Reference Books

[Bradius]

I was wondering from my card collecting elders, what reference books should I have for card collecting?

In doing some quick searches on Abebook Exchange, I noted a few that i should consider:

1) History of Playing Cards by Catherine Hargrave
2) Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards by Tom Dawson
3) Hochman Price Guide By tom and Judy Dawson
4) I am not sure about this, but there is also a 6 volume reference by Gene Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards This seems an older reference that was replaced by the one bearing Hochman, but authored by Tom Dawson

I didn't see any that looked to cover European cards, so that seems a problem. Anyway, any guidance would be appreciated.

[Bradius]

Actually, a bit of a hunt on this website was what I needed to do first. I am going to leave the post up in case someone else wants another path to the answer. Here is the link:

http://www.unitedcardists.com/viewtopic ... 361#p71361

[ecNate]

I have the first 3 you mentioned and a few others, the only one I think you may want to consider is the one from Field on Transformation Playing Cards which is listed on the URL you referenced. Otherwise I will just mention this one which is pretty nice especially for the price (https://www.amazon.com/Collectible-Play ... 080111345/). Sorry I don't have input on books for European decks, but of course various websites are available as listed.

[Honeybee]

Hochman is considered the go to for American cards for the 100yrs prior to say 1940. I have recently purchased both the book form and the epub 2nd Edn.
There is an excellent 15 minute youtube review of the hard copy book here by Shuffle Up and Deal that you should really watch to be sure this is for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pgZjyoW4Ug

I bought a hardcover copy of the book as the cover on the paperback that he reviews on youtube looked a bit flimsy to me.
Way more expensive and I must warn shoppers that even for the hardcover the pages are super thin paper. I am an ex-librarian so I love the book but the fragility of the pages along with the fact that the epublication was relatively cheap, now had color pics and is an easy way to make notes - all convinced me to get it too. The meagre additions/updates that the 2nd edition offers should not influence your choice - it should be about screen v paper with color and price also factors.

I have not been an ebooker in the past and although it is available on Amazon for kindle in 4 parts (I am thinking the numerous pics probably necessitated this), I bought it here from Conjuring Arts and it also comes as 4 downloads.

https://store.conjuringarts.org/product ... tion-epub/

The description by Conjuring Arts seemed to recommend reading it on Adobe Digital Editions (free) so I am using that.
I am reading and making notes on a desktop. Adobe Digital Editions has not been too hard to master (they download a guide with it) but in comparing the hardcover to the screen edn, I have been experimenting and 'Fit Page' (and Extra Large text size for me) seems to be the best. I tried 'double page view' trying to match the format of the hardcopy book but it didn't really work as well. One annoying thing I find on the desktop is not being able to scroll up or down (I have to use the Page Up and Page Down keys), for this reason some people may prefer to read it on kindle (which you can still do with the Conjuring Arts offering)

I think many people will prefer the digital edition for the color throughout. Somewhat strangely the two dozen color pages, more or less an insert in the hardcopy book form are not included in the digital edition. There is no index for the digital edn as you have a Search facility

I think all of the above is accurate but would certainly appreciate any tips from others

[Strag]

Albert Field's book on Transfomation playing cards is a great resource if that's your thing (like mine).

[kevork]

I had recently bought this book due to Strag's personal recommendation. It's actually on sale for $3.99 if anyone is interested. I will say, I wish the book had color scans of the cards, but for the price, you really can't go wrong.

https://playingcarddecks.com/products/t ... cards-book

[hsbc]

This one came up on a 52+J auction a few years back -- I'd still love to grab a copy someday

Another American reference is ‘The Cary Collection of Playing Cards’ by William B Keller of Yale University Library, 1981. This is the collection of cards, plates and prints acquired by Melbert B Cary Jr and bequeathed to Yale by his wife Mary Flagler Cary. As it says in the introduction “one of the world’s most distinguished collections of such materials”.

Indeed this is almost an understatement, as the card collection is truly incredible with many many ancient and high quality items. Last year I had occasion to look into As Nas cards from Persia (now Iran). While many collections have an example or two, the Cary collection has forty, all between 1800 and 1905.

The books themselves - four volumes in all - are a collector’s item in their own right and they are very beautifully produced. Each has a facsimile card - each from a different area - pasted onto the cover. The research is meticulous and often this is a volume to try out where others fall short.

