The Palingenesis of Craps

New York: Press of the Woolly Whale, 1933. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. One of 400 copies, only 150 of which were for sale. Crown 8vo (188 x 130mm): [6],8,[2]pp, with line-drawn portrait frontispiece of Bernard Kavier Phillippe de Marigny de Mandeville (1785-1868). Publisher's black cloth-backed gray decorative paper-covered boards, cream paper title label printed in grey to front cover, map end papers (of 1815 New Orleans), text printed in black and lime green on handmade paper. An exemplary example, tightly bound and clean and bright throughout. This brief treatise is dedicated to Bernard Kavier Phillippe de Marigny de Mandeville (1785-1868), a French-Creole American nobleman, playboy, and planter, who was also president of the Louisiana State Senate between 1822 and 1823. When Bernard de Marigny was 15 years old, his father died, and Bernard inherited his father's plantation just east of New Orleans's Vieux Carré. According to historians, his every whim was indulged while his father was alive, and Bernard became so wild and headstrong after his father's death that his guardian shipped him off to England, hoping that life abroad might mend his manners. But in London Bernard's dissipation became only more extreme, and he spent most of his time at Almack's and other gambling palaces. After losing a fortune, Marigny returned to New Orleans, and one of the things he brought back was the dice game Hazard, which became popular in a simplified form that contemptuous Yankees called 'crapaud,' a Franciphobian slur. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).