Clarke, William; Paul Preston, et al: Boy's Own Book Extended ©1855 C.S. Francis and Company, NY and Boston Hardcover, no dj, 721 pages

Image courtesy QuickerThanTheEye.com

Comments: "A complete encyclopedia of all Athletic, Scientific, Recreative, Outdoor and Indoor Exercises and Diversions, including The Boy's Own Book, The Book of Gymnastics, and Parlor Magic". The preface states, "The American publishers have omitted a few articles, entirely useless on this side the Atlantic, as the extra expense would have debarred the more useful part from being in the hands of hundreds of Youths, who will find everything that will amuse them in our present volume."
Note: There seem to be three primary editions of the Boy's Own Book:
a. The Boy's Own Book from 1829 (circa)
b. The Boy's Own Book Extended, 1855, the edition listed here, which combines the original Boy's Own Book with Parlor Magic and Preston's Book of Gymnastics.
c. The Boy's Own Book New Edition, 1880. A greatly expanded edition of the first edition
Finally, not to be confused with G.A. Hutchinson's Boy's Own Book, which has completely different contents.

3 Prelude: introduction

5 Minor Sports
7 Miscellaneous Out-Door Sports
9 Games With Marbles
13 Games With Tops
15 Games With Balls
21 Sports of Agility and Speed
25 Sports With Toys
29 Miscellaneous Sports
43 Archery
51 Cricket
57 Gymnastics
59 Gymnastic Exercises
65 Gymnastic Recreations
75 Swimming
81 Practical Instructions

95 Scientific Recreations
95 Arithmetical Amusements
97 To Tell Any Number Thought Of: four methods
99 To Tell Two or More Numbers Thought Of
100 The Money Game: which hand has which
100 The Game of the Ring; who has the ring and on which finger
101 The Game of the Bag: math magic
102 The Number Nine
104 The Certain Game
104 Magical Century
105 The Cancelled Figure Guessed
105 The Dice Guessed Unseen
106 The Sovereign and the Sage
106 The Horse-Dealers Bargain
106 The Dinner Party
107 Combinations of an Anagram
107 The Basket and the Stones
107 The Arithmetical Mousetrap

