A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist

David Levy, a scholar on Edmond Hoyle says: “Edmond Hoyle (1679-1769) was the first English writer on the rules and strategy of popular games. He wrote about whist, backgammon, piquet, chess, quadrille and brag, as well as a book about probability.” Today, rules to the game of Whist are based on Edmond Hoyle’s A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist, first published in 1742. Vanderbilt has two copies of this work that include a rare fold-out set of rules to the game, pictured here. Most players of the game who would have originally purchased this title tore this set of rules from the book and had it framed above their gaming table, or affixed to the wall another way for quick reference. Thus, few intact copies of this text exist.