ABSTRACT
Francis Willughby's own children were increasingly at odds with Child; in 1685 Francis, then only 17, began legal proceedings against his stepfather for waste of the family estate. Despite the references to Willughby in the work, the publication of Historia Insectorum in 1710 upset the Willoughby family. Discussion of Willughby's work and the manuscripts he left has inevitably concentrated upon natural history, the area of his most extensive collaboration and the one of most immediate interest after his death. The Book of Games is one of a number of volumes, printed and manuscript, which survived in the Library at Wollaton Hall and form part of the Middleton Collection of family and estate papers housed at the University of Nottingham. The microfilm records the state of the manuscript before the making of this edition and in a few places has provided readings where physical deterioration has caused loss of text.
