Adrian Seville – författare

With higher education in the UK at a critical juncture in its history, two leading commentators offer new perspectives on the fundamentals of this on-going debate. Seville examines the implications of 'modularity' , while Tooley presents a comprehensive critique of government intervention in the university system, questioning whether the state has to be involved at all.

The Game of the Goose is one of the oldest printed board games, dating back 400 years. It has spawned thousands of derivatives: simple race games, played with dice, on themes that mirror much of human activity. Its legacy can be traced in games of education, advertising and polemic, as well as in those of amusement and gambling - and games on new themes are still being developed. This book, by the leading international collector of the genre, is devoted to showing why the Game of the Goose is special and why it can lay claim to being the most influential of any printed game in the cultural history of Europe. Detailed study of the games reveals their historical provenance and - reversing the process - gives unusual insights into the cultures which produced them. They therefore provide rich sources for the cultural historian. This book is beautifully illustrated with more than 90 illustrations, many in color, which are integrated throughout the text.

The printed board game reached new heights of beauty and ingenuity during the nineteenth century. The century began with a golden age for upmarket board games, finely engraved and often with glowing hand-colour. But these expensive games faced competition from the new process of lithography and by the end of the century mass produced games from the steam-press were flooding a European-wide market. There were games on almost every conceivable theme, whether on serious subjects like geography or history, or on the crazes of the moment. The games often relied on dice or a numbered spinning top called a teetotum, with no choice of move. Nowadays, the fascination of these games lies not in playing them but in seeing how they reflect the specific cultures of different times and places. Other games were designed for gambling, with a winner scooping the pool. Some, though, were `mind games’, where serious thought was required.This book presents examples of all these genres. It is interesting to see how the focus of the games changed over the century – for example, how what had been largely a gambling game for adults became a children’s game. However, games with a satirical focus, or a strong political message, were produced throughout the century and were definitely not for children. These games cleverly use pictures to convey their message, as do the many advertising games that began to appear towards the end of the century.

This is the first serious book wholly devoted to games based on maps. The authors are experts in their respective fields: board games, playing cards and dissected puzzles. They bring an informed historical approach to the development and diffusion of these games up to about the beginning of the twentieth century, including games from Western Europe and America in all their intriguing variety. This book is an essential reference source for those wishing to research this neglected area, while those new to the field will be pleasantly surprised at the interesting and unusual maps that these games exploit.