A GAME OF THE STATES
Chicago: L. J. Colby, Circa 1890. Early printing. Ephemera. Missing one card #47. The box is in pretty good condition for its age.. The cards are in very good condition. Cards are held in a sleeve that fits in the box nicely. Scarce survivor even with one card missing. The 50 pack card game from 1890 is selling for $350. This version is a 70 card pack and unfortunately one card is missing making it 69 cards total. This missing card does not interfere with game play because it’s a question game. Ships next day.
I believe this is how the game is played. I’m sure a lot has changed since 1890 snd it’s very interesting to read the cards. 
This game is comprised of a deck of 70 (69 in this case)  cards, each of which bears the name of a country, colony, region or body of water along with 10 questions about its subject.
Each player is dealt a hand of three cards. The first player asks the player to his left one of the questions on one of his cards. If the second player answers the question correctly, he takes the card and puts it face down in front of him. If not, the next player in line gets a chance and so on. Whoever answers takes the card. If no one answers, it is placed into an Ignorance Pile on the table. The asking player then replenishes his hand to three, and the turn to ask moves to the left.
Every four cards collected by correct answers make up a "book" and victory goes to the first player to collect an agreed number of books. The rules recommend four books for 2-3 players, three books for 4-5 players and two or even one book for larger numbers.