Billiards Without a Master

The publisher of this Treatise cannot suppress his gratification in being enabled to submit to the amateurs of the “ Noble Game of Billiards,” this first American publication on the subject—a work, which he feels confident is unrivalled by any one hitherto published, in respect either to the simplicity and precision of its rules, or the number and variety of its illustrations.
Besides a frontispiece, showing the position of players, ‘it contains fifty well executed plates, on most of which are engraved diagrams, or plans of different strokes or plays, accompanied by clear explanations, affording ample, directions for the player, and comprising at the same time, all those improvements and practical novelties by which this elegant amusement has been so much advanced during the last twenty years.
This splendid work, in the production of which the publisher has spared neither time, labor, or expense, to render it in every respect worthy of the patronage with which he has long been honored as a manufacturer of Billiard Tables, includes, also, a full and clear description of almost all the various games played in the civilized world; the Laws and Rules by which they are regulated, and a variety of remarks of much value and importance to the student.
The publisher having had more than twenty years’ experience as a manufacturer of Billiard Tables, and having revised the proof sheets of this work, whilst in course of publication, does not hesitate to recommend it as a requisite addendum to all Billiard Tables, and an invaluable book of reference to the novice, the amateur, or the aspiring player of the “Noble Game of Billiards.”
D. D. WINANT.
NEW YORK, March 31st, 1850.