Gaming Empire in Children's British Board Games, 1836-1860

Megan A. Norcia

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780367731298
• eBook ISBN: 9780429559266
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Over a century before Monopoly invited child players to bankrupt one another with merry ruthlessness, a lively and profitable board game industry thrived in Britain from the 1750s onward, thanks to publishers like John Wallis, John Betts, and William Spooner. As part of the new wave of materials catering to the developing mass market of child consumers, the games steadily acquainted future upper- and middle-class empire builders (even the royal family themselves) with the strategies of imperial rule: cultivating, trading, engaging in conflict, displaying, and competing. In their parlors, these players learned the techniques of successful colonial management by playing games such as Spooner's A Voyage of Discovery, or Betts' A Tour of the British Colonies and Foreign Possessions. These games shaped ideologies about nation, race, and imperial duty, challenging the portrait of Britons as "absent-minded imperialists." Considered on a continuum with children's geography primers and adventure tales, these games offer a new way to historicize the Victorians, Britain, and Empire itself. The archival research conducted here illustrates the changing disciplinary landscape of children's literature/culture studies, as well as nineteenth-century imperial studies, by situating the games at the intersection of material and literary culture.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction: Playing Well with Others in the Great Imperial Game
• 2 Navigating Trade Routes and Fostering Moral Commerce in William Spooner’s A Voyage of Discovery (1836) and John Betts’ A Tour through the British Colonies and Foreign Possessions [c. 1855]
• 3 Games in Glass Houses: Children’s Board Games Display and Critique Imperial Power through the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace
• 4 Gaming America: Slavery, Territorial Appropriation, and the Race for Moral Leadership in Edward Wallis’ Game of the Star-Spangled Banner [c. 1844] and E. and M.A. Ogilvy’s Columbia: Land of the West [1850–1860]
• 5 Conclusion: The Afterlife of Imperial Gaming in the Postcolonial Era
• Board Games Cited
• Works Cited
• Appendix: Games with a Focus on Empire and Commerce
• Index