested themselves in the course of my travels; and the subjects I have given most prominence to are simply those which happened to be the most interesting to myself. My thanks are due to various friends for useful hints, confirming and correcting my own observations; but I am especially indebted for some valuable notes on Siberia, its social phenomena, gold mines, &c., to Edwin E. Bishop, Esq., whose long residence in the country, and perfect acquaintance with the language and customs of the people, constitute him an authority on all matters connected with that part of the world. 22, Berkeley Square, October 28th, 1864.   Woodworking for Beginners / A Manual for Amateurs by Charles Gardner Wheeler : (full image Illustrated) Charles Gardner Wheeler B00EY47IVC File Size: 7322 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- Woodworking, TOOLS, WORKSHOP, DRAWINGS, TOYS, FURNITURE, BOAT-BUILDING The aim of this book is to suggest to amateurs of all ages many things which they can profitably make of wood, and to start them in the way to work successfully. It is hoped that, in the case of boys, it may show them pleasant and useful ways to work off some of their surplus energy, and at the same time contribute toward their harmonious all-round development. It is not an attempt to teach the arts of architecture, carpentry, cabinet-making, or boat-building. Although not intended primarily to impart skill in the use of tools (something which can only be acquired from experience and observation and cannot be taught by any book), still no one can go through the processes indicated without gaining at least some slight degree of manual skill as well as a fund of practical information and experience. Many books which give directions for mechanical work (particularly those addressed to boys) have several serious faults, and can be grouped in three classes. Some seem to be written by practical workmen, who, however well fitted to do the work themselves, lack the pedagogical training or the psychological insight necessary to lay out such work with due regard to the mental and physical capacity, experience, and development of youth, or to the amateur's lack of experience in the rudiments of the subject. Others are written by teachers or amateurs who lack the trained mechanic's practical and varied knowledge and experience in serious work. Others (and this last class is, perhaps, the worst of the three) seem to be made by compilers who have apparently been satisfied to sweep together, without requisite knowledge or sufficient moral purpose, whatever they may have found that would be interesting or attractive, without due regard to its real value. All these writers are constantly falling into errors and making omissions harmful alike to the moral and the manual progress of the readers. CONTENTS A WORKSHOP FOR AMATEURS INTRODUCTORY TOOLS WOOD WORKING DRAWINGS, LAYING OUT THE WORK AND ESTIMATING THE WORKSHOP ARTICLES TO BE MADE IN THE WORKSHOP A FEW TOYS HOUSES FOR ANIMALS IMPLEMENTS FOR OUTDOOR SPORTS AND ATHLETICS FURNITURE A FEW MISCELLANEOUS OPERATIONS HOUSE-BUILDING FOR BEGINNERS SOME ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES SIMPLE SUMMER COTTAGES A FEW SIMPLE STRUCTURES BOAT-BUILDING FOR BEGINNERS A FEW SIMPLE BOATS TOOLS AND OPERATIONS THE COMMON HAND-TOOLS, AND SOME EVERY-DAY OPERATIONS, ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED FOR READY REFERENCE   Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer : (full image Illustrated) Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer B00K2E8X9Y File Size: 1353 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- cards, chess, games, Fortune-Telling, Tarots, French Pips FOREWORD If an apology is needed for writing again on the subject of playing cards, the excuse may be offered that new lights have been turned on the subject, so that there is fresh information to lay before the public, derived from a close and exhaustive study of the European libraries and museums, as well as of the pictures on the Playing Cards themselves or prints found in those repositories, and also in the collection owned by the writer; for these speak their histories to those who regard their symbols with appreciative knowledge, since they had an immense significance when originally adopted. It is twenty years since The Devil's Picture Book was published and it is now out of print. The writer has been frequently called upon to furnish papers on the subject, so that it has been kept fresh in mind. At the time that the first book was issued it was the only one that had been printed in the United States devoted entirely to the history of cards not necessarily connected with games. Since then little has been published on the subject, and the information given in the present volume has been largely derived from the writer's own observations and studies. A collection of Playing Cards, begun at that time with a solitary pack brought as a curiosity by a traveler from Algiers, that bore the ancient pips of Swords, Staves, Money and Cups, has now grown to hundreds of specimens culled from many different countries. Comparing these with each other, and studying all obtainable histories on the subject, leads to the conclusion that the writers of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were correct when they stated that no historical record existed before the middle of the fourteenth century of games played with cards. But each and all of the writers on Playing Cards agree that there were cards and that they seem to have been used for fortune-telling before 1350, and also that there was a baffling resemblance between the traditions of the cards and what was recorded of the Egyptian mysteries connected with the worship of Thoth Hermes. It therefore followed that the history and traditions peculiar to the ceremonies connected with that personage should be studied in order to trace Playing Cards to their birthplace and find for them an origin, without weakly stopping at the fourteenth century, and declaring that cards came out of space, as many authors have done. CONTENTS Prophetical and Other Cards The Book of Thoth, Hermes, and Nebo Mercurius Thoth Nebo or Nabu The Atouts of the Tarots Pips of the Tarot Pack Some Old Italian Tarots Hearts and Diamonds. Spades and Clubs Court Cards with French Pips Point Cards with French Pips "According to Hoyle" Engraved Cards Playing Cards for Educational and other Purposes European Playing Cards Asiatic Playing Cards Chess and Other Games Fortune-Telling Through the Cards Reading the Book of Thoth   [Prev] .. 1 ... 1 2 ... 2 .. [Next]

Email : thaiperfect@yahoo.com
12:48 12/8/2566