Sources page probability recreations

Prob. 24: Love's Puzzle, pp. 12 & 28. As in Family Friend.

Prob. 37: The string and balls puzzle, pp. 91-92 & 115. Identical to Magician's Own Book.

The Illustrated Boy's Own Treasury. 1860. Practical Puzzles, No. 5: Love's puzzle, pp. 396 & 436. Identical with Family Friend.

Magician's Own Book (UK version). 1871. The puzzle of Cupid, p. 227. Two hearts. Diagram is hard to make out.

Elliott. Within Doors. Op. cit. in 6.V. 1872. Chap. 1, no. 11: The string and balls, pp. 29 & 31.

Cassell's. 1881. P. 90: The string and balls puzzle. = Manson, 1911, p. 147. Version with 2 balls.

Hoffmann. 1893. Chap. II, no. 13: The two balls, pp. 27 28 & 53 54 = Hoffmann-Hordern, p. 28, with photo. Photo on p. 28 shows an ivory example, 1850-1900. Hordern Collection, p. 22, shows a different example, apparently in ivory, 1870-1900.

Burnett Fallow. An ingenious bead puzzle. The Boy's Own Paper 15 (No. 755) (1 Jul 1893) 638. Shows two loop version but notes it can be extended.

Anon. Hexagonal wood puzzle. Hobbies 31 (No. 791) (10 Dec 1910) 261-262 & 279. Two loop version, but asks to undo the central loop from the wood, as discussed in the introduction to this section.

Collins. Book of Puzzles. 1927. The string and ball puzzle, pp. 23-24.

James Dalgety. Email of 3 Sep 1999. Reports that his father saw the puzzle in use by Inuits in the Canadian Arctic or Greenland in c1930, but his family lost the walrus ivory (or bone) and leather examples that his father brought back. Also that a collection of topological puzzles from near Lake Tanganyika, gathered in the 1920s and now in the Horniman Museum, London, does not contain an example of Solomon's Seal.

R. P. Lelong. Casse-tête guerzé. Notes Africaines 22 (Apr 1944) 1. ??NYS -- cited and described by Béart. Says M. Gienger found the variant with an extra ring encircling both loops in the forest of the Ivory Coast in 1940, named kpala kpala powa [body of a toucan] or kpa kpa powa [body of a parrot].

Paul Niewenglowski. Bulletin de l'IFAN [Institut Français d'Afrique Noire] 14:1 (Jan 1952). ??NYS -- cited and described by Béart. Describes his invention of an interesting, rather simpler, variant as a result of seeing a standard version from Béart.

Charles Béart. Jeux et jouets de l'ouest africain. Tome I. Mémoires de l'Institut Français d'Afrique Noire, No. 42. IFAN, Dakar, Senegal, 1955. Pp. 413-418 discusses and carefully illustrates several versions. The standard version, but with several beads on one loop, is called pèn and is common in the forests of Guinea and Ivory Coast. Describes variants of Gienger/Lelong and Niewenglowski.

Ch'ung En Yü. Ingenious Ring Puzzle Book. 1958. Op. cit. in 7.M.1. P. 28 shows a version, called Double Coin Ring Puzzle.

Fred Grunfield. Games of the World. Ballantine, NY, 1975. On p. 267, he calls this "African String Game", but gives no reference. Probably based on Béart.

Pieter van Delft & Jack Botermans. Creative Puzzles of the World. Abrams, New York, 1978. African ball puzzles. "It was once used in magic rites by tribes living in the jungles of the Ivory Coast. The puzzle is still used for amusement in this part of Africa, not only by the people who inhabit the remote outlying areas but also by city dwellers. ... The puzzles were not restricted to this part of Africa. Variations may be found in Guinea, and some ... were made in China." No reference given, but I suspect it must come from Béart, although this is not listed in their bibliography. My thanks to Mark Peters for the reference to van Delft and Botermans.
11.E. LOYD'S PENCIL PUZZLE
See S&B, p. 114. I have seen it claimed that the phrase 'to buttonhole someone' derives from the use of this.
Devant. Tricks for Everyone. Op. cit. in 4.A.1. 1910. The flexible pencil, pp. 13-15. No history.

