USD
Your position: Home / 2024 New arrivals
The hunt to find the true identity of S. W. Erdnase, the author of The Expert at the Card Table, published in 1902 in Chicago, has been raging for more than a century. The book is as revered by gamblers and magicians as the Bible is by Christians.
One of the first and most active Erdnase hunters was well-known science writer, puzzle expert, and magician Martin Gardner, who erroneously thought he identified cardsharp and murderer Milton Franklin Andrews as being Erdnase. After Andrews, many other candidates were proposed, but none had a case strong enough to withstand scrutiny. None wrote like Erdnase, nor had sufficient opportunity, nor even a good motive, to write the book. Their cases were largely based on wild theories built on little evidence and held together by flawed assumptions.
DI Dr. Chris Wasshuber, a trained scientist, engineer and hobby magician with an interest in puzzles and hard problems, took on the challenge of trying to find Erdnase. Rather than continue to massage the same old evidence, he decided to look for new documents that would aid in the search. In a breakthrough discovery, he found the James McKinney and Jamieson-Higgins bankruptcy files from 1903. James McKinney & Co. was the printer for the self-published The Expert at the Card Table.
In this book Dr. Wasshuber tells the story of how the bankruptcy records were found, and how they allowed him to zero in on Edward Gallaway. Rather than focus on aspects we had no good evidence for he centered his investigation around the book itself and the linguistic 'fingerprint' of the author. Over the course of six years, Dr. Wasshuber inspected and searched in countless newspapers, archives, and genealogical records to piece together the remarkable life story of Edward Gallaway, a learned printer and entrepreneur, who was fluent in German, who had an insatiable appetite for reading and knowledge, and who most surprisingly also had a circus career performing magic and Punch & Judy. Every new piece of evidence found about Gallaway further confirmed that he was S. W. Erdnase.
Dr. Wasshuber hired renowned forensic linguist Dr. John Olsson to conduct a detailed study of the writings of Erdnase, Gallaway, Roterberg, Hilliar, Sanders, and Wilson, which resulted in Gallaway most likely being the elusive Erdnase due to their very similar linguistic profiles. Dr. Olsson's entire report is included in this book.
The book includes all the primary evidence, and analysis on which Dr. Wasshuber bases his conclusions, except the bankruptcy records, which are available separately. A century-old mystery has been solved. Erdnase has been found. Read the fascinating story and learn everything we know about a man who made quite a name for himself in the print industry, but whose alter ego would become revered by gamblers and magicians the world over.
[The printed edition is a print-on-demand hardback with a dust jacket. Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery after placing the order.]
Contents:
The Mystery
Why do we care?
Failed Attempts
A New Approach
My Interest in Erdnase
The Prosecutor Takes on Gallaway
Opportunity
Motive
Means
Physical Appearance
Height
Thumb
Wrist and Sleeves
Handedness
Age
Voice
Complexion
Appearance
Soft Hands
Origin
Wife
Summary
Linguistic Analysis
Dr. John Olsson's Report: The Linguistic Magic of Erdnase
Introduction
'There is no evidence'
Anagrammatic attributions
The knaves
The magic of language
The magic of the individual
Language change over time
Change and individualism
Focus of the investigation
Why vocabulary is important in authorship studies
Vocabulary sources
Aspects of vocabulary: very long words
Aspects of vocabulary: words relating to cognition
Aspects of vocabulary: relative rarity of the lexicon
Period and manner of composition
Author consistency
Conjunctions
Conjunctions and punctuation: a series of author choices
Decline of the semi colon
The comma in relation to conjunctions
Punctuation in relation to 'or' and 'nor'
Style comparisons
Comparing Expert and Roterberg
Comparing Expert and Hilliar
Comparing Expert and Wilson
Comparing Expert and Sanders
Summary of tests
Comparing Expert and Gallaway
Conclusion
My Comments To Olsson's Report
Cinnamon Word Analysis
Compound Expressions
Analytic Negative
System of
Copyfitting Book
The Monotype System Part I and II
Comparing Hands
Traits, Habits and Interests
Instructor, Educator, Pedagogue
Performer
Reading
Wit
Religious Questions
Business Knowledge
Gambling and Magic
Pretty Money and Stock Market
Math
Print
Detail-Oriented
Learning from Failure
Erdnase Spoke German
Other Books Erdnase Must Have Known
Cover, Title Page, and Bookplate
Career and Circus
Circus Time in Detail
James Harto
Estimating Books
My Thoughts on the Smith Recollections
Bank Account
Dalrymple Deception
The Name S. W. Erdnase
My Favorite Explanation
Other Explanations
Eugene Edwards
Edward M. Vernelo
The Book
The Copyright Registration Form
Gallaway's Knowledge about Copyrights
Earlier Copyright Rumor
Alexander August Gallaway
Carl A. Jettinger
Places
Timeline
Summary
Further Research
Envoi
Appendix 1: Copyright Registration Form
Appendix 2: Estimating for Printers
Appendix 3: Marshall Gardner Letters
Appendix 4: Western Carbon Paper and Supply Company
Appendix 5: McKinney & Gallaway Co
Appendix 6: Copyright Registration (How To Price Job Printing Properly)
Appendix 7: Interesting News Reports
The hunt for Erdnase started in January 2015. First edition, titled "The Hunt For Erdnase: and the Path to Edward Gallaway" 2016; Title change to "The Cardsharp and his Book" 2022; PDF 338 pages.
word count: 116384 which is equivalent to 465 standard pages of text
One of the first and most active Erdnase hunters was well-known science writer, puzzle expert, and magician Martin Gardner, who erroneously thought he identified cardsharp and murderer Milton Franklin Andrews as being Erdnase. After Andrews, many other candidates were proposed, but none had a case strong enough to withstand scrutiny. None wrote like Erdnase, nor had sufficient opportunity, nor even a good motive, to write the book. Their cases were largely based on wild theories built on little evidence and held together by flawed assumptions.