A catalogue of the Cary Collection of Playing Cards in the Yale University Library / by William B. Keller. -- Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 completely digitized.

[GandalfPC]

Also this database from them (thought it appears to be down for maintenance recently):

http://carycards.beinecke.library.yale.edu/

[hsbc]

And it has this wonderful template for entries; my only complaint is the overall sorting by country and not producer may not be suited to modern decks

[Honeybee]

This one came up on a 52+J auction a few years back -- I'd still love to grab a copy someday

Another American reference is ‘The Cary Collection of Playing Cards’ by William B Keller of Yale University Library, 1981. This is the collection of cards, plates and prints acquired by Melbert B Cary Jr and bequeathed to Yale by his wife Mary Flagler Cary. As it says in the introduction “one of the world’s most distinguished collections of such materials”.

Indeed this is almost an understatement, as the card collection is truly incredible with many many ancient and high quality items. Last year I had occasion to look into As Nas cards from Persia (now Iran). While many collections have an example or two, the Cary collection has forty, all between 1800 and 1905.

The books themselves - four volumes in all - are a collector’s item in their own right and they are very beautifully produced. Each has a facsimile card - each from a different area - pasted onto the cover. The research is meticulous and often this is a volume to try out where others fall short.

A catalogue of the Cary Collection of Playing Cards in the Yale University Library / by William B. Keller. -- Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 completely digitized.

How good would it be if the plates were one day digitalized (Vol. 3 and Vol. 4) but I agree HSBC - it would be great to the own the hardcopies

[Honeybee]

I am starting to think viewing the ebook 2nd edn of Hochman in Adobe Digital Editions is a bit clunky. I guess research is not supposed to be easy.

I knew there was supposed to be a pic after the U7 Caleb Bartlett reference but the only way I found to view anything more than a sliver of the pic was to change to Double-Page view (in the Reading menu). This pic is one of the few additions that you will only find in the ebook 2nd edn. You will see from the attached pic that it is one you want to see - beautiful.

Maybe I will try staying in double page view so as not to miss anything but although it is a closer representation of how the hardcopy book is presented - two undrawn columns per page, it is not my preferred style for reading

[EvilDuncan]

I know that Jackson has been working with a guy named Jason McKinstry to make writeups for his vintage reimagined series, giveing historical context to each deck.

Jason has apparently written a book about the history of early playing card manufacturers called Paper Empires: A Historical Journey of America's Early Playing Card Makers. I hear it's pretty good.

https://worldofpaperempires.com/

[Honeybee]

Thanks Duncan, JM's book certainly looks good. I gather the digital edn is not as comprehensive as the book. You guys are lucky to be able to get the hardcover cheap, not so lucky in Australia.

[Honeybee]

I am starting to think viewing the ebook 2nd edn of Hochman in Adobe Digital Editions is a bit clunky. I guess research is not supposed to be easy.

I knew there was supposed to be a pic after the U7 Caleb Bartlett reference but the only way I found to view anything more than a sliver of the pic was to change to Double-Page view (in the Reading menu). This pic is one of the few additions that you will only find in the ebook 2nd edn. You will see from the attached pic that it is one you want to see - beautiful.

Maybe I will try staying in double page view so as not to miss anything but although it is a closer representation of how the hardcopy book is presented - two undrawn columns per page, it is not my preferred style for reading

After several chapters of persisting I have given up on reading my Conjuring Arts download of the Encyclopedia on the Adobe Digital Editions Reader that I installed. I am on PC and I am finding the viewing on Adobe Digital Editions terribly frustrating and slow. eg sometimes it will give you the 'add note' option when you highlight some text but as often as not it will only let you bookmark
NB it may be perfectly fine if you are using a phone or tablet as they say "We have tested this on the iPhone and iPad (via iBooks) using iOS 8 and also on Android tablets and phones (via Google Play Books)."

