Playthings in Early Modernity: Party Games, Word Games, Mind Games

by Allison Levy (Editor)

An innovative volume of fifteen interdisciplinary essays at the nexus of material culture, performance studies, and game theory, Playthings in Early Modernity emphasizes the rules of the game(s) as well as the breaking of those rules. Thus, the titular "plaything" is understood as both an object and a person, and play, in the early modern world, is treated not merely as a pastime, a leisurely pursuit, but as a pivotal part of daily life, a strategic psychosocial endeavor.

456 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 2017

About the author

Allison Levy is Director, Brown University Digital Publications. An art historian educated at Bryn Mawr College, she has taught in the US, Italy, and the UK. Allison has published widely on the visual culture of early modern Italy and serves as founding series editor of the book series Visual and Material Culture, 1300–1700, published by Amsterdam University Press.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Allison has a knack for navigating the most historical of cities, for uncovering the curiosities of a place and its people, and for crafting a lively narrative that captures the elusive, the esoteric, or the otherwise dead and buried.