"Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck" 2003 JAY, Ricky (INSCRIBED)
$150
JAY, Ricky
[63] pp.
The Quantuck Lane Press
2003
8 1/4" x 7 7/8"
Fine/ Fine
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"Ricky Jay asked his friend Rosamond Purcell to photograph and commemorate his crumbing collection of dice. The result is a series of remarkable photographs that inspired Mr. Jay's composition on decomposing dice. These dice made from celluloid, the first commercially manufactured plastic, remain stable for decades, and then in a flash begin to crack, crystallize, and implode. . He traces gambling with dice from the ancient use of astragali, the heel bones of hoofed quadrupeds, to their use in the casinos of Las Vegas. Along the way we discover numerous ways in which shaved, misspotted, and loaded dice were used by colorful and unscrupulous hustlers to gain advantage over their less enlightened brethren."