109 Optical Amusements: magic lanterns, cameras, etc.

125 Chemical Amusements

139 Skating

147 The Conjurer
149 Legerdemain
152 The Poised Penny: card shot out from under a penny
152 Water Bewitched: water rises in a glass
152 Fire Under Water
153 The Sentinel Egg: balances
153 The Bridge of Knives: puzzle
153 Eatable Candle-Ends
154 The Little Floating Beacon
154 The Rings and Ribbons: rings appear to be strung on a ribbon
154 The Thumb-String: magically threading a string
155 Wine Upon Water: making wine float
155 The Conjuror's Joke: gag trick
155 The Perilous Goblet: turning a glass of water upside down
155 The Enchanted Cock: hypnotizing a chicken
155 To Light a Candle By Smoke
156 THe Wonderful Re-Illumination: candle re-lights
156 To Suspend a Ring by a Burnt Thread
156 The Animated Sixpence: leaps out of a pot
156 The Fascinated Bird: hypnotizing a bird
157 To Lift a Bottle With a Straw: puzzle
157 The Moving Pyramid: moves by itself
157 The Paper Furnace: bullet - not a shell - melts through a paper
157 The Bottle Ejectment: fluids experiment
158 The Balanced Stick: stunt
158 Storm and Calm: oil & water experiment
158 The Travelling Egg: egg moves on it's own
158 The Doubled Coin: optical illusion
159 The Toper's Tripod: balancing stunt
159 The Knotted Thread: knotted end of thread passes through silk
160 The Bottle Imps: small glass figures rise and fall in a bottle of water
160 The Bird In the Box: bird seed changes to bird
160 The Multiplying Mirror: a mirror shows multiple reflections
161 The Bogle Bodkin: a trick knife
161 The Prancing Dragon: a balancing wood figure
162 The Mysterious Bottle: water runs out of holes when uncorked
162 The Half-Crown Upheld: coin sticks to the wall
162 The Bowing Beau: making a wobbling figure
163 The Wonderful Wafers: paddle trick with a table knife
163 The Counter Changed: a magic paper fold
163 The Cut Lace Joined: cut and restored
164 The Wizard's Chariot: experiment in physics
165 The Simple Deception: coin vanish in sepectator's hand
165 Philosophy Cheated: experiment with water and motion followed up with wand clinging to hand
167 The Locked Jaw: a cruel gag
168 The Restored Thread: burnt and restored
168 The Long Pudding: gag
169 The Egg Box: like the ball and vase
169 The Obedient Watch: magnet makes a watch stop or go
170 The Flight of the Ring: borrowed ring appears on selected finger
170 The Demi-Amputation: with faked knife
170 The Mutilated Handkerchief Restored: with confederate
171 The Double Funnel: liquid appears
171 The Fire and Wine Bottle: fire blasts from a wine bottle filled with wine
172 The Globe Box: a variation of the ball and vase
172 The Hatched Bird: real bird appears from egg
173 The Penetrative Shilling: shilling into nest of boxes
173 The Money Box: coin vanishes from a rattle box
174 The Salamander: Professor Sementeni's attempts to mimic Lionetto's fire oven and other fire feats
176 To Melt Two Metallic Mixtures By Friction
176 The Handkerchief Hearth: coal does not burn a handkerchief
177 The Concombustible Thread: using Asbestos
177 Simple Amalgamation and Separation: with mercury
177 Hideous Metamorphosis: chemical gag
177 To Make a Wet Stone Produce Fire: chemical magic
178 The Sub-Aqueous Volcano: chemical mixture burns under water
178 The Chemical Samson: melt iron with fire
178 The Magic Spoon: making a melting spoon
178 Metal Melted on Paper Over a Candle
178 The Wonderful Dye: changes color of materials
178 Metallic Transmutation: iron looks like copper
179 The Faded Rose Restored: with sulphur
179 The Protean Liquid: red liquor changes colors when poured
179 Incombustible Paper
179 The Mimick Conflagration: chemical fire
179 Portraits Visible and Invisible: using French chalk
179 Perpetual Motion: using a chemical mixture
180 The Dancing Egg: using mercury
180 The Egg in the Phial: putting a shelled egg in a milk bottle
180 The Blue Bottle: color changing liquiid
180 The Candle of Ice: experiment for frosty weather
181 To Dip the Hand in Water Without Wetting It
181 To Remove and Afterwards Restore the Color of a Ribbon
181 The Paper Oracle: use for invisible ink
181 The Sibyl's Cave: another application
181 To Separate Oil From Water: experiment
182 To Make a Colorless Liquid Become Blue, Lilac, Peach-Colored and Red Without Touching It
182 The Four Elements: experiment
182 The Mineral Chameleon (Sheele): color changing water
183 Phosphoric Fish, Meteors, &c.: about Phosphorus
184 Phosphoric Wood
185 Phosphoric Plants
185 Phosphoric Oyster Shells
186 To Render Milk Luminous
186 Ignition by Compression
186 The Mask of Fame
186 The Miniature River on Fire
186 Phosphorescent Spar
186 Ignition by Percussion
187 The Phosphoric Steam Bath
187 The Illuminator and Extinguisher
187 To Light a Candle by a Glass of Water
187 Automata: mechanical person and animal illusions
187 - The Chess Player
190 - The Flute Player
191 - The Invisible Girl
192 - The Mahometan Magician
193 - The Canary

