1893                            W. H. Wilkinson, British Consul at Seoul sent to the Columbia Exhibition in Chicago a set of tiles, or dominoes, which he designated as a game called “Chung Fa” (chung fat). They were from Ningpo, and were placed into the Pennsylvania University Museum.1

 

1893                            A set of mah jong tiles were simply described as “Chinese Dominoes” in the 1893 publication of the “Smithsonian Institute Report”, “Chinese Games with Dice and Dominoes” section by Stewart Culin (1858-1929), on page 519.

 

1893                            Joseph Park Babcock (1893-1949) was born in Lafayette, Indiana.2

 

1909                            Stewart Culin, Asian curator of the Brooklyn Academy of Arts and Sciences3, brings a set simply called “Chinese Dominoes” back from an expedition in Asia, and eventually places them into the Brooklyn Academy of Arts and Sciences Museum1 (later renamed the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences).

 

1911                            Joseph P. Babcock graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Civil Engineering, and took a position with the Standard Oil Company, in 1912 he traveled to Soochow, China as the Soochow representative.2

 

May 22, 1912              Robert D. Mansfield obtains a trademark on the spelling of Ma-Chiang in England.1

 

November 1918            Two unknown gentlemen from New York engaged on the Grand Canal in China claim to have played a game of mah jong with a high ranking Chinese Official who’s set was said to have had English numbers on the tiles.1

 

July 1919                     Joseph P. Babcock claims to have put English numerals on mah jong tiles; but does not state that this had never been done before.1

 

1919                            Joseph P. Babcock, Soochow representative of the Standard Oil Company unsuccessfully tried to pursued his friend A. R. Hager, manager of the Shanghai branch of the International Correspondence Schools to begin importation of mah jong sets into the United States. Difficulties of terminology, lack of English translation of the rules, and the lack of English numbers on the tiles are sited as reasons why.1

 

Early 1920                   Joseph P. Babcock simplifies the game of mah jong by cutting out many of the frills and limit hands, retaining only the essentials or basic scores, and creates a simplified version of the basic mah jong rules.1

 

Early 1920                   Two brothers named White introduce mah jong into English-speaking clubs in Shanghai where it quickly gains popularity.1

 

September 1920            “Babcock’s Rules for Mah Jongg – The Red Book of Rules” by Joseph P. Babcock is published. Mah Jongg Company of China, Chinese Post Office Box No. 1, Shanghai, China, copyright 1920.

 

1920                            The American Club and the Union Club of Shanghai, the later an organization with Chinese, British, and American memberships both officially adopt “Babcock’s Rules for Mah Jongg – The Red Book of Rules” as their house rules.4

 

February 1921             Englishman Harold Carey writing under the pen name Harold Sterling published the first set of rules for the game including a full description of the game set in China. The first edition was published in February 1921, under the title of “Ma Chang” and was published by Carey and Company, Shanghai, China.1

 

Early 1922                   W. A. Hammond a lumber merchant in San Francisco working in conjunction with Joseph P. Babcock undertook the importation of mah jong sets in large quantities into the United States.1

 

September 1922            W. A. Hammond reported that by September 1, 1922 he had imported $50,000 worth of mah jong sets, out of a total of $56,000 reported by the Chamber of Commerce as having been shipped from Shanghai, up to that time. In order to market these sets the Mah Jongg Sales Company of San Francisco (later renamed the Mah Jongg Sales Company of America) was formed, Mr. J. M. Tees was named as Vice-President and General Manager. Under his Management a propaganda campaign was started, with exhibitions in all the principal cities of the country, free lessons on the game in all the larger department stores, and a liberal advertising program.1

 

December 30, 1922            “Mah Jung, Game of Chinese Mandarins, Displacing Bridge and Poker” is published in The Literary Digest.

 

1922                            “Pung Chow – The Game of a Hundred Intelligence’s” by Lew Lysle Harr is published. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York & London, 78 pages, illustrated, copyright 1922.

 

1922                            “Rules for Playing Mah-Jongg (The Sparrow) and suggestions for play” by Claude Fay Doyen is published. Beresford Linotype Company, Washington, D. C., 16 pages, copyright 1922.

 

1922                            “How to Play Mah-Jong (Sparrow)” by Arthur Julius Israel is published. Oriental Export Company, New York, 20 pages, illustrated, copyright 1922.

 

1922                            “The Game of Mahjunk; Chinese Dominos” by William C. Morris is published. Morris & Lelevier, Los Angeles, 40 pages, copyright 1922.

