The Game of Words and Sentences
The Game of Words and Sentences
The Game of Words and Sentences
The Game of Words and Sentences
The Game of Words and Sentences
Milton Bradley

The Game of Words and Sentences


Springfield, MA: Milton Bradley Co., ca. 1880.

Original branded wooden box (5.5 x 4.5 x 2 inches) containing approximately or exactly 272 letters printed on .75" square tiles in the particular muted coral color that seemed to peak in the 1880s (I'm a fan). A few letters have pencil on the back (the majority do not), the wooden box has a split at the lid and broken clasp. The instruction sheet is a modern facsimile, not the original. Good overall.

One of Milton Bradley's earliest and most successful educational games, it was enthusiastically reviewed in the New England Journal of Education (Vol VII., No 4. Jan 24, 1878): "Is very interesting and very amusing, and is really the most delightful spelling-lesson we have ever studied. We do not know of a more interesting game for intelligent persons…”

"Words and Sentences" enjoyed popularity (and increasing competition) into the 1890s, when it was rebranded "Anagrams: The Original Game of Words and Sentences." Description from one of the last years in "Bradley's Game and Toy Catalogue" (1889-90): "Word Making and Word Taking, War of Words, Logomachy, etc., etc., are all substantially embodied in Words and Sentences, which covers the ground more completely than any or all the others. No similar game renews its youth to such a degree for both old and young in all intellectual companies and social circles. Words and Sentences also adds variations and modifications of the game not found in any other edition."