The first text-book on bridge was a little leaflet printed in England in 1886, which gave the rules for “Biritch, or Russian Whist.” “Boax” came out with a little “Pocket Guide” in 1894, followed by “The Laws of Bridge” in 1895. The Whist Club of N.Y. published the American laws of bridge in 1897, and “Badsworth” came out with the English laws in 1898. In the following year, 1899, Archibald Dunn, Jr., gave us “Bridge and How to Play It,” and John Doe published “Bridge Conventions,” A.G. Hulme-Beaman’s “Bridge for Beginners” appearing in the same year. In 1900, “Foster’s Bridge Manual” appeared in America, reprinted in England under the title of “Foster on Bridge.”
In the years following, text-books on bridge came from the press by the dozen, the most notable authors being Dalton and “Hellespont” in 1901; Elwell and Robertson in 1902; Street and Lister in 1903. Many of the writers already mentioned published later and more complete works, embodying the results of time and experience. Foster’s Self-playing Bridge Cards were brought out in 1903. Elwell’s “Advanced Bridge” appeared in 1904 and Foster’s “Complete Bridge” in 1905.
While bridge has never been such a popular “newspaper game” as whist was in America, it has been much more so in England. Articles on bridge, for beginners chiefly, were published in 1905 and 1906 by the San Francisco Call, Pittsburgh Post Despatch, Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, Chicago Journal, St. Paul Despatch, Milwaukee Journal, Baltimore American, Houston Post, Indianapolis Star, and the N.Y. Globe. These were all edited by R.F. Foster.
Bridge Tournaments, offering prizes for the best play of certain hands were run by the N.Y. Evening Telegram, the N.Y. Globe, the N.Y. Evening Mail, and the Chicago Journal. A number of the weekly magazines offer similar competitions in England, but as a rule the problems in that country are of very poor quality.
About 1910 it became the fashion not to play spades, it being considered a waste of time to play a hand for such a small amount as 2 points a trick, so the dealer was allowed to score 2 for the odd and 4 for honours, regardless of how the cards were distributed, the hand being abandoned. The objection to this practice was that many hands were worth much more than 2 points, and in some cases the spade make would have gone game at the score. This led to the practice of playing “royal spades,” which were played at 10 and then at 9 a trick, sometimes with a penalty of 20 if the declarer failed to make the odd.
Shortly after this, later in 1910, there developed a decided rebellion against the dealer’s monopoly of the make, and in order to allow any player at the table who held good cards to get the benefit of them, whether he was the dealer or not, bidding for the privilege of making the trump came into vogue. This was the starting point of auction, its chief difference from the older game being that only the side that made the highest bid for the declaration could score toward game. The full number of tricks bid had to be made, and if they were not made, the adversaries scored in the honour column for penalties, the penalty being always the same, regardless of the trump suit.
The great disparity in the values of the suits as then played practically confined the bidding to the hearts and royal spades. This soon brought about another change, which was to raise the values of all the suits except spades and to cut down the no-trumper. This was done in 1912, and made it possible for any suit to go game on the hand. All the well known writers on whist and bridge came out with text-books on auction, and the newspapers took up the subject in weekly articles.
Although to many the game now seemed perfect, there were those that felt the helplessness of weak hands to offer any defence in the bidding against a run of no-trumpers or hearts and royals. To remedy this, F.C. Thwaites of the Milwaukee Whist Club suggested the introduction of the nullo. This was a bid to lose tricks, at no trump only, and its value was to be minus 10, that is, it was to be outranked only by a no-trumper to win. At first, this bid was largely used simply as an additional game-going declaration, and was strongly objected to by many leading players. But as its true place as a defensive bid became better understood it soon came into favour. In the nullo there are no honours, and the declarer scores the tricks over the book made by his opponents, which he forces them to take. Many interesting card problems have been built upon the nullo.
Toward the end of 1913 still another change seems to have suggested itself to some of the English players who were familiar with the Russian game of vint, and that is to play auction just as it is played up to the point of the lead to the first trick, but that no dummy is exposed, the four players holding up their cards and following suit just as they would at whist. Whether or not this game will ever become as popular as the combination of dealer and dummy, it is difficult to say, but appearances are against it.
There seems to be a growing tendency in America to adopt the English rule of cutting out the spade suit at 2 a trick, and making it always a royal spade, worth 9. The dealer is allowed to pass without making a bid, the lowest call being one club. If all pass, the deal goes to the left.