 

1922                            “How to Play Mah Jong” by Philip Naftaly is published. Bowles-Broad Printing Works, San Francisco, 8 pages, illustrated, copyright 1922.

 

1922                            “Majong (The Game of Sparrow)” by Martin Stern Rosenblatt is published. S & G Gump Company, San Francisco, 12 pages, illustrated, copyright 1922.

 

1922                            “Mah Jongg, The Ancient Game of China” by M. Ho Sang is published. Long Sang Ti Chinese Curious Company, Inc., New York, 34 pages, copyright 1922.

 

Pre 1923                      A set called “Chinese Dominoes” a gift from the Hon. George B. Glover, former United States Consul at Fuhchau is placed into the Museum of the Long Island Historical Society, Brooklyn, New York (later renamed the Brooklyn Historical Society). The set of dominoes was from the port of Fuhchau, which lies south of Shanghai.1

 

March 1923                 “The Rage of Mah Jong – An Introduction to the Ancient Game of China which Has Taken America by Storm” by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, March 1923 issue, page 72.

 

April 3, 1923                Joseph P. Babcock returns to the United States and patents the name “Mah Jongg” in the United States, coining the phrase “If It Isn’t Marked ‘Mah-Jongg’ It Isn’t Genuine” which is displayed on all sets imported and manufactured by the Mah Jongg Sales Company of America.

 

May 19, 1923              “Pung Chow” by N. Jefferies is published in Literary Review.

 

May 1923                    Shops in Shanghai were experiencing difficulties in meeting the demand for new sets by the Mah Jongg Sales Company and its competitors. Its noted that children of very tender age were being employed in the manufacture of new sets, and materials, especially bone were being shipped from the United States in large quantities to Shanghai to help supply production.1

 

July 1923                     Newport RI announces that a mah jong club has been formed at the Black Point Fishing Club, and will hold weekly games.5

 

July 1923                     “Why I Called it Pung-Chow” by L. L. Harr is published in Vanity Fair magazine, July 1923 issue.

 

August 1, 1923             “Mah Jongg” by Charles Merz is published in The New Republic.

 

August 1923                 “The Game of a Hundred Intelligence’s” by L. L. Harr is published in Asia magazine, August 1923 issue.

 

September 1, 1923            “Mah Chang: The Game and its History” by J. B. Powell is published in Living Age magazine from the China Weekly Review, June 30 (Shanghai Political and Economic Journal.)

 

September 1923            “Ma Cheuk – As Played by the Chinese” by Edgar S. Winters is published. E. P. Dutton & Company, 681 Fifth Avenue, New York, 161 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

October 13, 1923            “How Mah Jongg Cured Seasickness and Defeated Bandits” is published in The Literary Digest.

 

November 1923            “Proposed Laws to Govern Mah Jong”; part 1 of 2, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster, including a questioner polling Mah Jong players and clubs to submit their opinions to a list of 14 questions to help formulate a standardized set of rules is published in the November issue of Vanity Fair magazine, page 59.

 

December 1, 1923            “Mah Jong” by Meade Minnigerode, Illustrated by H. J. Soulen is published in Collier’s, The National Weekly.

 

December 1923            “Proposed Laws to Govern Mah Jong”; part 2 of 2, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in the December issue of Vanity Fair magazine, page 53.

 

December 1923            “The Laws of Mah Jong for 1924 – As proposed for the American Game” by Robert F. Foster is published. A 35 page pamphlet copyrighted by Robert F. Foster and published by Vanity Fair magazine, selling price 25 cents postage included, copyright 1923.6

 

December 1923            “A Mah Jong Convention” Vanity Fair magazine announces they are undertaking the arrangements for calling and promoting a convention of expert Mah Jong players and teachers, with the object of forming a Mah Jong League, on the same lines as the American Whist League.6

 

1923                            “Babcock’s Rules for Mah Jongg – The Red Book of Rules” by Joseph P. Babcock is published. Mah-Jongg Sales Company of America, San Francisco, CA., 117 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Mah Jong and How to Play It” by Chiang Lee is published. Thomas De La Rue & Company, Ltd., London, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            Mr. Lew Lysle Harr an American who had been in China in 1919 as the representative of the Graton and Knight Belting Company, of Worcester, Massachusetts felt that mah jong tile sets could be just as well made in the United States but in mass production. He also felt that by producing them in an absolutely uniform manor it would allow easy replacement of any pieces that were lost and assure that they would go unnoticed. In 1923 he formed the “Pung Chow Company” and began production of the Pung Chow games.1

