Sources page probability recreations

"What kin is that child to its own father who is not its father's own son?" 1828: No. 70, pp. 432 & 440. 1828 2: No. 70, pp. 436 & 444; 1829 (US): No. 70, pp. 238 & 258; 1855: No. 102, pp. 583 & 595. (I think this is the forerunner of the Blind Beggar problem.)

"What relation is your uncle's brother to you who is not your uncle?" 1828: No. 77, pp. 433 & 440. 1828 2: No. 77, pp. 437 & 444; 1829 (US): No. 77, pp. 238 & 258; 1855: No. 109, pp. 584 & 595.

The Riddler. 1835. Conundrums Nos. 66 and 73, p. 16, no answers in my copy. These are identical to Nos. 70 and 77 in Boy's Own Book.

Boy's Own Book. 1843 (Paris): 437 & 441, no. 11. Woman says: 'Your mother was my mother's only daughter.' = Boy's Treasury, 1844, pp. 425 & 429. = de Savigny, 1846, pp. 354 & 358, no. 8: 'sa mère à lui est la seule fille de sa mère à elle', which doesn't seem quite right to me.

Child. Girl's Own Book. 1848: Enigma 46, p. 236; 1876: Enigma 37, p. 199. "His mother was my mother's only child."

= Fireside Amusements, 1850: No. 36, pp. 111 & 181; 1890: No. 21, p. 99.

Fireside Amusements.

1850: No. 17, pp. 134 & 184; 1890: No. 16, p. 110. "If Dick's father be John's son, what relation is Dick to John?"

1850: No. 29, pp. 135 & 185; 1890: No. 25, p. 110. "What kin is that child to its own father, who is not its own father's own son?" c= Boy's Own Book.

1850: No. 89, pp. 138 & 186; 1890: No. 25, p. 110. "What relation is your uncle's brother to you who is not your uncle?" = Boy's Own Book.

Charades, Enigmas, and Riddles. 1860: prob. 176 & 177, pp. 21 & 44;

1862: prob. 176 & 177, pp. 73 & 111.

Prob. 176. "If your uncle's sister is not your aunt, what relationship does she bear to you?"

Prob. 177.

My mother had a child, my very own mother,

It was not my sister nor yet was it my brother;

If you are as clever as I fancy you to be,

Pray tell me what relation that child was to me.

Boy's Own Conjuring Book. 1860. P. 381. "I've no sister or brother; / You may think I am wild; / But that man's mother / Was my mother's child."

Hugh Rowley. Puniana or Thoughts Wise and Other-wise A New Collection of the Best Riddles, Conundrums, Jokes, Sells, etc, etc. Chatto & Windus, London, 1866.

P. 36. Brothers A and B were walking. ""I must speak to those children," said A; "they are my nephews and nieces." "Ah!" said B, "as I have no nephews and nieces, I shall walk on." How was this?"

P. 88. "What kin is that child to his own father who is not his own father's son?"

P. 88. "If Dick's father is Tom's son, what relation is Dick to Tom?"

P. 88. "Who were your grandfather's first cousin's sister's son's brother's forefathers? Why, his aunt's sisters, of course." (This is non-logical, being a pun on ancestors, but it illustrates that the idea of such problems must have been well known.)

P. 137. A fiddler said his brother played the double-bass, but the double-bass player denied having a brother.

Hugh Rowley. More Puniana; or, Thoughts Wise and Other-Why's. Chatto & Windus, London, 1875.

P. 28. "A blind beggar had a brother, who died and went to heaven. What relation was the blind beggar to the person who went to heaven?" Answer is 'sister', but the posing of the question is defective -- it should include the assertion that the person who went to heaven had no brother.

P. 134. "What relation is that child to its own father, who is not its own father's son?"

P. 217. "That gentleman's mother is my mother's only child."

P. 231. "What relation is your father's only brother's sister-in-law to you?"

P. 231. "Brothers and sisters have I none, but this man's father is my father's son."

[Richard A. Proctor] Letters received and short answers. Knowledge 3 (26 Oct 1883) 264. Answer to Harry. "Sisters and brothers have I none But that man's father is my father's son." Implies that the puzzle is not well known. Recalls it being posed on a ship and distracting all the passengers for a day.

E. W. Cole. Cole's Fun Doctor. The Funniest Book in the World. Routledge, London & E. W. Cole, Melbourne, nd [HPL dates it 1886 and gives the author's name as Arthur C. Cole]. P. 329: A riddle. "His mother was my mother's only child."

James Neil [= "A Literary Clergyman"]. Riddles: And Something New About Them. (Lang Neil & Co., London, nd [1880s?]; Simpkin Marshall & Co., London); Village Games, London, 1993. General Riddles: Relationship, p. 28.

"A blind beggar had a brother, the brother died, deceased had no brother. What relation was the blind beggar to deceased?"

"What relation is that child to its own father who is not its own father's own son?"

"If your uncle's sister is not your aunt, what relation is she to you?"

Lemon. 1890.

Do you see it?, unnumbered section after no. 80, pp. 15: "That gentleman's mother is my mother's only child."

Conundrums, no. 142(a), pp. 23 & 102 (= Sphinx, no. 470(a), pp. 65 & 113): child "who is not his own father's son."

Fireside Amusements -- A Book of Indoor Games. Op. cit. in 7.L.1. 1890? P. 99, no. 21. "His mother was my mother's only child."

William Crompton. The odd half-hour. The Boy's Own Paper 13 (No. 657) (15 Aug 1891) 731-732. A true friend. "If your uncle's sister is not your aunt, what relationship does she bear to you?"

Bennett Coll. Prove it! The Idler 2 (1892-1893, probably Dec 1892) 510-517. Man in front of a portrait says "Sisters and brothers have I none; That man's father is my father's son." Says the portrait is himself! Observes that this leads to his father being his own son and being the father of his father. Describes the difficulties people have in trying to see this answer [not surprisingly]. Various other solutions given: grandfather, brother, uncle on the mother's side.

Hoffmann. 1893. Chap. IX, no. 25: The portrait, pp. 318 & 326 = Hoffmann-Hordern, p. 211. "Uncles and brothers have I none, But that man's father is my father's son." He notes "This venerable puzzle forms the subject of a humorous article, entitled "Prove It," in a recent number of the Idler. Its most amusing feature is that the writer has himself gone astray, ...." [I'm not sure whether Coll has gone astray or is using the error to generate humour??]

W. H. Howe. Everybody's Book of Epitaphs Being for the Most Part What the Living Think of the Dead. Saxon & Co., London, nd [c1895] (reprinted by Pryor Publications, Whitstable, 1995). P. 165 has the following entry.

"In Llanidan Churchyard, Anglesea:--

Here lies the world's mother,

By nature my Aunt -- sister to my mother,

My grandmother -- mother to my mother,

My great grandmother -- mother to my grandmother,

My grandmother's daughter and her mother."

Could this be a real case of 'I'm my own grandmother'??

Clark. Mental Nuts.