Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck

by Ricky Jay, Rosamond Wolff Purcell

Plato said God invented dice. This we learn from one of Ricky Jay's fascinating essays in a delightful small volume that takes us from the earliest forms ( astragali the heel bones of hoofed quadrupeds, four of whose six sides were used for gaming) to the myriad types of "loading" and other means of cheating with dice in the modern era. Along the way we discover that Augustus, Caligula, and Nero were all inveterate players, that Queen Elizabeth issued a search and seizure order against the manufacture of false dice in 1598, and that dice made from celluloid, invented in 1869, remained stable for decades, and thenin a flashbegan to decompose. These are the dice of Rosamond Purcell's luminous and seductive photographs, images which transform entropy to an art form. Jay and Purcell give us a dual meditation on dice that will educate us and amuse us at the same time. 13 color photographs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, Art, History

64 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Ricky Jay (born Richard Jay Potash in 1946) was an American stage magician, actor, and writer.

Born to a Jewish-American family, Jay is considered one of the most knowledgeable and skilled sleight-of-hand experts in the United States. He is notable for his signature card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter. At least two of his shows, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem, were directed by David Mamet, who has also cast Jay in a number of his films. Jay has appeared in productions by other directors, notably Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and Magnolia, as well as The Prestige and season one of HBO's Deadwood as card sharp Eddie Sawyer.

Until recently, Ricky Jay was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing a playing card 190 ft at 90 miles per hour (the current record is 216 ft, by Rick Smith, Jr.). Ricky Jay can throw a playing card into a watermelon rind (which he refers to as the "thick, pachydermatous outer melon layer" of "the most prodigious of household fruits") from ten paces.

Reviews

[Robert Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little bit difficult to categorize this book. Within its sixty-or-so pages you'll find a collection of photographs captured by Rosamond Purcell of specimens from Ricky Jay's collection of decomposing celluloid dice; yet this is not exactly a photography book. You'll also find several miniature essays relating anecdotes from the history of dice with a particular emphasis on crooked dice. But it's not exactly an ordinary collection of essays either. Rather, I think of this as a collection of snapshots, some photographic and others written, of one of the most ancient tools of the gamblers.

Those of you who are familiar with the work of the late, great Ricky Jay (magician, actor, author, scholar, and so much more) will be pleased to spend some time reading and re-reading this book. If you've ever seen him perform, you can almost hear his voice leap from the page as he relates anecdotes in the same style as he does when reciting obscure facts from memory during one of his performances. And those of you who like thoughtful photography will find the accompanying images of dying dice fascinating and, in a strange sort of way, aesthetically pleasing.

If you're looking for an in- depth history of dice, you will be disappointed. While Ricky Jay manages to pack far more historical anecdotes into a relative few pages than probably anyone else could manage, this remains an incredibly small book devoid of a bibliography which might aid in future research. Academics will likely be entertained by the stories but may find themselves frustrated when they don't connect in any sort of overarching narrative or lead to a clear path of further reading.

I recommend this book in the same spirit as I would recommend watching a recording of one of Ricky Jay's live performances: for the sheer entertainment of watching his mind at work.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, as I have detailed elsewhere , was my introduction to Ricky Jay. It is a series of anecdotes and observations, originally published in the New Yorker, about the history and cultural significance of dice, told with Jay's inimitable, anachronistic, ornate mountebank's flair and accompanied by photographs of his personal collection of cellulose nitrate dice.

Cellulose nitrate was the first commercially available plastic and it was used to manufacture a broad spectrum of commonly used objects, such as collar stays, billiard balls, photographic film, and dice. Most dice commercially available in the United States were made of cellulose nitrate until the mid-20th century. Unfortunately, cellulose nitrate decomposes chemically in a fairly dramatic and potentially dangerous way. Fires and degradation, both resulting from chemical collapse, are an ongoing threat to motion picture archives from the first half of the 20th century.

Jay's dice, in various degrees of decomposition, are here portrayed in breathtakingly beautiful photographs by Rosamund Purcell, a photographer who specializes in decay. The dice are now housed at the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, where I plan to see them when I visit my sister next week. Very excited.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy the encyclopedic knowledge and performances of Ricky Jay very much. Ricky Jay in collaboration with Rosamond Purcell have created an very captivating art book. It is an art book, both in the truth about a facet of ourselves as humanity (gambling is a big part of our society) via rapid fire stories and the calming and serene photos of dice in various stages of life. Both images and written word expose symbols of our human feelings. Hope and hopelessness to name two.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and well written - I love Jay's use of language & breadth of vocabulary. Beautiful photos as well!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a big fan of Ricky Jay's "Cards as Weapons" as an impressionable teen. This is a good like Scone sized book.

[Evin Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting little coffee table book - not very well written, but unique. The photos and concept are great.

[Alexander Fontana · Rating 2 out of 5]

While some of the blogs were humorous, I expected a great deal more than a brisk overview from such a legendary magician/historian.

[Benjamin]

This is a very short book (63 pages--but not really because the first chapter starts on page 9--big print, lots of white space, interspersed photos), which maybe helps to keep it light and fun--Jay can tell a story here and a story there about the history of dice, and never have to worry about what it adds up to because it's not like we need a strong central story to move us through the book. (Getting through this book is less like work and more like an accident--not like a slog, more like a fall. Whoops, I finished it.)

But still, I want more. In fact, I could do without the Rosamund Purcell photos of Ricky Jay's decaying celluloid dice collection, especially if it meant we got more history and trivia about dice from Ricky Jay. I hope the next Ricky Jay book I get in from the library will expand on some of this.

[Scoobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

"My motherfucker is so cool, when he goes to bed, sheep count him."

I'm pretty sure that when Ricky Jay uttered these Mamet lines, he was thinking only of his own bad ass self.

This book is a beautiful meditation on the history of dice. Augustus, Caligula, Nero, Queen Elizabeth. All hustlers.

Great collection of photographs of Jay's crumbling dice along with the history and curiosities of dice through the ages.

And if you're an Angeleno, like myself, get to the Museum of Jurassic Technology and check out Ricky's dice.

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread after Jay's passing.

The photos are gorgeous. Rosamond Purcell is a master of finding beauty in the most curious of places.

The text doesn't glow so much as it sparkles. Jay writes like I how explore Wikipedia—following rabbit holes leading to other tunnels, coming up for air only to dip into another warren of forgotten lore. The information he gives is sometimes more tantalizing than anything else—I often would finish a paragraph wishing it'd gone on for 200 pages—like appetizers to a greater meal one might have to cook oneself.

[Old-Barbarossa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird photos of crumbling dice and Mr Jay's nuggets of information make this a wee gem of a book.
Only flaw: I just wanted much more history in it.

[Johann_tor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great pictures of crumbling dice and the classic dry prose of Ricky Jay make this a very enjoyable little book.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool coffee table book, a collection of images of old decaying dice with historical tidbits thrown in. Sad to say, but Marigny may not have coined the word "craps."