 

1923                            “How to Play Pung Chow” by Lew Lysle Harr is published. Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York & London, 128 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “The Ma-Jung Manual” by Henry M. Snyder and edited by Robert F. Foster is published. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston & New York, The Riverside Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 130 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “How to Play Mah Jong” by Jean Bray is published. G. P. Putnam’s & Sons, New York & London, 112 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Instruction, suggestion and rules for playing the Chinese Game of Mah Jong” by Silas J. Douglass is published. Pasadena, CA, 16 pages, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “The Green Book of Rules and Regulations for Mah Jong” by Ralph J. F. Gerstle is published. Ma-Jong Club of Chicago, Incorporated, 55 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Pung Chow in Ten Minutes” by Lew Lysle Harr is published. Pung Chow Company, Incorporated, New York, 27 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Mah Jong; A Complete Description of the Game with Authorative” by Andrew Kan is published. Shanghai Trading Company, Detroit, Michigan, 47 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “The Original Rules of the Ancient Chinese Game” by Yang-Chow Lim is published. Y. C. Lim, Seattle, Washington, 50 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Rules & Directions for the Chinese Game of Ma Cheuck (Sparrows), also known as Ma Jong, Mah Diao, Pung Chow, Le-Ping, and other translations of the different Chinese dialects” by Philip Naftaly is published. Bowles-Broad Printing Works, San Francisco, 23 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Rules for Playing Mah Jong” by Nanyang Brothers, Inc. is published. Nanyang Brothers, Inc., New York, 15 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “The Chinese Game Called Ma-Ch’iau; A Descriptive and Explanatory Story” by Ly Yu Sang is published. The Long Sang Ti Chinese Curios Company, Inc., New York, 128 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Official Rules for Pe-Ling” by Vern E. Scott is published. The Greenly Corporation, San Francisco, 15 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Official Rules for Pe-Ling as Played with Cards” by Vern E. Scott is published. The Greenly Corporation, San Francisco, 16 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Standard Rules and Instructions for the Chinese Game of Mah Chang (Sparrow)” by Harold Sterling is published. Oriental Arts Company, Printers, Albany, New York, 21 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Mah-Jongg – The Play of One Hundred Intelligence’s, in a prologue and one act” by Constance Grenelle Wilcox is published. C. C. Birchard & Company, Boston, 75 pages, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Foster’s Famous Rules for Man-Chu” by Robert F. Foster is published. The United States Playing Card Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, 55 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

1923                            “Standard Rules for ‘The Ancient Game of the Mandarins’ The Original Game of Old China” by Hugo Manovill is published. Piroxoid Products Corporation, 200 Fifth Avenue, New York, 22 pages, illustrated, copyright 1923.

 

January 26, 1924            “Mah Jongg and the Idle Rich” by William Bolitho is published in Living Age, from the Outlook, December 8, 1923 (London Semi-Radical Weekly).

 

January 27, 1924            “The Joined Battle of the Games – When Mah Jong, Out of the Chinese East, Meets Old Inhabitant, Auction Bridge” is published in The New York Times magazine.

 

January 1924                “The Spirit of Mah Jong – An Inquiry into the Fundamental Principles of the Game, Which Should Govern Its Rules”, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, January 1924 issue, page 44.

 

February 1924             “Chinese Mah Chang and American Mah Jong – Being a Brief Synopsis of the Differences Between the Two Games”, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, February 1924 issue, page 46.

 

February 1924             Milton C. Work contributes a series of articles on mah jong to the columns of the New York Herald Tribune.7

 

February 1924             “Foster on Mah Jong” by Robert F. Foster is published. Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, printed by The Quinn & Boden Company, book manufacturers, Rahway, New Jersey, 262 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924. Robert F. Foster, 532 Monroe Street, Brooklyn, New York.

 

February 5, 1924            Mah Jong Gambling banned in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.8

 

February 11, 1924            Reports of mah jong players are contracting dermatitis venenata, a poison ivy type ailment contracted by handling sets lacquered with Chinese lacquer made from the rhus vernix plant.9

 

March 1924                 “The Mathematics of Mah Jong – Showing Some Cases that Require Careful Calculations before Reaching a Conclusion”, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, March 1924 issue, page 52.

 

March 1924                 “Construction of Mah Jong Sets” by E. M. Winterbourne is published in Industrial Arts magazine.

