This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/19/2018
Bailey, Robert. The Life and Adventures of Robert Bailey. Richmond: Printed for the Author by J & G Cochran, 1822. First edition. Full contemporary calf with spine label, neatly re-backed. One-third leather clamshell box. Engraved frontispiece of the author. Three woodcuts. 8vo. Dampstained and foxed, rear end sheet torn; good condition overall. Scarce. An autobiography that recounts Bailey’s many adventures and moral judgements on gambling, and, more importantly describes his patent on the faro dealing box. Bailey invented and patented the faro dealing box in 1812 (pages 138-140). As a reformed gambler, Bailey claimed his box could help stop the rampant cheating so prevalent in the game of faro. Almost immediately the sharps of the day found ways to gaff Bailey’s honest box, redeveloping the device into one of the most nefarious tools in any cheater’s arsenal. Despite the appearance of a reprint edition in 1978, Bailey’s book is not widely known among gambling collectors. An article in the March 16, 1815 Bedford (Penn.) Gazette describes the use of a gaffed Bailey faro dealing box (“patent swindling box”) by a group of Black Legs.