Book is 4-1/4 inches by 5-1/2 inches and contains 32 pages.
During the Victorian Period (1837-1901) many families spent evenings in the parlors amusing one another with books, puzzles, toys, charades, conundrums and enigmas.
During the 1800s charades were not acted out in trying to guess each word or syllable. Instead the original charades were riddles in verse or prose, in which the listener was to guess the meaning. Example:
If you are able to do my first
As well as my second can,
You will soon be a good player at my whole.
The word conundrum was first used in Shakespeare’s play Volpone in 1605. The word might have been invented to sound like Latin as was customary during that time. An example of a conundrum is:
Why is Paris like the letter F?
The word enigma comes from Latin and Greek words which mean to speak in riddles. The word enigma first appeared in print in 1449. An enigma is something that is hard to understand or explain. Example:
A shining wit pronounced, of late,
That every acting magistrate
is water in a freezing state.
Answers included in the back of the book.
Fun Fact: Jane Austen included a charade in her book Emma in chapter 9 as one of the characters in the book, Harriet Smith, is collecting riddles of every sort.
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