Logomachy: A Look at a Nineteenth-Century Card Game

Logomachy Box, courtesy of Boston Children's Museum.

While perusing the Gibson House archives for research material, I found an instruction manual for an 1874 children’s card game called Logomachy, or War of Words, designed by F. A. Wright, a games maker from Cincinnati. It appears that Wright’s game was well received, as he won the Highest Premium Silver Medal for Best New Parlor Game at the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition that year (which is proudly proclaimed on the instruction manual).

The deck, which was not included with the manual I found, consisted of fifty-six cards. A single letter was printed on each card along with an illustration, such as a bird, wolf, or children at play. With more cards than letters, many of the letters were duplicated to allow for the spelling of words. The letters J, K, V, X, Q, and Z were prize cards and earned players who could use them to form words an additional one or two points.

Cleopatra Dissolving the Pearl

In November of 1872, the Great Fire raged through downtown Boston. The Gibson house was in no serious danger, but Rosamond Warren Gibson’s (1846–1934) childhood home at 2 Park St. stood directly in the path of the blaze. Rosamond was summoned to rescue some of the Warren family’s things before the fire reached the house. Here is her account of the episode, from her recollections: