The Bridge Blue Book

The Bridge Blue Book (1906) Compiled by Paul F. Mottelay and published by Charles Scribner's Sons, this is a comprehensive reference work on the card game Bridge, not fiction. The volume synthesizes opinions from leading Bridge authorities on strategy and rules. It contains a history tracing Bridge's introduction to England in 1894 through Lord Brougham's demonstration at the Portland Club, and notes its rapid displacement of Whist in fashionable clubs. The text includes a bibliography, the American Laws of Bridge (adopted November 1902, revised to January 1905), detailed sections on declarations, doubling and redoubling, leads, discards, and the Eleven-Rule and Twelve-Rule. Quotations from prominent players—Professor Hoffmann, "Cavendish," "Boaz," Archibald Dunn, and others—characterize Bridge as rewarding skill, judgment, observation, and probabilistic reasoning far more than its predecessor Whist. The book also covers variant forms: Dummy Bridge, Duplicate Bridge, Auction Bridge, Progressive Bridge, and three-handed Bridge, concluding with a glossary and general index.