Author Archives: Thomas A. Sawyer

I have not been posting much here lately, but I have done a moderate amount of card-game work behind the scenes, largely in connection with many great images that David Levy has communicated to me. I’ll undoubtedly discuss a lot … Continue reading →

I now have a listing on eBay through which I am offering (for sale at a fixed price) copies of my bibliography of Professor Hoffmann’s card game booklets. I published that last year.  The first printing was quite small. You … Continue reading →

I now have a listing on eBay through which I am offering (for sale at a fixed price) copies of my bibliography of Professor Hoffmann’s card game booklets. I published that last year.  The first printing was quite small. You … Continue reading →

I recently took down my S.W. Erdnase blog (for the time being), so this blog may have to tolerate occasional posts on the S.W. Erdnase situation! I didn’t really want to say anything about this, but it has kinda been … Continue reading →

If there exists a fixed point that lends dignity and significance to the collecting of card-game booklets published by Goodall, and if that fixed point can be represented by a specific person, I suspect that such a person is Frederic Jessel. … Continue reading →

Below are scans of portions of another one of the Goodall calendars in the “Time’s Footsteps” series. This one takes the form of a little booklet (about the size of a Bridge playing-card). The front and back covers are light … Continue reading →

A while back, I saw a reference to a copy of the Jessel bibliography with an errata slip. I spent a moderate amount of time trying to find out exactly what this might be. In particular, I entertained the idea … Continue reading →

I’ll probably get into this in more detail in the future, but there is more to the picture than one might think based on the calendar shown below.  Specifically, there is another card with an image on one side and … Continue reading →

I have not been posting much on this blog in recent months.  I guess I figured, on some level, that the appearance of my bibliography of Professor Hoffmann card-game booklets was an indication that things are still going on in … Continue reading →

What does a collection of card-game booklets look like? Earlier today, I placed most of my Goodall booklets into a box.  This is sort of what that looks like: This includes only “Goodall” booklets, but it does include some that … Continue reading →

The following is what I will very likely use (or something very close to it): That is based on the cover found on a reprint of Drawing-Room Conjuring, which was a translation (from the French) by Professor Hoffmann. The book … Continue reading →

I see on David Levy’s “Edmond Hoyle, Gent.,” blog that the George Clulow collection of books relating to playing cards has been acquired by Vanderbilt University. This includes (according to a Vanderbilt website) ancillary materials, including, if I understand correctly, … Continue reading →

These recollections reach way back to the 1968-1970 period, at earliest, and to probably the mid-1970s at latest, so they may be somewhat “accuracy challenged.” I want to talk about what may be the first author-bibliographies I handled. For a … Continue reading →

Today I took possession of 53 copies of A Bibliography of Card-Game Booklets Written by Professor Hoffmann. They are in two boxes which arrived earlier today, and which I have not opened yet. There is a certain amount of customization … Continue reading →

Here are a couple more relevant images. The Bijou Hoyle consisted basically of the texts of the Warne’s Bijou Books on the topics of (a) Whist; (b) Cribbage and dominoes; and (c) chess. (The capitalization may look strange in that … Continue reading →

A recent little bit of email communication with David Levy had to do (in part) with Frederick Warne and Co., and that caused me to glance at a few of my Warne publications. I’ve written about this book on this … Continue reading →

Update on my bibliography of Professor Hoffmann’s card-game booklets: Today I submitted the book to the printer. (I am not ready to predict when I will have copies for sale.) I already discussed the variations in the back-designs of two … Continue reading →

Update on my bibliography of Professor Hoffmann’s Goodall booklets:  I am basically finished with the proofreading. I have had to iron out one or two other little difficulties. I’ll probably basically check it over once or twice quickly — that … Continue reading →

I the course of my life, I have issued a few items which I set the type for and printed on my own little printing press. One of those was a little item I called Angelo Lewis: Other Than Magic. … Continue reading →

Below are images of most of the copies of Professor Hoffmann’s Bridge in my collection. A couple of them have Bridge Whist covers, but the title page says Bridge. —Tom Sawyer July 30, 2017