1775 Matenet / Bussière Geographical Game 'Voyage dans les Cinq Parties due Monde'

A rare French geographical game designed by J. X. Matenet and published by Bussière in Paris c. 1875. The game captures the French fascination with world travel at the height of the Around the World in Eighty Days era, when advances in infrastructure and technology made casual global voyages achievable.

A Closer Look

The game consists of its original box with a lithographed image 'Alfred', the game's protagonist, in a canoe traveling down the Amazon River. Within are 12 lithographed gameboards with maps of various parts of the world, each containing an illustration and short description of Alfred's journey. The boards loosely connect in groups of four to form larger boards / images. In addition, there are 90 numbered wooden piece and 23 red-dyed shell tokens.

Gameplay

The full rules seem not to have been preserved, but from what we can tell, gameplay required players to draw wooden pieces from the included silk bag. If the number drawn matched the number on player's map-board, the corresponding number could be covered using one of the red disks, until a full 'voyage' is completed.

Publication History and Census

This game was designed and originally published in Paris by Jules Xavier Matenet. Matenet sold his business in 1866 to Marie Lenis, who in tern passed it, in 1870, to Bussière. The present example bears Bussière's imprint - although one of the game boards still has the original imprint, suggesting that the printing of that card may date to Matenet's lifetime. The individual cards and cover were lithographed by Henri Jannin. The illustrations were done by B. Coudert. Rare, we note a few illustrations of the game online, but see not cataloged examples in known collections.