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Date: 05 Mar 2008 20:45:52
From: samsloan
Subject: First Draft, Please Comment: "Invitation to Bridge"
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Introduction
Invitation to Bridge is a basic beginners book. It is suitable even
for someone who has never previously seen a deck of cards. It was
first published in 1950.
It is important to remember that Bridge was a relatively young game in
1950. Contract Bridge was first popularized in 1925. The First Bermuda
Bowl, which is the term for World Team Championships, was held in
1950, the same year as the publication of this book.
However, before Contract Bridge there was Auction Bridge and before
that there was Whist. The play of the hand is the same in Auction
Bridge as it is in Contract Bridge and the play of the hand is similar
in Whist. Whist was played in the 18th Century. Thus, by 1950, the
techniques for the play of the hand were fully developed in Contract
Bridge, but bidding techniques were still rapidly evolving.
The sections of this book dealing with the play of the hand are still
valid today. However, the section on bidding is fairly rudimentary by
today's standards.
The bidding system provided in this book is "Goren Standard American",
which explains why Charles Goren, one of the most famous bridge
personalities of all time, wrote the introduction. Goren was the
leading proponent of "Four Card Majors", and that is the system
described in this book. However, Four Card Majors are not often used
nowadays.
In addition, this book makes no mention of "Weak Two Bids", nor does
it mention any of the artificial bidding systems such as ACOL, Roman
Club or Precision Club.
Again, it must be pointed out that this is a beginner's book. The
beginner will not waste any time by reading this book, because
everything in this book is essential knowledge that must be absorbed
before proceeding on to the more advanced, artificial systems.
The author, Kenneth Harkness (1896-1972), was a strong bridge player,
but it appears that he was never on a team that won a major event or a
national championship. Rather, he was a professional teacher,
instructor of bridge and a director of bridge tournaments. He worked
on cruise ships, where he was the bridge director. In 1959, he ried
a bridge player whom he had met on one of those cruise ships. Their
honeymoon consisted of a round the world trip on a cruise ship, where
he was the bridge director.
His main strength was that he was a good writer. Born in Glasgow,
Scotland on November 12, 1896, he arrived in America in 1918, where he
first worked as an editor and writer of radio articles and textbooks.
In May, 1941, he took over the fledging publication, "Chess Review"
magazine. He became the editor and co-publisher of Chess Review.
Kenneth Harkness became a gigantic figure in the World of Chess.
Harkness developed the first chess rating system, which was known as
the Harkness System. He worked on it for two years after he left Chess
Review. It was officially adopted by the United States Chess
Federation in 1950. In 1952, he was appointed the Business Manager and
Membership Secretary of the USCF.
Harkness wrote several important chess books, one of which is perhaps
the best selling chess book of all time: "An Invitation to Chess: A
Picture Guide to The Royal Game" (with Irving Chernev). It sold more
than 100,000 copies in the first year of publication.
Harkness also wrote "The Blue Book and Encyclopedia of Chess", "The
Chess Handbook" and "The Official Chess Rulebook".
He retained a trace of a Scottish accent. According to the ch 5,
1955 issue of Chess Life, Kenneth Harkness was a pen name and his real
name was Stanley Edgar. However, the Social Security Death Index gives
his name as Kenneth Harkness (SSN 109-28-3362).
He died on October 4, 1972. The obituary by Fred Cramer states that he
died in Yugoslavia of a heart attack while riding in a train on his
way to the 1972 World Chess Olympiad in Skopje, where he was to be
awarded the title of International Arbiter. He had been living in Boca
Raton Florida.
However, another source states that Harkness was actually in the
Belgrade Train Station carrying several heavy suitcases of documents
that he was going to present to the FIDE Congress in Skopje, when
suddenly he dropped dead.
His second wife, gery T. Harkness (1906-1981), the bridge player,
died in Boca Raton, Florida in April, 1981 (SSN 119-36-4168).
Sam Sloan
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891943
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Date: 06 Mar 2008 19:48:45
From: Offramp
Subject: Re: First Draft, Please Comment: "Invitation to Bridge"
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On 6, 4:45 am, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> He died on October 4, 1972. The obituary by Fred Cramer states that he
> died in Yugoslavia of a heart attack while riding in a train on his
> way to the 1972 World Chess Olympiad in Skopje, where he was to be
> awarded the title of International Arbiter. He had been living in Boca
> Raton Florida.
>
> However, another source states that Harkness was actually in the
> Belgrade Train Station carrying several heavy suitcases of documents
> that he was going to present to the FIDE Congress in Skopje, when
> suddenly he dropped dead.
