£60
FIRST EDITION, large 8vo, pp. 640. Frontispiece included in pagination. Original purple cloth, front board bordered with black rules, lettered in gilt and blocked centrally in silver, spine lettered in gilt and blocked in black. Somewhat toned. Binding marked and a little soiled, extremities worn, gilt almost entirely rubbed away, hinges lined with cloth tape. Ink stamp of Frank Oster, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to flyleaf.
A compendious and wide-ranging guide to the history of gambling, beginning in ancient Egypt and ending in the 19th century, and an overview of contemporary gambling methods, covering the tricks of card sharps and other mountebanks for fleecing would-be gamblers. It was written by a former professional gambler turned evangelist against his former trade following a jailhouse conversion to Christianity, who eloped with the teenaged daughter of a preacher he travelled with giving speeches on the evils of his former vice; one chapter here is devoted to this courtship and marriage, the aftermath and the parties' subsequent reconciliation.