195 Tricks With Cards
196 Forcing
196 To Tell a Card Thought Of Blindfolded
197 The Shuffled Seven: magician knows how far down the selection is
197 The Piquet Pack: prediction of a total
197 The Double Dozen: another method to know how far down the selection is
198 The Noted Card Named
198 Gathering of the Clans: four of a kinds arrange themselves
199 The Magic Twelve: magician knows the number of spots on the bottom cards of several piles
199 To Turn a Card Into a Bird
199 To Make a Card Jump Out of the Pack
200 The Confederate Water-Drop: an impromptu shiner
200 The Four Accomplices: finding selection through elimination
200 The Nerve Trick: deck is slapped out of spectator's hand and he holds his selection
201 The Chosen Card Revealed by a Pinch of Snuff
201 The Drawn Card Nailed to the Wall
201 Ups and Downs: an impromptu one-way deck
201 The Card Under the Hat
202 The Turn-Over: a pack is dropped, selection turns over
202 The Regal Alliance: Four Kings assemble in the deck
202 The Odd Score: each spectator drew the same card
202 The Card In The Egg: using a card wand
203 The Painted Face: pack transforms its backs or faces
203 To Convey a Card Into a Cherry-Stone: card prediction found in a nut
204 The Card In The Mirror: making a mirror in which the image of a card may appear
204 The Mouse In The Pack: a live mouse production
205 The Marching Card: a card climbs the wall with aid of a confederate
205 The Buried Heart: changing pip
205 Confederate Signals: two person code
206 The Card In the Pocket-Book: selection is found in performer's pocket

207 Paradoxes and Puzzles
208 Trouble-Wit: paper folds into hats and more
210 The Slighted Lady
211 The Wine Merchant and His Clerk
212 Profit and Loss
212 The Geometrical Money
212 Quaint Query
212 The Sheep-Fold
213 The Impossibility Made Possible
213 The Curious Cross
213 Seven In Two
214 The Partial Reprieve
214 Famous Forty-Five
214 The Wolf, The Goat and the Cabbages
215 The Cherry Cheat
215 The Triple Accommodation
215 The Poor-House Problem
216 Eighteen Words In Twenty-Three Letters
216 The Puzzling Rings
219 The Card Puzzle
220 The Square Hole and Round Stopper
220 The Heart and Ball Puzzle
220 The Scale and Ring Puzzle
221 The Oyster Wager
221 Hodge And His Hay
222 The Squares of Traingles

223 Varieties
223 The Aeolian Harp
224 To Make Fruit and Flowers Grow In Winter
224 To Convert Paper Into Frames for Pictures
224 To Take the Impression of Butterflies on Paper
224 The Deaf Made to Hear
225 The Hydrometer
225 The Awn of Barley Hydrometer
226 Substitute for a Copying Machine
226 To Preserve Roses Till Christmas
226 Magnificent Crystals
227 Crystallization Upon Cinders
227 To Produce Various Flowers From One Stem
227 Harlequin Inks
227 To Bronze Blaster Busts, &c.
228 To Cut Glass
228 The Eclipse Glass
28 To Calm Agitated Water
229 Engraving on Egg Shells
229 Laughing Gas
229 The Comical Cards
 
231 The Riddler
232 Charades
236 Conundrums
241 Enigmas
246 Rebusses
253 Logogriphs
257 Solutions

263 The Angler: fishing
273 Rabbits: keeping
281 Guinea Pigs: keeping
283 Pigeons: keeping
289 Fencing: sword-fighting

319 Games of Skill
321 Draughts: checkers
331 Chess
351 Deaf and Dumb Alphabet

355 Boys Own Book Index: through 362

Parlour Magic: Book 2, pagination starts over

15 Transmutations
17 The Spectral Lamp
18 Curious Chantre Of Colours
18 The Protean Light
19 The Chameleon Flowers
19 To Change The Colours Of Flowers
19 Changes Of The Poppy
20 To Change The Colour Of A Rose
20 Light Changing White Into Black
20 The Visibly Growing Acorn
21 Changes In Sap-Green
21 To Revive Apparently Dead Plants
21 Singular Effect Of Tears
21 Beauties Of Crystallization
23 To Crystallize Camphor
23 Crystallized Tin
23 Crystals In Hard Water
23 Varieties Of Crystals
24 Heat From Crystallization
24 Splendid Sublimation
24 Artificial Ice
24 Magic Inks
25 Chameleon Liquids
25 The Magic Dyes
26 Wine Changed Into Water
26 Two Colourless Transparent Liquids Become Black And Opaque
26 Two Colourless Fluids Make A Coloured One
26 Change Of Colour By Colourless Fluids
27 To Change Blue Liquid To White
27 Veritable Black Tea
27 Restoration Of Colour By Water
28 The Magic Writing
28 Two Liquids Make A Solid
28 Two Solids Make A Liquid
28 A Solid Opaque Mass Made A Transparent Liquid
28 Two Cold Liquids Make A Hot One
29 Quadruple Transmutation
29 Quintuple Transmutation
29 Combination Of Colours
29 Union Of Two Metals Without Heat
29 Magic Breath
30 Two Bitters Make A Sweet
30 Visible And Invisible

