Anagrams, or, Words Alive

Cincinnati: Peter G. Thomson, 1880s. Box with lid, 6 x 4.25 x 1 inches, in Good condition. Printed paper lid soiled but intact; the paper on the sides of the box are worn but still structurally sound. Approx. 280 original tiles, around .75" square. Peter G. Thomson was a Cincinnati publisher of children's books, games, valentines, and novelties in the 1880s. His products rivaled the popularity of McLoughlin Bros, who bought out the company in 1889. Variations of anagrams and word games proliferated in the late 19th century and many publishers produced their own versions similar to Milton Bradley's "Game of Words and Sentences," which Bradley claimed to be the first such word game in the 1870s and published until the early 1890s, when he bemoaned the number of imitations had diminished its allure.