Some Freemasons claim that Harkness survived the Belgrade Train
Station incident and now lives in Denver. He is the reputed owner of
the mystical $4,000 dollar USCF laptop. He also owns $2,000,000 in
Qing dynasty China-Pacific Railway certificates.
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Date: 06 Mar 2008 08:24:44
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: First Draft, Please Comment: "Invitation to Bridge"
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On 6, 10:58 am, Carl <[email protected] > wrote:
> On 5, 11:45 pm, samsloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Introduction
>
> > Invitation to Bridge is a basic beginners book. It is suitable even
> > for someone who has never previously seen a deck of cards. It was
> > first published in 1950.
>
> This book always has copies under a dollar on Amazon, and I've half a
> dozen here collecting dust. While I am by no means an expert, I've
> sold used and out of print bridge books for years. This would rank in
> the bottom 10% of books I'd consider reprinting.
>
> There are people I know who simply must have one of everything, so a
> print run of say, 10 copies would not have more then two or three left
> over.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl
> www.carlritner.com
Thank you for your advice, which I appreciate.
I must tell you that I sent the completed book to my printer this
morning at 10:00:46 AM. The Rubicon has been crossed. There is no
going back. The book will be out in ten days to two weeks. When it
comes out, it will be available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891943
I agree that this is not the best book to reprint. I am reprinting it
mainly because I have printed and published two chess books by Kenneth
Harkness, plus I have written a brief biography of him. Since I have
done all the work anyway, I figured I might as well print this one
too.
I have blown up this book so that it is slightly larger and easier to
read than the original. The new book is 6 x 9. Also, some readers
refuse to buy used books. (Not me, however. I have stacks of used
books all around my desk where I am typing this. My general policy is
never to pay more than .01 cent on Amazon (plus shipping and handling
of course.))
If you have any old books, before 1950, that you would like to see
reprinted, please let me know. My costs are so low (since I do all the
work myself) that I always make a little bit of money on every book.
If you find any serious errors in what I have written, please let me
know. I can still pull the book back from the printer, telling him
"stop the presses", if I find a serious error that really must be
corrected.
Thank you again,
Sam Sloan
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Date: 06 Mar 2008 07:58:11
From: Carl
Subject: Re: First Draft, Please Comment: "Invitation to Bridge"
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On 5, 11:45 pm, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> Introduction
>
> Invitation to Bridge is a basic beginners book. It is suitable even
> for someone who has never previously seen a deck of cards. It was
> first published in 1950.
>
This book always has copies under a dollar on Amazon, and I've half a
dozen here collecting dust. While I am by no means an expert, I've
sold used and out of print bridge books for years. This would rank in
the bottom 10% of books I'd consider reprinting.
There are people I know who simply must have one of everything, so a
print run of say, 10 copies would not have more then two or three left
over.
Cheers,
Carl
www,carlritner.com
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Date: 06 Mar 2008 05:03:37
From:
Subject: Re: First Draft, Please Comment: "Invitation to Bridge"
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On 6, 7:51=A0am, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> Thank you for your comments.
>
> I am not trying to say that the Harkness book is a trail blazing book.
> I am trying to say exactly the opposite.
>
> That, the Harkness book is adequate for beginners provided that one
> recognizes its main limitation, namely that the bidding system is
> primitive compared to the modern bidding systems.
>
> Thank you again.
>
> Sam Sloan
++++I don't understand this at all. How is a beginner supposed to
recognise the difference between "primitive" and "modern" bidding
systems? What would they know? To try and ket what is (sorry, Mr.
Harkness!) basically a totally useless book to bona fide beginners is
going to lead to a lot of disappointment were anyone to actually try
and play in 2008 with anyone other than three like-minded individuals
each clutching their copy of Invitation to Bridge. This book might be
of some (although given the fact that Harkness is forgotten, limited)
interest if published as a facsimile or something, but as the project
stands, it's doomed, if you ask me.
Also, to claim that card play has not moved on since Mr. Harkness'
time, and that "the play of the hand" was fully developed by 1950 is
arrant nonsense. Has every book subsequently published on "the play of
the hand" been a waste of paper?
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Date: 06 Mar 2008 11:07:36
From: Art Hoffman
Subject: Re: First Draft, Please Comment: "Invitation to Bridge"
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<[email protected] > wrote in message
news:08890893-8af1-49e7-b41f-b3246630c434@u69g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
On 6, 7:51 am, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> Thank you for your comments.
>
> I am not trying to say that the Harkness book is a trail blazing book.