33 Sight And Sound
33 Artificial Mirage
34 Motion Of The Lye
35 Single Vision With Two Eyes
35 Two Objects Seen As One
36 Only One Object Ran Be Seen At A Time
36 Straight Objects Seen Crooked
37 Optical Illusion
37 Pin-Hole Focus
38 Optical Deceptions
38 Accuracy Of Sight
39 Visual Deception
39 Handwriting Upon The Wall
39 Imitative Haloes
40 To Read A Coin In The Dark
40 To Make A Prism
41 Optical Augmentation
42 Gold Fish In A Glass Globe
42 Colours Produced By The Unequal Action Of Light Upon The Eyes
43 Optical Deception
43 Coloured Shadows
43 Colours Of Scratches
44 Ocular Spectra
44 Beautiful Colours Of Mother Of Pearl
45 White Letters Seen Further Than Black
45 Artificial Rainbow
45 Fringe About A Candle
46 The Double Coloured Reflection
46 Luminous Cross
46 Ring Of Colours Round A Candle
47 Simple And Cheap Opera-Glass
47 Multiplying Theatres
48 Apparatus For Writing In The Dark
49 Portable Microscope
50 The Phenakisticope Or Stoboscope
51 To Look At The Sun Without Injury
51 Brilliant Water Mirror
51 Optical Illusion Under Water
52 The Magic Wheels
53 Acoustic Rainbow
53 Transmission Of Sound
55 Progress Of Sound
55 Sound Turning Corners
56 To Tell The Distance Of Thunder
56 Hearing By The Touch
56 Conversation For The Deaf
57 Glass Broken By The Voice
57 Figures Produced By Sound
58 Transmitted Vibration
58 Double Vibration
59 Champagne And Sound
59 Music From Palisades
59 Theory Of The Jew’s Harp
60 Music Of The Snail
60 To Tune A Guitar Without The Assistance Of The Ear
60 Music From Glass Or Metal Rods
61 The Tuning-Fork A Flute-Player
62 Musical Bottles
62 Theory Of Whispering
62 Theory Of The Voice
63 Sound Along A Wall
63 Sounds More Audible By Night Than By Day
63 Musical Echo
64 Ventriloquism
75 Phosphorescent Fish
75 The Luminous Spectre
76 Light, A Painter
76 Effect Of Light Upon Crystallization
76 Effect Of Light On Plants
77 Instantaneous Light Upon Ice
77 White Light From Zinc
77 Brilliant Light From Two Metals
77 Brilliant Light From Steel
78 Lighted Tin
78 Light From Gilt Buttons
78 Light From A Flower
78 Light From Sugar
79 Light From The Potath
79 Light From The Oyster
79 Light From Derbyshire Spar
80 Light From Oyster-Shells
80 Rings Of Light In Crystal
80 To Strike Light With Cane
80 Cause Of Transparency
81 Transparency Of Gold
81 Tint Changed By Thickness
81 Shadows Made Darker By Increased Light
82 Miniature Thunder And Lightning
82 The Burning Glass
82 Magic Of Heat
83 Repulsion By Heat
84 Heat Passing Through Glass
84 Metals Unequally Influenced By Heat
85 Spontaneous Combustion
85 Inequality Of Heal In Fire Irons
85 Expansion Of Metal By Heat
85 Evaporation Of A Metal
86 Floating Metal On Fire
86 Heat And Cold From Flannel
86 Ice Melted By Air
86 To Hold A Hot Tea-Kettle On The Hand
87 Incombustible Linen
87 The Burning Circle
87 Water Of Different Temperatures In The Same Vessel
87 Warmth Of Different Colours
88 Substitute For Fire

