Edmund Hoyle

Edmund Hoyle (1672-August 29, 1769) author and teacher. He is most well known for his Short Treatise series which covered many games, most prominently Whist (for which it became the standard rule book) and Backgammon (for which it was the first english codification).

Originally thought to have trained as a barrister it is unknown if he ever entered the practice, however it is known that in 1741 he started giving lessons on the game of Whist. His teaching included the first mathematical analysis of the game and because of this pirated copies of notes soon started to circulate. To prevent this Hoyle published his notes in a book (in November 1742) in order to secure his copyright.

The first fifteen editions of Hoyles' works are now extremly 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 Bodelian Library[?]) and only one copy of his work on Backgammon (at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center[?]).

The laws of Hoyle for Whist continued to be regarded as authoritative until 1864, since which time they have been supeceded 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.