Will Goldston. More Tricks and Puzzles without Mechanical Apparatus. Op. cit. in 6.AK. 1910?. The pencil, loop and buttonhole, pp. 69 71.

W. P. Eaton. Loc. cit. in 1. 1911. Gives Loyd's narration of the invention of this for John A. McCall, President of the New York Life Insurance Co.

A. C. White. Sam Loyd and His Chess Problems. 1913. Op. cit. in 1. P. 103. Quotes from Eaton.

A. B. Nordmann. One Hundred More Parlour Tricks and Problems. Wells, Gardner, Darton & Co., London, nd [1927 -- BMC]. No. 87: Latch key trick, pp. 79-80 & 111. This is the only version I have seen using something other than a pencil. It has the advantage that a key has a loop at the end to tie the loop of string to, but the buttonhole will have to be large!

Rohrbough. Puzzle Craft. 1932. The Buttonholer, p. 4 (= p. 4 of 1940s?).

Abraham. 1933. Prob. 165 -- Pencil and buttonhole, pp. 77 (49).

J. F. Orrin. Easy Magic for Evening Parties. Op. cit. in 7.Q.2. 1930s?? Looping the loop, pp. 34-36. No mention of Loyd.

Slocum. Compendium. Shows Magic Coat Pencil from Johnson Smith 1937 catalogue.

Depew. Cokesbury Game Book. 1939. Lapel needle, p. 167. No mention of Loyd.

"Willane". Willane's Wizardry. Academy of Recorded Crafts, Arts and Sciences, Croydon, 1947. The looped pencil, pp. 10-11.

Gardner. SA (Nov 1971) = Wheels, Chap. 12.

11.F. THE IMPERIAL SCALE
This could be combined into 11.I.
Catel. Kunst-Cabinet. 1790. Das einfache Ringspiel, p. 13 & fig. 39 on plate II.

Bestelmeier. 1801. Item 199: Das einfache Ringspiel. Copies part of Catel's text.

The Boy's Own Book. The scale and ring puzzle. 1828: 424 425; 1828 2: 429; 1829 (US): 220-221; 1843 (Paris): 437 & 442, no. 13; 1855: 575; 1868: 677-678. 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. 354 & 358, no. 10: Le problème de la balance et de l'anneau.

Nuts to Crack III (1834), no. 82. The scale and ring puzzle. Almost identical to Boy's Own Book.

Crambrook. 1843. P. 4, no. 8: Imperial Scale. Check??

See Bogesen, 6.W.2, for an actual example, mid 19C.

Magician's Own Book. 1857. Prob. 15: The scale and ring puzzle, pp. 270-271 & 295. Identical to Boy's Own Book, but with an illogical break between puzzle and solution. = Book of 500 Puzzles, 1859, pp. 84-85 & 109. = Boy's Own Conjuring Book, 1860, prob. 14, pp. 232 233 & 258. = Magician's Own Book (UK version), 1871, pp. 229 230. c= Wehman, New Book of 200 Puzzles, 1908, p. 23, which omits the solution, which is not really needed.

F. Chasemore. Loc. cit. in 6.W.5. 1891. Item 1: The balance puzzle, p. 571.

Hoffmann. 1893. Chap. II, no. 19: The imperial scale, pp. 31 32 & 56 57 = Hoffmann Hordern, pp. 32-33, with photo. Drawing based on Jaques' puzzle. Photo on p. 32 shows The Imperial Scale Puzzle, with instructions, by M.M.M.M., London, in the "St. Dutius" Series of Novelties, 1870-1900. Hordern Collection, p. 27, shows another version without instructions.

William Hollins. UK Patent 21,097 -- An Improved Puzzle. Applied: 23 Sep 1896; accepted: 5 Dec 1896. 1p + 1p diagrams. Identical to all the above!!

11.G. TRICK PURSES
van Etten. 1624. Prob. 60 (55), p. 55 & fig. opp. p. 33 (p. 80).

Schwenter. 1636. Part 15, exercise 18, p, 545. Almost identical to van Etten.

Witgeest. Het Natuurlyk Tover-Boek. 1686. Prob. 33, pp. 25-26. Similar to van Etten, but with a more decorative purse.

Ozanam. 1725. Vol. IV.