91 Gas And Steam
91 Laughing Gas
92 The Luminous Wand .
92 To Make Carbonic Acid Gas
92 Carbonic Acid Gas In Wine Or Beer Vessels
93 To Extinguish Flame With Gas
93 Effect Of Hydrogen On The Voice
91 Magic Taper
91 The Gas Candle
94 Gas Bubbles
95 Gas-Light In The Day Time
95 Miniature Balloons
95 Miniature Gas-Lighting
95 Musical Gas
97 Miniature Will-O’-The-Wisp
97 Phosphoric Illumination
97 Combustion Of Iron In Oxygen Gas
98 Glow-Worm In Oxygen Gas
98 Luminous Charcoal
98 Brilliant Combustion In Cxygen
99 Flame From Cold Metals
99 Phosphorus In Chlorine
100 Caoutchouc Balloons
100 To Increase The Light Of Coal Gas
100 Gas From Indian Rubber
101 Ether Gas
101 Magic Vapour
101 Gas From The Union Of Metals
102 Invisible Gases Made Visible
102 Light Under Water
102 Gaseous Evanescence
102 Violet-Coloured Gas
103 To Collect Gases
103 The Deflagrating Spoon
103 What Is Steam?
104 The Steam Engine Simplified
104 To Boil Water By Steam
105 Distillation In Miniature
105 Candle Or Eire Crackers
105 Steam From The Kettle

109 Fire Water And Air
109 Coloured Flames
110 Yellow Flame
110 Orange-Coloured Flame
110 Emerald Green Flame
110 Instantaneous Flame
111 The Cup Of Flame
111 To Cool Flame By Metal
111 Proof That Flame Is Hollow
111 Camphor Sublimed By Flame
112 Green Fire
112 Brilliant Red Fire
112 Purple Fire
113 Silver Fire
113 The Fiery Fountain
113 The Artificial Conflagration
113 Inflammable Powder
114 Combustion Without Flame
114 Combustion Of Three Metals
114 To Make Paper Incombustible
114 Singular Experiments With Glass Tubes
115 Aquatic Bomb
115 Heat Not To Be Estimated By Touch
116 Flame Upon Water
116 Rose-Coloured Flame On Water
To Set A Mixture On Fire With Water
116 Waves Of Fire On Water
116 Explosion In Water
117 Water From The Flame Of A Candle
117 Formation Of Water By Fire
117 Boiling Upon Cold Water
118 Currents In Boiling Water
118 Hot Water Lighter Than Cold
118 Expansion Of Water By Cold
119 The Cup Of Tantalus
119 Imitative Diving Bell
120 The Water-Proof Sieve
120 More Than Full
120 To Cause Wine And Water To Change Places
120 Pyramid Of Alum
121 Visible Vibration
122 Charcoal In Sugar
122 Floating Needles
122 Water In A Sling
122 Attraction In A Glass Of Water
123 To Prevent Cork Floating In Water
123 Instantaneous Freezing
123 To Freeze Water With Ether
124 Production Of Nitre
124 Curious Transposition
124 Animal Barometer
124 Magic Soap
125 Equal Pressure Of Water
125 To Empty A Glass Under Water
125 To Empty A Glass Of Water With Out Touching It
126 Decomposition Of Water
126 Water Heavier Than Wine
126 To Inflate A Bladder Without Air
126 Air And Water Balloon
127 Heated Air Balloon
127 The Pneumatic Tinder Box
127 The Bacchus Experiment
128 The Mysterious Circles
130 Prince Rupert’s Drops
130 Vegetable Hygrometer
131 The Pneumatic Dancer
132 The Ascending Snake
132 The Pneumatic Phial
133 Resin Bubbles
133 Moisture Of The Atmosphere
133 Climates Of A Room
134 Bubbles In Champagne
134 Proofs That Air Is A Heavy Fluid
135 To Support A Pea On Air
135 Pyrophorus, Or Air-Tinder
136 Beauty Of A Soap-Bubble
137 Why A Guinea Falls More Rapidly Than A Feather Through The Air
138 Solidity Of Air
139 Breathing And Smelling

