ABSTRACT
Alice Gomme’s Traditional games of England, Scotland and Ireland was published in two volumes in 1894 and 1898. It is a huge work of reference – 964 pages, including nearly 800 different indoor and outdoor games, complete with descriptions, multiple texts, tunes, historical references and comparative tables. The singing games are undoubtedly the cream of the collection, and anyone working in this area – including the Opies in their Singing game volume – have cause to be grateful for her hard work. The series went ahead under their joint names but using games from Sharp’s collection. Gomme takes seriously the games played by girls. It is interesting to note that while the published works she cites were overwhelmingly by men, a large proportion of her personal contacts, who were doing the actual collecting in the field, were women.
