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"Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" (Shelley, Ozymandias)

BOOKS by DAVID PARLETT

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  Book jacket

The Penguin Book of Card Games

A newly revised and updated edition of this title, which first appeared in 1979, publishes on 9th August 2008 at £9.99. Counting variations, about 500 games from all over the world are described in nearly a quarter of a million words occupying over 650 pages.

This new edition replaces the now unobtainable version published in 2000 by Penguin Books Ltd, London, under the title "The Penguin Encyclopedia of Card Games", which was more of a mouthful and sounded a bit pretentious anyway. ISBN 978-0-141-03787-5.

  
Book jacket

The Oxford A-Z of Card Games

Updated and expanded version (360 to 440 pages) of what was originally published as the Oxford Dictionary of Card games (1992). Over 300 card games and solitaires arranged in alphabetical order for ease of reference.

Published 2004 by Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-860870-5, paperback (only).
Book jacket

Entensuppe und 53 andere Spiele
(Duck Soup and 53 other Games)

Peer Sylvester has translated into German a total of 54 games of my invention, mostly card games but also word games and board games, many previously unpublished in any language.

Published October 2008 by Bambus Spieleverlag, € 14.50 (D), paperback, 148 pages, ISBN 978-3-9811892-1-6

Book jacket

Teach Yourself Card Games

2006 edition replacing those of 2003 and 1999, this updated version describes 33 popular and classic card games, with strategic tips, illustrative deals, and internet resources for further information and on-line play. There is an introductory chapter for those who have never held a hand of cards before. Contents include Bridge, Canasta, Cribbage, Euchre, Hearts, Poker, Skat, Spades, and (new for 2006) Scopa and Scopone.

Published 2006 by Hodder Headline, London, ISBN 978-0-340-9278-1, £9.99, paperback (only).
Book jacket
The Oxford Guide to Card Games
     republished in paperback as
Book jacket A History of Card Games

Reviewers described this self-explanatorily titled volume as "Handy and erudite" (Salman Rushdie), "Monumental and magisterial" (T J Binyon), "A work of scholarship lightly worn" (Anthony Curtis), "A compelling piece of cultural history" (Prof Sir Michael Dummett), and suchlike.

Published 1990 by Oxford University Press. Out of print, but I have a few mint condition copies for sale.
Book jacket

The Oxford History of Board Games

A sequel to The Oxford History of Card Games (above). Each of 19 chapters traces the historical development of a family of related games, including race games (Backgammon, Pachisi, Snakes & Ladders etc), space games (Halma, Chinese Checkers, Merels, Go, Othello etc), chase games (Fox & Geese, Hnefatafl etc), capturing games (Chess, Draughts/Checkers, Mancala etc), and modern classics (Monopoly, Scrabble, Diplomacy, Trivial Pursuit etc). Rules or brief descriptions of some 200 games in 386 pages, 140k words. Many b/w illustrations.

Published 1999 by Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-212998-8, hardback (only). Out of print, but available from me as a zipped MSWord file for £30 ($60).
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All the Best Card Games
Well... some of them, anyway. (London, 1978)
Anarquía y Otros Juegos Sociales de Cartas
Spanish version of Original Card Games (Madrid/Buenos Aires, 1993)
Botticelli and Beyond
U.S. edition of The Penguin Book of Word Games (Pantheon Books 1982)
Card Games for Everyone
Material compiled from individual "Teach Yourself" titles (London, 1983)
Family Card Games
("by P R Jackson") A one-off commission done under a pseudonym (London, 1984)
The Guinness Book of Word Games
Material expanded from The Penguin Book of Word Games (London, 1995)
Know the Game: Patience
A one-off commission, later re-done by David Pritchard (E.P. Publishing 1976)
Original Card Games
A collection of games invented by guess whom (London, 1977)
The Oxford A-Z of Card Games
Revised, enlarged and retitled version of Oxford Dictionary of Card Games (Oxford, 2004)
The Oxford Dictionary of Card Games
Original version of Oxford A-Z of Card Games (Oxford, 1992)
The Penguin Book of Card Games
Forerunner of the Penguin Encyclopedia of Card Games, and the only one of my books translated into Japanese (so far...) (Harmondsworth, 1979)
The Penguin Book of Patience
Possibly the most comprehensive book of Patience games ever published (Harmondsworth, 1979). Out of print, but I have a few mint condition copies for sale.
The Penguin Book of Word Games
It got good reviews, but sold few, and was ultimately absorbed into The Guinness Book of Word Games. (Harmondsworth, 1982)
The Popular Dictionary of Card Games
A book-deal repackaging of The Oxford Dictionary of Card Games (London, 1992)
Solitaire: Aces Up and 399 other Card Games
U.S. edition of The Penguin Book of Patience (U.S.1979)
Teach Yourself Card Games
A revision of Card Games for Everyone (London 1994 and 1999)
Teach Yourself Card Games for Four
Inevitable follow-up to Teach Yourself Card Games for Three and Two (London, 1977)
Teach Yourself Card Games for Three
My first book on card games (London, 1977)
Teach Yourself Card Games for Two
Replaced the version by the late Kenneth Konstam. (It was Konstam's book that first led to my interest in card games.) (London, 1978)
Teach Yourself Card Games for One
Patience games. Also available in Hungarian... (London, 1994)
Teach Yourself Poker and Brag
Almost as rare as Hoyle's Treatise on Brag. (London, 1980)

OTHER TITLES (NOT ABOUT GAMES)
Book jacket Selections from the Carmina Burana
A translation into English verse of about 70 lyrics from the medieval Latin manuscript found at the Bavarian monastery of Benediktbeuern. They include the 20 or so set by Carl Orff in his well-known cantata. For further details and the Orff selection, see my Carmina Burana pages. This was a personal project, done for fun.
Penguin Classics, 1986
Book jacket Dalcroze Today
A translation of Marie-Laure Bachmann's La rhythmique Jaques-Dalcroze: une éducation par la musique et pour la musique (Neuchâtel, 1984), commissioned by the Dalcroze Society of Great Britain.
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991
Book jacket Learning a Language Alone
As the blurb says, "This work sets out the problems of the student trying to learn a language on his own and gives guidance on each of them. It also provides a useful introduction to general linguistic principles. All private students of languages will find this book useful, particularly the large numbers of people following courses on radio and television." (I couldn't have put it better myself.)
Isaac Pitman, London, 1968
Book jacket A Short Dictionary of Languages
My first published book was the product of a cross between an interest in languages and a mania for collecting things. It is out of date, unreliable, and only mentioned here for the sake of completeness.
English Universities Press, London, 1967
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