What to Do and How to Do It

Title: What to Do and How to Do It
Description: "50 of the latest and most amusing Parlor Tricks and Games with full simple directions for performing"
Genre: Sports, Recreation & Games/Ephemera
Author: Unknown
Publisher: The Melomels Company, St. Louis, Missouri
Year: 1911
Pages: 30
Format: Small-format pamphlet, staple-bound
Provenance: Unknown
Opening Sentence: "The purpose of this little book is to furnish simple, pleasant amusement for the home."
Random Passage: "PUSH PIN. An interesting little game. Each player places a pin on the table, and each in turn tries to push his pin across the other with a toothpick. Failing, he puts another pin on the table; should either succeed in crossing his pin, he wins all the pins on the table."
Notes: For this last 4CC post of 2018, I submit the entirety of this droll piece of ephemera giving instructions for fifty different parlor tricks and games (many of which can easily be tried by 21st century partygoers!). The publisher and its namesake candy, Melomels, seem to be something of a mystery—although this antique promotional paperweight gives a clue that Melomels was an offshoot of the Candy Bros. Company founded sometime in the late 1800s, also in St. Louis, Missouri.