This charming little book is a thorough compendium of vice dressed up as a warning to those who are in danger. In alarmist tones, the introduction clarifies that “its object is to put them on the watch against the sharp-witted swindlers they will encounter at every turn and the traps and snares for which they must be constantly prepared.”
What follows is a catalogue of confidence games, counterfeits, swindles and outright thuggery that awaits the unsuspecting visitor seems designed to stifle rather than encourage tourism to the New York. Particular tricks and traps include rigged auctions, pickpockets (of both sexes), gambling houses, the rigged thimble game, the patent-safe game, and highway robbery.
Robert Henderson, in his checklist, Early American Sport, attributes authorship to Henry William Herbert. He includes the work on the basis of chapter six, which concerns gambling and gambling houses.
OCLC locates about a dozen holdings. Rare in the trade with just three copies (including this one) recorded at auction.
Henderson, R.W., Early American Sport, a checklist (Associated University Press, 1977) p.134.
