4 x 4"; 36 pages. 27 illustrations. Set in Blockhead unplugged. Letterpress printed in two colors using a Vandercook 4. Hand-bound with wooden boards and cloth spine. Front board laser-cut into finish grade plywood, with a small number of them laser-cut into chipboard. Text: "The ancient sport of thumb war was first recorded with pictograms on ceramics unearthed at Xanadu, the summer court of Kublai Kahn in the 13th century. Though there is earlier mention of a similar game 2000 years previous through buddhist texts where combatants engaged in zhi jue di, or toe wrestling, in a similar fashion. It is believed that Marco Polo brought the game to the West when he returned from his travels. Scholars have conjectured that the game was used to settle differences between rival officers as to who was going to sleep with the most popular concubine versus who was going to have to churn the ayrag in the morning before the great sky god awoke, but no one knows for sure." |
