Gambling Memorabilia Featuring the Collection of Tom Blue

Blackbridge, John. The Complete Poker Player. New York: Advance Publishing Company, 1875. First edition. Publisher’s blue cloth stamped in black and gilt, salmon endpapers. 8vo. x, 284pp., [6] ads. Covers with frayed and bumped edges, some soiling; small piece torn from corner of second free flyleaf, foxing and dampstaining to title, scattered pencil marginalia, scattered light marginal dampstaining, but clean and tight overall. Jessel 121. Calling it America’s “national game,” Blackbridge, along with Winterblossom in the same year, was the first to publish a book-length treatment of the game of poker. Whereas Winterblossom is concerned mainly with the rules and mathematics of poker, Blackbridge delves into the betting strategies of the game in its various forms, advice against falling victim to card sharps, while seeking to elevate the game from vulgar to gentlemanly status, venturing so far as to name it “the most interesting game of cards that the human mind has yet produced.”