 

March 1924                 “Making Mah Jongg Tiles is an Important Chinese Industry” is published in Current Opinion magazine.

 

March 1924                 “How Old is Mah-Jong? – The Answer Punctures a Few Picturesque Legends and Presents Some Pertinent Facts” by Robert F. Foster is published in Asia magazine.

 

March 9, 1924             Consul General E. S. Cunningham of the Department of State announces that mah jong sets ranked 6^th in exports from Shanghai to the United States in 1923. Being exceeded only by silks, lace, skins, eggs and tea. The total value of mah jong sets, which Shanghai exported to the United States in 1923, was $1,505,000.10

 

March 29, 1924            “Insidious Mah Jong” is published in The Literary Digest.

 

April 1924                    “Big Hands at Mah Jong – Something About the Psychology that Regulates the Selection of a Game”, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, April 1924 issue, page 61.

 

April 1924                    “Some Fundamentals of Mah Jong – Points on Choosing a Set and a Style of Play” by Robert F. Foster is published in Asia magazine.

 

April 24, 1924              “Pa and Ma Jongg” Life Magazine’s illustrated cover by Monte Smith.

 

May 1924                    “Getting a Double at Mah Jong – The Odds Against the Necessary Qualifications for a Woo at the One-Double Game”, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, May 1924 issue, page 62.

 

May 1924                    “Clearing a Suit at Mah Jong – Something about Penalties and the Preliminary Skirmish for Position: by Robert F. Foster is published in Asia magazine.

 

May 24, 1924              “Mah Jong in One Lesson” by Frederick L. Allen is published in The Independent magazine.

 

June 1924                    “Chances of the Draw at Mah Jong – Probabilities of Drawing a Set That Will Give the Players a Double”, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, June 1924 issue, page 60.

 

July 1924                     “Mah Jong Values – How the Style of Game Played Affects the Average Scoring Value of the Hands”, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, July 1924 issue, page 55.

 

July 1924                     The American Code was offered to the Mah Jong Players of the country through major newspapers containing a single code under which all three styles might be played, (1) the Mixed-Hand Game, (2) the One-Double Game, and (3) the Cleared-Hand Game. The Laws were so drafted as to enable each form of the game to retain its individuality and its distinctive character.7

 

July 1924                     “Standardized Mah Jong” by Lee Foster Hartman is published. Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York & London, 311 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

August 1924                 A committee was formed to write a standardized “American Laws of Mah Jong”. The Committee consisted of Joseph P. Babcock, author of “Mah Jongg – The Fascinating Chinese Game” and founder of “The Mah-Jongg Sales Company of China and America”, Robert F. Foster, author of “Foster on Mah Jong”, Lee F. Hartman, author of “Standardized Mah Jong”, John H. Smith, publisher of the Auction Bridge and Mah-Jongg magazine, and Milton C. Work, editor of the Mah-Jongg Department of the Herald-Tribune, and the author of “Mah-Jongg Up-to-date”.7

 

August 1924                 “Twenty-Point Mah Jong – An Absolutely New Game Played with 144 Tiles”, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, August 1924 issue, page 41.

 

August 10, 1924            “Rise and Present Peril of Mah Jong – The Chinese Game Has Escaped From Society’s Chaperonage and is on its Own” by Helen Bullitt Lowry is published in The New York Times magazine.

 

September 1924            The Auction Bridge and Mah Jong Magazine after calling for a referendum vote on public opinions on mah jong rules through newspaper syndicates, and by sending out fifty thousand ballots appoints a committee to tabulate the results of this vote. The committee consisted of Joseph P. Babcock, Robert F. Foster, Lee S. Hartman, John H. Smith, and Milton C. Work.11

 

September 1924            “The New American Code of Rules for Mah Jong – The First Complete and Authorized Set of Laws”; part 1 of 2, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, September 1924 issue, page 62.

 

September 1924            “Mah-Jong End Games” copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Asia magazine.

 

October 1924              “The New American Code of Rules for Mah Jong – Giving the Rules for Scoring and for Limit Hands”; part 2 of 2, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster is published in Vanity Fair magazine, October 1924 issue, page 72.

 

November 1924            The last of a series of articles “The Future of Mah Jong – Reasons for Past Changes in the Game and for Possible Changes to Come”, copyrighted by Robert F. Foster if published in Vanity Fair magazine, November 1924 issue, page 78.

