| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Edmond Hoyle | |
|---|---|
| English card game authority, "The Father of Whist" | |
| Born | unknown unknown, England |
| Died | 29 August 1769 London, England
|
Trained to become a barrister, in 1741 Hoyle began working as a Whist tutor to members of high society. Along with personal instruction, he sold a short booklet on the game to his clients, describing his basic approaches to Whist. The booklet became quite popular, and unauthorized copies of it were circulated about London. To prevent this, Hoyle published A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist in 1742, copyrighting his work.
Because of his success, Hoyle followed with similar treatises on Backgammon, Chess, Quadrille, PiquetThe card game Piquet is said to have derived its name from that of its inventor, who contrived it to amuse Charles VI of France. The game was played with thirty two cards, that is, discarding out of the pack all the deuces, treys, fours, fives, and sixes., and Brag). In 1750Events March 2 Small earthquake in London April 4 Small earthquake in Warrington, England August 23 Small earthquake in Spalding, England September 30 Small earthquake in Northampton, England November 16 Westminster Bridge officially opened Jonas Hanway i, a single compendium of the these was published.
The first fifteen editions of Hoyles' works are now extremely rare and mostly only to be found in the hands of collectors. Only two copies of Hoyle's original work on Whist (the first edition) are known to still exist (one of them is in the Bodleian LibraryOxford University Libraries Service (OULS) comprises over 30 of the University of Oxford's central and faculty libraries: from the world famous Bodleian Library established 400 years ago, to the modern digital library ventures. History The Bodleian Librar) and only one copy of his work on Backgammon (at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center).
A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist was regarded as authoritative until 1864, after which time they have been superseded by the new rules adopted by the Arlington and Portland clubs in that year. The weight of his authority is indicated by the phrase "according to Hoyle" which doubtless first applied to Whist, has gained currency as a general proverb.
Hoyle died on August 29, 1769.
Many of modern card game rule books contain the word "Hoyle" in the title, but the moniker does not mean that the works are derivative of Edmond Hoyle's. Because of his contributions to gaming, he was a charter inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.