Sources page probability recreations

Ff. 206r - 206v, Part 2, (C)apitulo. C. Do(cumento) cavare una stecca. de un filo per .3. fori (To remove a stick from a cord through 3 holes). = Peirani 282-283. On f. 206r is a marginal drawing clearly showing the string through three holes in one stick, but this is not reproduced in the transcription.

Ff. 207v - 208v, Part 2, Capi^o. CII. Do(cumento) unaltro speculativo cavar doi botoni di una stenga fessa nel mezzo et sce'pia in testa (Another speculation - remove two buttons from a string divided in the middle and halved at the ends). = Peirani 284-286. Dario Uri says this is describing a version of the Alliance or Victoria puzzle with four holes in each button.

Ff. 209r - 210r, Part 2, Cap^o. CIII. Do(cumento) legare con la sopra detta strenga fessa. doi sola. de carpe' ambe doi. a uno modo. bella cosa (To tie two shoe soles together into one with the above mentioned doubled string -- a beautiful thing). = Peirani 286-288. Pacioli says this is "quasi simile alla precedente". Dario Uri illustrates this with the Alliance or Victoria puzzle from Alberti.

Ff. 213r - 215r, Part 2, Capitulo. (C)VIII. Do(cumento). Cavare' uno anello grande fore' de doi legati a una bacchetta per testa (Remove a large ring from two tied to a stick by the ends ??) = Peirani 292-295. Dario Uri says this is a version of this idea and illustrates it with an unidentified picture.

Cardan. De Rerum Varietate. 1557, ??NYS. = Opera Omnia, vol. III, pp. 245-246. Liber XIII. Ludicrum primum & Ludicrum secondum. The first is the Alliance or Victoria puzzle, with one diagram showing it apart. Second is the version with three holes in each piece, with one diagram, again showing it apart.

Prévost. Clever and Pleasant Inventions. (1584), 1998.

Pp. 133-134. Alliance Puzzle with two holes in each board.

Pp. 134-136. Alliance Puzzle with three holes in each board.

Schwenter. 1636. Part 10, exercise 29, pp. 410-411. Two hole version.

John Wecker. Op. cit. in 7.L.3. 1660. Book XVIII -- Of the Secrets of Sports: The first Pastime and the second Pastime, p. 338. Taken from and attributed to Cardan, with the same diagrams. (I don't know if this material appeared in the 1582 ed.??)

Witgeest. Het Natuurlyk Tover-Boek. 1686. Prob. 44, pp. 35-36 is a two hole version taken from Schwenter.

Ozanam. 1725. Vol. IV, prob. 31, p. 435 & fig. 37, plate 11 (13). This is like the Alliance puzzle in Hoffmann, below.

Alberti. 1747. Art. 31, pp. 205-206 (108 109) & fig. 38, plate X, opp. p. 206 (between pp. 108 & 109). Taken from Ozanam.

Catel. Kunst-Cabinet. 1790. Das Scheibenspiel, p. 15 & fig. 23 on plate I. The Alliance puzzle, looking much like one of Ozanam's figures.

Bestelmeier. 1801. Item 291: Die verschlungenen Bretchen. Alliance puzzle. The diagram is very obscure and the description is too brief to be certain, but I now see it is copied from part of Catel's text, so this is definitely the Alliance.

Boy's Own Book. The heart and ball puzzle. 1828: 424; 1828 2: 428; 1829 (US): 220; 1843 (Paris): 438 & 442, no. 16; 1855: 574 575; 1868: 675-676. = Wehman, New Book of 200 Puzzles, 1908, p. 18. In the 1843 (Paris), the engraved heading of the section, p. 435, shows the puzzle. Boy's Treasury, 1844, omits the puzzle, but copies this engraving on p. 424. = de Savigny, 1846, pp. 355 & 358, no. 12: Problème du cœur et de la boule.

Nuts to Crack II (1833), no. 91. The heart and ball puzzle. Almost identical to Boy's Own Book.

Crambrook. 1843. P. 4, no. 9: Heart and Ball Puzzle. Check??

Family Friend 3 (1850) 300 & 331. Practical puzzle, No. XX. Drawing shows the artist didn't understand the puzzle at all. = Magician's Own Book, 1857, prob. 16: The heart puzzle, pp. 271-272 & 295. = Book of 500 Puzzles, 1859, pp. 85-86 & 109. = Boy's Own Conjuring Book, 1860, prob. 15, pp. 233 & 258.

Family Friend (Dec 1858) 359. Practical puzzles -- 3. Board and ball, but no name given to it. I don't have the solution.

The Secret Out. 1859.

The Board and Rings, pp. 389-390. Alliance Puzzle with two holes on each board formed by attaching rings at each end of the boards. Cf Hoffmann.

The Board and Ball, pp. 382-383. Same picture as Family Friend, but more text. Diagram for the solution.

Illustrated Boy's Own Treasury. 1860.

Prob. 36, pp. 401 402 & 441. Identical to Family Friend, 1850, but omitting some comments in the problem.

Prob. 45, pp. 403 & 443. Identical to Family Friend, 1858, with slightly more detailed text, but not as much as in The Secret Out.

Adams & Co., Boston. Advertisement in The Holiday Journal of Parlor Plays and Pastimes, Fall 1868. Details?? -- photocopy sent by Slocum. P. 6: Chinese Ladder Puzzle. Made of ivory and silk. Ornamentally carved. Probably the same as Hoffmann 17, below -- ??

Magician's Own Book (UK version). 1871.

The puzzle of Cupid: Variation. -- With beads or balls, pp. 227-228. Board and ball puzzle.

The heart puzzle, pp. 228-229. Diagram as in Family Friend, but text is different.

The board and rings, pp. 230-231. A version of the Alliance puzzle. It uses boards with screw-eyes in each end rather than holes and uses a long single loop of string. Cf Secret Out.

Anonymous. Social Entertainer and Tricks (thus on spine, but running title inside is New Book of Tricks). Apparently a compilation with advertisements for Johnson Smith (Detroit, Michigan) products, c1890? P. 68: The board and ball. Same as Family Friend, 1858.

Hoffmann. 1893. Chap. II.

No. 11: The heart puzzle, pp. 26 & 52 53 = Hoffmann-Hordern, pp. 26-27, with photo. Drawing based on Jaques' puzzle. Photo on p. 27 shows The Heart Puzzle, with instructions, by M.M.M.M., London, in the "St. Dutius" Series of Novelties, 1880-1900. Hordern Collection, p. 20, looks like the same example, without the instructions.

No. 12: The Alliance (otherwise known as the Victoria) puzzle, pp. 26 27 & 53 = Hoffmann-Hordern, pp. 27-28, with photo. Photo on p. 27 shows The Alliance Puzzle, with instructions, by M.M.M.M., London, in the "St. Dutius" Series of Novelties, 1881-1884. Hordern Collection, p. 21, looks like the same example, without the instructions.