> I am trying to say exactly the opposite.
>
> That, the Harkness book is adequate for beginners provided that one
> recognizes its main limitation, namely that the bidding system is
> primitive compared to the modern bidding systems.
>
> Thank you again.
>
> Sam Sloan
++++I don't understand this at all. How is a beginner supposed to
recognise the difference between "primitive" and "modern" bidding
systems? What would they know? To try and ket what is (sorry, Mr.
Harkness!) basically a totally useless book to bona fide beginners is
going to lead to a lot of disappointment were anyone to actually try
and play in 2008 with anyone other than three like-minded individuals
each clutching their copy of Invitation to Bridge. This book might be
of some (although given the fact that Harkness is forgotten, limited)
interest if published as a facsimile or something, but as the project
stands, it's doomed, if you ask me.
Also, to claim that card play has not moved on since Mr. Harkness'
time, and that "the play of the hand" was fully developed by 1950 is
arrant nonsense. Has every book subsequently published on "the play of
the hand" been a waste of paper?
"arrant". What a neat word!
Thank you.
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Date: 05 Mar 2008 23:51:01
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: First Draft, Please Comment: "Invitation to Bridge"
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Thank you for your comments.
I am not trying to say that the Harkness book is a trail blazing book.
I am trying to say exactly the opposite.
That, the Harkness book is adequate for beginners provided that one
recognizes its main limitation, namely that the bidding system is
primitive compared to the modern bidding systems.
Thank you again.
Sam Sloan
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Date: 06 Mar 2008 02:24:29
From: Martin Ambuhl
Subject: Re: First Draft, Please Comment: "Invitation to Bridge"
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samsloan wrote:
> It is important to remember that Bridge was a relatively young game in
> 1950. Contract Bridge was first popularized in 1925. The First Bermuda
> Bowl, which is the term for World Team Championships, was held in
> 1950, the same year as the publication of this book.
It is important to remember that Bridge was not at all novel in 1950.
It had been a fixture in cartoons and movies. There were various
matches that had newspaper coverage rivaling that of the (US football)
superbowl today, liek the Culbertson-Lenz match of 1931-1932 and the
Culbertson-Sims match of 1935. Several of the major contests still held
in the US, Britain, and France date to the late late 1920s and early
1930s. The first officially sponsored international contest was in
Vienna 30 years before the first Bermuda Bowl. The World Par Contests
were held yearly from 1932 to 1941. Other International championship
matches were US-France in 1935 and US-Austria in 1937. The Internationl
Bridge League held European Championships from 1932 through 1939, and
was reconstituted as the European Bridge League immediately on the end
of WWII. Ango-American matches were held in 1933, 1934, and 1939.
>
> However, before Contract Bridge there was Auction Bridge and before
> that there was Whist. The play of the hand is the same in Auction
> Bridge as it is in Contract Bridge and the play of the hand is similar
> in Whist. Whist was played in the 18th Century. Thus, by 1950, the
> techniques for the play of the hand were fully developed in Contract
> Bridge, but bidding techniques were still rapidly evolving.
My collection of Contract Bridge books includes more than 50 titles from
before 1950, and it is nowhere close to exhaustive. no matter how much
you value Harkness and his book, don't leave the impression that he was
a trail-blazer.
> The sections of this book dealing with the play of the hand are still
> valid today. However, the section on bidding is fairly rudimentary by
> today's standards.
>
> The bidding system provided in this book is "Goren Standard American",
> which explains why Charles Goren, one of the most famous bridge
> personalities of all time, wrote the introduction. Goren was the
> leading proponent of "Four Card Majors", and that is the system
> described in this book. However, Four Card Majors are not often used
> nowadays.
Goren's methods were for the most part a re-presentation of Culberton's,
and Culbertson had produced the _Blue Book_ (1930), a revised _Blue
Book_ (1933), _Gold Book_ (1936), among many others. Goren himself had
published _Standard Book of Bidding_ (1944), _Contract Bridge in a
Nutshell_ (1946), _Contract Bridge Made Easy_ (1948), an _Point Count
Bidding_ (1949). His _Contract Bridge Complete_ was in its third edition
by 1947. Be careful about leaving any impression that this book broke
any new ground.
> In addition, this book makes no mention of "Weak Two Bids", nor does
> it mention any of the artificial bidding systems such as ACOL, Roman
> Club or Precision Club.
Acol (not ACOL) is not an artificial bidding system. If anything, it is
more natural than the methods in Harkness's book. And it was played by
1934, 16 years before Harkness's book.
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