DUSAULX (Jean):

De la Passion du Jeu, Depuis les Temps Anciens jusqu'a nos Jours. Dedie a Monsieur.

A Paris, de l'Imprimerie de Monsieur, 1779. FIRST EDITION. 2 parts in one volume. 8vo, 193 x 121 mms., pp. xxxvi, 267 [268 blank]; [iv], 335 [336 blank], including half-title for each part, with woodcut of French Royal arms on title-page, and engraved head-pieces to each part,contemporary quarter French calf, marbled boards (soiled), spine gilt to floral motif, red morocco label (chipped); spine rubbed and dried, corners worn. A reformed or retired gambler himself, Jean Dusaulx (1728-1799) fulminates against the iniquity of gambling and its dire social and personal consequences. A French politician, he was also a scholar, a translator of Juvenal, and a disciple of Rousseau. He was president of the Conseil des Anciens, and in that position he actively sought to suppress lotteries, games of chance, and most forms of gambling. So far as I can tell, it was in the latter part of the 18th century that a concern emerged for the psychological make-up of the gambler; that perception of the gambler became more prominent in social discourse than on the social differences between various forms of gambling. Dated to January 1, 1779, the presentation inscription on the front free endpaper reads, "A mon ami Charles de Stropère / avec mes meilleurs voeux / et l'espérance que ce petit livre / devienne son livre de chevet". In English this is roughly, "To my friend Charles de Stropère / with my best wishes / and the hope that this little book / becomes his bedside book". It is signed "Adalbert de Crommelynck". The difficulty in identifying the inscriber and inscribee may be due to their names, as given here, being playful nicknames of some kind, rather than birth names. It is striking, however, to realise that, considering the content of the book, Adalbert was likely greatly hoping Charles would gamble less, and, with that end firmly in mind, would read all about the ills of gambling every night before sleep. Bibliographically, the inscription also has striking implications, if the date is correct. This is a non-authorial presentation inscription of a book whose publication date is 1779 according to its title-page, but the inscription is dated to the first day of the first year of the purported year of publication. It seems, first, rather improbable that a book actually published in the year 1779 would be actually available on the first day of that year; it seems more improbable still that someone who is not the author could get hold of the book on the first day of the year of publication. It seems likely that either the date of inscription or the date of publication is, prima facie, false. Curiously, not in Kress, Goldsmiths' or Einaudi.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 8776

Catalogue: Gambling

Keywords: gambling psychology prose

HOYLE. JONES (Charles):

Hoyle's Games Improved. Being Practical Treatises on the following Fashionable Games, Viz. Whist, Quadrille, Pique, Chess, Back-Gammon, Billiards, Cricket, Tennis, Quinze, Hazard, Lansquenet, Billiards, and Goff or Golf; In which are contained, The Method of Betting at those Games upon equal or advantageous Terms; Including The Laws of each, as settled and agreed to, at Brookes's, White's, D'Aubigny's, the Scavoir Vivre, Miles's, Payne's, and other Fashionable Houses, &c. Revised and corrected by Charles Jones, Saq. A New Edition, enlarged.

London: Printed for J. F. and C. Rivington, T. Payne and Son, R. Baldwin, B. Law, W. Goldsmith, W. Lowndes, E. Newbery, S. Bladon, G. and T. Wilkie, and C. Stalker [no date]. [1790]. 12mo, 157 x 88 mms., pp. viii, 290 [291 - 292 adverts], image in black and white of "The Draught Table" on page 194, two full-page engraved plates between pages 270 and 271, contemporary sheepskin (worn); title-page a bit soiled, spine dried, joints cracked but holding, corners a bit worn, a so-so copy with the contemporary name "B. Batt" in ink on top margin of recto of frnt ree end-paper, and another contemporary name "Jno. Forbes Shells Park" on the top margin of the title-page This is the first edition of Hoyle's Games, as revised by Charles Jones to mention golf, pp. 288 - 290. In this "favourite Summer Amusement in Scotland," the balls are described as being made of "Horse Leather, stuffed with Feathers in a peculiar Manner, and Boiled." The comment that "The general Distance between one Hole and another is about a Quarter of a Mile...," or around 440 yards. This conforms to the description of ESTC T87522, but the title-page in this copy is not dated and one of the publishers is given as "T. Wilkiz." Donovan and Murdoch 330. See also the comment by David Levy, http://edmondhoyle.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/hoyles-games-improved-charles-jones.html.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 8675

Catalogue: Gambling

Keywords: gambling games prose

LOTTERY ADVERT.

State Lottery, [C]ontaining Six Prizes of £20,000, Begins Drawing June 28, 1808.... Tickets and Shares are selling by J. Brook, 2, Jamaica-Row, Near the Moat, Birmingham, Agent to Brooke and CO. London.

[?Birmingham], 1808. A small advertising leaflet, measuring 220 x 128 mms., printed on one side only; small piece torn from upper right-hand corner and lower left-hand corner (no loss of text), hole in paper affecting "C" of Containing, 4 other holes in left-hand margin not affecting text, slightly browned. The scheme offered 5075 prizes from £15 to £20,000. The note at the bottom of the leaflet adds, "J. B. has sold in the Town of Birmingham, Shares of a £10,000, Two £1,000, and in the last lottery, No. 24,206, and No. 24,209, Both Prizes of £500."

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 5207

Catalogue: Gambling

Keywords: gambling games prose