Mc Dowall's Musical Game
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
1836
Mc Dowall's Musical Game is a boxed instructional card game created by author C. J. Mc Dowall and published in London by Smith, Elder & Co. in 1836. The complete set consists of 150 letterpress-printed cards, a printed sheet of rules, and an accompanying twelve-page booklet of answers dated 1836. It is housed in a wooden box measuring 19.8 cm in length, 14.1 cm in width, and 4.9 cm in height, which features four interior compartments, a sliding lid, and exterior labels with lithographed titles and diagrams of a pianoforte keyboard.
The 150 rectangular cards each present a question regarding written musical notation. They are divided into six progressive sets lettered A through F and numbered sequentially from 1 to 150. Individual categories focus on the forms of musical characters, time, rests, clefs, the names of lines and spaces, sharps, flats, accents, Italian musical terms, and musical scales and keys.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
The game was designed for any number of players, specifically addressing participants as 'Young Ladies,' reflecting an era when boys rarely received formal musical instruction and the subject was considered a feminine pastime. Play involved appointing a president to hold the answer booklet, while players drew cards, answered questions from memory, and traded counters based on correctness.
Physical characteristics
- Material
- Wood and lithographed card
- Dimensions
- Length (box): 19.8 cm; Width (box): 14.1 cm; Height (box): 4.9 cm
Technical characteristics
- Maker recorded
- Mc Dowall, C. J.; Smith, Elder & Co.
- Place recorded
- London
Identification
- Source note
- Transcribed from the Victoria and Albert Museum collection record for this single object; how far it represents a wider collectible type has not been independently verified.
- Museum object name
- Mc Dowall's Musical Game
- Museum object number
- E.1808-1954
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.