When I first began to explore the world of string figures, I was disappointed to discover that there was no decent digital version of Jayne's classic book, "String Figures and How to Make Them". The book was long out of copyright—published in 1906, the copyright would have expired decades ago—so there was no real legal reason for the book not to exist in digital form. However, all I could find were images of the pages, scanned in from the 1962 edition of the book and collected in various formats.
So, using those scans as the source, I undertook to convert the images into a textual digital format that could be more easily accessible to those new to the art of string figures. I've tried to retain as much of the original text as possible, although I have taken the liberty of correcting a few minor mispellings, and at least one reference to the wrong illustration. However, as part of formatting this document for more convenient viewing online, I've sacrified the print layout of the original book and broken each figure into its own page. Each illustration immediately follows the paragraph in which it is first referenced, and hyperlinks have been added so that you can easily follow cross-references.
Also, where I've been able to discover different notations for the figures, I've tried to include those as well. As of this writing, this only amounts to a few of the figures being available in String Figure Notation (SFN) but I hope others will contribute additional descriptions as well, either in SFN, Mizz code, ISFA notation, or any others that are found to be helpful.
I've certainly done my best to proofread as I've transcribed, but there are doubtless many little typos that have crept in as part of the process. If you discover a mistake in the manuscript, please drop me a line and tell me about it. Similarly, if you find this transcription useful, or if you find a creative way to use these materials, please let me know!
Jamis Buck <jamis@jamisbuck.org>
July 2009