Edmond Hoyle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1672 (1672) England |
| Died | (aged 97) London, England |
| Burial place | Marylebone Churchyard[1] |
| Known for | Englishcard game authority, "the Father ofwhist" |
| Signature | |
 | |
Edmond Hoyle (1672 – 29 August 1769)[2] was an English writer best known for his works on the rules and play ofcard games. The phrase "according to Hoyle" (meaning "strictly according to the rules") came into the language as a reflection of his broadly perceived authority on the subject;[2] use of the phrase has since expanded to anyappeal to a putative authority.
Little is known about Hoyle's early life prior to publication of his books. Much of what is written about him is untrue or exaggerated.[3] The suggestion that he trained atthe bar is not known to be true.[1]
Hoyle died at age 97 on 29 August 1769 on Wellbank Street (todayWelbeck Street),Cavendish Square, London.[4]
By 1741, Hoyle began to tutor members ofhigh society at the game ofwhist, selling his students a copy of his manuscript notes.[5] Hoyle expanded the manuscript and publishedA Short Treatise on the Game of Whist in 1742, selling it for the high price of oneguinea.[6] When the book quickly sold out, rather than publish a new edition, Hoyle sold the rights to it to bookseller Francis Cogan for 100guineas, an enormous sum for a small pamphlet.[6] Before Cogan was able to publish a second edition, two printers pirated the work, giving the author as "A Gentleman" rather than Hoyle. The printers disguised their identities by publishing under false names, one as Webster,[7] the other as Webb.[8] Cogan published second[9] and third[10] editions and two months later, obtained an injunction against the pirates which he announced in a fourth edition (all 1743).[11] To distinguish the genuine editions from the piracies, Cogan paid Hoyletwo pence per copy to autograph the genuine works. The piracies were profitable to Hoyle, though a disaster for Cogan who was forced to lower the price of the book to match the pirates and to pay for Hoyle's signature.[6]
The rules of whist published inA Short Treatise on the Game of Whist[12] were regarded as authoritative until 1864,[2] after which time they were superseded by the new rules[13] written by John Loraine Baldwin and adopted by theArlington andPortland clubs.[2]
Cogan published other works by Hoyle:A Short Treatise on the Game ofBackgammon (1743),[14]An Artificial Memory for Whist (1744),[15] and more short treatises on the games ofpiquet andchess (1744)[16] andquadrille (1744).[17]Cogan became bankrupt in 1745 and sold the Hoyle copyrights to Thomas Osborne, who published Hoyle's treatises with much more success.[6]
Hoyle wrote a treatise on the game ofbrag (1751),[18] a book onprobability theory (1754),[19] and one onchess (1761).[20] Over time, Hoyle's work pushed off the marketCharles Cotton's ageingThe Compleat Gamester, which had been considered the "standard" English-language reference work on the playing of games – especially gambling games – since its publication in 1674.[21]
In 1748, Osborne stopped publishing the individual treatises and instead sold a collected edition under the titleMr. Hoyle's Treatises of Whist, Quadrille, Piquet, Chess and Back-Gammon. The whist treatise was described as the eighth edition.[22] The fourteenth edition (1765) was the last published during Hoyle's lifetime.[23] Fifteenth[24] and sixteenth[25] editions appeared after his death, with the autograph reproduced by woodblock print.
The books were frequently reprinted in Ireland, something that was permitted as the English copyright statute, theStatute of Anne, did not extend to Ireland. One edition was printed inEdinburgh.[26][27] Hoyle's writing was translated into many continental languages; first Portuguese (1753), then German (1754), French (1761), Italian (1768), Russian (1769), and Dutch (1790).[28]
Various facsimile and revised editions have appeared over the decades and centuries, often titledHoyle's Rules orHoyle's Games in English.[29]
Because of his contributions to gaming, Hoyle was a charter inductee into thePoker Hall of Fame in 1979, even though he died 60 years beforepoker was invented.[30]
The phraseaccording to Hoyle retains some currency in contemporary English, indicating 'correctly or properly; according to an authority or rule'.[31] InAmerican English,a Hoyle can refer to any authoritative card-game rule book, in the same way thataBaedeker can refer to any travel guide.[citation needed]
Many modern books of collected rule sets for card games (and sometimes other games, such as board games, billiards, etc.) contain the name "Hoyle" in their titles, but the moniker does not mean the works are directly derivative of Edmond Hoyle's (in much the same way that many modern dictionaries contain "Webster" in their titles without necessarily relating to the work ofNoah Webster).[citation needed]
Media related toEdmond Hoyle at Wikimedia Commons