This post has now been massively edited as I did not realize that you can read all epub files on Kindle so whether or not you buy from Amazon (one part at a time to test the waters) or from Conjuring Arts - you can read it using Kindle. To read the Conjuring Arts edn on Kindle all you have to do is go to Send To Kindle (link below) and select your Conjuring Arts file(s)

https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle

I am now reading on Kindle. Within minutes it seems like I am in heaven. Straight away I went to a page (quickly and easily!) where the Adobe Digital Edns Reader had refused to let me highlight and make a note but on Kindle - NOT a problem. Amazon break it into 4 parts at $6 ea Australian so I figure it would only be around $4 US to try a part and find out for yourself

So if you are considering buying The Hochman Encyclopedia and reading it on a PC, then Kindle IMO is the only way to go. I have the physical book too but I am a bibliophile and you cannot go past the Kindle edn for price, speed, colour, pic size, note taking, being more up to date and with no very thin pages to worry about ripping.
(Not that the 'sendtokindle' is anything but easy, however if you buy the kindle edn from Amazon they send it straight to your Kindle)

[Bradius]

If you want the Cary Collection four volume set, there are a few copies available through abebooks.com

[Honeybee]

If you have not worked out from the previous posts - I am a little nutty when it comes to books.

More thoughts on how to read the Hochman Encyclopedia on a PC
It is definitely digital, it is just a matter of whether you read on Kindle or another epub reader like Adobe Digital Editions (both these are freeware)

Because you are on a PC you cannot just rotate your Kindle to landscape mode to make your content larger
But I did find that when I clicked on View, selected Show Display Options (NOT the 'full screen' option as you would assume), and used the width slider - I made the width/content considerably larger. The trick is to ease the slider as wide as you can while maintaining single page view, you just go back a smidge if you turn it to 2page view.
If you are taking notes it has to be Kindle IMO as I found Adobe Digital Editions terrible (see previous post)

If you are not taking notes and can put up with the 5+ seconds that ADE takes to load each page you will be able to get much larger images for closer examination by selecting Full Screen and Single Page view from the Reading menu (pretty much the height of your desktop screen!)

The perfect answer might be to find a better epub reader than Adobe which takes notes as easily as Kindle - I will let you know if I do

This post has been edited too

[Honeybee]

For fellow desktop users, once you get used to the details you see when the cards in the digital form of the encyclopedia are shown on a full screen, it is hard to go back to Kindle much less the tiny pics in the book but while Adobe Digital Editions isn't the answer, there are other free readers.

I am thinking Freda could be a goer for its whole single page option (see trick below) and ability to make notes including pasting a webpage address as a note eg to a World of Playing Cards article which shows the rest of the deck (some other nice readers like Ice-cream won't let you paste notes so be prepared to type a lot more)
I might need to read the Freda manual to get the hang of it but after you add the encyclopedia to your digital library, if you remember to right click in a blank space in the top third of a page then the menu appears so I should be right. I was lucky enough to twig that in Settings you need to slide the 'text columns (landscape)' down to the minimum so that you can have one large column fill your screen when you maximize the screen and thus see the cards super big
(I have since found out with Freda that when you right click on text, you get enlarging options)
I need to decide on one reader so I can get on with reading the encyclopedia (while easily taking notes )

I appreciate that not everybody is into the history/encyclopedia but seeing as though I am doing it, I thought I would document it in the event that it may help somebody who is thinking of buying the encyclopedia

[Honeybee]

Illuminated manuscripts are hand-written books with painted decoration that generally includes precious metals such as gold or silver.

Hochman talks about Illuminated decks. Going on the above would I be correct in defining them as decks with painted decoration that generally includes precious metals such as gold or silver

[Honeybee]

The quality of the pics in the digital 2nd edn of Hochman are fantastic
A 1915 NYCC card (only a 34kb file at that)

[Honeybee]

Illuminated manuscripts are hand-written books with painted decoration that generally includes precious metals such as gold or silver.

Hochman talks about Illuminated decks. Going on the above would I be correct in defining them as decks with painted decoration that generally includes precious metals such as gold or silver

I should have kept reading to pg 69 for the answer as Hochman says there:

AD1e U.S. CARD MANUFACTORY (formerly U16), Coughtry & Dougherty, New York, c1851. This deck has a very colourful Ace of Spades and is illuminated, which means that the pips are outlined in gold leaf with the courts making extensive use of the gold leaf as well. The courts are identical to those of AD3.

[Honeybee]

I prefer reading the digital edn of Hochmans using freda on my desktop but for any bibliophiles out there the hardcover book is incredibly cheap on Amazon right now - a fraction of what I paid for it a couple of years ago.
I am a compulsive price averager (buying several decks to reduce shipping av cost) but I cannot buy a second book (can I?)