Laddergrams, J.E. Surrick & L.M. Conant: Hardback: 1st Edition: Word Puzzle

Laddergrams

By J. E. Surrick & L. M. Conant.

Published by J. H. Sears & Co, New York, 1927. First Edition. Hardback cover, no dustjacket, unnumbered pages. Black & white illustrations throughout.

CONDITION
Overall acceptable condition - see photos. Marks/wear/fading to hardcover. Binding splitting in some places. No names or writing. Images crisp & clear throughout.

Lewis Carroll says that he invented the game on Christmas day in 1877. Carroll devised the word game for Julia and Ethel Arnold. The first mention of the game in Carroll's diary was on March 12, 1878, which he originally called "Word-links", and described as a two-player game. Carroll published a series of word ladder puzzles and solutions, which he then called "Doublets", in the magazine Vanity Fair, beginning with the March 29, 1879 issue. 

Later that year it was made into a book, published by Macmillan and Co. 

J. E. Surrick and L. M. Conant published a book Laddergrams of such puzzles in 1927. 

Vladimir Nabokov alluded to the game using the name "word golf" in the novel Pale Fire, in which the narrator says 'some of my records are: hate—love in three, lass—male in four, and live—dead in five (with "lend" in the middle).' The game was revived in Australia in the 1990s by The Canberra Times as "Stepword". Word ladders are often featured in the New York Times crossword puzzle.

(Bindery shelves A4)