This 223-page hardcover full-color book is a history of the J.W. Spears & Sons company. The book was created in conjunction with a major exhibition at the Nuremberg Toy Museum that took place between November 1997 and 1998. The book remains available from the Spear Charitable Trust.The story of Spear is a great one. The company was founded and owned by the patriarch of a Jewish family in Nuremberg in 1879 they relocated to Britain leading into WWII and the family's fight to get their German factory back following WWII. Wow--that would make a great miniseries. The history also focuses on the game Scrabble and the city of Nuremberg. This is the most ambitious history of any game company that I'm aware of.The portion on the games being printed in Nuremberg in the late 1700's and early 1800's is especially important. It's quite likely that no examples of some of the games described remain, and we only know of them through the catalogs and trade brochures collected and preserved by the Nuremberg Toy Museum and the Spear family.The book includes pictures of the Spear family members, many color plates of the company's games and advertising, and pictures from the factory store. - BoardGameGeek