 

1924                            “Auction Bridge and Mah Jong Magazine” is published. John H. Smith Publishing Corporation, New York, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “Mah-Jongg Up-to-date” by Milton Cooper Work is published. John C. Winton Company, Philadelphia, Chicago, & Toronto, 177 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “Standard rules and instructions for the Chinese game of ma chiang (sparrow) with notes on the American and one suit games” by George Boulon is published. A. J. Brandt & Sons, New York, 32 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “Mah Jongg Scoring Combinations and Conventions” by Winifred W. Campbell is published. Times-Journal Printing Company, Forsyth, Montana, 4 pages, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “White Dragons Wild, and how to win at Ma Jong; An Advanced Study of the World’s Most Wonderful Games as adapted to American Playing” by Elmer Dwiggins is published. Phillips Printing Company, Los Angeles CA, 61 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “Twenty Point Mah Jong, with the American Standard Code of Laws for all forms of the game” by Robert F. Foster is published. Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 157 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “The Laws of Ma Chiang” by International Ma Chiang Players’ Association is published. International Ma Chiang Players’ Association, New York, 54 pages, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “The Complete Mah Jong Player” by Florence Irwin is published. Brentano’s, New York, 206 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            Parker Brothers, Incorporated by assignment from Joseph P. Babcock held the right to manufacture games under the trademark name “Mah-Jongg”.7

 

1924                            “The Blue Book of Mah-Jong, The Royal Game” by Leonard B. Krick is published. Beatty Brothers, Chicago, 36 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “Ma Jong Scoring Made Easy, and Notes on Playing” by Casey Bruce Morgan is published. Brentano’s, New York, 41 pages, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “Complete Instructions for Mah Jong” by Robert W. Nevin is published. The Hollis Press, Inc., New York, 11 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “Mah John Score Book, with Rules and Definitions” by Marian Robertson is published. Wilmerding & Wilmerding, New York, 124 pages, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “The Outline of Mah Jong – How to Play and How to Win, the Real Chinese Methods” by Julius Su Tow is published. The Pacific Printing Company, Inc., New York, 64 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “The Ma-Jung Manual – Revised Edition” by Henry M. Snyder is published. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston & New York, 402 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

1924                            “The Game of Ma Chiang” by “Mrs. Prescott Warren”, Emily Stanley Warren is published. Crowell Company, New York, 402 pages, illustrated, copyright 1924.

 

Late 1924                    Joseph P. Babcock closes the “Mah-Jongg Sales Company of America” and with money he had won from gambling enters Yale Law School.2

 

1925                            “The Laws of Mah Jongg – The Red Book of Rules” by Joseph P. Babcock is published. Parker Brothers, Inc., Salem, Massachusetts, and New York, 48 pages, illustrated, copyright 1925.

 

1925                            “The Mastering of Mah Jongg” by John Alfred Chue is published. Yew Kee Printers, Hong Kong, 58 pages, illustrated, copyright 1925.

 

1925                            “The Theory of Mah Jong, Its Principles, Psychology, Tactics, Strategies, and Fine Points, Including the Complete Chinese Rules of Play” by Wing Lock Wei is published. Small, Maynard & Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 76 pages, illustrated, copyright 1925.

 

1927                            Joseph P. Babcock graduates from Yale Law School with the class of 1927, and takes a position as a Lawyer with a New York Law firm.2

 

Circa 1930                   Mah Jong leagues are formed at the Wright-Patterson Air Force base at McCook Field. Their players begin compiling their own set of rules and hands to allow players in the armed services the ability to continue play by a standardized set of rules at any installation they may be transferred to worldwide. Sylvia Bauer and Helene Morris published the first edition of their rulebook as “The Wright-Patterson Rules”, and in 1963 their rules were copyrighted for the first time.12

 

1937                            A handful of interested players met in New York to discuss standardization of their rules and formed the “National Mah Jongg League”. In 1997 the National Mah Jongg League maintains an annual playing base of 250,000 players in the United States.13

 

April 1937                    “That’s It – National Mah Jongg League Rules” by Dorothy S. Meyerson is published. National Mah Jongg League, New York, Illustrated, First Edition April 1937, Forth Revised Edition copyrighted November 1938.

 

1938                            The National Mah Jongg League in New York published their first Standard Hand Card for the 1938-1939 playing year.14

 

1938                            “Modern Mah Jong” by Thomas Lane is published. Rand McNally & Company, 64 pages, illustrated, copyright 1938.

