List of contract bridge books

Bridge, or more formally contract bridge, is a trick-taking card game of skill and chance played by four players. This article consists of lists of bridge books deemed significant by various authors and organizations.

History

Books on bridge and its predecessor games have spanned centuries with the earliest known popular book on the subject of Whist having been published by Edmond Hoyle in 1742[1] or 1743.[2]

The timelines in the evolutionary path to modern contract bridge books are generally as follows:

Precursor games

The following are books on the various precursor games to modern contract bridge; the first books on contract bridge appeared in 1927.[6]

People and culture

The following books provide insights into the people and culture of contract bridge and while they may contain occasional references to certain technical aspects of the game, they are generally not instructional in theme. Fictional novels with a bridge theme are listed separately.

Fictional novels

Encyclopedias, dictionaries and almanacs

The following are listed chronologically:

Book of the Year Awards

American Bridge Teachers' Association (ABTA)

Each year since 1982, ABTA has recognized one or more books as contributing significantly to the teaching of contract bridge. The following are the award recipients:[7]

International Bridge Press Association (IBPA)

Since 2004, the IBTA has chosen one bridge-related title of exceptional merit. Thus far, recipients include:

American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) surveys

The ACBL has conducted the following surveys:

1994 survey

The ACBL survey of 1994 was a poll of well-known players and writers only[8] and resulted in the following list of the 20 best books of all time:

2007 survey

The ACBL survey of 2007 resulted in two lists of favourite books[9] as follows:

The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (7th edition) recommendations

The 7th edition of the Encyclopedia recommended[10] the following books with the caveat that the "list on this page is by no means definitive. It was influenced to a degree by surveys published in 1994 and 2007 in the Bridge Bulletin", published by the American Contract Bridge League. Listed alphabetically by first author surname.

Mark Horton's recommendations

In his 1999 book, The Mammoth Book of Bridge,[11] Mark Horton lists his recommendations for "Bridge Books You Should Read", grouped as follows:

Classics

For beginners

For advancing players

For experienced players

British Bridge Almanack survey

The British Bridge Almanack[12] reported on a survey of leading British bridge personalities. The survey presented a chronological list of 16 books by British authors deemed to have made a significant contribution to the development of the game. It asked the personalities to add as many as three titles of their choosing and then to identify their top five. Of the 24 reported respondents, 19 identified one or more titles.

Initial list

Added titles

These additional titles were nominated by respondents.

Most mentioned

These were the leaders by number of selections (as many as five per respondent).

No other title received more than three mentions.

Bibliographies

Encyclopedic bibliographies

Several encyclopedias on the subject of bridge have provided bibliographies of bridge related publications.

The Encyclopedia of Bridge

The Encyclopedia of Bridge of 1935 acknowledges certain authors' publications in their brief biographies but no summary tabulation or categorization of bridge literature or evaluative commentary is provided.

The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge

The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (OEB) is a publication of the American Contract Bridge League first published in 1964 with the 7th edition published in 2011. Up to the 6th, each OEB edition contains a bibliography of bridge related publications grouped by subject (history, bidding, play, reference, etc.) and rates selected publications as: (a) having made a significant contribution to the technical development of the game; (b) being mandatory for inclusion in a modern technical library; (c) being optional for inclusion in a modern technical library; or (d) none of the foregoing. Subject categories and ratings for a publication may vary between editions of the OEB. The 1st edition bibliography spans 8 pages and lists about 400 titles; the 6th edition bibliography, prepared by Tim Bourke, spans 60 pages and lists approximately 4,100 titles; Up to the 6th, each edition of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge contains a bibliography of bridge and bridge related books; the following is a summary of their contents.

OEB
Edition
Page Range Number
of Pages
Number
of Categories
Number
of Entries
1 684-691 8 15
2 783-793 11 15
3 849-858 10 15
4 902-922 21 17
5 Not numbered 38
6 Not numbered 60 29 4096
7 Not included 0 0 0

The Bridge Players' Encyclopedia

The Bridge Players Encyclopedia (BPE) was published in 1967 by Paul Hamlyn (London) and is an International Edition based on The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge of 1964 but geared to the needs of British and European players. The edition modified American spellings, "translated" bidding structures to the more widely used Acol system, omitted biographical notes on some lesser known Americans and added biographical notes on some British and European players. Although content differs from the 1964 OEB, the publication contains a 9-page bibliography of approximately 500 titles with subject categorization and rating schemes similar to those of the previous OEB editions.

Bibliographies in Wikipedia articles

By subject

By author

Other bibliographies

Bibliography

Following are details about books referenced in preceding sections, listed by first named author's surname beginning with:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

- A -

- B -

- C -

- D -

- E -

- F -

- G -

- H -

- J -

- K -

- L -

- M -

- O -

- R -

- S -

- T -

- W -

See also

Lists

Books

References

  1. Truscott, Alan; Truscott, Dorothy (2002). The New York Times Bridge Book. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 263. ISBN 0-312-29090-X. Page 1.
  2. Francis, Henry G., Editor-in-Chief; Truscott, Alan F., Executive Editor; Francis, Dorthy A., Editor, Fifth Edition (1994). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (5th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. pp. 827 (plus 38 page Bibliography). ISBN 0-943855-48-9. Bibliography, Section A.
  3. Alternate commentary on Biritch, or Russian Whist by John Collinson, 1886
  4. Yeralash or the discovery of a missing link
  5. Goren, Charles (1961). The Sports Illustrated Book of Contract Bridge. Chancellor Hall, Ltd., 518 pages. LOC 61-17743. Page 14.
  6. Bourke, Tim; Sugden, John (2010). An Annotated Bibliography of Bridge Books in English 1886-2010. Bridge Book Buffs (Cheltenham, England), 711 pages plus supplement. ISBN 978-0-9566576-0-2. Page vii.
  7. American Bridge Teachers' Association book awards.
  8. ACBL Bridge Bulletin, June 2007, page 20
  9. ACBL Bridge Bulletin, June 2007, pages 20-22
  10. Manley, Brent, Editor; Horton, Mark, Co-Editor; Greenberg-Yarbro, Tracey, Co-Editor; Rigal, Barry, Co-Editor (2011). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (7th ed.). Horn Lake, MS: American Contract Bridge League. p. 432. ISBN 978-0-939460-99-1.
  11. Mark Horton (1999). The Mammoth Book of Bridge, Carroll & Graf Publishers Inc. (New York), ISBN 0-7867-0691-0, pages 272-278.
  12. Hasenson, Peter (2004). British Bridge Almanack. London: 77 Publishing. pp. 156–165. ISBN 0-9549241-0-X.
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