Three Early Edition c. 1843 Hand-colored, Wood Engraved Dr. Busby Cards, First Known American Card Game micmac curlicue basket With the fairly faint outlines

With the fairly faint outlines (impressed) of a doghouse or barn visible on the brown ground just behind the dog

as the point values appear in handwritten red ink on some and dark ink on others

Excellent all the way around (including the unpainted back view

I've never seen such precision paper pricking as here--page after page of nothing but tiny punctures to the white pages

While this piece definitely shows its age

Three Early Edition c. 1843 Hand-colored, Wood Engraved Dr. Busby Cards, First Known American Card Game micmac curlicue basket With the fairly faint outlinesThere are only three cards here, but they are special ones, from a very early edition of the first known American card game, The Game of Dr. Busby, a matching memory game designed by the Beverly, MA born writer Anne W. Abbott and published in Salem by W. & S. B. Ives in 1843 which is credited with having started the game craze in the U. S. The earliest editions of the game featured cards illustrated with hand colored wood engravings, as here, with 20