Rare. ESTC and OCLC records copies at BL, British Museum; Harvard, Princeton, Notre Dame and Yale.
A fine and large illustrated set of rules for playing skittles no doubt intended to be pinned-up near the skittle yard in an 18th-century pleasure garden or public house.
This broadside is mentioned in the Morning Post on August 4th 1786:
“Game of Skittles. With an elegant View and Plan of a new Ground, engraved from an original drawing. This is a favourite Amusement, perhaps the most generally played of any in this Kingdom, by all ranks, yet the Rules have never been printed, nor Instructions for learners. Both these deficiencies are now amply supplied by a society of respectable Gentlemen, who meet at a Subscription Ground in Surry. They are printed for the laudable purpose of removing doubts, and settling disputes, which purpose they will effectually answer if attended to. The Plate, Rules, and instructions are printed upon a broad sheet of writing paper, and sold for six pence. The print forms a pleasing rural picture, and is well worth framing”
A book The art of playing at skittles: or, the laws of nine-pins displayed was published in London in 1773 which contained a detailed list of the rules of the game but this broadside was presumably intended to be displayed near skittle yards so that it could quickly be referred to during a game.
Only a year later a note in The World (August 11th 1787) stated that on account of the number of “Offences, Disorders, and Irregularities…” taking places in the streets and drinking establishments of Westminster that those offering “Any Skittle playing” should be made to officially register with the Constable or Beadle placing skittle playing alongside gaming, billiards and “bawdy” houses.
