Gambling Memorabilia Featuring the Collection of Tom Blue

Evans, Gerritt. How Gamblers Win. New York: Author, (1865). First edition. Original brown cloth, title stamped in gilt to front cover, pale yellow endpapers. 12mo. 84pp. Cloth fraying at extremities, minor foxing initially, otherwise fine. A contemporary notation (possibly the author’s) to the title page crosses out the street number on Liberty Street, replacing “23” with “41.” Exceedingly rare; one of a mere handful of copies known, two of which are institutional holdings. One of the earliest American works to describe the techniques of crooked gamblers, and perhaps the first to focus heavily on cheating in poker. Within a few years of the publication of this, the true first edition, the work was reprinted by Dick & Fitzgerald, who credited the author anonymously as “A Retired Professional” (see next lot), after which it became one of the most widely disseminated books on “advantage” play of the century.