Accession No. RARE.2025.0011: Purchased, 2024 July
[identification of item], “The Improved and Illustrated Game of Dr. Busby” Published by W. & S. B. Ives, SPEC.RARE.MMS.0402, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Sabrina Gorse, 2025 February; Finding aid written by: Sabrina Gorse, 2025 February
During the nineteenth century, board games, card games, and other similar types of games became more popular in the United States as the middle class grew and families’ income and leisure time increased. Advancements in printing, paper manufacture, and chromolithography allowed game publishers and printers to produce more affordable games to a wider audience.
William Ives and Stephen Bradshaw Ives founded the firm W. & S. B. Ives, a game distributor and publisher based in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1823. Throughout the mid-nineteenth century it printed and sold books, toys, juvenile items, and games.
“The Improved and Illustrated Game of Dr. Busby” Published by W. & S. B. Ives, dated 1843, contains a set of twenty hand-colored wood-engraved playing cards designed by author and game designer Anne W. Abbott. Also included is the sleeve for the cards with directions for how to play the game printed on the back.