First Edition of Cowell's Autobiography, Containing One of the Earliest Description of the Game of Poker
Thirty Years Passed Among the Players in England and America:. Interspersed with Anecdotes and Reminiscences of a Variety of Persons Directly or Indirectly Connected with the Drama During the Theatrical Life of Joe Cowell, Comedian, Written by Himself. In Two Parts. Part I.- England. [Part II.- America].
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844.
Full Description:
COWELL, Joe. Thirty Years Passed Among the Players in England and America:. Interspersed with Anecdotes and Reminiscences of a Variety of Persons Directly or Indirectly Connected with the Drama During the Theatrical Life of Joe Cowell, Comedian, Written by Himself. In Two Parts. Part I.- England. [Part II.- America]. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844.
First edition. Two parts in one octavo volume (9 1/16 x 5 3/4 inches; 230 x 145 mm). [3]-1-3, [1, blank]pp. With separate title-pages for each part. Continuous pagination. With one of the earliest mentions of the game poker, found on page 94.
Half modern tan calf over marbled boards. Spine lettered in gilt. Marbled endpapers. Top edge gilt. Some mild toning and soiling throughout. Overall a very good copy.
"The earliest contemporary reference to Poker occurs in J. Hildreth's Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains, published in 1836; but two slightly later publications independently show it to have been well in use by 1829. Both are found in the published reminiscences of two unconnected witnesses: Jonathan H. Green, in Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling (1843), and Joe Cowell, an English comedian, in Thirty Years Passed Among the Players in England and America (1844). Green and Cowell describe the earliest known form of Poker, played with a 20-card pack (A-K-Q-J-10) evenly dealt amongst four players. There is no draw, and bets are made on a narrow range of combinations: one pair, two pair, triplets, 'full' - so called because it is the only combination in which all five cards are active - and four of a kind. Unlike classic Poker, in which the top hand (royal flush) can be tied in another suit, the original top hand consisting of four Aces, or four Kings and an Ace, was absolutely unbeatable." (Parlett Games).
Joseph Cowell, [real name Joseph Leathley Whitshed] (1792?1863), was an actor born near Torquay, Devon, on 7 August 1792. "Cowell became interested in acting during one of his naval leaves... In 1812, he wrote to George Sandford at the Plymouth Theatre, saying that he wished to become an actor. He was hired and made his first appearance less than two weeks later as Belcour in Richard Cumberland's The West Indian. This was followed by regular engagements acting alongside such performers as Dorothea Jordan and Charles Mayne Young. He performed in both tragedy and comedy but preferred the latter. One of Cowell's best-known comic roles was as Crack in The Turnpike Gate. The theatrical manager Stephen Kemble offered Cowell an engagement at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where he opened as Samson Rawbold in Colman's The Iron Chest and Nicholas in the Midnight Hour. On the death of Queen Charlotte in 1818, theatres were closed. To tide himself over, Cowell composed and acted in a three-hour olio entitled Cowell Alone; or, a Trip to London, which he toured in the area of Lincoln. On his return to London, he joined the Adelphi Theatre for a three years' engagement. He later performed at Astley's Theatre. In 1821, the American manager Stephen Price arranged an American tour that began at the Park Theatre, New York, where he performed in The Foundling of the Forest and as Crack in The Turnpike Gate. In 1844, he wrote a memoir, Thirty years passed among the players in England and America, that was issued in two parts. (Wikipedia).
Sabin 17236.
HBS 69204.
$1,000.
Price: $1,000.00
Item #69204