141 Sleights And Subtleties
143 The Ring And The Handkerchief
144 The Knotted Handkerchief
146 The Invisible Springs
147 The Miraculous Apple
148 The Self-Balanced Pail
148 The Phantom At Command
150 The Miraculous Shilling
151 The Locomotive Shilling
152 The Penetrative Sixpence
152 The Vanishing Sixpence
153 To Make A Sixpence Balance And Spin On Its Edge On The Point Of A Needle
153 The Multiplying Coin
153 The Magic Rat Trap
154 The Velocity Of Motion
155 The Exploding Bubble
155 The Magic Picture
156 Artificial Lightning
156 Three Objects Discernible Only With Both Eyes
156 To Tell By A Watch Dial The Hour When A Person Intends To Rise
157 To Make A Ring Suspend By A Thread, After The Thread Has Been Burned
157 To Melt A Piece Of Money In A Walnut shell Without Injuring The Shell
158 The Magical Mirrors
159 The Enchanted Bottle
159 The Armed Apparition
160 To Extract The Silver Out Of A Ring That Is Thickly Gilded, So That The Gold May Remain Entire
160 Curious Experiment With A Glass Of Water
160 A Luminous Bottle, Which Will Show The Hour On A Watch In The Dark
161 The Wonderful Hat
161 To Bring A Person Down Upon A Feather
162 The Apparent Impossibility
162 An Omelet Cooked In A Hat Over The Flame Of A Candle
163 The Impossible Omelet
163 Go If You Can
163 The Figure Puzzle
163 The Visible Invisible
164 The Double Meaning
164 Quite Tired Out
164 Something Out Of The Common
165 To Rub One Sixpence Into Two
165 Magic Circle

169 Melange
169 Illusions Of Touch
170 Illusion Of The Taste
170 The General Bleacher
171 Influence Of Coloured Glass On Bulbous Roots
171 The Spinning Top “Asleep”
172 To Judge Of Weights
172 Quicksilver And Oil United
172 To Dissolve The Soda In Glass
173 Waterproof Paper
173 To Dissolve Gold Or Platinum
173 Colder Than Ice
173 Contra-Crystallization
174 One And One Do Not Make Two
174 To Cony Writing Instantly
174 The Rival Dials
174 To Spin Indian Rubber
175 Indelible Writing
175 Vegetable Anatomy
176 To Tell What O’Clock It Is By The Moon
177 The Physiognotype
177 Infinite Divisibility Of Matter
178 Holding The Breath
178 Sand In The Hour-Glass
179 Resistance Of Sand
180 Glass Broken By Sand
180 To Bleach Ivory
180 Vanishing Sheila
180 The Magic Egg
181 The Magic Whirlpool
183 Magic Porcelain
184 A Galvanic Tongue
184 Drinking Porter Out Of Pewter
184 Electric Or Galvanic Preservation
185 Light From The Diamond
185 To Break A Stone With A Blow Of The Fist
185 Mimic Frost-Work
186 To Melt Lead In A Piece Of Paper
186 Hydrostatic Balance
187 Metallic Reduction
187 Electrical Attraction And Repulsion
188 Alchemical Electricity
189 The Electric Balls
189 The Electric Dance
189 Electric Light
190 Electric Light From Brown Paper
190 Sudden Production Of Light
190 Electricity Of The Cat

Book of Gymnastics (Paul Preston): Book Three; pagination starts over

7 Preface
11 Preliminary Exercises
38 Exercises on the Parallel Bars
59 Exercises on the Horizontal Pole
82 Horse Exercise
108 Leaping
113 Leaping With the Pole
119 Climbing Apparatus
124 Pulling the Rope
127 Throwing the Lance or Spear
132 Climbing the Plank
133 Giant Stride
134 Climbing the Mast
136 Running
140 Recapitulation