 

November 1938            “Maajh – The American Version of an Ancient Chinese Game” by Viola L. Cecil (President of the National Mah Jongg League) is published. Hallco, Incorporated, New York, 53 pages, illustrated, copyright November 1938.

 

September 18, 1939            The National Mah Jongg League holds their first National Convention in New York.15

 

October 1939              “Maajh – The American Version of an Ancient Chinese Game” by Viola L. Cecil (President of the National Mah Jongg League) is revised and published. Hallco Incorporated, New York, 53 pages, illustrated, copyright revised edition October 1939.

 

1945                            “That’s It – The Authentic System of Playing Chinese Tiles” by Dorothy Sklarew Meyerson is published. Forest Hills, New York, illustrated, copyright 1945.

 

1949                            Joseph P. Babcock dies at the age of 56 and is buried in Friendship, New York.2

 

1952                            “Ma Jong for Beginners” by Shozo Kanai and Margaret Farrell is published. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, VT, 64 pages, illustrated, copyright 1952.

 

1964                            “Mah Jongg Anyone? A Manual of Modern Play” by Kitty Strauser is published. C. E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, VT, 59 pages, illustrated, copyright 1964.

 

1964                            “A Mah Jong Handbook – How to play, score, and win the modern game” by Eleanor Noss Whitney is published. C. E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, VT, 176 pages, illustrated, copyright 1964.

 

1973                            “An Advanced System for Playing Mah Jong” by Ch’ung Wu is published. Dorrance, Philadelphia, 201 pages, illustrated, copyright 1973.

 

1973                            “The Mystic Mah-Jongg Game” by Priscilla Shiu is published. Exposition Press, New York, 64 pages, illustrated, copyright 1973.

 

1974                            “The Mah Jongg Group” by Susan Greene is published. Ashley Books, Port Washington, New York, 195 pages, copyright 1974.

 

1976                            “Discovering Mah-Jong” by Robert C. Bell is published. Shire Publications, Aylesbury, 48 pages, illustrated, copyright 1976.

 

1978                            “Mah-Jongg” by Gwyn Headley is published. E. P. Publishing, New York, 36 pages, illustrated, copyright 1978.

 

1979                            “Learn to Play Mah Jongg – From Beginner to Winner” by Marcia Hammer is published. D. McKay Company, New York, 143 pages, illustrated, copyright 1979.

 

1981                            “Mah Jong – The Rules for Playing the Chinese Game” by Tze-Chung Li is published. Chinese Culture Service, Oak Park, Illinois, 68 pages, illustrated, copyright 1981.

 

1982                            “Mahjong Made Easy – Standard Chinese Rules Simplified” by Willie Lim is published. Exposition Press, Smithtown, New York, 30 pages, illustrated, copyright 1982.

 

1982                            “Fortune-telling by Mah Jongg – A Practical Guide to Divination using the Ancient Chinese Game of Mah Jongg” by Derek Walters is published. Aquarian Press, New York, 192 pages, illustrated, copyright 1982.

 

1986                            “The Mah-Jongg Spies” by John Trenhaile is published. Dutton, New York, 434 pages, copyright 1986.

 

1987                            “How to set up for a Mah Jongg game and other lost arts” by Joan Gelman is published. Simon and Schuster, New York, 112 pages, illustrated, copyright 1987.

 

1988                            “The Gates of Exquisite View” (Sequel to The Mah-Jongg Spies) by John Trenhaile is published. Dutton, New York, 374 pages, copyright 1988.

 

1990                            “The Game of Mah Jong, Illustrated” by Patricia A. Thompson is published. Ishi Press, 64 pages, illustrated, copyright 1990.

 

1991                            “Mah Jong – One Step at a Time” by Alain Gelbman is published. Ishi Press, 50 pages, illustrated, copyright 1991.

 

1992                            “Mah Jongg 2000” by Thomas G. Glass is published. Glass Publishing Company, San Antonio, Texas, 300 pages, illustrated, copyright 1992.

 

1994                            “The Fortune Teller’s Mah Jongg – The Anceint Game as a Modern Oracle” by Derek Walters is published. Viking Studio Books, New York, 103 pages, illustrated, copyright 1994.

 

1994                            “The Happy Game of Mah-Jong” by David H. Li is published. Premier Publishing, Bethesda, MD, 136 pages, illustrated, copyright 1994.

 

December 18, 1996            “The Mah Jongg Cyber Museum” is posted on the internet. Created by James May to share a personal collection of mah jong game sets, literature, and miscellaneous related items, and becoming the worlds first mah jong museum.