11 - [AFRICA - GAMES]. BÉART, Charles. Games and Toys of West Africa.

[AFRICA - GAMES]. BÉART, Charles. Games and Toys of West Africa. Richly illustrated first edition of this seminal study in the ethnology of play and childhood in sub-Saharan Africa, in beautiful, sturdy, uniform bindings crafted in the Laurenchet workshops. Dakar, IFAN (Memoirs of the French Institute of Black Africa, No. 42), 1955. 2 in-4 volumes, chocolate-colored half-maroquin with corner pieces, ribbed spine embossed with the author’s name, title, and volume number in gold, date at the bottom, gilt head edge, covers and spine preserved (Laurenchet Workshops). Volume 1: pages 1–366; Volume 2: pages 367–888, 565 black-and-white figures and drawings in the text, 1 fold-out plate (evolution of games according to age). Spine very slightly faded, minute marks on the leather. First edition of this seminal work on the ethnology of play and childhood in sub-Saharan Africa, constituting the 42nd volume of the renowned collection *Mémoires de l’Institut Français d’Afrique Noire* (IFAN). Charles Béart (1895–1964), director of the École normale William-Ponty in Dakar and later an education inspector in West Africa, presents a comprehensive sociological, ethnographic, and historical study of games, toys, pastimes, and traditional competitions in sub-Saharan Africa. The study is illustrated with numerous drawings and photographic reproductions depicting competitive games, strategy games (mancala, awélé), figurines, children’s masks, nursery rhymes, and dances mentioned by the author. A very fine copy, complete in two well-preserved volumes.