DI Dr. Chris Wasshuber, a trained scientist, engineer and hobby magician with an interest in puzzles and hard problems, took on the challenge of trying to find Erdnase. Rather than continue to massage the same old evidence, he decided to look for new documents that would aid in the search. In a breakthrough discovery, he found the James McKinney and Jamieson-Higgins bankruptcy files from 1903. James McKinney & Co. was the printer for the self-published The Expert at the Card Table.
In this book Dr. Wasshuber tells the story of how the bankruptcy records were found, and how they allowed him to zero in on Edward Gallaway. Rather than focus on aspects we had no good evidence for he centered his investigation around the book itself and the linguistic 'fingerprint' of the author. Over the course of six years, Dr. Wasshuber inspected and searched in countless newspapers, archives, and genealogical records to piece together the remarkable life story of Edward Gallaway, a learned printer and entrepreneur, who was fluent in German, who had an insatiable appetite for reading and knowledge, and who most surprisingly also had a circus career performing magic and Punch & Judy. Every new piece of evidence found about Gallaway further confirmed that he was S. W. Erdnase.
Dr. Wasshuber hired renowned forensic linguist Dr. John Olsson to conduct a detailed study of the writings of Erdnase, Gallaway, Roterberg, Hilliar, Sanders, and Wilson, which resulted in Gallaway most likely being the elusive Erdnase due to their very similar linguistic profiles. Dr. Olsson's entire report is included in this book.
The book includes all the primary evidence, and analysis on which Dr. Wasshuber bases his conclusions, except the bankruptcy records, which are available separately. A century-old mystery has been solved. Erdnase has been found. Read the fascinating story and learn everything we know about a man who made quite a name for himself in the print industry, but whose alter ego would become revered by gamblers and magicians the world over.
[The printed edition is a print-on-demand hardback with a dust jacket. Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery after placing the order.]
Contents:
The Mystery
Why do we care?
Failed Attempts
A New Approach
My Interest in Erdnase
The Prosecutor Takes on Gallaway
Opportunity
Motive
Means
Physical Appearance
Height
Thumb
Wrist and Sleeves
Handedness
Age
Voice
Complexion
Appearance
Soft Hands
Origin
Wife
Summary
Linguistic Analysis
Dr. John Olsson's Report: The Linguistic Magic of Erdnase
Introduction
'There is no evidence'
Anagrammatic attributions
The knaves
The magic of language
The magic of the individual
Language change over time
Change and individualism
Focus of the investigation
Why vocabulary is important in authorship studies
Vocabulary sources
Aspects of vocabulary: very long words
Aspects of vocabulary: words relating to cognition
Aspects of vocabulary: relative rarity of the lexicon
Period and manner of composition
Author consistency
Conjunctions
Conjunctions and punctuation: a series of author choices
Decline of the semi colon
The comma in relation to conjunctions
Punctuation in relation to 'or' and 'nor'
Style comparisons
Comparing Expert and Roterberg
Comparing Expert and Hilliar
Comparing Expert and Wilson
Comparing Expert and Sanders
Summary of tests
Comparing Expert and Gallaway
Conclusion
My Comments To Olsson's Report
Cinnamon Word Analysis
Compound Expressions
Analytic Negative
System of
Copyfitting Book
The Monotype System Part I and II
Comparing Hands
Traits, Habits and Interests
Instructor, Educator, Pedagogue
Performer
Reading
Wit
Religious Questions
Business Knowledge
Gambling and Magic
Pretty Money and Stock Market
Math
Detail-Oriented
Learning from Failure
Erdnase Spoke German
Other Books Erdnase Must Have Known
Cover, Title Page, and Bookplate
Career and Circus
Circus Time in Detail
James Harto
Estimating Books
My Thoughts on the Smith Recollections
Bank Account
Dalrymple Deception
The Name S. W. Erdnase
My Favorite Explanation
Other Explanations
Eugene Edwards
Edward M. Vernelo
The Book
The Copyright Registration Form
Gallaway's Knowledge about Copyrights
Earlier Copyright Rumor
Alexander August Gallaway
Carl A. Jettinger
Places
Timeline
Summary
Further Research
Envoi
Appendix 1: Copyright Registration Form
Appendix 2: Estimating for Printers
Appendix 3: Marshall Gardner Letters
Appendix 4: Western Carbon Paper and Supply Company
Appendix 5: McKinney & Gallaway Co
Appendix 6: Copyright Registration (How To Price Job Printing Properly)
Appendix 7: Interesting News Reports
The hunt for Erdnase started in January 2015. First edition, titled "The Hunt For Erdnase: and the Path to Edward Gallaway" 2016; Title change to "The Cardsharp and his Book" 2022; PDF 338 pages.
word count: 116384 which is equivalent to 465 standard pages of text
